The Long Summer...

I suppose I'm like a lot of people when I say I didn't get done all the things I wanted to accomplish over the Summer months. Blogging regularly, for instance. Setting up my design studio, for example. Exercising... oh, the list goes on. 

I have a perfectly legitimate reason. I have developed some sort of strange neurological... oh, let's call it "disruption". In a few days, I'll be heading to Mayo Clinic/Hospital in Rochester, MN for some testing. Basically, what has been happening to me since 3rd May are muscle spams not unlike what one might see with MS - Multiple Sclerosis. However, since there aren't MS specialists in my immediate area and I haven't been able to get a definitive diagnosis from local neurosurgeons, I'm venturing to Mayo to see if anyone there can figure out what is going on. I've already had several MRIs over the Summer and did a couple nights in hospital mid-May, but no conclusions have been made as to what is making my hands, feet, face, and occasionally even my back, twist into stiff contortions at their own whim. 

It doesn't always hurt, sometimes the "curling" is simply a neutral position (often in a sort of "Rock on!" heavy metal devil horns way, though sometimes I have to apologise for inadvertently flipping the bird), but there are times when the pain is excruciating and exhausting. Most of the time, however, it looks worse than it feels, though it does put a damper on a lot of activities. For example, I haven't used the hunt-n-peck method of typing since high school, but I'm getting pretty good at it!

I've been trying to keep positive over the last few months. I mean, we know it's not cancer. We know I have a stagnant lesion on the right side of my thalamus. We don't know why I'm having these spams on an almost daily basis. They started when I was in a fairly stressful situation after a build up of several other stressful situations, but I've been under worse stress in my lifetime, so why now and why this particular physical reaction? 

As you can imagine, the not knowing is really bothering me and, by extension, my family and friends. I can count myself fortunate that I do have a good support group around me. I have been able to go on our family camping trips. I have been able to work on a few sewing projects (yep, still picking away at that baby quilt). I've even managed to finish a few things (nope, not that baby quilt). I went to my 25th high school class reunion and danced the night away and I even took my boys to the opening day of the MN State Fair.

But as I get closer to my Mayo appointment(s), my trepidation increases. It doesn't help that I'm anticipating a spinal tap, and not the fun, Michael McKean in Spandex variety. I'm not even sure how long I'll be there. My only consolation (outside of family and friends) is the notion that I'll soon have a name for whatever this is (besides "that little effer in my brain") and can then plan a course of healing/management. A plan that moves forward, for no matter how hard I've tried to keep things going as normally as possible, the unknown lurks large and, frankly, has held me from doing a few of the things I'd ordinarily jump into without a second thought. I've been able to push beyond my fibromyalgia for performances (then be absolutely spent afterward), but the spams are different. I can't seem to "mind over matter" them the way I could with fibro flare-ups and I there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when they'll hit.

Anyway, I'll keep on truckin' as usual, and hopefully it won't be too long before you hear from me again. Next time with good news.

I'm Baaaaack!

Yeah. I had a busy winter. Between school, holidays, and a production of Cabaret, I lost track of a lot.
One thing I decided was to not go back to school. It'd take too long at the rate I was going. Not that I didn't do well (I aced Textiles) or didn't like it (who doesn't love to learn new stuff?), but I simply can't afford to go full time and, since I was starting over with a new degree, going one class at a time would get me done in about 20 years. Please. I got sh*it ta do.
I also put myself on self-imposed semi-retirement from the stage. If I'm going to do this other thing (I'll get to that soon) I need to take time away from performing. Cabaret was particularly physically demanding as well. I would have a dance rehearsal one night and then spend the next day in bed from the pain and fatigue of the Fibro. It's fortunate that I don't have a day job because a lot of cast mates got sick, but I managed to not get sick at all. I think a lot of that is due to my being able to rest during the day.
But now I'm getting restless. I'm anxious to get started on the Next Big Thing.

