I Wanted To Do Something

I've started this post 15 times.  I don't know what to say about this week's project, as I created it in response to wanting to do something to help a friend's mother who they found out this week, that she has final stage Cancer.   I've had the pleasure of knowing this woman over the years, we've never met in person, but we have spoken over the telephone for the past 13 years. They are working to keep her comfortable.  Hearing the news of her illness, I wanted to do something.  My creative juices got flowing...and I came up with bed slippers.   Toasty warm and colorful.  It is at times like these, I'm so happy I know how to create so many different things.  My creativity has gotten me through so many emotional times in my life and has created so much joy.  Not to mention all the cool things that are the product of all that creating.
I don't know what else to say here.  Perhaps it's a time to be a silent and reflective.

Until next week...create to feel great. 
50 projects complete 2 to go!

A World Shakin' K.I.S.S.(Keeping It Simple, Silly)

"We have long forgotten that activities can be simple and precise.  Every act of our lives can contain simplicity and precision and thus can have tremendous beauty and dignity." ~ Chogyam Trungpa

Every week, I go through a process of attempting to discover what would be a great, not just good, but a great project of the week for me to complete and then blog about.  I always feel like the project has to be great and world shaking.  My insights have to be life changing and deeply profound.  When I first started this challenge, almost a year ago, I was really attached to this idea.  I very quickly got off it, and now I only entertain this idea for about a half second each week and move on.  Honestly, it's not how it all works for me, and really seems a little arrogant of me to fashion a reader's response.  I'm pleased when reader's enjoy what I'm doing, if it changes some thinking or gives a person another way of looking at something...super!  I can set out seeking to create world shaking greatness, for me, because only I can gauge what is world shaking greatness and how it fits in my life.  I've also come to see that world shaking greatness occurs in pieces built on each other.  Days, weeks, months and years of simple steps built on each other.  We step back and realize that something pretty fabulous has been built, and maybe we shook the world or at very least our own world a bit or a lot.
So, this week is a simple focus, and another little cat story (oh, no!).   Mr. Gus loves to sleep on very corner edge of our bed.  He does this so he can see Mickeygirl coming up the stairs before she jumps into bed. I think he attempts to collect a toll from her for entry.  His spot on our bed is covered with mountains of cat fur everyday.  I have a super great lint brush, but it's time consuming and doesn't get all the hair that gets spread around the bed.

Back track to last week, I went on a cruise ship to Alaska.  (Yes! It was great)  In our room, instead of a bedspread, the Room Stewards, would drape this sort of table runner size bedspread on the end of our bed, each morning and remove it each night.  This idea inspired me.  How about making one of these for our bed at home?  I have to still lint brush it, but I can wash it when it gets really bad, and hair isn't all over the quilt.  Plus it's a nice addition to the bed.  Another great thing, is I got this fabric at the Goodwill, in it's former life it was a bed skirt. It was half price at $1.99, it's washable polyester, but doesn't look or feel like it. The only issue now, is Gus has made himself a cave behind the sofa in the TV room and is hanging out there, but I think that is only temporary, he'll be back.
Simple, yes.  Focused on solving a problem, yes.  I feel I created something beautiful.  I'm discovering the joy in simple.  Keeping in mind that building simple acts on simple acts each day, moves towards doing some world shakin'.
Are you making things too complicated?  Is it time to look at keeping things simple?
49 projects complete!  3 (Wow! Really?!!-3) to go!

Onward To The "Finish" Line!

This blog post will signal only four weeks left in my year long challenge to do a project a week for a year.  Wow!  I have to confess, I get way more excited about finishing a project than I do starting one.  I'm a Completion Junkie.  I think it's because of the thrill of seeing where I've come from (the starting gate) and seeing the finish in my sites.  It's a rush for me.  Some folks are the other way around.  They love to start projects.  That's their excitement. 
I've often wondered if these folks get stuck in the same places I tend to get stuck with a project?  I mean, I think we all get stuck.  Bored. Or the project isn't meeting our expectations or vision and we don't know how to fix it.
Yuck.  It wasn't what I wanted to do anyway.  No one really cares what I do or how I do it.  Yuck .Yuck. Yuck.   Being a "Completion Junkie", I think, helps me get through to the end.  I know that rush of a job done (well done or otherwise) is going to be there.
Being within 4 weeks of completing this challenge, is a challenge in itself.  I keep thinking about what will be my last project? I've been reflecting back on everything I've done, written and learned.  The people I've met.
Yet, the finish line might be in my sites, but it's not over yet.  I have four more weeks. Four more projects, and I certainly hope much more than four more lessons or insights.  If now is really all we have, then this is the time for me to live in the now, more than ever.  Treasure what is coming.  Be in the moment to catch the inspiration, the light, the lessons, and the insights. Heading towards the finish line, but not racing.  It could make for a fun four weeks.  I hope you will play along with me.  Be in the now with me.  Let's see what we can create.
Oh, my, I got all in the now and spaced out this week's project.  A knitted cap.  Using yarn I discovered at Happy Knits.  Yes, it's a winter cap, but I'm using it now.  Stay tuned for more on that next week.

