THIS AND THAT - ODDS AND ENDS

These lovely tulips were brought to me on Saturday by a friend and neighbour - very timely - we're all longing for spring!

I have been too busy lately - and have neglected to post as often as I should. I'm embarassed to say, too, that I still owe you all another instalment on the Sea Creatures tutorial, and promise to work on it this week. I have some new ideas there for you - we'll look at finishing it in two possible versions - each very different from the other.
In addition to quilting like crazy on the Flying Geese quilt, I have been taking inventory on all the good stuff I have squirreled away in Rubbermaid totes. I now have a good idea of how much is too much on the fabric front and also am about ready to make a list of all the various vintage kits I own, and set prices on them - my daughter will not be a happy camper if this job eventually falls to her, so there's no time like the present to get on with it. Spring cleaning is in the air!
On top of that myself and a co-conspirator are drafting a policies and procedures manual for an organizaton we both serve as members of the board of directors; and as well, I am writing some of the editorial content for another local organization's revised website. Not enough hours in the day and I must get the flying geese quilt finished as soon as possible.
I've also been trying to keep abreast of all the blogs I follow and checked back to
Jeana Kimball's website which also has Jeana's blog and her "Sewing Room" link.
She has a lot to tell us that she has clearly thought through very carefully - she talks about hand quilting and hand applique, the current popularity of art quilts, machine quilting and applique and fabric painting and embellishment.
I have been thinking along these lines recently too - about fads and fashions and where it leads me as an artisan and artist.
I had jumped on the stashbusting bandwagon and to the extent that it helped me to look at my collections of patterns and fabrics and vintage stuff - this is very good. On the other hand I went for a couple of months there, not looking at new fabric lines, not window shopping and definitely not buying. It didn't work - I fell off the wagon bigtime and purchased in the last month quite a lot of new fabric and patterns. I have come to the conclusion that in order to keep my creative juices flowing I need to have actual new fabric under my hands and on the table to play wih. I will make a bigger effort still to use some of what is in my stash - that far is another good goal!
I also realize that even though I haven't had this blog all that long, I need to rehab the site a bit and update here and there. Another entry on my to do list!
Will try to return much sooner this time and forgive the long, long post!
Cheers!