Waiting

My husband hates the name of this blog. He thinks Attention Deficit is a condition and I shouldn't joke about it. I really think, he thinks people will not understand or somehow look down on me. For the record, I am not joking about it, nor have I been diagnosed with ADD, but when it comes to crafting and gardening, I do have a difficult time keeping focused on one thing at a time. There just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I want to .
In the winter, I like to work with fabrics and foods. In the summer it's tiles and glass and plants and paper. It hasn't always been this way . When I lived in Hawaii, I worked onall my crafts year round. Here in the Northeast you spend so much time indoors. Days on end. Short days. Long cold nights. My sunny Hawaii crafts of making sailors valentines, stringing leis and making beach glass mosaics just don't cut it on these long cold days.
I took a classes in stained glass, copper foil and lead. I made mosaics from pottery instead of glass . I painted and decopaged wood and I started sewing. I sew in the winter upstairs where it is warm and bright. I break glass and cut tile in the summer when it is too hot to be in the garden, and cool in my basement.
This year, winter came too quickly. I didn't have time to finish off my downstairs projects. On my workbench, summer crafts wait for me. A mosaic I started for my front entryway, a kaleidoscope that just needs a touch of solder and several small pendants, all waiting. Waiting for the sun, waiting for me to tire of the warmth of wool and cotton, roving and thread. Waiting for me to trade the chug chug chug of my sewing machine for the sharp high whine of my grinder on a piece of glass.

Here comes the son

Well my week sans son will be over tomorrow. I haven't accomplished much , but it was great to have a break. I really needed it . It's the first one I've had in at least 6 months. But I did miss him . I'm looking forward to seeing his photographs and hearing his adventures.
I did manage to finally make Deb's apron and get it into the mail. It didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned . I like the two fabrics together but the pieces were too big. I should have broken it down more. That is the problem when you work on a deadline. I know she'll like the style and maybe it will look better once it's broken in.
I spent the Monday holiday at my husbands workplace. He's an electronic engineer and while he worked on an attachment for my total gym ( a footboard-I have the cheapy model without one ) I recycled some of his bits and pieces and made some cute earrings from resistors. I've listed them on etsy, If no one buys them soon I may just keep them , the style and colors suit me.

Procrastination and inspiration

I haven't been able to get much of anything done this past week. It's winter break time here. I spent most of the week getting my son ready for a 10-day visit to Greece with his photography class. Now that he is gone, I'm hoping to make progress on some of ideas. Inspiration arrived for me in the form of a bundle of fabric from my best friend Deb. She is an accomplished seamstress and her fabric stash is amazing. Included in the package are several very posh pieces of vintage upholstery fabric, a bit of bark cloth, vintage cotton kimono fabric, and silks from Japan, Thailand and Italy. My favorite is two pieces of Shibori silk. The sizes range from 5x5" to 12x24 ". I have been sewing lots of felt lately so I will have to start to think more delicately for the silks. Possibly some small bags or hair ornaments. First I have to get to work on making Deb an apron. I bought some Amy Butler fabric before Christmas intending to make her an apron for a Christmas gift. Somehow I never got around to it. Her birthday will be here soon enough and the weather is so dreary the charm fabric is just what I need to put me in a springy state of mind. I'll post when it's finished.