When is Failure not a FAIL?

Failure isn't the opposite of success, failure is a stepping stone on the way to success.
                                                                                        
                                                                                      Arianna Huffington's mother

I finally finished my before un-named piece that I've been working on for a good two months or so.  It now has a name, Magnetism, but before I show it*** I want to tell the story of its creation.  This is one of those pieces that looks really simple (in fact I had to seriously check my ego when my sister-in-law said it looked like it was easy to make), but wasn't actually easy at all.  Basically once I had the drawing, I had to work out the construction, and it took a lot of thinking (for me at least) to figure out.  Once I got the how I was gonna do it, I had to actually do it.  Let me say, however, that although I felt it was a challenge, I really found myself enjoying it rather than being frustrated.  In the end I made about 7 extra squares because I wanted to make them as well as I could (notice I didn't say perfect, because I know better than to strive for perfection).  I even only got mildly irritated when I cut right through two completed squares and totaled them while trimming the colored circle seams. No cursing or even kvetching at all - that has to be a record!   

Once I got enough squares completed to my satisfaction, I was ready to construct the top. In my original drawing I had continued the yellow through the black sashing.  I worked on it for several days and tried many different ways, but I was just not able to make it work.  To my surprise, I really didn't find myself irritated or impatient at all even though nothing I tried worked.  Yes, I was a little disappointed, but once I saw it put together I was completely happy with it even though it hadn't lived up to my original expectations. 

Yahoo!  Now I was excited to back and quilt it, but then - I got another idea!  I decided it might be nice to put little black and white pluses in the middle of the piece.  Knowing it was not going to be a quick deal, I debated with myself and even took a photo and asked my friend Diane if I should.  She said yes of course - why wouldn't she?  It looked good and besides - she didn't have to do it!  But I agreed, so I then had to go back and undo the sashing and do what it took to add the pluses, adding more time and challenge.   And yes, some mild irritation attempted to sabotage my zen, but I succeeded in ignoring it and remaining calm and patient and yes, I really loved the result and deemed it totally worth it.

Finally I was ready to back and quilt it.  I don't really remember when I started it, but I have to say that this piece had already taken a lot longer than I thought it would but - and this is big but for me - despite the challenges so far I really had intensely enjoyed making this piece and I really, really liked it.  I spent a lot of time thinking about how to quilt it, but I couldn't come up with anything. Finally I got irritated with myself for acting like I was designing the Taj Mahal, so I just sat down and started quilting just the corner pieces.  And I'll be darned if I didn't like it!  

It was really time-consuming, however, and in the meantime I spent at least three hour-long walks trying to come up with a quilting design for the middles of the squares.   Again disgusted with myself putting too much energy into it, (I mean, I'm not going to be put in quilting jail or lose a limb if it's not right, am I?  It's just not that important, Carrie!) I sat down and started quilting the middle squares.  This time, however, it didn't work out.  Well, let me correct that - at first I thought I was happy with it.  In fact, I was so happy with it I actually quilted three entire squares.  Then I put it up on my design wall and looked at it for a day or so and realized not only was I not happy with it - I HATED it.  It wasn't true to my own personal design aesthetic at all - I realized I was trying to do heavy quilting like I'd seen on many quilts at Quiltcon - and more importantly, it wasn't at all right for this quilt.  But it was a heckuva lot of quilting and would take a heckuva a lot of time to pull out all those tiny stitches...

I thought about leaving it and just finishing the piece, I really did.  I mean, how important is this quilt?  I'd already spent so much more time on it than I had anticipated, and I do actually have other obligations to fulfill.  On the other hand, I really, really love this piece (sans the quilting, of course) and I really, really wanted the quilting to be right.  So I sighed heavily and began to pull all the stitches out.  It took over 45 minutes to undo the quilting on only one side of each square, but I took my time and pulled out every one of those suckers. And (and this part is almost miraculous to me) I actually felt grateful while I did it, because I was so glad that I could actually fix it.  After all, I wasn't in a hurry to finish it, and no, it's not important in the great scheme of things, I get that.  But when I had time, I worked on it a little bit.  To say I enjoyed it would be exaggerating, but I didn't mind it at all.  When I got too fatigued I just stopped and put it aside.  It took about a week, during which I finally figured out how I actually DID want to quilt it, and now, well - I sort of feel like it's some of my best work, ever!

But more importantly - I enjoyed creating this quilt, failures and challenges and all.  It was frustrating at times.  It took a long time.  It could have been a complete failure.  But it wasn't. And I really believe that in part it succeeded because no matter what happened, rather than allowing negativity to creep in, I just enjoyed the challenges.   I stayed calm and positive and was almost  - dare I say it?

                                              zen

Do I expect to be this way all the time from here on out?  Of course not!  I'm still me, and I'm far from enlightened.  But I'm going to try to remind myself of the joy of this experience often - especially when confronted with things that frustrate or annoy me.  Who knows - maybe in time it will become my way of handling things MOST of the time.  I think I'd like that.

***  I'll share some photos of the completed Magnetism in my next blog, I promise - it's late and I'm too tired to deal with photography right now.  Here's a look at the piece with the "all wrong" quilting, though.  I made it extra big so you could see it.  (Ugh - I still don't like it!)

Scraps or Crap? A Leftovers Dilemma

Arrgh - can't sleep so I might as well write the blog that's been rolling around my brain all week.  I want to share an idea I have gotten recently about which I am extremely proud and excited not because I'm certain it is so original, but because it is a solution to a problem I've had for a while and I'm excited about it.

You see, there are a couple of things I find challenging about being organized in my studio. One of those things is scraps, which have always been a bit of a thorn in my side.  Scraps have annoyed me because I seem to lose all logic in the face of them - I cannot seem to apply the obvious solutions, which are to donate them or to offer them to the local quilt guild. I'm not sure why these perfectly excellent solutions aren't happening, I can only say that I seem to have an unnatural attachment them and what they MIGHT become while at the same time, I hate how disorganized they are and how much space they take up in my studio most of the time when I'm not using them.  I know that there are many people who really, really use their scraps all the time.  I just don't seem to be one of them.  So there they sit all fat and wrinkled and fat, and yes, I admit, I've actually thrown a bunch on my burn pile once. But the guilt of that decision is still with me, so I won't do it again - I promise.

Then, too there is the defining of scrap - I mean, how small does a scrap have to be before it is time to throw it away?  Or is it wrong to throw any fabric away, no matter how small? And what, size-wise, is a scrap as opposed to a piece of material that should go back into my stash?  I don't want to have to wade through a bunch of small bits of fabric when I need a large one but I don't really have room for a bunch of smaller bins so all my scraps go into the same bag, which makes them messy, wrinkled and irritating...unless I find the perfect scrap when I need it which makes me happy and glad I saved it.   

