Leaps and bounds

I could get used to this retirement thing! Getting a decent night's sleep, eating well, taking long walks. And sewing. It's all on the schedule I made up for myself.

Yes, I made myself a schedule. That's me. People told me that I'd lose track of time after I retired, and there are so many things I want to do with my time now that I have some for myself that I don't want to waste it. Only thing is, blogging isn't on my schedule.

Guess I'd better add it somewhere, but I'm not spending very much time at my computer these days. That's all I did at work.

My friend and next door neighbour challenged me last week to get some sewing done. Up until then I'd been staring at my machine, moving things around on the table and not getting much else done. It's awesome what a challenge will do!

I started making these little bags again. I made four of them. In one week. Along with music practice, lunch with the gals, house work, yard work, walks, visits and everything else. I made these half an inch narrower than the first ones. You can still fit a cell phone in the outer pockets or a Canadian passport (or money or keys or glasses or...) in the zippered pocket.

Have I mentioned how much I love Laurel Burch fabrics? Probably once or twice. I made up one for myself and had to stop and think about what I would really like on my own bag. Well, cats, of course. I have a not too shabby

collection of cat fabric, and a nice selection of Laurel Burch cats. It wasn't too hard to find some bits that went together nicely.
I'll probably make more of these little bags in the future, but for now I'm off on another project. After that I'll get back to finishing the "bingo bags" that I started well before Christmas.
And after that, I'd like to get back to making quilts. Before that, though, there's going to be a garden to work up and plant. It's going to be fun!
Until next time,

Word of the Week - Retirement!

As of last Friday, I am retired from my career of almost 40 years! My time is my own now and I almost don't know what to do with it. Almost. I know that I need to retain a bit of structure, but I'm giving myself a week off before I start making lists and plans.




It's hard. My mind is going off in all directions at breakneck speed. Thirty-seven-plus years as a weekly (and daily) newspaper editor made me think in terms of daily story lists and more deadlines than you might believe possible. People used to ask me how I found time for quilting: I told them I squeezed in a little bit here, a little bit there. But even that has become increasingly harder in the past year as company cutbacks and policies have pretty much claimed the last of my free time.




I've been cleaning up around my sewing table and cutting fabric for some more of these little bags. This is a late Christmas present for my music partner. Can you tell? (Hint - music staves and piano keyboards!). I also picked up a cold from a co-worker on my last day of work and on Monday I slept for 18 out of 24 hours. Guess I

needed it. Needless to say, my kitties were very pleased. But that's why I haven't done much at the sewing machine - too fuzzy headed from this cold. I cut some fabric, decide I don't want to use it and look around for something else to cut. I'm going to end up with a pile of tiny pieces and another project if I keep doing that.




Unless I get a surge of energy in the next couple of days, there probably won't be any sewing until next week - but I guarantee, there will be by then.


Until next time,

Furball Friday - Is it Friday already?