Keeping Me Humble

I was gone for a while, came back, did some chores, took care of some details and sat down to do some work on my newest quilt pattern. Then my husband called. “Do you think you could work on those jeans? You don’t need to do the vest.” He works with troubled teen boys and sometimes brings home their mending. Usually, it’s just a quick repair, but I have been putting things off, working on more interesting (and hopefully profitable) projects, so there was a pile. I confess, my initial reaction was one I have heard before from other quilters and dressmakers: “I don’t DO alterations or mending.”

The arrogance detector started clanging. And the kindness counter took a nosedive. Ouch. So many of my grumbles about having to work outside my home had related to the fact that I was no longer available to minister to others! And this was a worthwhile project. I wasn’t mending jeans for my own kids who could afford to buy new ones. These kids NEEDED their clothes mended. Most of them only had one other pair. And they know from my husband that I am a Christian woman and enjoy doing it as a service to them. That’s a good testimony to some of these young men who have grown up in very bad environments.  He says they appreciate it.

Fortunately, I didn’t actually say those words aloud: “I don’t DO alterations or mending.” I put on an audiobook and plowed my way through the pile of jeans – some of which have passed through my sewing machine before and are still too valued to throw away.  I even mended the winter vest, which should have been finished long ago and will now not be needed until fall.

I hope I never think or say those words again. Mending and alterations – even for those I love, but especially for these young men I don’t even know – are a ministry and service that I can render now that God has freed me from the burden of my stressful job. I need to remember that!

So, no quilting was accomplished today, but meaningful work was done and I feel redirected. I will sew more interesting things tomorrow.

 

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

I should be at the craft sale right now, hawking all the quilts I have made recently, in the evenings and weekends and even some early mornings before I go to my day job. But instead,  I have some “down time.”  The thunderstorms started last night and have abated periodically, briefly, to tease us, before starting up again. Weather.com assures me that it will end in an hour. That was the forecast three hours ago, too.

Quilts can dry without damage if they get wet, but my friend Ruhama will be selling handmade cards, scrapbooks and other paper art, and those don’t do well in the rain.  We are going to wait until the rain stops before we set up.

It’s a salutary lesson in the folly of thinking we are in control. God knew I needed a time of repose between the frantic preparation and the event. He does that sometimes. Into the relentlessness of daily life, with its mandatory appointments, He can toss a blizzard. Everything comes to a screeching halt. We can’t even open the door sometimes, because of the drifts, and even if we could shovel out the car, we can’t drive on the roads. We just hope the power stays on.

So too is this peaceful morning. The business will come.

At least it wasn’t a blizzard.

What do you do with your brain while you sew? – A shameless appeal for a favor

Sewing can be very creative work, but it’s also a technical skill. Once I have an idea and it expands into a vision and I select the fabrics,  the creative work is done and the process becomes technical. The left side of my brain takes control. Because I am a very visual person with a short short-term memory, I sketch pictures or create and print them on the computer. I draft the pattern and write the instructions. The assembly starts then:  cut efficiently and accurately, organize the sewing order and maintain precise seam allowances, press carefully, assemble logically…

I’m a math person. The drafting, writing and assembly parts are easy, but the imagination and design process frequently take me longer than the actual construction. I need to give it my full and focused attention.

So once I am involved in the “making” of the quilt or other item, the right side of my brain gets bored. It starts suggesting ideas that might be more interesting than sewing miles of 2″ strips:  reading, going to the gym, eating, calling my mother, rearranging the furniture, eating, starting a new dress for a granddaughter, writing stories or articles, beginning a new and different quilt project, eating or sleeping.  I try to channel it into productive thought or prayer, but along with the short-term memory comes a short attention span. If I can’t give it my full and undivided attention, the left lobe strays like a three year old.

I’m really not much of a TV watcher,  and I do need to keep my eyes on that 1/4″ seam allowance, so the perfect solution for me is audiobooks. I love being read to, and since I have very shallow tastes in literature (see note above re: short attention span), I can usually absorb all of the story while I work. Sometimes I do have to back up and re-listen to part of the story, but not too often.