In my scrap bags there are several different kinds scraps.  There are fabrics I have used in several projects that are still somewhat sizeable - maybe around a fat quarter's worth or bigger.  I don't want to use them again, but I cannot in good conscience throw them away because they are large-ish.  The second kinds of scraps are bits of material that I love so much I that I cannot bear to throw even the tiniest bit of it away because I would like to use it again, but the scraps are really pretty small, so why am I saving them?   Also in there are irregularly shaped pieces that had weird shapes cut out of them, but aren't necessarily small, just misshapen (Aren't all scraps misshapen, you might ask - yeah, but some are more odd than others). Then there's stuff I got for a specific piece that I don't have any further use for at the moment (the moment lasting about four years) but who knows, I may have use for it at a later date (although I doubt it, but still, you never know).

Again let me point out that while I'm aware of them,  I have emotional difficultly applying the obvious solutions, which even in the middle of the night make perfect sense...so instead I came up with this idea:

I have decided to cut them all into squares. At least as many of them as I can. When I am cutting for a new project, I am vowing to spend up to half an hour extra cutting the leftovers (unless there is more than a fat quarter) into squares.The squares at this point will range from six inches to one and a half inches.  Why squares, you might say...why not strips? Well, strips may be easier and faster to cut, but strips are difficult to keep from getting messy and wrinkled, whereas squares are much easier to store neatly in baggies.  And squares are very versatile, too.  A larger square can be easily turned into a different shape - a circle, a half-square triangle, a hexagon, etc.  And when I want to do a quick easy project with by nieces or nephew or a charity project, I will have squares at the ready and I/we don't have to spend so much time cutting.  I just really like the idea of having a bunch of cut up squares that I can use - whenever.  I will put them in baggies not according to color, I think, but by size.  It may make sense at a later date to do color, too, but I'll revisit that if I have to.

It will be a discipline, I know, because usually when I am cutting fabrics I am all hot and heavy to get started on the project, but hey, it's good for me to add discipline into my life wherever I can - builds character, right?  But I also think I will be glad I did it.  

Now the big question for me is what do I do with my current scrap bag?  I'm tempted to just dump it at the donation center, but I think instead I am going to go through it, pull out fabrics I like want to save and cut them into squares.  Ambitious - yes I suppose it is, but I can stubborn and single-minded when I want to be.  Whatever is left will be donated,period.  No debating with myself. 

And from now on, a new rule: in order for me to save a piece of fabric, meaning put it back into my bins, it must be at least fat-quarter sized or larger, and I must really, really like it and know that I will use it again.  If there are smallish bits that I like, I will cut it into the largest possible squares.  If I think I won't use it again, no matter how large or how lovely, I will donate it.  And I vow to donate at least every other month, that way I won't have such a large amount of stuff taking up space in my studio. And annoying me. 

While I'm at it, I'm also going to donate a bunch of things my excellent mother, who was gadget-addicted, bought.  I haven't used them in four years, so the odds are that I won't ever.  And someone else might.  It's hard to part with them for the same reason it's hard to part with scraps - you never know when they might come in handy...and, well, my mother bought them and they remind me of her...but the truth is that I like to work in a more organized space than I have at the moment.  Mother, I'm certain, understands this.  

Like I said, I am probably way late to the party - many people may already be doing exactly this, but I'm still excited about it and want to share it in case it helps anyone else who might have my weird scrap issues  (Hey, I may be late, but at least I've finally arrived!)

So I'm curious - what are your scrap solutions -what works for you, because I know everyone is different.  Please share with the group, now - you never know who you might be helping...

From EPIC FAIL to Can This Be Saved?

Two or three months ago I bought some really gorgeous, earthy toned fabrics that I loved at first sight. I didn't need them, but couldn't resist and bought them anyway.  I loved them so much I pinned them up on the wall so I could stare at them.  They hung for weeks, and I loved looking at them, but I was working on other things and couldn't get to them. 

One day as I was perusing one of my favorite blogs, The Quilting Edge, I saw a place for tutorials.  Wondering why I hadn't looked there before I, I saw one in particular that caught my eye.  One she calls, Wonky Circles. That was it - the "design" for the earth fabrics.  The instructions were clear and there were excellent pictures.  I knew the basic idea and was certain I could do it. I was so excited I dropped everything else and began pulling fabrics to coordinate.  

At the end of the first day I noticed the thing was a mess! I wasn't sure whether the fabric combinations were working out, I had not planned any placement of the squares at all and didn't really know where I was going, I couldn't seem to get the right rhythm for sewing the concentric circles. I was feeding the fabric in wrong ( I guess!) and my squares were anything but square!  They poofed out in the middle, they had lots of other pooches - frankly, they were crap! That day I was undaunted - if the squares were wonky that was fine, I was going to press them with steam and starch, and trim them down quite a bit anyway. Besides, I would get better by the second day, I was certain.   So I just forged ahead and did a lot of seam ripping, and re-sewing, but with joy, with excitement. It would come together, I was certain.  I had faith.  

However, by the end of the second day I told my husband I was considering throwing all that beautiful fabric in the trash - it stunk.  Late in the evening, I began to trim the squares (perhaps I should have waited until the next day?) and they still sucked.  I had to trim the things three times to be able to have a uniform size.  Then, even though I they looked more like water pouches than quilt squares and despite utter exhaustion, I insisted on pressing, pulling and starching the buggers; after that I still could not stop and I kept trying to arrange the voluminous squares to a pleasing state. And no, I was not zen - there was a lot of banging, pulling and cursing, although I did bring myself back to presence again and again....and again and again. And again.

Finally I forced myself to go to bed at 12:30.  As I did, I noticed all the squares being blown off the design wall by my ceiling fan.  I did not care, because I had decided to trash the entire thing.  I was just accepting what was.  And what was was that it was not.  Working out, that is.

Otherwise occupied so I couldn't work the next day, and having decided to chuck it all anyway, I was serene.  Oh well, it has to happen sometime - not everything works out, I figured. I was sad about the waste of those delicious fabrics but "OH WELL,"  I was letting go.   Still, I could not resist checking one last time on The Quilting Edge just to see if there was something I had missed.  As I sighed and stared at the perfection of Marianne's work, I noticed she had put sashing on her piece.  I am normally not a fan of sashing, but the thought crept into my brain that sashing might be a way to save the quilt.  Just MIGHT be, no guarantee.  