Tequila Diamonds.
I've done a lot of prep work, mostly R&D and some massive soul-searching trying to figure out how I want to move forward. What is my purpose? My Mission Statement? One thing I know is that I want to take one thing, and make something totally unexpected from that thing. That's really the underlying philosophy to Tequila Diamonds. Making the ordinary extraordinary.
I've narrowed it down to a few items (comparatively few, I should clarify). I have the fabric line, I used some of those images and made some items on Zazzle (jewelry, stuff like that). I even sold a Happy Harriet tee-shirt!
Anyway, I've set up a few goals. I've taken pix of some things I've already made. I'm going to set up the etsy site in March. My hope is to use the money from those items to fund my new fashion line made from my fabric designs.
I've sketched and colored, manipulated fabric and practiced my stitching. I'm going to be working as a stitcher on the next production going up at Bloomington Civic Theatre (where I just did Cabaret), which will provide more of a learning environment than going to school. It'll also pay a little bit, so I can put that toward supplies.

So, yeah, not a lot of quilting going on. I'm still pecking away at the hand sewn quilt I've been working on for my great-niece, but no new quilting projects have been started or even thought about for the moment. If the quilting was why you were reading, I'm afraid the future posts will be disappointing. However, if exploring creative outlets and starting a creative business is something you're interested in, stay on dah boat!

Smooth as a baby's...

I love my friend, Angela. She's an actress I've worked with and she's also an aesthetician. She just ripped the hair out of my face. She's good at it, and she really enjoys the work. She's very inspirational to me. She and I have a lot on common. I have the fibromyalgia, she has RA. We both love being on stage, but both need something else to support ourselves. We both want to really enjoy that "other" thing we do, whatever it may be. She really enjoys working with people's skin to make it beautiful. I like to put beautiful clothes on their skin. Angela is one of those people I talked about the other day for whom I would do just about anything. Nothing illegal, you understand, but if she ever needed blood or a kidney and I was a match, I'd do it. If you're in the Twin Cities and you need your chin waxed or your brows shaped or a nice, deep facial cleansing, go see Angela Walberg. I'll put you in touch with her. Seriously.

Okay, now onto the home front. Going through all my stuff has been looming over me for... years. I'm not even kidding. Over the last couple of weeks I've gone through so much stuff, and I'm not even halfway there yet! I'm on medication, I'll freely admit that. Most creative people are or should be, frankly. I've only been on the new stuff for 5 weeks and I've accomplished more in those 5 weeks than I have in the last 5 years. Longer, even. I still had a few maternity clothes in the garage (my youngest son is 6). I've just been avoiding it. I've now been through a dozen or more boxes (several loads of laundry) and not only did I take over all that stuff to charity last Saturday, but I now have 6 more grocery bags and a storage basket of clothes (mostly the boys' baby things, but some of mine, too), toys, and brick-a-brack to take over to the thrift store.

Everyone needs to purge now and then. This is probably the biggest purge I've ever done in my life. I have to say, it feels pretty damn good. I have my current projects sitting on the sidelines waiting patiently for me to get through this. Though I do have my hand sewing with the hexagons by my recliner and pick that up during the evening news. My Christmas tree blocks are under way, but I'm not feeling any great pressure to do it. I'm happy knowing that, once I get this big purge out of the way, not only will I be able to pick up where I left off on those projects, but I'll have more room, better organization, and more freedom. Less chaos. That's the real goal, right there. 

Not only that, but if I aim to proceed with designing my clothing line, I'm going to need that space. Last weekend I made 14 sketches, I figured out which type of fabric the pieces should be, but I have yet to figure out how much total fabric I'll need. I'll finish this purging business first. It needs to happen before my mind can be clear enough to focus on a clothing line. Also, clearing up my sewing space will show my husband that I'm pretty darned serious about pursuing the dream. More serious that I've probably ever been about anything.

Speaking of designing, I have two new collections now available on Spoonflower. Jewel Box, http://www.spoonflower.com/collections/3982 which is, as the name suggests, full of jewel inspired designs and photos,  and Tropical_10, http://www.spoonflower.com/collections/17621, which is all designs that were inspired by my husband's love of Hawaiian shirts and this year being our 10th anniversary. The photos used were taken during some of our vacations over the years.

Surviving the Scourge...

