Limbo

Things are so crazy here that we are mainlining lizards. Actual updates when my brain isn't so heavy.

The arranging of Baggage

I just had the most wonderful epiphany. I was pinned down earlier today by someone whom I do not like. And just now, I realized there is no need for me to be held hostage to her negative rants. I know that in the past she has said some nasty things about me, when I was YW president. It really upset me that hours after merely speaking with her, she still has the power to make me feel bad about myself.

But just now, I remembered that there is no reason for me to have to talk to her ever again. I am not in YW anymore. I was in fact released about 8 months ago. I do not need to subject myself to her verbal poison. I have never heard her say anything that was not a complaint-frequently very personal things about people I know. I would not stand near someone who was using fire unsafely; why would I let myself be burned by her vitriol.

So I happily release myself from any misplaced sense of responsibility I might feel. It is not my job to make her feel happy with our ward. I will remain polite, but if she interjects herself into a conversation I will excuse myself and leave at once. Interactions with her will be 10 words or less. I don't need her or the emotional weight, and like a balloon I am letting it go. And it is so beautiful to watch it float away.

Insomnia

Can't sleep a wink. How many of these do I have by now?

Again with the rectangles

My quilting kick continues. This is a throw for the RS to tie, for some good cause or another (I don't get to attend RS because I'm Monkey's teacher, so I'm fuzzy on details).
My secret confession is that I started the lattice quilt for this project, but the squares were a lot of work and it seemed a waste to tie it instead of quilting it on the machine.
I am really happy with this top; my corners match up better than anything I've done yet. Which I guess means I've finally mastered cutting things out.

Quilt

This weekend my brother and his family visited from Alabama, so Monkey and I were able to hand over the quilt we made for their little boy. I am so happy with the way this quilt came together! I love the way the colors went together so perfectly and I think that the rectangular blocks make the lattice design really interesting.

I had a rather embarrassing learning experience in the early stages of this quilt: rectangles are directional. That means that when you are bisecting the blocks, half must be cut slanting one direction, and the other half must lean the other way. They can not be rotated 90 degrees, no matter how much you want to and how stupid you might feel.

This is the first thing larger than a potholder that I've machine quilted using the darning foot. I ended up using chalk to sketch out my meandering line; it was just too much space for me to think about while muscling around the quilt and looking at a small portion of the whole. Monkey helped lots on this quilt- he loves to sit on my lap and help me run the sewing machine. He also will pull out little snips and scraps of fabric and put them under the presser foot working the needle by hand when I'm up cutting fabric or ironing; it is a good thing he's too short to reach the peddle or I'd have to pick things up better.

Poem

A poem for the 4th Annual Brigid Silent Poetry Reading, penned by myself this year. Haiku, of course. Maybe by next year I'll be good enough at iambic pentameter for a sonnet.

Won Ton Soup

tasty little fish

swimming in broth, cooked on the

surface of the sun

Keeping Warm

We went to Hohenzollern Castle today. It was amazingly beautiful. And freezing cold, as evidenced by this picture featuring 6 different hand knits (you can only see five, but I'm wearing hand knit socks), also a fleece sweatshirt and jacket that I sewed for the Monkey.