How will you stay in the now?  What will you create for yourself in the now?

Until next week...create to feel great!
48 projects complete...4 to go! Wow!  4 to go!

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Ah, sleep!  I don't know a single person who doesn't like to sleep.  I think even those folks who say they don't need sleep or very little, still enjoy it when they hit the pillow.
Last year, we purchased a new bed.  We spent more money than we really felt comfortable with at the time, but over this last year of some amazing sleep, it was worth every penny.
I'm one of those folks who loves to sleep.  I'll take it in any form, but my favorite is a good nap.  I've been allowing myself to get over the guilt of a nap in the afternoon.  It's a pleasure I love and look forward to almost everyday.  Some cultures, other than our own, know the value of a good afternoon nap.  I'm with them.  You might be asking. "If you have this great bed and you are sleep well at night. Why do you need a nap in the afternoon?"  Simple.  To re-charge my energies.  My outlook on life and my creativity.  20-30 minutes is all I need (I'll come clean, sometimes it's an hour or a bit more).  I wake up feeling super, ready to finish or start projects, my outlook is fresh.  I also feel that it is civilzied way of living life and honouring myself.  People who know me, know I do a lot.  I love to do a lot.  A wonderful afternoon nap allows me to take good healthy care of myself.  I don't see anything to be guilty about here.
It also extends that old phrase, "Let me sleep on it."  If I have something to solve, mid-day, I'll attempt to take a nap.  Some days, it's not possible, so it will have to keep until I go to bed at night.
This is another good thing I do for challenges or looking for creative inspiration, I'll go to bed at night and ask for the answer to come to me in the morning.  Then, I allow it to work, while I sleep.  First thing in the morning, I usually know what to do or an idea will come to me that I never expected.  It is amazing.  I recommend that if you never tried this or it's been awhile since you have tried it...try it.
Sleep is the great healer. It's a way to vacation without leaving home, and everyday, if you like.  It allows us to really works on all levels of our mind, without it being work, and for course there is that restorative aspect to sleep, good sleep helps ward off illnesses, depression and the crankies.

With all this talk of sleep, I made myself a sleep mask for this week's project. (Black velvet with polka dots...oh, yes). I'm been using it for my quick naps, and it assists me get to a deep sleep quicker.  It's simple to make.  For a pattern, I googled "how to make a sleep mask?" I got lots of web sites with how tos.
I'm suggesting that you get some good deep sleep and see how it effects your outlook on life, and your creativity.  At very least, give yourself permission to take a small nap. I wish you pleasant and inspiring dreams.
Until next week...create to feel great!
45 projects complete. 5 to go!

Piecing It Together

Life hands us many things, every minute of every day.  It can be a short line for morning coffee. A smile and a greeting from people in our lives. Some one cutting us off in traffic. A job promotion. Having to work overtime. Car breaking down. A beautiful sunny day at the beach with friends.  The purring of your kitty as you drift off to sleep. It's a lot of little pieces that get sewn together to make up our lives.  Pieces we plan for and they have the perfect place.  Pieces that come out the blue to surprise us, and sometimes we don't know what to do with them.  They all have to be worked in some how. As our lives progress, we have a quilt of all the pieces.  Some are more colorful than others.  Some pieces are darker.  Some pieces may look a bit thread worn or faded.  They all make up are life.  I like the parts of my life's quilt that are sewn together with the surprises I've been handed and mixed with the pieces I've carefully planned out.