So I decided to try it - give it one more chance - what the heck - I really adored the colors and fabrics.  I had even (surprisingly) cleverly taken a photo of the arrangement I sort of liked with my iphone.  With the promise to myself of remaining calm and present no matter what, I  began to add sashing, cutting the sashing exactly to the correct lengths and making it fit.  And to my surprise - it began to come together!  By the end of the day, I had most of it done and OMG!  It looked good.  And even, dare I say - SQUARE!

So the thing worked after all.  I won't say it is perfect, because it ain't.  But it is - well, I'll let you judge for yourself:

I deliberately put in a large photo so as not to hide the imperfections - they exist, but I think they actually go well with the overall feel of the thing!

For me, the answer is YES!  It could be saved.  And I am so very

GRATEFUL. 

If It Ain't Broke, Take Care of It...So it Don't

Kind of scattered today; have a bad tooth that needs fixing and I think it is making me a little tired. (I have a dentist appointment on Monday, but I think I waited a little too long to address it - may end up losing the tooth - glad it is a back one!)  This morning I was thinking about how expensive it is to go to the dentist - I mean,  I've already spent a thousand dollars on this tooth, and now I have to spend more. I was quite annoyed about it, really, when I made a realization.  I have no trouble spending money on art supplies, face creams, clothes, entertainment - things I enjoy, but I don't like to spend money on my health.  Why is that?

I realized there are two reasons -one of them is because of the obscene cost of any kind of  health care, no matter how simple, even with insurance (which I  don't consider even remotely useful - it's a just-in-case thing - we have yet to meet our deductible, ever).  The other reason is because I take my good health for granted.  I expect to be healthy. I mean, the main reason we never meet our deductible is because we don't need to go to the doctor very often.  So maybe I shouldn't complain when I do. In fact, I think I should be downright grateful about it.  And - I shouldn't take good health for granted.  I mean, I do try to eat pretty healthfully most of the time and traditionally I have exercised regularly (I do sometimes go through sporadic bouts of laziness, but I always come back to exercising because frankly, I feel better and am happier when I do) but I'm going to add my good health to my gratitude list more often.

Speaking of good health, since I "retired," I realize that it is more important than ever to exercise every day, especially since I now spend so much time at my sewing machine.  Being a teacher, I walked and was on my feet at least eight hours every day, and now I spend a lot more time sitting, and as I've mentioned before, sewing can be hazardous to one's health.  I have packed on a few very unwelcome pounds in the last eight months, so in my dorkiness, I have come up with ways to counteract the perils of sitting.  (Huh! Those office people with their walking machines and standing desks have nothing on me.)   Here are a few of the sitting-related issues I've noticed and the stuff I am doing to counteract them.

First I noticed  that I am losing muscle in my stomach from hunching forward which also, by the way, leads to a sore back and rounded shoulders, which I do not like at all.  Besides doing some heinous pilates, I am trying to address this issue while I work as well.  I make a conscious effort to sit up straight and hold my stomach in when I am sewing. I constantly roll my shoulders back, too.  I even switch feet on the presser pedal because I figure that it works the lower abs just a little if I am holding them tightly and pressing on the pedal at the same time.   Sometimes I crack myself up just a little, thinking I'm so EFFICIENT and PRESENT and all, doing these silly little things, but hey, it can't hurt, can it?

Second, I stand up whenever I can. There are a lot of opportunities to stand when quilting - one can spend hours cutting, for example.  Or pulling fabrics for the next project, arranging pieces on the design wall, ironing...so that's great, but I try to find other ways to get off my duff, even for a few moments - if I need to pull stitches out, I stand up.  If I cut something, I stand.  If I need to look at a sketch, I stand.  If the phone rings, or I need to check something on the internet, I stand.  I don't know if it makes any difference, really, but I still do it

Third, I make sure that I get up every hour and do something active for at least 15 minutes, too.   Everything counts, from doing laundry to watering the yard to getting dinner started.  This has the added benefit of my actually getting some household chores done, too - I can still spend lots of time sewing and can eliminate any guilt I might possibly feel for ignoring what I admit I consider to be my responsibilities...killing two birds, you know.

I keep water by my side all day, too.  Because water is important for so many reasons.  I stretch and sometimes I even take a break and do some stupid little isometric exercises, just whenever I think about it.
These are the things I am trying to do to countermand my suddenly much more sedentary life, which I really am enjoying enormously (except for the poochy stomach, which I really believe I CAN conquer; I don't care if I am middle-aged - stomach fat is not a given, just a tendency).

In short, understanding how important it is to be active, I'm trying to fit activity in while still doing the things I really love and want to do.  As nerdy as it may sound, I think it is making a difference.   If anyone else has any ideas or tricks they do, please share - if it's not too insane, I'll probably be willing to try it.   And I'll let you know when the pooch is gone.

WIP Report

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I  finished my ode to Andy Goldsworthy triptych.  I really love them, too.  Right now they are hanging over my bed.  I've been trying to come up with something for years!  They are perfect for the spot, and Paul (hubby) loves them, too.

I also finished a summer project for my brother and his family - also three pieces, but very large (seven feet by twenty-four inches each) and designed specifically for their house.  I am super pleased with them and luckily so is Katherine (sis-in-law). I will take a photo as soon as she gets them installed.

I started a project yesterday that I am so into, I only have eight more pieces to make (out of twenty) that's how motivated I am.  It's not my original design idea,  I got it from The Quilting Edge, my favorite blog.  It kind of reminds me of Chagall's circle painting but I have these gorgeous earthy fabrics and I thought the design would work well. Not an easy sew, however; much cursing and bringing myself back to presence throughout the day occured. It's going to be worth it though, I think...Next time, however, I am going to use a different technique - this one was not fun enough to repeat.  Still,  I can see many different iterations on the theme - I just want to find a less annoying (to me, anyway) way to do it!

A Gift From a Friend

This week I am in Kansas City visiting my cousin Hoddy.  It's been a great trip for many reasons, one being that my best friend since kindergarten also happens to live here, so I've been able to have fun with both of them although I admitted to them that I felt a little torn between two lovers, wanting to see both of them as much as possible - what a nice dilemma to have!   But the main reason I came at this time was to visit Hoddy and her family.

