The INSTANT QUILT

Disclaimer: May have a "Soapbox" feel as they are MY opinions:)

Instant Pots are all the rage and I feel like 

quilters expect the same thing from quilting.

I totally understand time restraints, 

ailing health issues that don't allow

someone to do everything they once did 

and I sympathize with those frustrations but.....

I do get confused when they say they are "Passionate" about quilting but want to rush through every stage by getting all the fabrics pre cut or pre laser cut/fused, assemble the top and then send it out to be quilted.  Where was the joy in selecting your own fabrics?

I am not against working smarter not harder (Thank you rotary cutter inventor!!), but I wonder how much enjoyment is being lost in the process when the urge to rush through it is there.
Every process in life has parts that are less enjoyable than others and I admit being at the machine is the least enjoyable for me.

When we live in such a rush rush world, I feel quilters are cheating themselves of the JOY of quilting, the meditative process that can come with slow stitching.  Physical limitations are starting to affect how much I can do but I am not ready to throw in the towel and rush the process when I have so many lovelies in my stash to play with.

I want Everyone to quilt and I hope that we can find a way to slow down and enjoy choosing the colors/prints, the feel of the fabric as we prepare it for stitching, and the sense of accomplishment at every stage of the process! 

Back to work and keep stitching~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com for more blogs to follow.

Reason #1

MUSH BRAIN!

I can't be the only one who suffers 

from 'mush brain'!

You know the feeling when you go to 

bed the night before and visions of your 

planned awesomeness-for-tomorrow dance

in your head; but then, tomorrow morning 

comes and you know there just won't be 

enough coffee to energize that brain.

My work deadline/travel schedule this past

4 months have had me coming and going

with mostly 2-3 day turnarounds at my home.

This means that now that I am home, 

my brain has gone on strike but

the work deadlines aren't done so

what is a girl to do???

Let's sign up for more deadline work....WHAT?

I do like chatting with all of you but I would

so prefer doing it at a diner over coffee

and pie than sitting at my desk !

So, mush brain decides to do nothing.

and that helps no one!

Thank you for popping over to see what I 

am up to and hope to have you pop in 

regularly this month!

Back to work and see ya tomorrow~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com challenges 

us every year to get our blogs back in order.

If we can do it when we are the busiest 

then we have no excuse the rest of the year-HA.

That should be my series of posts this month....

reason #1 not to blog....reason #2 not to blog, etc.

Wonder if I can come up with 30 reasons??

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

HELLO DECEMBER! 

Now let's be clear that just because I have 

accepted the challenge again this year, doesn't 

mean I will accomplish it but without trying we 

never know what we can do! So, here we go again:)

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com challenges 

us every year to get our blogs back in order.

If we can do it when we are the busiest 

then we have no excuse the rest of the year-HA.

That should be my series of posts this month....

reason #1 not to blog....reason #2 not to blog, etc.

Wonder if I can come up with 30 reasons??

I am very glad you came over to see what I 

am up to and hope to have you pop in 

regularly this month!

Back to work and see ya tomorrow~R

Day 10: Favorite recipe?

I know food favorites change over the years as our palate becomes more mature and we discover new foods.  My mom liked to try new recipes when I was a kid and there were some hits and misses. One we still joke about was called Rinktum Diddy (not sure we called it that). It looked awful but tasted delicious and was eaten quite regularly during lent.

A few years back I had to wear braces and in an attempt to find "soft" food for me to eat, my husband changed up a recipe he found and I just LOVE to eat this!

We refer to it as Tot Casserole and I guess the original had hamburger but he knows my love of Italian sausage and so he changed it for me...YUM!  It is so easy to make that even I can do it:) I am an equal opportunity food eater but casseroles really appeal to me and I have no good reason why.

With the holidays here, who doesn't appreciate a quick, easy meal that also works as comfort food?

In a cast iron skillet, sauté 1/2 medium onion diced.
Add a pound of Italian sausage and brown, a can of cream of mushroom soup, about 4 ounces of sour cream, red or green peppers to taste along with a little garlic powder.
Once all cooked together, evenly layer tator tots over mixture and place into the oven at 425 for 15 minutes. Add cheddar cheese over the top of that and cook for another 10 minutes until crunchy.
We have become sensitive to salty foods and this can become that quickly so I suggest low sodium soup and cheese if you can find it.

An easy one pot dinner that is not nutritious at all but Oh, So Good!