With all this talk of piecing together a quilt, comes this week's project.  A sweet little baby quilt for the daughter of a good friend of mine.  The baby's pending arrival in their lives, is just one of those wonderful surprises that life has to offer be worked into our quilt, and it sometimes changes the pattern we were working on in the most amazing ways.  Babies human or other wise are a blessing with the many lessons and challenges they bring with them.  It is by wish for my friend's daughter, that she will relish the coming days and years, as she grows along with her new son.
This quilt has a history in the fabric.  The backing was made from a flannel piece I had from the 1970's.  One of the cottons has kittens printed on it (of course), was given to my by my Country Granny and she got it in the 40's.  I've had a large piece of this fabric and have made other baby quilts with it.  The other two fabrics are modern and represent the stars and the uniquiness of movement in their prints.
It also needs to be noted, I don't quilt.  This is pieced fabrics, tying the elements together.
All this piecing together, set me thinking and thus the quilt metaphor for this post.
13 years ago this month, I was encouraged and supported by the friend who is soon to be a Granny herself, to really look at my life and how I was really wasting (or mis-placing) my talents.  She encouraged me to start working on a different pattern on my quilt, and feel I've been creating a really vibrant quilt these past 13 years.
The gift of a quilt for her new grandbaby, seemed right.
How would you describe your life's quilt?  Are you happy with the current pattern you are piece together or is it time for a change. Perhaps a Crazy Quilt is in order?

Until next week...create to feel great!

46 complete!  6 to go!  Man oh Man! 

Well Behaved Women Never Make History or Inspire Me

As a kid, I had the opportunity to spend time with two amazing women, one I called Grandma and the other I called Granny.  These women never met each other. One lived in the Northwest and the other lived in rural Ohio.  Both were women who really lived their lives, and by the time I met them, they were slowing down a bit, but still were enjoying the last of their summer wine, as they say.  Grandma taught me my love of cooking, she was a chef, but never got recognized in her time, as being a chef was a man's job.  Granny taught me to love baseball, fishing and how to knit.  Both tried to teach me how to make bread and home brewed beer.
They were born at the turn of the last century, in a time when women got married, raised kids and took care of the home.  Both of them did this, but both being restless creative women, they did more. They were Flappers, Business Owners, Granny raced horses, Grandma lived in Hollywood and tried her hand at breaking into the movies, their stories were endless.
Granny was a tole painter, and a really fine artist.  She was my Dad's aunt, but raised him as a kid, along with her own daughter. I never met my Dad's mom.  I thought it was Granny, and really that was okay.   I was a restless creative kid, and most times, very unhappy at home.  I was always threatening to run away.   The best my Mom could offer me was a trip across country to Granny's farm in Ohio.  I actually loved that farm. It wasn't big, it was enough for Granny to raise food for her to eat, chickens for eggs and some other animals.  There was a pond that had Blue Gils swimming in it.  I remember getting up very early in the morning to go fishing, and bringing them back for a breakfast fry.  There were Cincinnati Reds baseball games on the TV and radio everyday.  Occasionally we would drive to Cincinnati to see the Reds play.  For baseball historians, it was the era of the "Big Red Machine."  I got to see Pete Rose as his best.  The days were long and seem to never end, yet my time there was usually three week or less.  Granny knew how to live like a Queen on a very limited budget, because as she would say. "Life is never about things money can buy. It's about using that what God gives us each day."
Being with her was like being with a great spiritual master.  One who drank home brew, smoked two packs a day and cussed when The Reds lost, but still there was a spiritual master quality about her.
Back in the Northwest, we often lived with my Grandma or next door to her. I had the opportunity to cook next to her.  Grandma was sort like a combination of Gordon Ramsey and Edward G. Robinson with a dash of Paula Deen tossed in on her good days. She was rough and ready. An amazing story teller. She dyed her bobbed hair jet black (she claimed it was natural) and wore Chinese style silk PJs, even for cooking and gardening.  She taught me not to take shit from anybody and to stand up for who I am.
Both women had uniquely loud joy filled laughs. Sometimes I see each one of these amazing courageous women, reflected in my personality. I see them more and more in me as I age. I'm grateful for having spent time in the company of these unconventional women.

This was impossible to photograph

This brings me to today and this week's project.  I'm lucky to coach/mentor some amazing young adults.  Two of them are young men, who are on their way to creating amazing lives.  I'm glad they are in my life.  Oddly, enough they had expressed an interest in eating healthy, learning to cook good food and save money.  Mr.D. was in town this summer and we spend some time focusing on cooking lessons.  Mr. B. and I had some sessions around saving money, how to shop, how to eat healthy.  An idea came to me to compile a small is book with helpful hints and simple to cook meals.  Thus, Mrs. Remington's Easy Peasy Meals For Young Men was born.  I wrote it in the vein of the old Edwardian cookbooks.  Lots for talk, tons of advice, and my own touch of straight forwardness. I wanted the book small and found a cool photo book to bound the pages in.  The guys can clean the pages if they need to.  There might be a volume two and one for young women, as once I started writing, I realized I have so much to say on this subject.  So, many ways I feel I can assist them.  For now, it's time to have them start with volume one.
I think this project pays homage to Grandma and Granny.  It's my hope that Mr. D and Mr. B will find value in the book and it will help them build confidence in an area of their lives.  Lastly, I feel it is a legacy of sorts.  Using my creativity,knowledge and love to create the book was such an easy and positive experience.
Are there some people in your past that have contributed to who you are, given you the gift of who they are, that you would like to pass along to others?  How will you do it?  What will your legacy look like?