Hoddy is fifteen years younger than I, and grew up in San Francisco, CA.  I moved to the Bay area when she was eight, and she and her family are very special to me as they were very much supportive and loving during a time when I literally had no friends or money or idea of what the heck I was doing out in the world.  Over six feet tall, smart, fun and beautiful, Hoddy is a powerhouse of positive energy.  When I first moved to California, she spend a lot of time turning cartwheels in the living room of her flat and perfecting her considerable dance moves.  She then went on to play volleyball at William and Mary, attend law school, marry her college sweetheart, land a job at a top law firm in SF, have three children, and then move to Kansas and start two businesses (the BAR Method exercise studios - look it up, it's fabulous) here in Kansas.  In the space of three years, her businesses are not only successful, they are a lovely gathering place with an upbeat, energetic and caring atmosphere where (I can tell) true friendships and bonds are being formed.  That's because the Bar Method is her bliss - and it shows!  Not only does she give it her love, attention, and energy, she gets so much out of it as well.

And at the moment, Hoddy really needs every ounce of energy she can get, because she is using up a lot of her enormous well of it to battle cancer.  She was diagnosed with Stage IV lymphoma in February.   I came to Kansas to visit, give moral support, and help Hoddy, but I feel I've come away with far more than I have given and I want to share some of the things I've learned from my fabulous cousin.  She is attacking the evil disease on every possible front and I for one, really believe there is no possible chance it has against her aggressive and really, quite creative methods of fighting it.

First of all, she is taking the conventional approach.  She has just finished her sixth (and I believe her last) round of chemo.   I look at her and I am frankly, amazed at that fact.  I mean,  I know she has been through chemo because I sat with her through her last appointment, but she sure doesn't look or act like anyone I've ever seen on chemo.  Her color is great, her energy (while it is lower than she likes and is frustrating to her) is far higher than plenty of people who have never even taken chemo, and yes, she may be bald, but she's still lovely.

And I think I know why.  You see, when Hoddy found out she had serious cancer, she began to research.  The first area she looked into was food  She doesn't eat any inflammatory foods (such as dairy).  She does eat a lot of alkaline foods like kim chee and sauerkraut and she takes a spoonful of apple cider vinegar a couple of days a week.  She also eats no, absolutely no sugar (because cancer likes sugar).  She drinks green tea, she takes oil of cannabis, she eats a ton of antioxidant rich foods, and she is 100 percent organic (although she was already mostly organic for the last few years before the diagnosis, I must admit).  She also takes herbs that really help her with her blood counts, and drinks a ton of water (some of it infused with chlorophyll and lemon for their alkalizing properties).  She also fasts for 24 hours before and the entire day of her chemos, because the rate of absorption of the medicines is much higher when the cancer cells are hungry.  (When people ask her how she can do that, she says "I'm highly motivated.")

The next thing she does is acupuncture.  Not just for the effects of the chemo, but also to help her body be strong and fight the disease.  She does an infrared sauna a few days a week.   She works out and takes walks, even when she is tired, because it makes her feel better.  She spends time with her children - yesterday she took them swimming after school and she gets up early every morning so she and her husband get them a good healthy breakfast and a good start to their day.  In other words, she lives her daily life as much as she possibly can.

Hoddy does rest of course; she has to let the chemo do the work. But let's face it, chemotherapy is hardly therapeutic - it's entire purpose is to poison a person within a hairsbreadth of their life - she has to rest whether she wants to or not.  So sometimes she rests.

Another front she does battle on is addressing the emotional issues associated with being diagnosed with cancer at age thirty-three.  She sees a therapist, she meditates, she's just started going to an energy worker (similar to acupuncture but a little more spiritual).  When she's feeling down, she'll get a facial or a massage or pedicure - something that makes her feel relaxed.  She spends time with her friends when she can, and she lets them help her - something that is not easy for her to do, but she knows she would want to do the same for them and she knows she needs them right now.  She's scared, no doubt, but she is trying really hard to live in the moment, to do what she can do and let go of the rest.  It's possibly the hardest of all the battles, accepting that this is real and dealing with the unknowns, but Hoddy is valiantly staying the course, communicating, asking and receiving.

As I've said, I'd be hard-pressed to imagine anyone who is fighting harder or doing more to beat cancer than Hoddy.  And her energy and moxie and her creative, eclectic approach to this disease is inspiring to me in countless ways.  She is the epitome of giving life one's all.  I hope with all my being that I have been able to give her some comfort and love and joy on this trip but this I know: I will go home forever changed and inspired by what my brave and beautiful cousin has given me.

  So -  thanks from every part of my being for being, Hoddy Potter.  And Namaste, baby.  Namaste.

Flying By the Seat of One's Pants

Recently I took a webinar with Cheryl Arkison  It was sooo fun and informational - she's terrific!  I sort of fell in love with her for several reasons - one of which is because she drinks beer while she sews - but also, she's so talented and creative, and - she basically took away my guilt for wanting to work on more than one piece at a time.  She said she has about thirty works in progress right now, and that sometimes a piece is speaking to you at this moment, and sometimes you have to put it away for a while and start something else and get back to it later. And Oh man, I so agreed!  It was so freeing, so now I'm going to work on whatever I feel like in the moment, not slog away until I finish something (unless I have a deadline, of course, or I want to.)  

Anyway, I've had this idea loosely based on Andy Goldsworthy sculptures floating around in my head for a while but being me, I hadn't started it because i was working on other stuff.   Today, however,  decided to take Cheryl's advice and start it even though I'm not finished with my current project.  "This is thing that is speaking to me today and besides, it's so simple," I thought," I can finish the entire top in one day probably, and then I'll go back to my current project..."

 Let's just say I was a little wrong.  Just for fun, I'm going to share my day and the process of improvising this quilt, as it turned out rather differently than I anticipated.  

Here is the original sketch, which was made a few weeks ago.  I liked, but didn't love it. 

Then I did these, which I liked better.

After thinking and staring and drawing some more, I decided to do a triptych - type piece using three different colors for the nests and for the twigs.  Since I knew the rough idea, I decided to pull the fabrics first. 

 I was shocked when I realized this step had taken about two (very enjoyable, fabric-fingering) hours.   No worries - the rest was going to go really fast.  Or so I thought...

Suddenly I realized I didn't have a background color.  I didn't think white would be right.  I toyed with dark brown, dark blue, dark green - but I didn't have big enough pieces of any of those colors at home.  So I went to town and stared at fabric for a while, something which is also very enjoyable.  I found a beautiful sky blue, but I didn't want it to be the entire background, so I added a kind of rough cotton in a beige-y off white that looked great with it.  

When I got home, I went back to sketching.   I decided to have a sloping "sky" with the earthy beige on the bottom. 

