How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring has sprung in my neck of the woods,
and I am awash in yellow! One bunch of Daffodils have bloomed, hopefully the rest will follow soon. The Forsythia have exploded on the scene, yeah! Iris was not impressed - I moved her bed up onto the sewing counter so she would be next to the window and can enjoy the sunshine and flowers . Didn't seem to improve her mood!Speaking of moods - seems everyone I come across these days is cranky - including myself. You'd think the wonderful weather and lovely sunshine we've had recently would have cheered us all up. Seems not. Maybe we are all still sleep deprived, I know I'm terribly time deprived. Just too many projects, too many chores, too many demands on my time at the moment, and it doesn't look like it will let up, at least not in the short term. Ah well, Easter is coming and that means a long weekend - YEAH!
For those following "the Quilt" here's a pic of it on the frame. I have completed the inner portion and am now quilting the outer edges. That takes longer than you'd think. None-the-less, when I get the chance to quilt I am enjoying the hand work immensely. Maybe that's part of my crankiness - I've not had enough time just sitting quietly and quilting!I'm currently listening to CBC and they are talking about the book "Going Solo" by Eric Klinenberg. His thesis is that more and more people are choosing to live alone. (Yeah - Uhuh), and that they are NOT lonely, but are actually more social, and more happy with their lives. According to Klinenberg "more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million—roughly one out of every seven adults—live alone" The subtitle of his book is "the Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone".

Finally -recognition that being alone is not the same as being lonely! I remember the day one of my 'quilting ladies' asked me (oh so innocently) "Don't you get lonely living alone?" - umh, REALLY ? Talk about perpetuating an age old stereotype! ...  sometimes you can't win
TTFN,

Wahhh Sleep deprived!

So we turned our clocks forward this weekend - the weekend I'm working .... so I'm not only sleep deprived, but today is sunny and 14+ C degrees! NOT FAIR. I was just getting used to waking in the morning to the sunrise - yeah, and now we're back to getting up in the dark. Who's bright idea (pardon the pun) was this daylight saving thing anyway? Never mind, I saw a Robin yesterday so I'm happy, Spring is near .

At our last guild meeting the speaker talked to us about creativity and inspiration. She spoke about how women all too frequently say "I'm not artistic, I'm not creative". Really?Last week we celebrated International Women's Day. OK ladies, it's time to stand up and   MAKE SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF 

Just for the fun of it!
That's what my next project will be!

Elder Schadenfreude

I learned a new phrase this week - Elder Schadenfreude (pronounced elder-shod-un- froyd-uh). It means a secret pleasure of hearing about aging parents that are even more impossible than yours. Like! I am part of the sandwich generation - even though I have no kids - still, I'm a 50 something, working full time and dealing with aging parents. My "job" requires me to exercise a fair amount of patience, and I find I'm lacking the required patience once home and dealing with the parentes. I need to strive harder. I have been fortunate so far, as they are in reasonably good health. When my time comes I hope to go out swinging ;)
The wedding quilt is on the frame - WOOHOO! I have a full sized quilting bee kinda frame, but I don't use it much. I prefer to use a hoop and quilt from the centre out. What kind of frame do you use? I've had this quilt hoop for - oh, 30+ years (OMG!) and it still does the trick! I can fold up the quilt on top of itself when not quilting and tuck it away. When I am quilting I can pull it up to my favourite chair and and watch TV as I'm stitching. Nothing more relaxing than hand quilting.
TTFN