The best source for audiobooks in cassette, CD and downloadable formats, is my public library. I have access to thousands of books there. I do all of my browsing online and order what I want from the comfort of my own home. The downloads are my favorite, because I don’t have to leave the house to pick them up. Short short-term memory, short attention span and sluggish inclinations.  That’s me.

Downloads can be transferred to an mp3 player or listened to from the computer. The mp3 player is nice for listening while I clean house or work out, too. My car only has a cassette player, so I am always glad to find those “vintage” audiobooks.

There are a few online sources for public domain audiobooks in downloadable formats. Most of them are read by volunteers and the quality varies.  I have purchased some audiobooks, too, just as I buy books to keep from some of my favorite authors.

Now, I may get the opportunity to read and review audiobooks. It looks like most of them are Christian books, fiction and nonfiction, on a variety of subjects. I have set up a blog for that purpose, but naturally, the publishing company wants to know that I have READERS of my blog! I don’t. My book blog exists in a dark corner of cyberspace. I haven’t written much on it, and I recently removed some of the reviews I wrote a few months ago. It echoes.

I am going to rewrite the old reviews and write some new ones.  I have two favors to ask of you:

1. “Follow” that blog in your favorite reader: google reader or bloglines or whatever you prefer.

2. Comment on that blog often.

I thank you!! In return, I have two sweet little pincushions to give away. There is one here and one on the Conspectuity blog. You can only win one of the two pincushions. I will draw a winner’s name by random.org on January 29th.

This one is a nice plump 4″ across. It’s filled with local wool, cleaned and carded. Lovely for sharp pins and needles. You can be entered in a drawing to win this one by leaving a comment here to tell me that you have added the Conspectuity blog to your reader. You can get a second drawing entry by following this GloryQuilts blog, too. Just comment to tell me you did it. I trust you.

On the Conspectuity blog, there is another pincushion! You get one entry for posting there, to tell me that you have added it to your “follow” or “reader” list. You will also get one entry for each comment you leave there on the other posts. (One comment per post)

Making Mug Rugs

Silliest thing I ever saw…

When I first saw a “mug rug,” I thought it was just another way to make and sell quick projects, thriftily using old blocks and scraps of fabric.

Gimcrackery: an ornament, showy but cheap and useless (Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition)

It looks like (and is) a skimpy placemat or an overgrown coaster. Placemats and coasters come in sets of four, however, and each one has to be individually bound. The binding takes longer than the rest of the project! I don’t mind tablerunners, because that’s only one binding job. A single quilted block, less than twelve inches square, looked like a cop-out. That’s not even big enough to be a wall quilt. It’s more like a potholder, but even those are usually sold in pairs.

I just couldn’t justify the making (and especially the selling!) of one little quilted mat. Besides, it wouldn’t even be very profitable, since anything really nice would take over an hour, and they wouldn’t sell for more than $10 each.

But as time went by, I started noticing things:  When I carry my coffee cup into the livingroom and set it on the coffeetable, or take it up to my studio or into the office, I always have to find something to act as a coaster. Cups get hot, and I tend to dribble. I’m not fussy; I usually have some (unbound) coasters stacked on top of the piano, so I grab one of those if I am in the living room. Otherwise, I use a cloth napkin. Or dish rag. Or a paper towel, if the cup isn’t too hot. On my desk, I always have a few envelopes and other papers sporting brown rings.

It’s not the end of the world. Our life is simple. I won’t die of embarrassment if I have to hand a flannel or terrycloth napkin to a coffee-drinking guest.

And then I realized that sometimes I was using two napkins, or a napkin and a coaster. Yes, I sometimes have cookies or some other small treat with my coffee. With a mug rug or snack mat, I’d have a handy – and much more attractive! – place to set everything. I’d even have room to set down the spoon after I used creamer or sugar. My days of slovenly coffee drinking are at an end!

Possibilities abound. I can make them in colors to coordinate with each room, or in seasonal fabrics and patterns. I might make two dainty mats for tea parties with my granddaughters, or some his-and-hers sets. I think there ought to be “manly” ones, and some discreet enough to use at the office.

Think of the possibilities for gifts! You could assemble a very nice gift basket with one or two mug rugs, pretty (or manly) cups, and packages of coffee or tea. Or maybe even animal crackers and cocoa to drink!

And I only have to do one little binding.