This is the final sketch (I think).   Looks pretty simple, huh?  Not so fast.  I now needed to decide how big to make the squares.  Eighteen inches seemed great, so I cut one beige and one blue, made a random cut through the center of each and sewed it together. It looked good!   I then wanted to see how big the nest in the center should be, so I quickly cut some circles. They were too big so I had to cut all of them down.  Did I want them in the center of each block, or randomly placed?  I decided the center, and all the same size, although I still have to decide if I want them perfectly centered in each other or a little off kilter (Later, later, I'm not there yet - see what I mean about many decisions!?).  

I picked up the greens and began to cut snippets from the the edges, just to see how it was going to look.  I still hadn't figured out the exact construction; at the time I was thinking I would do the slice and insert thing and then do appli-piecing for the nest.  But I wanted to see how it was going to look against the background first.  It was rough, but I was liking it.  I actually really liked the unevenness of the green pieces so I decided I want the snippets to be more like branches - not the same width from end to end (they look more nest-y that way).   I couldn't figure out how to do that with the slice and insert (without driving myself mad, that is) so I decided to do rough edge applique, although I am not a huge fan of applique (don't know why, just am not). 

Once I finally got the block set up I really wanted to put the square on my design wall so I could stare at it, but the individual snippets would not stick to the fabric!  So  I ended up putting it on the floor and staring at it from my lofty, almost six-foot height. 

I liked it, but at that point, I realized that eighteen inches was just too small; I would have to make the squares larger. (Don't know why the beige looks so pink in this picture, but it's not pink at all, just fyi.)

Back to the cutting board. 

The new squares are twenty-one and a half inches, roughly.  I almost didn't have enough fabric to do it after cutting so much for practice - that would have really been annoying (If I still got annoyed that is, which, what with my being so zen and all, I hardly ever do!) 

At this point it was five o'clock.   I would have liked to continue working, but dinner had to be made, the garden had to be watered, my blog had to be written...and I was ever so slightly cranky - from having to make so many decisions and not getting to any actual sewing!    The only other thing I got done today was to back the green fabrics with Steam A Seam (a rather boring task - I practiced not thinking, being mindful - it helped).   

Here's what I actually physically completed today, although I see that I am going to have to pull the stitches and fix it as well, so - not really complete, oh well.

So surprise, surprise - my simple design turns out to be a damn sight more complicated in the actual doing.  It turns out that there are lots and lots of decisions that have to be made when one is flying by the seat of one's pants!  I surely do hope it turns out to be the beautiful piece I'm envisioning because it certain is NOT simple and easy to make.

  I know, I know - I'm supposed to be focused on the DOING, not the outcome - but OY!  When I stop and re-read all that and I realize that most of my creating is done in the same manner,  I'm surprised I get anything completed, ever!  I must like it though because, like I said - I kind of do it all the time!

Still, it was a good day.  Although very little sewing got done, at least I know where I'm going with this.  I'm tempted to say the next part should go fairly quickly, but  I learned enough from today not to say or even think it! 

The biggest challenge, of course, was to remain present and calm, which I'm happy to say I basically did.  It's good to know that I accomplished SOMETHING, anyway.  

You Do the Math!

I wish I had paid more attention in my math classes.  I distinctly remember saying many times over in my high school  “I’m never going to use this stuff anyway – what a waste of my time!”  (Sorry for my shitty attitude, high school math teachers, for the record, I was SO wrong!)  What I don’t get is how I managed to make straight A’s in math at the time?!  Go figure!  (And yes, that pun was intended.) Now I really wish I could remember how to do some of that stuff, because believe it or not, I find I often need (gasp) MATH for some of my designs. 

Naturally I would prefer to have a computer program that would do the math for me, but so far I haven’t found one that does what I need it to.  Not that I have looked very hard – yet.  But after the latest issues I’ve had, I may begin a search in earnest. 

It all started with the usual – my getting an idea for a design that I had no earthly idea how to put together.  Here is the original sketch. 

After dutifully drawing it on graph paper, with a scale of 1 square equals 2 inches (It sure looks all official and math-y to me!)

I still didn’t know how to figure out the exact dimensions of the side triangles (I was pretty sure it wouldn't work out to count them diagonally...) But I wasn't concerned about that yet because... 

First I had to think for a moment on how to actually construct it.  Even though it’s a simple graphic design, putting it together was not so obvious to me right at first (Yes, I readily admit to being spatially challenged!)  I decided to construct the middle triangles first,

 then add the one-inch strip of white to the sides of the triangles, (these blue triangles below are not sewn together yet, they just look like it)

So far, so good, right?  But now I could no longer put off figuring out the dimensions of the yellow triangles.   How hard could it be?  I knew the length of the one side by measuring the while pieces on the sides, and I knew it was a right angle, and I knew how wide it had to be from the skinny part of the triangle to the edge if the quilt - at least I thought I did, but I still felt unsure.   

 SoI tried to draw it on an online quilting program but there was no tool for just drawing a straight line and then getting the measurements. 

I thought and thought some more and suddenly the math fairy came to me and reminded me of the Pythagorean theorem: A squared + B squared = C squared.  Only every time I did it, it didn't seem right, and I was scared to cut the triangle and have it not fit and then have to cut more strips and sew them again. 

In the end I decided to forget about trying to be all scientific and just fly by the seat of my pants, like I always do.  I would sew strips of fabric together, then sew it to the side of the triangle and cut it to fit.  No problem, I thought – I have carefully sewn the middle and it should be easy to use the straight sides to use as edges for cutting the triangles. 

What a disaster.   After sewing it together twice, it is still all wonky and I had to stop for the night lest I lose all my ability to remain even the tiniest bit zen due to massive Frustration!  

I was showing it to my husband, and I got the brilliant (we’ll see) idea to measure each triangle down the middle and cut the bottom of the side triangle to that exact specification, (I already know the one side is the correct length as it is sewn on and trimmed) That should straighten it out.  I was too tired to do it last night, but I’m going to take out all the stitches and try it this morning.  I’ll let you know how it goes…I may end up yet cutting and sewing more strips, but I’m resigned to the idea – I really like this design and I’m going to (cheerfully, dammit) make it work.

This whole thing goes to show that I really need a book, a class or (and this is my favorite scenario) a computer program that will do the measuring for me.  All I would have to do is draw the design into the program and it will not only add the seam allowances and tell me the exact measurements, but will also calculate the fabric needs as well.  If such a program exists and doesn’t cost too much, somebody PLEASE  tell me, because my art brain and my math brain do not match up at this point and it’s testing my ability to be - you know -   

Zen!

Too Much!

