how funny and yet appropriate it was. The morning glories had been
planted here for the last few years but this year I decided to put in a
clematis and a hydrangea so they would just grow and we wouldn't have
to do anything out there. Well the clematis has not responded well to
the cooler weather and although we were away for 4 weeks they didn't look at all different on our return. In desperation to have SOMETHING
growing up the trellis I planted the scarlet runner beans. Well, the clematis is buried in there somewhere but hanging in and obviously the runner beans have been having a party. The surprise is some morning glories grew up without being noticed until the other morning when a tentative bloom poked its face out through all those big green leaves. He must have liked it out there cause he told his friends and this morning it was a riot. Hence the ying and yang. My every day life is very runner bean like -- sturdy, reliable, can take the heat, a little sense of humor (shown by the flowers) and a little on the aggressive side. The morning glories show brightness, delicacy, attractiveness, are easy minglers and almost perfect art in shape and color. I long to an easy mingler, to be bright and showy but still attract people, to be able to do even one artistic thing very well indeed.
I have tried my hand at many things over the years. Did some crochet work years ago, but it kind of fell out of fashion and my brain is not geared to actually make a sweater or anything wearable. I have done a fair bit of sewing over the years, but again, any garments I made were all rather borderline and bearably wearable. I went craft crazy for a few years. Borrowed a scroll saw, took a couple of tole painting classes and immersed myself in sawdust, paints and local craft shows. I really didn't have the painting skills required to do a great job, and never seemed to be able to take the few classes offered in order to acquire those skills. My last undertaking was stained glass work. I really enjoy working at it, but again lack the level of skill I really need to make anything fantastic. I do have a project lined up...some small window panes for my daughter's front door side lights, but nothing has actually happened with it as yet. I'm kind of hoping for an idea to grow in head....something I know she would love, but also something I could actually make and have it turn out beautifully. It's coming.
Through the last 35+ years the one 'craft' that has stayed with me is quilting. But again, I'm not a great quilter...just an enthusiastic one. I would never "do" the standard patterns, because I figured anyone could do those. I wanted to make in fabric the ideas that were floating around in my head. Sometimes I hate that creative side of my brain. It gets all these grandiose ideas and even figures out the steps in order to achieve them, but when it comes to actually making the idea a reality and doing the math to figure out those obscure blocks Ms Creativity takes a holiday and leaves me madly scribbling diagrams on reams of graph paper, a calculator in one hand and a ruler clenched in my teeth. I use painter's tape to tape fabric swatches to my wall along with a LARGE PRINT cutting list that includes equal signs showing, for example, A=dark blue print so I don't dang well forget what it was I was going to do in the first place. I have made many quilts, a couple of them I have liked a lot, and still have, and some of them I wonder what I was thinking and have managed to find homes for them. I did start making the standard blocks only to learn how difficult it really is to get all those corners square and keep all the points on your stars. The ying yang of it is that for someone so detailed oriented I'm surprised that the blocks I make are not perfect (don't give me the old adage about perfection), but I always seem to be in a hurry to move onto the next project despite the fact that quilting is not a hurry-up kind of craft. And again I never seem to be in the right place at the right time for classes that have content that would really help me. That's okay though, I'm a runner bean and I will presevere and grow and create my quilt babies.
I am currently working on a cathedral window quilt for my oldest granddaughter. She's 5 now and I'm optimistic that I'll have it done in time for her wedding. I chose it since we have been travelling a lot and I can do the hand sewing in small chunks. However, all that idle brain time led me dream up a paper pieced butterfly quilt for my other granddaughter, plus I want to make a sweatshirt jacket with all these great techniques on it, and a couple of awesome bags for the kids school auction and of course I still have the corn and beans quilt that I decided would be great exericse for me to learn how to skillfully sew triangles together. My sewing room is about 8x9 holds a converted vanity table for my sewing machine & serger, an ironing board I converted to a rectangle so I can press lengths of fabric properly, a tower of plastic drawers for my bits and bobs and a Duncan Feif table that I cannot part with (it works well as a cutting table since I can flip up the wing and spread out my fabrics on my huge cutting board). In a room that size, once I start digging out the fabrics to make selections well, it doesn't take long for it spread to the upstairs hallway, and the guest room, and the dining room table... I try very hard to keep this contained within the 4 walls of the room, but. Must be the runner bean syndrome...spread out and take over.
This brings me back to ying and yang again. I'm a bit of a neat freak so how can I keep my kitchen counters cleaned off, my laundry caught up, and my bedroom dusted, only to have hobbies that are, by their very nature, extremely messy? Think I'll take some time tomorrow and talk to those morning glories.
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