Do you ever have one of those days when everything just seems to go sideways? I'm up before dawn to prepare for the podcast interview with Brenda Dayne for her new podcast Sleeping in Public which begins in early October. All was going swimmingly until five minutes before the interview was to start.
We've recently begun a flagstone path project, but learned that we had bitten off more than we could chew. Digging into what can only be called concrete (otherwise known as dormant Bermuda grass) during the hottest month of the year was probably not a good decision on our part. Never mind that while the project was moving along at a seemingly glacial pace, it rained for several days, which kick started the grass to grow again. Hooray! Except that we now couldn't mow the grass with bags of sand, pea gravel and flagstone neatly laid out waiting for us to finish. Time to call in some muscle.
My yard guy is a beast when it comes to yard work, and as such needs a fair amount of monitoring. He can heave a pick axe, dig and haul dirt for hours. But in his enthusiasm there can be some surprises that are not always welcome on my part. Such as the time I asked him to just cut a few of the wayward branches from my shrubs that were leaning into the street. No problem he says with a smile. I return a while later to discover that not only has he cut the leaning branches, but he's also trimmed the entire length of shrubs along the street into nice square cubes! Not exactly what I had in mind.
As I'm just about to put my headset on for the interview when my partner bounds down the hallway shouting my name. He opens the door and says "the gardener has cut into the drip line while using the pick axe, and, the truck won't start; I think the battery has died. Do you know where the battery charger is in the garage?" It took all my might to calmly say "I have an interview in less than five minutes, you're going to need to figure this out." The interview went well, and several hours and more than several dollars later, the car had a new battery and an appointment for the drip repair had been made. It's time like these that some pretty mindless sewing come in handy.
I've been needing to make some more masks and today seemed to be a good day to work on something to take my mind off the chaos of the day. Digging through my stash I found the Ghastlie Gallery fabric (from Alexander Henry collection) to be the perfect remedy for perfectly ghastly day!
The 1/4" elastic I have been using really irritates my ears. I recently discovered 1mm elastic cording in the jewelry making section of my local craft store. It comes in many different colors and is much cheaper that 1/4" elastic. To keep the elastic from pulling away when you wear it, I find that knotting each end (before you sew up the side seams) really keeps it in place. You might like to try out this alternative yourself.
And now for the big reveal. The winner of the Quilter's Project Planner AND a signed copy of Love Your Creative Space...is..Judy Stone! Thank you all for your wonderful comments. I read each and every one of them. Like me, there are many of you who also struggle to stay focused and need a little something (like the planner) to keep our thoughts together.