It's Been Forever!!

Kitty Leeloo - a collaboration with my
clay artist friend, Sabra. Just a little something
I worked on over the last few weeks.

I just realized that's it's been forever since my last post - over a month!! Things have been great but so busy after the holidays. I can't believe it's March already. Dirty secret: we still have our Christmas tree up!! It's driving Michele crazy, but I get a little happy every time I see it! There are boxes underneath - we opened the gifts and left the boxes under the tree and just haven't gotten rid of them yet. It really makes me feel like Christmas is on the way!

Well, I have certainly been keeping busy and out of trouble. I'm working hard on the shop and to that end have started another blog. I really need to use blogging to promote my shop, but wanted my friends to have a choice about whether to know more about my shop or to know more about my quirky life, or both! So, hop on over to A Blog's Eye View into the Studio of The Quilted House if you'd like to know what I'm doing in the studio and shop, and stay here if you'd like to know what I'm doing in my life - though the two will often overlap! I promise to do a better job of keeping this blog up-to-date!

Blog Redesign

I had some fun and redesigned my blog! I thik it looks cleaner and I'm really loving the color scheme. So, what do you think?

Blog Neglect

I'm guilty of serious blog neglect. Spring is here, the sun is shining, and I have a show coming up, all of which have combined to make my life incredibly busy, but incredibly full and ripe for blog posts. I actually have several that I've 1/2 written in my head but need to get down on "paper," so be prepared for a few disjointed thoughts in the next few posts (as if my thoughts weren't disjointed enough normally!).

Redesign/Reinvigoration

OK, you may have noticed that I have redesigned my blog layout. I've been wanting a three-column layout for a little while now, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Well, I googled it and voila - refulgent in the listings were directions on editing the html of my page template to make it three columns. And, of course, I forgot to save the link to post for you, but if you google three-column blog (and the name of your blog template) you should be able to find directions - I guess it's something a lot of other people want to do, too! Let me know what you think of my redesign.

On a very loosely related note, I am trying to reinvigorate my online shop, too. I've made it a mission to list one new item every day this week, which is a challenge because that means that I need to make new items at least daily (and those of you who sew and quilt know that quilted items rarely get completed in a day!!) I got inspired, though, by another seller, Tina, who has twin three-year-olds and has made her shop a success. Also, by my blogging friend, Teresa, with three boys (and all their activities), who is making things and taking classes right & left! And then there's my sis, with two toddlers, and her own online shop! Well, if they, with all the folks and things they take care of, can do it, I most definitely can, too! I've cut my Star Trek watching to the bone - that's how committed I am!!

Julie & Julia

My friend, Sara, and I went to see Julie & Julia tonight. Amazing!! It was so very good. I read the book when it first came out and, although I really enjoyed it, had a bit of a hard time getting through it. The writing was wonderful, but I read it during my lunch breaks and, being a vegetarian who had never cooked meat, fish, poultry, etc., found it hard to stomach (pun intended). Anyway, the movie really resonated with me. Julie saved herself from herself by cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but more than just that. She saved her sanity by blogging about it. Although I started this blog as a way to keep Michele apprised of my many projects (and to let my parents know I was surviving), it's metamorphosed into something more for me. There's something special about connecting with people this way and being responsible to a sometimes mysterious and unknown other. For the first few months, just knowing that someone out there might be expecting to read something from me helped me not to acquiesce to the desire to sleep all day - I actually had to get up and do something so that I would have something to blog about! I just really appreciate that you all read this because I really enjoy writing it. It kept me sane in the first few months and now really brings me joy!

OK, in a completely unrelated note: after tallying the votes from here and Facebook, Lily Garden, Year One edged out Dragonfly Dance by one vote. I didn't vote myself, or it would have been a tie! Lily Garden, Year One it is, I think. I should hurry up and enter before I change my mind!! Thanks, everyone, for helping me decide!!