To be honest, not much got done last week as I apparently was showing side effects of an RSV shot. Chatted with the pharmacist about it and he highly suspects it's because of the immune-suppressing meds I take. Still feeling it this week so am still taking it slow. In the meantime, I am perked up by my neighbor's Halloween decorations. That's my front door past the tree that we share so I get a chuckle each time I go out and see those skeletons relaxing in the chaise lounges.
Fortunately, the #Inktober sketches take little time or energy so I've been able to keep up with them. Here's the latest page. As you can see, there was a day of beautiful fall weather where I felt good enough for a walk at city beach, and then a total cloudy blockout of the hyped eclipse which in my area was an 80 percent one.
I kept popping into the studio in moments I felt a little better, inserting some postcards into the pockets of the challenge gratitude journal. I'm calling this "Gratitude, Memories, Things I Love" so that I can include things like these postcards of familiar sights sent to me after I moved away from the area back in the 1990s. Yes, I've been holding on to them that long, in the bottom of a stationery box. That's the Tacoma Narrows bridge peeking out. The greeting cards I used as wrappers have printing on the back that I'd rather not see so I have these small calendar cards from NWF that I will paste over it.
Someone from the challenge group shared this with us, suggesting we might like to include it in our journals. I decided I wanted it for my opening page. Still running into bits to add to my collection of things to paste on other pages.
Lastly, I decided I couldn't put off gluing down the pieces loosely arranged on my 4 pieces of watercolor paper for the abstract color challenge. Feeling I'm not really embracing making these abstract, and they are still in that awkward teenager stage, but today I experimented with where I might add a few small pieces here and there. Also thinking about ink spatters and bubble wrap marks and water soluble colored pencils. Still feeling cramped working in these 5 x 5 inch spaces. I like the lower left one the best, really just as it is, but must be brave about adding something more to give it depth and interest. Mostly, I'm ready to have these off the worktable. On the day I glued these pieces down, I covered them with wax paper and put them under books to dry, then sat at the sewing machine a bit to continue restitching the diagonal grid quilting on the 4-patch strip quilt while listening to podcasts. I'm almost done with the lines going in one direction and will feel much better about this project when I can flip the quilt and start stitching the other direction. And honestly, I'm so itching to start a knitting project, as if I don't have enough things going. Must be the autumn weather . . .
4 comments:
I laughed at your last line 'as if I don't have enough things going.' That's exactly what I was thinking as I read about you saying not much got done last week! Side effects from the shot, or not, it sure looks like you accomplished quite a bit! The piece about taking a minute to think about gratitude is inspiring. Thanks for sharing. Jan in WY
Jan, I try to remember the advice about spending just a few minutes on something each day, or at least frequently, gets the thing finished sometimes more quickly than waiting until you have a big chunk of time to work on it. But I tend to be more impatient than that, not seeing these bits of progress as anything to shout about when in truth I wished I had the wherewithal to finish a project to completion that very session. I seem to have a lot of "if I just spent 15 minutes on this it would be done" things lying around - quotations to be added to a tree and leaf themed journal, these mini abstracts, watercolor experiments to name a few - but I sigh I think because there are so many and I fail to concentrate on a single one until taken care of, even though I know it won't take that long. Ah me, do you think I'll ever figure it out? Maybe that is the reason I get drawn toward new projects because these in process ones feel so difficult to resolve and finish up? Bits and pieces become more intimidating or easier to ignore than starting up something new it seems. It was actually good to write this post and find I was refuting the not much done declaration! Just not much actually finished! Will be working on rectifying that this week. :-) Glad you liked that gratitude quotation. Definitely the way we should live.
Sure looks like you made headway despite not feeling your best. Interesting that you mentioned the RSV aftermath. I didn't even have a sore arm.....but days following my body aches so much, can hardly go up and down our staircases.....I've asked others about this complaint and everyone seems to have escaped issues. Must be just our weakened bodies.......as I still am not up to speed after my surgery. Sick of doing PT but know I must.......at least now I can sew for short periods of time.....thankfully as I was really getting crabby by the inactivity!!!
Nice to see you back commenting Mary. Sorry to hear that you too had a bad RSV shot experience, but I think you are right about our compromised bodies leaving us open to such things. Was a surprise though as I've not had issues with flu shots or even the covid shots. I can sure relate to the being tired of the PT but the fact that you have steady enough improvements to be sewing again shows it is worth it to keep it up!
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