Surrounded

We go through life surrounded by stuff.  Surrounded by rules and regulations; by other people; by other people's stuff; and on and on.  I think you get the picture.

Some situations where we find ourselves surrounded, we climb into willingly...or out of necessity.  Some of this stuff we bring on ourselves, and some is heaped on us unwillingly - or with full knowledge - because of the positions we get ourselves into at work, in our personal lives, friendships we create, activities, etc.

Well, lately I have felt the walls closing in.  Walls of stuff, walls of uncertainty, walls of unemployment and self doubt...and I sometimes feel the best course of action would be to simply let the walls cave in and bury me.  Take me whole and swallow me up.  Wouldn't it be lovely to just be without the worry of how to handle/care for/guard/hide/use and replenish the stuff? 

Clean it, fold it, put it away, keep track of it, loan it and (hopefully) get it back, lose it, break it, give it away, outgrow it, outsource it, love it, rue it, insure it, try and return it.

I think all the shopping is done...

...at least for the time being. 

Karl has settled on the material for the centers of the alternate squares in his quilt (the cream, off-white version of the full-color blocks, and the larger blank squares that fall in between them all), and the backing material found online (which he liked!) is on the way.  To save on costs, I opted to piece the blue/green print together as a wide border with another, more subtle, beige print used in the center.  The leafy blues and greens echo the clear colors of the pieced blocks in the top, and it will make the simple reverse side just a little more interesting.  And purchasing less yardage online of the preferred blue/green fabric was a big savings.

As the kid said, "Well, I don't hate it."

Sadly, I will not be able to do much quilting in the near future (at least, through the month of July) because I have a boom op job on a film throughout much of the month (yea!).  We'll begin filming on the 7th and will go through nearly the last day of the month.  With 12-hour days, six days a week, and the drive time to Detroit and back each day, I will be one tired puppy - with little time at either end of each day for frivolus activities.  There will still be laundry and cleaning and nagging at boys (Karl mostly, to get his homework assignments completed)

Apologies to my quilting friends for calling quilting a "frivolous activity," I think you know what was meant.  My "me time" will be quite limited for the next several weeks, so I will need to be frugal in all things to be able to sleep in between trips to the city.

I really do love the industry...and I still wish I had landed the scripty role on this project, even given the fact there would have been a lot more work and time lost to it (even after getting home at the end of each day).  The experience and credit would have been worth it all, but I am happy to have the boom op gig.  Very happy.

Oh, and my "Black, White & Red All Over" quilt supply is established (I spent some lost hours re-sorting, cleaning & putting away materials from other projects, and found a good number of bits to use here & there), and I have decided what pattern to shoot for.  Stay tuned for the reveal.  Until next we meet, have fun needling something (or someone)!