Thursday, August 27, 2009

A Tired Post

Wow, this week feels like it has been a long one. We are having an exhausting and exhaustive time around here. It started with a nice anniversary and I have to say a big thank you for the lovely wishes sent our way. They made the day feel special, even though it was fairly standard, except for the three movies we sat through.

Sunday feels long gone, by Monday I was slammed at work, Tuesday we had school appointments and paperwork, and then family arrived later in the day from Holland. My lovely cousin Ester and my uncle Bill are here to clear up some paperwork and they made it into a short visit. I am so glad we are part of their trip as I have never had a chance to know this part of my family. It is made extra special by the fact that she is expecting her first child and we have had a great time talking about the joys and challenges of parenthood. And now I can expect to knit for a little one that will actually have need of thick wool sweaters.

As wonderful as it is to have company, it adds into the mix of chaos and I feel myself dragging along a bit, tired and red eyed. I could blame it on the smoke hazing Southern California right now, but more likely it is due to lack of rest. It seems when things get manic, I do too, so I found myself Tuesday rifling through stash fabric and cutting out large pieces to sew into a modified beach blanket. I saw a version on Soulemama, and though I do not own the book, I liked the idea of having a go-to-the-outside blanket.

Just a note :: I do love the fact that there are so many choices in books created by bloggers I follow, but it seems like they are starting to reach a point of saturation. There are so many wonderful ways to create and inspire and share and I appreciate all the efforts made by each writer, but I am finding the projects all start to blur. I have been a little disappointed in some of the books I pre-ordered and did not take the time to find and scan prior to purchase. I have so many books I rarely even open lately, so I have sworn off the accumulation of any more, at least in the craft area. Well, at least for the time being. Until the next big thing comes along. Again.

beach blanket in progress
Anyways, back to the blanket. Simple large rectangles, 33 by 18, sewn into a larger rectangle and yet to be joined to a backing as I have to go find a thrifted sheet or something. I took it today because I like the way it looks and wanted to use it ASAP. It seems I have no compunction against using a half finished sewn object in public. And it worked just fine for now. And it will likely languish with the other half finished projects until I can get some sleep, some centering and some way to organize all these projects that I keep starting and forgetting to complete.

The great thing about the week has been beach trips (even though today there was frightening boiling surf at Laguna) and family dinners and getting re-acquainted with the school director who happens to know my parents. Which brings this rambling post back to the thing present in my mind...
unlimited sand play

School! Next week it starts and it dawned on me that when we drop them off, they will stay there for three hours and we will come home and and and...have three hours to do stuff. Tim can work on his wood shop, I can craft (and clean, yeah right). We could nap (sure 930 is a little early, but whatever). I am aiming at leaving their school days open so I can work in the class room as needed, but non-work days will be wide open. Wow. Feeling a little floored by this realization.
favorite place :: the curb

And more than a little excited. But also very very tired. G'night, all.
car nap
I have to go do some of this.

3 comments:

LauraC said...

Yay for school! Can not wait to hear how you like it.

Preeti said...

Big step for all of you - WOW!!

Katie said...

Hello! It was so nice to hear from you. I've had such a hectic summer, that I've been become bad and keeping in touch, oops! Unfortunately I'm not fully in California yet, one more year in Boston to finish up my degree, and then we'll see where we go. So it's another long year of back and forth visits, but hopefully it'll pass quickly.

And enough about me, I love your improvised Soulemama beach blanket. I've been craving some sewing projects and even some modern blankets/quilts... just as soon as I'm in the same city as my sewing machine:-).

Good luck with the start of school and all that free crafting time!