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Day 9: Football Sunday

Today as I tidied up leftover items from decorating yesterday, I pondered how Football Sunday has changed around here lately.  I used to loathe this day of the week but it worked out well because I would go hole up in my work room and let the husband have the whole living room to himself:) When he was still working, I know he appreciated that bit of alone time.

In years I vended at Market this was fantastic dedicated work time/preps.  At some point I stopped doing NESTLINGS work on Sundays and allowed that quilting time for myself,  to work on something just for me

As I stepped away from vending and took on more hand quilting commissions, I preferred to quilt in the living room and so had to listen to football-ugh.

It isn't my favorite thing to listen to but I can tolerate it now and the husband likes to talk about stats of people I have no clue about.  It is good reciprocation for all the quilting stories I tell about people he has no clue about:)
There are other things I could be doing but I have decided that relaxed hand work whether for NESTLINGS or myself is more important for my health than to keep going all the time. My motto has always been that it all gets done eventually!

So to the couch I go for more hand work!  This one is for me and for work so Win/Win:) 

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Day 7: FRIENDSHIP

Today is my annual Quilt Guild Christmas party!  They have been my friends for 7 years now.  Hard to believe I have been in one place that long!

Am I super close to all of them? No, but they greet me warmly and I want to hug each one of them when I see them and my day is much happier when I am around them so they are my friends!

I haven't been to guild in 2 months due to travel which will make this meeting even more joyful.

Who is your group that makes you happy?

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Day 4: Word Inspiration

Pick a word, any word, google it, and write something inspired by the 4th image (since today is the 4th:) .
I like that this could work for any day of the year because sometimes the blank page of the blog can be intimidating.

So today's word is travel and here is the 4th image google showed me after clicking one of the additional prompts at the top- "National Geographic"

THIS MAY BE MY NEW FAVORITE THING!!!

‘Crossing the Pond’ by Yousuf Tushar / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest. A boy crossing the little pond beside sea beach at Coxís Bazar Dry fishing village, Bangladesh. In the village, more than 5000 families engaged with dry fish processing. Their children have no modern toys to play, so sometimes they play and making fun by themselves like as jumping or running.

How does this inspire me?  Well I could sit and look at the work of these amazing photographers for hours.  I am not the best photographer but I do love taking pics.  My husband hates that part of traveling with me because flowers and buildings can stop me in my tracks and make walking somewhere take that much longer.  He jokes that he always adds 15 minutes to our time if we are walking somewhere:)

I am not sure that I am inspired as much as the photo makes me nostalgic. 

This seems reminiscent of my childhood in the fact that we made up a lot of games and fun out of nothing.  Your imagination was what made the day better and if you had a group of people adding to the ideas, all the more fun!  Maybe that is why I love brainstorming groups so much even to this day.  That high of ideas and exploration can be intoxicating to me.

I have also lived by the water many times in my life and there is something so peaceful about the water.  Many people feel this and it makes me ponder WHY?  What is it about water that speaks to the depths of us as humans?  

That is a question for another day I think.  Today quilting is calling me as with most days.  Quilting calms my soul too.  

What most calms yours?

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Hilton Head, SC

Went somewhere new this weekend and it was lovely!

We had never been to Hilton Head, SC although one of our daughters had and raved about it.  This weekend she and her man joined us and we had our own private tour guides.

View from our condo!

As always, we packed a lot into 3 days...eating, drinking, laughing, card playing, and sightseeing!
Below is the lighthouse and we went to see one of their favorite bands, The Beagles at the Big Bamboo. If you enjoy Beatles music in a 1950s Hawaiian themed basement, this is the place for you and the fish bites at happy hour are amazing!!

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MUPPIN.COM's 31 Day Blog Challenge 2018

~HAPPY DECEMBER~ 

I participated in this challenge in 2016 and although I didn't do the full month, it honed my writing skills a bit.  I did post more than half the month and for me that is a great accomplishment:)

There are lots of "draft" posts for me to finish for a very merry flashback December-lol.

There are also lots of fun new things coming for NESTLINGS so stay tuned!

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Have you met.....

CHERYL SLEBODA! (click on her name for a fun bio)
Comic book industry mogul by day and award winning fiber artist by night!  She is the catalyst behind this #31dayblogchallenge too!

Click here for more fun blogs to follow!

 

Cheryl has creative and different classes to take and a fun view of the world in general as shown in the cute way she selfies:)

 

Have fun getting to know Cheryl!