So I'm here in California, helping my husband go through his parents' house.  Let me tell you, there is an awful lot of stuff here.  More than it would seem possible to fit in a house, I mean. Literally every nook and cranny is filled with (well, to put it nicely) detritus.  Naturally it's gotten me to thinking about stuff.
First of all, let me say how very much I loved my in-laws.  They were very loving and accepting of me, and always good to me, and I enjoyed knowing them very much.  They are missed.  They were children of the depression, who had little to begin with but through tooth-gritting hard work managed to not only survive but to build up their "fortunes" to the point that they never had to worry about retirement, or any other issue, as they aged.   They were able to do exactly what they wanted to do, and were able to be independent, and not a burden to their children in their old age.  I considered them both a success and also people whose characters were worth emulating.
That said, there is a burden left over for their children, and that is the sheer mountains of stuff that has to be looked at and disposed of.  My father-in-law, whom we called Sir, was in the building trades for most of his life.  He would bring home any and all building materials that were offered to him.  There are tens of thousands of nails, 60 years worth of rotten wood, buckets and buckets of plumbing supplies, wires, fasteners, scads of doodads and whatnots that he never actually found use for in his basement. It's overwhelming just to go down there, let alone to try to package it all up and do something with it.  In his backyard there is such an accumulation of pipes, wood, old equipment that doesn't run anymore that I was joking to my husband that we might find a dead body buried under the years and years of accumlated tree droppings which couldn't be cleaned up because there was just too much STUFF all over the yard! It was over a foot deep!  Really!  And being in the apartment business, my father-in-law would literally pull scads and scads of books out of the dumpster, and he never ever said "no" when someone who was moving out his apartment offered him some furniture.  They must own a hundred lamps (all of them ugly) not to mention side tales, chairs, and other furniturial odds and ends.
Now Maw and Sir didn't take these things because they were greedy, or even because they were pack rats ( although arguably, Sir was a pack rat).  They took them because they didn't like things to go to waste.  They believed in reduce, reuse, recycle long before it was politically correct to do so.  The only problem was that Sir was absolutely certain he would have use for 450 light switch covers some day...He had some ichthymal ointment that was still unused, in it's original wrapping from the 1950's, in his bathroom.  He had a hair trimmer that my husband said had to date from 1955 - he said he remembered his mother cutting his and his brothers' hair with it throughout the years - that he still kept in the original box.  There are between twenty and thirty telephones, some so antique they are, I believe, from before his time (he was born in 1923). He just couldn't let go of any of it.  I remember the days before we moved to Texas, Sir going into the basement determined to get rid of some of the things he had down there - he called it agonizing reappraisal.  But he never was able to let any of it go, even though by then he definitely knew he couldn't use any of if anymore.  So now all his spaces are filled with it and it all has to go.  
So what is my point in relaying this to you - well, it's twofold.   First, we need to be thoughtful about how much stuff we accept into our lives.  The truth is, we need so much less than what we have already, and even if we might need it in the future, it's better not to store it in our homes for years and years.  My rule for clothes is if I haven't worn it in a year, it goes, period.  It's harsh, I know and sometimes it's hard for me to let go, just because whatever it is is still good, but in reality, I won't miss it if I'm not using it regularly.  I have not followed this rule with other things in my life...but the reality is, I should.  Because it's just stuff, and believe me, you don't take it with you and your kids will have to deal with it if you don't and it can be really problematic for them. (For example, we just spent two weeks getting rid of things in three houses and frankly haven't made much of a dent, so much so that we are definitely going to have to go back for at least another month, which disrupts our lives enormously.  And the truth is, no one in the family wants any of it, but we feel obligated to make sure that it goes to the right place - recycle, hospice, etc.  For the first time in my life I have actually fantasized about committing arson!)
The second point is that I believe having too many things in our lives inhibits our creativity.  When we have too much, we not only cannot see it, we also cannot experience it.  Sure, creating takes materials, but if we have too many, we miss so many possibilities because it's just too overwhelming for our senses and brains to make use of all of it at once. 
 I read a quote recently that I really liked recently that said something like this: "Anyone can make things more complicated, but it takes real genius to simplify things."  (Sorry I can't attribute it, I can't remember where I read it!)  And having too much stuff, even to create with, does complicate things.  
 I'm not telling people they should go through and throw everything out, mind you.( I read this article one time written by a guy who made it his mission to have only 100 things in his possession.   Talk about ruthlessness -  I decided I don't want to be that austere!)  I'm simply saying that I, for one, am going to get rid of some things I have that I don't use, and from now on, I really am going to think twice, maybe three times, before I buy something that isn't a necessity (and that includes face and wrinkle creams, to which I am addicted).  I'm going to be a more mindful consumer - I like so much, so many things, but I don't need to have them in order to enjoy them.  I need to experience them, not own them.
So - my goal is to purge all the stuff in my life that I don't use or need, and that includes art materials, too.  I inherited a lot and I've added to it, and it's just too much - I'm not going to use it all and I know it.  Some of the things I have I've never used once - they are gone! (metaphorically at this point) 

 I'll keep you posted on my progress as I go along - it's good to have someone keep me honest.

CREATION UPDATE:

I haven't sewn in a couple of weeks, but I did do a little painting - too busy to do much.  Here is all I had time to do:

 I'm really itching to get back at it...Got several projects I'm so excited to begin.  Alas, I have my nephew's wedding this weekend, so I probably don't have time to begin anything just now...of course that doesn't mean I won't - sometimes I can't stop myself!   
  

Don't Stop and Smell the Roses

I've been spending time with Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey lately -  not personally, of course - in the form of meditation.  I've always wanted to practice meditation but never took/made the time to do it.  I've been practicing it for nineteen days straight, and I have to say, I feel transformed by it.  No matter where life takes me from now on, meditation is going with me.  So imagine my confusion when this morning my other teacher, Eckhart Tolle talked about meditation and actually made fun of it! I was crushed, but I continued to listen nonetheless, and I think I understand now what he was saying. It's like the Godfather syndrome -  going to church every Sunday and then spending the rest of the week cheating, lying, stealing and hurting other people. Luckily, unlike Vito Corleone, I do feel it carrying over - somehow spending that 30 minutes every day reminds me to be more present all day. So for me, it's worth it.

What does medtation have to do with creativity?  Well, a lot, actually.  But before I explain, let me share another, related practice I've been doing, too.  Recently I realized I've missed a lot of things in my life, visually. Why? Well, my theory is twofold - one, I just haven't been present in the moment - I haven't taken time to really look at my surroundings and really soak up where I am because I've spent too much time interpreting it - labeling, thinking about it, and thinking about other things while I looked at it.  Now I'm more present every day, and I see, hear and feel things I never did before - I take a lot more in, wherever I am, because I'm just being, rather than thinking and interpreting all the time.

