To-Do Tuesday

Last week's list:

1. Finish the invoice thing - done and picked up last Tuesday
2. Morning Pages - done most days
3. Daily blog posts -  missed a few over the long weekend when we went away
4. Review all my manuscripts and  make a plan to move forward
5. Enjoy a quiet Christmas weekend - amazing
6. Do the hot tub thing - a few times now
7. Water and deadhead the geraniums - cleaning lady is in today
8. Book covid booster appointment - still trying

This week's list:

1. Continue reviewing manuscripts
2. Clear my quilting workspaces
3. Eat all the rest of the holiday chocolate
4. Make more turkey soup
5. Make leek potato soup
6. Buy leeks
7. Hot tub again and again and again . . . 
8. Book that booster appointment
9. Zoom sewing

That should keep me out of trouble this week.

Blessings,

Chris

The Morning Pages

What are the Morning Pages you might ask? Well, let me tell you. It is writing three pages of whatever comes to your mind first thing in the morning. Simple and yet most profound. Julia Cameron, the author of the Artist's Way, teaches on this practice and millions have jumped on board and had their lives changed.

The purpose is to unblock the creative within ourselves. For me, it was one way to stop the mental squirrels in my head from running laps distracting me from focusing on completing my doctorate. And it worked! It really did! It took me 7 years to submit 7 courses then 3 months to submit 5 courses. And now I am Dr. Christina.

I wrote 3 handwritten pages every morning as soon as I got up. It is writing from the stream of consciousness when I was barely awake and starting to think and be rational. I started a new morning routine. Get up around 5-6. Bathroom. Turn on kettle ( I took one upstairs for this purpose). Make my bed. Make my tea. Start writing. Take out tea bag. This all takes about 5 minutes. Write for 3 pages then stop, about 40 minutes (I do not write that fast). Breakfast then 10-12 hours of coursework. I even had time to take a nap and was in bed by 9 most nights.

There are a few simple rules:

• Write first thing in the morning before you are fully awake.
• This is called stream-of-conscious writing.
• Write 3 pages. No more. No less. 
• Write longhand.
• Use an 8 1/2 by 11 notebook. 
• No thinking. 
• No analyzing.
• No stressing.
• No censoring.
• No editing. 
• Just write whatever comes to your head.
• It does not have to be pretty.
• Do not read anything you have written for 3 months.
• Do not let anyone see what you have written.  

This may not be for everyone, but it has worked for me with my ADHD brain. Now to tweak the process a bit and complete my next book. 

 

Blessings,

Chris 

Thread

 Can we ever have too much thread? Well, maybe not. I usually work on 3-4 different hand stitcheries at a time and pull out the threads I need and put them into a small project box. but I seldom return everything when I am done. Still have a few days to get my Dec OMG organizing done. 

I was looking for the perfect turquoise thread for an Ella Block before we left to spend the weekend with the little boys for Christmas and pulled out all these see-through containers looking for the thread I had used on the last block I stitched on who knows when since it was so long ago. In the end, I did no stitching but lots of snuggling and eating. 

Now to get ready to spend the afternoon with Chooky and friends on zoom and some Slow Stitching. 

Blessings,

Chris

To-Do Tuesday

 This week's list:

1. Finish the invoice thing
2. Morning Pages - I promised a post about this
3. Daily blog posts
4. Review all my manuscripts and  make a plan to move forward
5. Enjoy a quiet Christmas weekend
6. Do the hot tub thing
7. Water and deadhead the geraniums
8. Book covid booster 

Last weeks list:

1. Daily blog posts - yes
2. Morning Pages - missed one
3. Print off invoices - still working on it
4. Pay CPP and WSIB - not yet
5. Cut more pieces for the Macaron Mystery. - yes but not all yet
6. Stitch 15 Minutes a day - nope
7. Make turkey soup - done  
8. Buy some more vegetables for the soup - done
9. Freeze the extra soup - done
10. Get a pedicure. Made an appointment for tomorrow - done done
11. Attend the boys' Christmas presentation. It was rescheduled
12. Sleepover at the boys' house - just went for the day because it had snowed the day before and we chose not to drive that far. 

The Little Boys

The calendar tells me that tomorrow is the first official day of winter. Snow and cold arrived a few days ago. We had to scrape ice and snow off the car yesterday before taking the 1 hour and 20-minute drive to join the little boys at their Sunday morning church service.

The concert they have been rehearsing for the past 2 months was postponed until Jan because of the increase of covid cases in their town. They sang one number and participated in object lessons for their dad the pastor's sermon. It was fun to watch little David stand there so still on the platform as his dad wrapped a rope around him as he explained how sin so easily entangles us. Then he unwrapped it explaining how repentance and forgiveness set us free. He invited David to jump for joy like they had rehearsed, but the boy just stood there and glared. As he came back to sit with us, he quietly stated that that was so embarrassing. Our David - embarrassed? Where did this come from?

Jonathan read the scripture in his best grade 2 ability and squeezed a globe beach ball to demonstrate how God loves the whole world not just some. 

After lunch, we played a great game of Settlers of Catan. The boys have been learning how and the little beggers won! David first (with a bit of help from Gramma sorting his cards and Jonathan next as we all took one more turn each. The game lasted a good 3 hours so kudos to the little boys. We hadn't played in several years and they chose the more complicated Fog Island version. There is only one rule. No crying. So Grampa and I didn't.

Blessings,

Chris

Back Basting and Muffins

 My handwork for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

The retired framer made potato leek soup earlier this week and banana muffins last night. I think it will be fun to have him around the house more.

Blessings,

Chris

Respondiong to Comments

 One of the fun parts of blogging is connecting with quilters around the world. One of the challenging things of posting daily is responding to comments in a timely fashion. Since I am hovering here daily I look for comments and approve them. I had to set comments to be approved because they were not showing up. And yes, I have had spam.

I have met some of the most amazing quilters from around the world and I even flew to Australia one time and went to a quilt show with one. Fun. Fun. I visited several quilt shops too. 

I have had interesting dialogues with many quilters and others we just exchange a comment to two. I could sit here all day and communicate with every single one and never get any sewing done. My blog list has over 100 names and I try to read every one of them. Then I see others and consider adding them. But how many can I realistically keep track of? 

I love the linky parties where I get to link my blog post with others and receive many more comments. Sometimes I have had 200-300 page views. That is fun to see. I love to have comments from new viewers and read their blogs. 

I have joined Chooky and Friends on zoom meetings quite a few times in the past couple of years. One of the positive things about the whole covid lockdown has been meeting quilters online, face to face. Sometimes I get lots of mindless work done, like tearing papers off the back of foundation pieced blocks, and other times I have hand appliqued or done prep work. I cannot talk and sew, so I have enjoyed just hanging out and listening to the conversations. I have a group I host. Some of us used to meet here in person at the Farm to quilt together. Now we meet some Saturday mornings. 

I don't always respond to comments right away. And why is that? I don't have time? I don't know what to say beyond a simple thank you? I do not see the comments right away? They have to be approved? Answering a question gives me an opportunity to explain it in the comments on the blog post?  If I do not comment or see it right away and wait, I totally forget to go back and reply? 

So for all the people who have made comments and I have not responded I apologize. One of my 2022 goals should be to correspond more promptly and more frequently. 

Blessings,

Chris