Until next week...create to feel great!

45 weeks complete!  7 to go!

The Stuff That Stuff Is Made Of

I love boxes and bags. Really doesn't matter what sort of box or bag it is, of course the cuter or fancier or clever all the better.  I design handbags and have tons of bag patterns and ideas.  I also have patterns and ideas for making cute boxes. I'm not alone here.  I've met several women with the same interest.  Boxes and bags help me store stuff or carry stuff and if the box or bag is cute or clever, then I'm storing and stuffing in a cute and clever way.

Last week I was shopping at Grocery Outlet store.  In their cheese display, they had Cracker Barrel Brand Cheese for a great price.  I like the taste of this cheese, and the price was super good for two pounds.  The real deal was that the cheese came packaged in a wooden box with a slide lid.  My heart danced and jumped.  How cool is this I kept asking myself as I slid the lid back and forth.  I purchased two bricks of cheese, with their oh so cool boxes, and went home a happy girl.  I really didn't know what I'd do with these oh so cool boxes, I just knew they screamed "creative project!"
Later in the week, I was at Home Depot.  I passed a shelf with miss mixed paint. (I love that shelf.)  For a $1.00 there was a small can of this great color paint.  I thought of my boxes at home.  I knew this paint and those boxes were meant to be together.
As I was painting coat after coat of paint on these boxes, I kept thinking. "What in the world am I going to use these boxes for?"  I thought of all the bags and boxes I have in my life right now.  Many of them are stuffed to the brim with stuff.  (It's time for a major clearing at my house, but that's another time and challenge.)  Also, as I was painting I thought of my mother-in-law Betty and my brother-in-law Douglas. Betty was a crafter and decorator (she would have loved these boxes), I remember going to her house and she had lacquer boxes and jars around her house.  They were all empty.  Douglas was an avid collector, who loved antiques.  Before he past away, several years ago, he sent me a ceramic jar with an label on it that read. "Mysteries."  It was empty as well. I asked Douglas about this, he chuckled and said. "Don't you think it's as it should be?" Not wanting to appear stupid, I agreed with him, like I knew what was going on. The jar and a couple of boxes sit on my book case empty, and I've never felt the need to stuff them full of stuff.
I asked myself, why do I feel the need to stuff every open space in my life with stuff.  Either physical stuff, emotional stuff, activity stuff or just plain stuff?  At the time it seems right to stuff stuff with stuff.  And yet it eats up a lot of time, demands my attention, sometimes overwhelms me, and I get depressed or sad.  Learning to be content and happy with the empty space, be it an a box or bag, an un-cluttered room, a conversation, a day with no activities,or my mind, takes some focus and is a real trick for me.  I am starting to see the value in the empty space. When a space is empty, I get the opportunity for the space to fill its self naturally.  I'm allowing and attracting what is best for me and my life.  It's not forced. It is what is suppose to be there.  Makes life a lot more free, fun and easy.  That all said, it's also a challenge.  The stuffing of stuff into stuff gives me a sense I have control over stuff.  I've learned over the years that control is really an illusion. I can deal with stuff, but I can't control stuff.  Even the stuff I think I can control.  Vicious circle here. Real crazy making.  As I added the designs, I edited myself not to totally cover the boxes with designs.  It's an empty space, right?  So, fill it up.  I purposely stopped at the tops.  I'm still thinking. "I want to paint designs all over the sides and insides. More is so more!"  I'll stop for now.
I also know, my stuffing behavior is strongly ingrained.  It's a step at a time and realization at a time.  
Will my cheese boxes remain empty?  I can't say. Perhaps for the time being.  I will let them "speak" to me as to what they want to be used for.  Keeping in mind to not stuff them to the brim.  Maybe they will be someone's "mystery" box?

That's a whole lot of value for me from a cheese box that was on sale.
Are you a "stuffer"?  Do you feel the need to fill the empty spaces in your life?  How good are you at allowing the empty spaces to just be?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Until next week...create to feel great!
44 projects complete!  8 to go!  (Really? 8!)