The second part of my theory is a brain thing.  I've had very poor vision since I was a young girl.  I'm convinced that as my brain developed, it just didn't get trained to connect to my eyes as much because they weren't that effective, and so I didn't form some connections that people with better sight did, which means I just don't actually notice what I see as much.  What I mean is that I see the big picture, but my brain doesn't necessarily register the details. Here's an example: On a hike and my husband and son saw a snake in a creek.  They tried and tried to point it out to me, but no matter how they described where to look,  I could not see it!  To them it was so obvious, they couldn't figure out how I could miss it but my eyes or brain simply didn't register it.  This scenario happens quite often.  

Since I've formed this theory, I have been going on what I call noticing walks - just trying to notice details. I keep them very short, because it's not about distance, it's about noticing things - really taking in the shapes of the trees or the birds, or the different types of grasses growing around them.  It's more than seeing things, actually - it's experiencing them. There's a deep sense of fulfillment, wonder and gratitude that arises from these walks- I quite like it!

Also, I'm testing out another idea I have - you see, I believe that even at my age (49), I can still form new connections in my brain.  So on my walks,  I'm trying to retrain it to see, to notice more. Not only do I think this is just plain good for my brain's elasticity as I age,  I'm also quite certain it will make me a better artist, a better writer, and most importantly, it will make me more present, more noticing,  in every situation.

So that's the link -  experiencing things in this way makes me feel strongly connected to my creative self and the creativity of the universe, to nature, to God, even to my family. I feel energized and exhilarated by it. And the cool thing is that I don't have to be surrounded by nature to do it - I can do it everywhere - in the midst of a city, on a night walk, heck, just sitting in my living room I can notice things I haven't before.  I still may not be seeing everything other people see, but I know that through meditation and "noticing walks" I'm experiencing more than I did before.  And I have no doubt that this will lead to more creativity and ideas.  Another benefit stronger clarity and focus, even when I'm doing things that I might have considered tedious before.  And even more beneficial, I feel like I'm actually gaining patience, which (as I pointed out in a recent blog), is still a developing skill for me.

So forget about stopping and just just smelling the roses - I'm going to experience them!

My Latest Project:

This is a quilt I call "Objects on the Bookshelf." that I made from leftover pieces of fabric from "Read Between the Lines."  It's a fun little piece, and I love that I made it from scraps!  I'm going to miss these prints - I had a lot of fun with them!   I'll be going on the quilting wagon for a couple of weeks - I may soon be experiencing serious withdrawal.  But -  I plan to replenish my creative well by visiting art galleries and being in nature as much as I can.  I'm going to take pictures, make sketches, and work on some other things I've neglected.  Who knows what inspiration may strike!  

Fun for All

It's the week of the Blogger's Quilt Festival - Hooray!   Guess I better get ready to sit on my petootie for a while! I LOVE looking at all the quilts, and I LOVE finding new blogs to add to my growing list of blogs, but my backside does not love all the time I spend in my BAC (Big-Ass-Chair) with my laptop.  Too bad for it - one must take inspiration when it is offered! 

The quilt I'm entering today is called Nebula. This piece ,inspired by movement, has existed in my sketch book for at least five years - maybe longer.   Don't know why it's been on the back burner for so long, but it's been secretly calling to me for all that time.  Periodically I would come across it and think "Why have I not made this yet - I love it!" only to put in back in the book and not make it for some reason or another, which I cannot explain, really.  

A couple of months ago, with my new-found freedom and time, I got the sketch out to show to my sister and others, and their lack of enthusiasm for it only made me all the more determined to do it - I knew it was going to turn out beautifully!   In fact, I love it so much, I'm going to make a similar one (it may take another five years, but that's okay!)

Here it is, blowing in the never ending wind off my front porch - I like this photo because it really shows the quilting.  

And here is another, calmer picture taken inside:

So it's a little abstract, but I think it really captures the feeling of movement - kind of like a storm, or under the ocean.  And my sister loves  the finished product, by the way.  Just goes to show ya, you should listen to your inner creative voice, because not everyone can see what you see in your mind until the thing is done.  

Thanks to everyone who participated and shared in the Blogger's Festival!  It really is so much fun for all!

So Over It

Finally!  I just finished a project I've been working on for several weeks..  I took my time, tried for perfection, and I'm pretty satisfied with the results.  Except...

I'm so over it.   I really didn't expect to feel that way with this particular project - when I first began it, I was thinking it might be one of my best designs so far, that maybe I could enter it in QuiltCon 2015 because it was that cool and graphic.  I even had to use math to make sure I had enough material to make it, which took a calculator, an entire afternoon, and scads and scads of paper. But I persevered and remained excited throughout the process.  It's just that now that it's complete, for some reason, it doesn't seem nearly as cool as I thought it was anymore. I don't know if I'm disappointed in the piece itself, or if I'm just DUNZO!

This kind of letdown feeling happens a lot to me at the end of a big project.  I think (and hope, too) it may be because I've been so obsessed with it for so long, and it takes so much energy, drive, and time (not to mention patience) to make it happen, that when I'm finally finished I think "Eh.  Is this what all the fuss was about?" The piece itself is exactly as I pictured it, it looks just like the sketch, which I adored and could hardly wait to get started on, so what's my problem?    Do I need the damn thing to suddenly animate and dance a jig while singing 'I feel pretty, oh so pretty...'  or give me a hug and say, "Thanks for creating me, Mom." 

It's not as though I don't like it, I really do.  I still think it's cool and graphic, and I may still enter it into a quilt show or two, but I don't get that thrill I got from it every time I successfully added a group of lines to it.    

The fault doesn't lie with the finished piece, it's mine.  I am, I suppose, all about the creating, not the creation.  What keeps me going is the creating itself, and even though I may like or even love what I create,  I  I just don't need it anymore, I guess - I'm already moving on to the next idea.  

Poor art!  Its's a good thing they don't have feelings - I'd be like the Octo-Quilt Mom - once I have the things, I don't really want them anymore.  At least not for a while. The good news is that what usually happens is that I'll set it aside for a while, and then when it hasn't been in my face, clamoring for my attention in a while, I'll see it with new eyes, and I'll fall in love with it all over again.  Or not.  I learned a lot during the creation of this piece, as I do everything I create. It's now a part of me, and I may use the information again the exact same way, or I may "tweak" it next time - who knows?  It doesn't really matter, because it's all about the journey, anyway.

So "Au Revoir" quilt, into the finished pile you go.  I'll know after you've been away for a while if I still love you the way I thought I did.     

