computer work

This week I have felt like I have been running in place.  Stuck.  Part of it is that the things I am working on take a bit of time.  It also rained three days in a row which did not help anything.

The computer work I did came in the mail.  The plates I created for the letterpress are here.  It does mean I am going to be cutting paper for a couple of days and then I will be printing.  The boyos wanted different things so I needed to create flexibility in the plates but which make the actual printing more difficult.  I am not going to worry about it currently.  I am just going to focus on the next step which is cutting paper.  This is when  I wish I had a paper cutter that is much larger then the one I do have.  But, I have no space for one that large!

There has also been sadness.  I had another friend die.  It was a surprise.  I think it is part of why I feel like I am running in place.  Stuck.  There has been a lot of sadness this year tied to people dying.  I do find a lot of joy and happiness in the simplest of things.  Everyday things but there is a definite counterpoint this year.  There is nothing I can change.  Be sad for me and her family.  Enjoy life everyday and be grateful.

me time

I came to this space to write today and felt badly.  What am I going to write?  Most of the projects I am working on are taking time.  My works in progress are many!  And the food I am creating is a lot of requested food.  Like today, I am going to make blackberry buckle because it was requested.  I laugh at how many times I use my own recipes.  The recipe list here will always be around in some form because I use it weekly.  

The picture is of a shawl I am making.  It is one of two new crochet techniques I am learning.  Which is incredible in itself but it does not mean I have a lot of pictures of done projects.  The other technique is using a slip stitch for the whole body of the crochet work.  Just learning that one took a couple months!  And it was for a Christmas present!  It might get to my Mom for Mother's Day.  At least she may still wear it where she lives.

I am also learning how to refinish furniture.  I found a teak coffee or side table (it could also be a bench) that someone had left to be taken away.  In our neighborhood, that means it is left on the side of the street and either someone leaves with it or it goes to the landfill.  Which every comes first.   A free solid teak table to learn new things on.  I have been having a blast.  My dining room table needs to be refinished and I am looking for other free or cheap furniture to do the same with.  I may sell it.

I also need to create some new plates for letterpress work.  I start writing out all I am doing here and no wonder I look up at 7:45 pm and go crap.  That was what I did last night and dinner was going to be an hour later then that.  But it was good bread with stuff on top.  It is amazing how many meals are just truly bread and cheese.  And along the lines of things I am planning, I have not even added the six sewing projects that are in my head.  I just found out a friend is pregnant.  

The me time on the shawl last night was needed.  Quiet where I could work more on learning the new skill.  I did order more yarn for it though.  The skeins I had in the first place were not the size that I really needed.  It is okay because this is a learning process and I just keep going forward.  And I will not be able to wear this shawl until next autumn unless I am traveling probably.  It is giving me ideas for leftover yarn though.  Always a bad thing.  More projects!

should not wait so long

This is where I stood for about five hours on Friday.  In front of my printing press printing business cards.  I have really waited too long between printing sessions because I felt like I had forgotten everything I knew how to do.  It took me longer then I would like to admit to get the press set up right to print.  But I got there.  By the end of the day, my hands were swollen enough that I did not really wish to do anything else.

I have some other ideas for printing that I wish to do.  Some simple stationary.  Some simple notecards.  I am hoping that with an extra day not working that I will have more time to spend on things that I want to do.  But I am finding there still does not seem to be enough time.  A friend of mine who has recently retired keeps saying he can not figure out how he had time to work!  I do understand this feeling.

some printing was done

I had business cards to make for my Beloved this weekend.

Physically, I really was not up to it but I have been putting it off for awhile.  There have not been enough hours in the day or I have not had the energy.  My coughing was still coming from my toes but I got this done.  It was really the only thing productive thing I did on Sunday.  The meditative aspect of the printing once I got the setup done was nice.

It is the most business cards I have printed at once.  It was definitely an accomplishment with the way I was feeling!

making cards

After gardening on Sunday and before skating, I made birthday and mother day cards.  My Grandmother is going to be 103 in the next week so I decided to make her a card.  I also made my Mom and the Tall Short Person a Mother's day card.  Out came the paper, scissors, and glue.  I watched MotoGP with my Beloved while I was working on these.  I also got a chance to work on my calligraphy.

I did have I bit of fun.  I hope they like them.