Monday, January 16, 2012

The View from My Needle


As I was busy quilting yesterday, letting my thoughts wander, I glanced up to re-focus and rest my eyes and saw all these delightful mugs looking back at me, and smiled. 

I guess I never considered "the view" from my needle before, but I stopped a moment and enjoyed the colors, the logos on the mugs, and all the interesting bric-a-brac I had stuck in them over the years.

Each one brought back a memory of a person, event, time in my life.  Teaching for Jinny Beyer at Hilton Head, the great times at NQA and Asilomar, all the terrific students.  And multiple wonderful markers, pens, scissors, tools.  I know I can reach in those mugs and come up with the perfect answer to a problem or need.  If I sorted through these and gasp, "organized" them, I'd never find a thing again.  So they remain, sentinels guarding my quilting time. 

The quilt in the machine pushes up against them so it doesn't drop off the edge of the cabinet and create drag.  When working on a large quilt I remove them and take the machine back there out of the cabinet and have an even bigger workspace. 

I like my bird lamp, one of the things Oliver was entranced with when he was new to the room and still a kitten.  He thought the birds were real.



I hope your view is interesting, messy, and wonderful. 

Keep quilting, your work gets better every day,
Diane

p.s.  For some unknown reason, Blogger won't let me comment on my own blog lately and I can't post anything in that section.  Thanks to all for your comments!

6 comments:

Helen said...

I just love hearing about Oliver's antics. I recently acquired a rag doll kitten named Bailey. Last year I lost a 19 year old dog and was completely devastated. Getting a new puppy was not an option for me because I would not have been able to exercise it. Having had dogs all my life I found it a little difficult to get used to the kitten but he was very determined to worm his way into my heart and now I just love him to bits even though I'm finding it a little difficult at present, trying to use the keyboard with a kitten walking all over it is no easy task and as for my sewing room that to him is Aladdin's cave. I am doing the FMQ challenge and am so looking forward to your lesson next month.

antique quilter said...

Love the picture of him looking at the bird lamp toooo cute.
I know what you mean about moving things around or reorganizing, not good! I should learn to leave things the way they are I still look for things in places they used to be!!!!
Love the quilting on your quilt so far, can't wait to see the whole quilt
have a great day
Kathie

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with your ideas on "organizing" -that's only for the stuff I never want to see again! Seriously, thanks in advance for being our FMQ Challenge tutor for February. I've been reading your book again this week and happily await more of your insights on perfecting our techniques.
Pat, just east of the Coast Range where it's raining, no now it's snowing, more rain ...

Diane Gaudynski said...

Helen, good luck with your kitten, Oliver used to do my blog for me by walking over the keys! They are such a delight, and kittenhood goes by so quickly, enjoy it all.

Definitely no new places for anything, even things in the fridge, for us retirees.

The bird lamp is now boring to Oliver, but he sometimes chews on one of the branches. He has a new inanimate companion, will post photos soon, too cute. He does keep us smiling.

Joyce said...

Love the bird lamp and that you share your space with a curious cat too! And thanks for doing the FMQ Challenge in February. Like the other poster , when I got finished with my January quilting sample I got out your book to reread. So inspiring!

Diane Gaudynski said...

The bird lamp is a vining lemon tree, I think, with birds. I've had it since 1970 and it is so totally whimsical I have kept it all these years, never realizing how exciting Oliver would find it to be. I like looking at it while I quilt and it sheds a nice warm glow to my room.

I find I don't like very bright lights when I quilt. The light on my machine is fabulous and I can always tilt my Ott light in front of the machine as neeeded.

I don't like the bendable bright lights, really flatten the dimension and I can't see the puff to space my quilting - remember, I'm not looking at the stitches themselves. But we all have different eyes and issues, so lighting is really very personal.