Here it is, by the way.  

It's called "Read Between the Lines."  And see - it's worthy! (Don't want it to have poor self esteem.)  

And Now for a Moment of Un-Zen

If you throw a fit like a crazed lunatic and no one is around to hear you, do you still make an ass of yourself?  I'm gonna have to say yes.  So it's no surprise  but it turns out that I am anything but Zen. I'm terribly disappointed in exactly how far from it I am, in fact, but I feel I must fess up and face my undignified behavior, in the hopes that someone else out there can somehow learn from my failure to remain calm, productive and most importantly, present, in the face of frustration.  

A month or so ago, you might remember that  I was lamenting in this blog on my lack of modern quilt design ideas.  I realized I can't force what kind of inspiration I get, and should just be glad to have any (or so many) ideas, regardless of how they might be classified on the quilting rubric.  Then one night I was suddenly jarred awake by the inspiration for not just one, but two graphic and mod quilts - hooray!  Naturally I was very excited to get started on them, so throwing aside my current project, I began my new, modern one.  The design is deceptively simple, seemingly only complicated by my lack of math and spatial skills...perhaps it should have been a warning that I had to spend several, several hours calculating and figuring, but in the end  I was kind of proud of myself when I finally got the exact configuration and lengths with no help from husband or son.  It's a very linear piece, which I know is difficult to sew accurately so I told myself at the beginning that I was going to take it very slowly, that I was going to cheerfully pull out stitches when I needed to and that I was was going to, above all, enjoy the process and not focus on the outcome.  

Days One through Three went very, very well - I was really enjoying myself, despite routinely having to rip out and re-do about about a quarter of my stitches.  I did note on Day Four that perhaps I was was spending too energy attempting perfection,  because the more I tried, the more I had to rip out vast amounts of stitches.  I figured I was out of alignment with the moment, and I decided not to pursue flawlessness so relentlessly and Viola! suddenly I found I was making far fewer mistakes.  

By then, however,  I was exhausted from trying to not become frustrated, so even though I only had two or three more rows to sew, I decided to stop.  I was too busy to work the next day, which I figured was good, because I had ALMOST become angry and frustrated on Day Four and I figured I could regroup and recover my zen anyway so that the last day ( I actually figured it would just be an hour or two of work, tops) would be smooth and frustration-free.  Also, I've noticed that often near the end of a project (pretty much any kind of project, not just art-related) I tend to make more mistakes for some reason which I have yet to fathom, so again, I thought not being able to work for a day would help avoid that issue...oy, was I wrong!

When I finally sat down to finish the piece up, everything went wrong from the very start.  I literally had to rip out every seam I sewed that day - some of them twice.  (Remember, I only had about eight seams to sew left, total but I had already been working four and a half hours and had only completed three)   I could feel the frustration boiling, but I tried to remain present and be in alignment with the moment... "Just be calm, just take your time.  Carrie - your aren't in a hurry.  You want to do this right.  It's okay to rip out this seam again, don't be frustrated, it's the process, Carrie...Carrie...CARRIE!  Stop being upset, don't curse, calm down...AAAAAAGH!  I can't stop it I'm furious what the hell is going on here?  How can this be wrong? I checked and double checked it, I pinned the hell out of it- what is the matter with me, how can this possibly be wrong?!"  (CURSE, CURSE, BLOODCURDLING, PRIMORDIAL SCREAM...BAM, BAM, BAM - OUCH, THAT HURT! I'M OFFICIALLY OUT OF CONTROL, I MUST WALK AWAY. WHY AM I SO ANGRY (OUCH MY HAND HURTS) I NEED TO STOP NOW!  OKAY, OKAY, I'M WALKING AWAY. I'M calming down now a little. O god - I cannot believe I just did that..."

Storm passed now, in pain, and appalled, my thoughts continued:

"Oh s#@&, I'm truly insane!  Where's the straightjacket - I'll put myself in it!   Thank god no one saw that (but I actually looked around furtively to ensure that no one was around).  "But what if my father actually heard me scream like that from his house a mile away (it turns out he was in town that morning anyway). It might have killed him!  Would I have acted that way if the boys were home (no, not that out of control I'm certain, but it was scant comfort as I still did do it).  Did I forget to take my hormones (never, but that would have at least been an excuse...not a good one, but still, an excuse...) I really can't remember the last time I threw a fit like that, unless it was when I was two and scared of my allergy shots...so my mental maturity is that of a toddler? Lord, help me!"  

Finally completely humiliated and sad:

"Well, I am certainly failing in my quest for spiritual growth and awakening, aren't I.  Probably I'll never get there at all.  Maybe I'm just too far gone for that, I should just give up. I guess I'm just doomed to be an unholy, unhappy mess for the rest of my life.  Maybe I'll do better in the next life...God, I SUCK!"

Yep, it really happened like that.  I'm not exaggerating.  Unfortunately.  After taking a lunch break, I made myself go up there and survey the carnage.  (It actually wasn't too bad; even in the depths of my transformation into the Incredible Ass, I knew I had no fabric to waste.)  I even put the thing together and finished the top, calm now and able to see the problem and fix it.

I'm not proud of it, though.  And I certainly can't explain my sudden inability to summon even the most rudimentary bit of wisdom and self-control, either.  The weird truth is that even though I practice spirituality daily, I've noticed myself acting out of character a lot lately (just not, thankfully, on this absurd scale) as if instead of making progress, I'm actually moving backwards, spiritually.   Again, inexplicable.  And a little disheartening, not to mention SCARY. I literally didn't know I had that in me! 

The only solace I can take from this is the thought that I really don't think I would have done it if there were anyone within hearing.  This and the fact that no one actually was within hearing. 

And can you believe it - I really LOVE this piece!  Ha - you'd think I would hate it, huh?  But  It's one of my all time favorites!  Go figure.

I sincerely hope I've learned something from it, although I haven't yet cracked that nut.  My sweet husband said "You can't be perfect all the time, Carrie."  As if I'm ever even remotely in the same universe with perfection - huh!  I appreciated the words of support, but I thank goodness he wasn't around to witness it - he might feel a little differently if he'd seen it for himself.

I also don't know why I am compelled to share this moment of shame, (hope it's not the Catholic guilt coming back - I've worked hard to banish that) because I am truly saddened and appalled by it.  While I'm realistic to the fact that it's highly likely that there will be many more moments of frustration in my life, and that I won't always be able to handle them in the manner I wish I would, I at least hope to not repeat this sort of unfathomable, disproportionate response again, ever.  

  And now back to our regularly scheduled zen...