For whatever reason, the past several days have been nothing but fibromyalgia pain-filled misery. Undaunted, I've tried to make progress, but I've not accomplished too terribly much.
Just before that, however, I managed to get 5 more flowers done for my niece's baby's blanket and I sorted through several boxes of old stuff that has been out in the garage for years. Found some great stuff and some stuff that was kind of depressing, but, that's how it goes when you go through old junk, innit?
I also got on to Spoonflower and made some more fabric designs. It's one of the few artistic things I can do that doesn't cause too much pain or take up too much energy. I'm going to be going through my designs soon and discontinuing a few, so if anybody wants some, now's the time to get it. Unfortunately, Spoonflower doesn't have "sales". Well, that I'm aware of. I think I've found a mini project!
Interestingly the designs I worked on yesterday were ones I imagined for garments, instead of quilting. Not that they couldn't be used for quilting, but I could envision some really great clothes out of the stuff I did yesterday. I'm not sure if those will actually go up for sale or if I'll dare to make a clothing line out of them. It is something to consider.... hmmmm....
Here are three of the new flowers I did last week.

I'm trying to make sure to use combinations of the old and new fabric so I don't have this set of flowers here, that set there... I wonder if we can change the block name to Auntie's Flower Garden? I have 7 step-grandchildren and one great-step-grandchild, but I'm not really a grandmother yet. I know, I know. It's a Grandmother's Flower Garden.
Well, let's see what the next week brings. Hopefully today will mark the end, or the beginning of the end of this bloody fibro flare up, and I'll get something done! I'm missing my Summer, dammit!

Lillian...

Finally got over to meet baby Lillian and give her the quilt I made for her. She snuggled right in...

Clockwise from top right, my friend, Laurel, Dutch, Lillian, and me.

"Hmmmm... I think I like this blankie!"

"Yes. Yes, I do!"
Sorry the photos are so blurry. She was in her bouncy seat. 

It felt really great to be able to give her something I made. 

In fact, I think I'm going to see if I can't finish the floor quilt (Scrappy McScrapperton) for our neighbors. They run a day care in their home and they have a couple of little babies. Though I personally think it's fun for everyone. 

I've been battling the good ol' fibromyalgia since last Thursday, and not getting too much done by way of quilting, housework, everything. It's going to set me back a few days. Usually about twice as many days as I'm knocked out. I've tried to keep moving, but the weather has been so oppressive, and it really effects my flare ups. 

On the up side, my husband and I were approved for our RV loan, so we'll be able to travel a bit more with the boys. We pick it up this Thursday, which is also my hubby's birthday. I can't wait to travel the country and see quilts and trinkets from all over. I also can't wait to make quilts for the beds. There's a queen size master bed, queen sofa bed, full size in the dining nook and four bunk beds in the rear. Obviously, we won't need them for all the beds, but I'm looking forward to making them just the same. I'm already planning on taking the machine wherever we go... I hope my husband realizes this...

Well, stay cool, stay hydrated, stay creative! Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

finis!

Okay, not exactly finis. I need to bind the baby quilt, but the quilting part is done! Yay! I was thinking of using some of the left over flannel from the backing to make a ruffle, but I really should've attached that before I did any quilting, so I set aside the ruffled strip I made. I'll put it on the ends of the bed runner I made from the other scraps!

So, tomorrow, between my son's doctor appointment and my other errands, I'll go pick up some bias tape and I'll finish that sucker off in the evening! Then I'll take pix. And then I'll arrange to meet up with Laurel so I can give it to her and meet baby Lillian. I'm so excited that I've actually finished a quilt. Yeah, okay, a little baby quilt, but it's done! Almost. So close.

I'm a quilter, not just a topper!

Now I'm going to go press the batiks I picked up to make the backing for the batik top I made a while back. They're neutral colors to balance the brightness of the top. I got two different ones. Basically I'm going to make a giant block in the same style as the blocks of the top. I think I'll not quilt this one, but tie it. That's all my grandma ever did was tie quilts. I have a ton of yarn in my workshop in a bajillion colors, so I can have a lot of fun putting that one together! The only thing my grandma had that I don't have is saw horses. She rigged her quilts on them with clamps in order to do the tying. I'll just have to jury rig my own contraption, I guess. Between my husband, the boys and myself, I ought to be able to put something together that'll work.

I'm so happy I got this done. My fibromyalgia was acting up yesterday, so I didn't get down to the machine like I had wanted. I'm still a bit sore and tired from the flare up, but I pushed through it to get the quilt done. I'm on a roll! Nothing is worse than being on a roll and having to stop for something stupid like fibro flare ups.