Catching My Breath!

This is the view off of my back deck at home.

We have 1.5 acres of GREEN right now!

After being gone 11 days, you can really notice the difference in how everything has greened up, lush and wonderful.  The birdsong is WONDERFUL, I love waking up to it, and I love hearing the peeper frogs and other nature sounds coming from the creek bed that borders our property.

Our house is small, but our lot is large, and that was more important to me than the number of bathrooms I’d need to clean.

I spent yesterday mostly inside getting caught up on desk work, laundry, and book orders.

But I took some time to quickly photo some lovelies on my way to/from the post office!

Lovely azalea at the curve of my driveway!

This was not even beginning to bloom when I left for Chicago.  Now it is resplendent in fuscia and spring green!

 

As I look up, the canopy of green is filling in!

Pink dogwoods and azaleas, a favorite sight!

I can’t get enough of North Carolina in the spring!

My world is a bouquet!

I am heading up to the cabin today after I finish my work here, and I can’t wait to see what has changed along my route.

I’m going to finally get some MONA time this weekend!  She is back from Ohio, and we are both in town at the same time.  This hasn’t happened for months and months and months so I am looking forward to some sewing time with my friend. 

Last night’s finish!

I love the Quilt Diva stripe!

This is a quilt that is going in the NEXT book down the line, so I can’t show you the front, but that green backing is a good indication of what is going on in the front!  Binding will happen at the cabin.  I’ve got my strips already cut and ready to go.  I’ll attach it and start the hand stitching while up there this weekend.

Look what was dropped on my front doorstep!

The new 100 blocks, vol 13 is arriving! I can't wait to show you what is inside of 100 blocks by 100 designers, volume 13! Stay tuned!

I stumbled over it on the front porch while taking trash out last night.  I never heard the mail person drop them off.  Now I’m scrambling hoping that I sent a note to YES, please include me in the blog-hop, only I can’t remember!  You’ll see my block as soon as I hear when that will be.  Truth be told, I couldn’t remember my own block, I had to check the index and look it up!  And then it was an “Oh, yeah!  Hey, I do like that block!” moment.  There will be a quilt to come out of it I am sure.

In other exciting news:  HAPPY phone call, happy email! I'll be teaching at the Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California!! It's not until 2018, but it's something to really look forward to! They have asked me to hold back dates in 2019 too. DONE!

There are more photos from my time in Wichita to go through –nearly a 100 photos! Oh, I had the best time.  I’ll be able to go through those up at the cabin as well.  Right now I’m just aching to get out of here, fill the car with groceries and head out.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Vintage Birds in the Air quilt Circa 1930 from my collection.

I know this is a serious quote. I try to keep this blog positive, uplifting, and very quilty. But many of us are holding hidden wounds due to the unkind words, rumors and partial truths spread by others.  This is life.  It happens.

Ignore the fault-finders. People will talk about you when they envy you and the life you lead. They may point out every fault, every flaw in a very public way. Let them. No one is perfect, but the whole idea of someone else’s faults giving them something to laugh about, oftentimes in public and social media is disconcerting.  You affected their life, their negative drama doesn't have to affect yours.
 
Have you ever been there? Ever experienced this?
 
The hardest thing is forcing yourself to not reply.  Do not stoop to the same level in trying to defend yourself. Don’t become part of the cycle.
 
Some very helpful advice came to me via Jill Blakeway:

When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will try to control how others see you. The misinformation will feel unfair, but stay above it, trusting that other people will eventually see the truth just like you did.

If you've ever encountered someone exploitative, you'll be familiar with this territory. These people often use charm to persuade other people to do what they want. When that no longer works, they discard their target and move on to the next one. To avoid being exposed they silence their previous victims by attacking their credibility.

Being on the receiving end of a misinformation campaign can be very intimidating. But I've been there and I can tell you that it blows over eventually.

The person who attempted to discredit me, was charismatic and manipulative, so they managed to sway a few people temporarily. I took advice from a forensic psychiatrist and he told me to say nothing and assume that, in time, other people would work this out for themselves.

It took a little while, but he was right!

I’m heading up to our 11 year anniversary of writing this blog.  My life has been very public.  There are people out there who get a very strange snarky joy out of watching me struggle, make mistakes, or do things in a way they feel deserves criticism.  Sometimes I feel like my life is a supermarket tabloid up for discussion. I am surrounding myself with people who lift me up, and refusing to engage. I will not enter that arena.

And THIS is why I run to the mountains!  I hope in another 11 years I look back on this time of my life and realize how little effect these gossips, fault finders and snarky toxic people really had on where this journey will take me.

Asilomar! 2018 and 2019!

Have a great Friday, everyone -

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!

Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!