Slow down and smell the library books...

People often remark that I seem to fit a lot into life.  Maybe it looks that way from the outside - I write a blog, produce a podcast, write for a newsletter company, make art, make hand-made goods to sell, work as a midwife, raise two kids and run a houseboathold - but I always feel as if I could do more, be more efficient, stop sitting around, stop losing myself in social media...I'm sure you've had those feelings too at some point.

In an attempt to be the person I want to be, I can get really caught up in the 'busy' syndrome, and I realise that that has some big downfalls.  This was brought home to me the other day when I was in my local library.  

I'm a big fan of public libraries.  It starts with fond memories from when I was a kid.  The family loading into the van on Saturday mornings, going to the library and being allowed to browse and bring home five books each (there were six kids and two parents, that's a lot of books and I'm guessing we all had to carry our own!).

Photo from Pixabay

The library was a favourite place of mine in primary school too.  Mrs Hammond, the librarian, was a kind, gentle woman who let kids help with the library tasks and I enjoyed books so much that I was a librarian at high school for a year or two as well.  

The Wellington public library was an amazing place when I was working at my first job in the city.  It had a great cafe where I'd meet my sisters for a coffee and then find a couple of books to take home.  It was always a warm refuge from the sometimes vicious Wellington weather and I spent many happy hours among the shelves there.

Back to the present day, and busy Me makes use of the on-line library catalogue.  I'll search for the books I want for the kids or myself, request them and then run in and grab them when I'm in town checking off my errand list.  I use the audio book service to download and listen to audio books when I'm multitasking and I use the after hours return slot when I'm on my way to work.

But I don't 'enjoy' the library anymore.  I don't go in with time to spare and browse and sit and soak in the knowledge and run my finger along book spines and flick through a book at random.  And I realised how much I missed that when I did it the other day by accident.  I went in to find a couple of books for my son and then I looked at my watch, realised I had a spare 30 minutes and so headed upstairs to the non-fiction section with no set plan or checklist or even an idea of what I was looking for.

And here is what I came home with:

The Unburnt Egg by Brian Gill - stories from a museum curator, 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - fiction I had been recommended for my 12 year old son, 

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - more recommended fiction for my boy,

Living Wild by Bear Grylls - I thought this might appeal to my son, who is into hunting and sticks and fires and outdoors in a big way,

Dracopedia by William O'Connor - this one is for me!  A guide to drawing dragons.  I'm thinking of making another dragon quilt,

Making Pop-Ups and Novelty Cards by Trish Phillips and Ann Montanaro - one for my 9 year old daughter who loves crafty things,

Weta Workshop by Luke Hawker - Weta is New Zealand's amazing design and special effects studio and workshop that (among other achievements) did the costuming and digital characters for The Lord of the Rings movie.  My daughter thinks she might like to work there so this book seemed appropriate!

And lastly, Possum on a Cold Tin Roof by Charlie Janes - hunting and bushcraft adventures and mishaps written by a good keen kiwi bloke with a sense of humour.  This is for my husband who doesn't read much, but I think I picked right.....

I took this sneaky picture of him reading this afternoon. Don't tell him!

The other thing I came home with was satisfaction.  I had found books to appeal to everyone.  I had let the library work it's magic and turn up gems that I wouldn't have found electronically.  And I had enjoyed myself.  That's what the 'busy' syndrome can do if I let it take over.  It can suck the pleasure out of life because I'm so busy trying to cram in everything I 'should' be doing that I forget to have fun while I'm doing it.

So here's to libraries, and here's to slowing down and smelling the pages!

Life and work

My 'real' job, the one that pays a consistent income, is midwifery.  I work a shift or two per week at the local rural hospital in the maternity ward and then sometimes I work as a rural locum, covering the community midwives.  That's what I'm doing at the moment.  And boy, can it kick my butt.

I'm in a very privileged position to not have to work much usually.  My husband often has to go away at short notice, or work long hours for his business, so we need me to be available to look after the kids.  I know not everyone has that luxury and must organise childcare as well as their working lives. I know I'm privileged, but I really know it when I work locum.

I've been involved in three helicopter transfers of sick babies in the last couple of weeks.  Today I need to drive for an hour to visit a bunch of women who live even more rurally than I do.  My children got pulled out of bed at 5.30 am the other day because my husband had to start work early and I was at the hospital with a woman.  It sucks.  But it's exciting and fulfilling and important work too.

I'm trying to remember that.  And I'm trying to catch glimpses of the good life in between the sucky bits.

Little Bites of Creativity

I could go on about how busy life has been for me in the last few weeks, but hey, we ALL lead busy lives and busy-ness is overrated!

So instead, I thought I'd write about how I've been trying to squeeze in my quilting and art in little bits and pieces around the big chunks of 'life'.  I miss quilting and creating when I don't make time for it - I get a little grumpy - so I've had to think up ways to be creative in small bites.  And these small bites make a big difference to my mood.

So what have I found?

Handwork, in this case, embroidery on hand-dyed batting squares.  I can pick up my little embroidery kit and take a fair few stitches in 10 minutes.  I set myself a theme of circles so I don't have to think about what to stitch, I can just start.

Working in my sketchbook.  Particularly sketching on pages that are already prepared.  Or I can put together a collage of leftover practice mono prints on paper.  Me and my gluestick can make a beautiful composition in about five minutes flat!

Looking around at the world.  I can feel frustrated or I can let my imagination run wild while I'm busy painting white walls in my boat.  I can look at the ship's wheel and imagine how it would look on a quilt, superimposed over an image of the porthole.  And I can take photos of inspiring objects - whether it be for shape, pattern or colour - in about 30 seconds.

When I have a little more time, say 15 minutes, I can doodle free-motion quilting designs.  I often draw out the block I want to design a motif for and then I can draw over it in pencil until I find the right one.  I could do this on the computer too in a photo or drawing program, but pencil and paper are quicker and more portable round the house.

Then if I leave my quilt spread out under the sewing machine, I can sit down and quilt one block in about 10 minutes.  And those 10 minutes add up - all 28 of my 16 patches on my big blue and white quilt are now quilted.  It's time to move onto the 18 bordered square blocks.

How do you fit creativity into your life?

Nearly There.

I'm nearly there.  Nearly at the end of another stretch of locum work, nearly at the end of school term, nearly at Symposium.  And it feels that the closer I get, the heavier the weight is to carry.

Locum work can be stressful, and of course it's much busier than my normal schedule so other things get pushed aside.  I don't think I've realised how much of a stress relieving tool quilting can be.  It's very therapeutic to stroke fabric, place stitch, consider design and make small, pleasing changes to a composition.

I have a 12 hour night shift tonight and then I am FREE for two weeks.  I can make it till then, I can!

Patchwork Lanyard

I had a dream last night.  A really coherent dream about leaving my daughter with a workmate of my husband in a noisy, dirty workshop while I went to work feeling very worried.  Then when I came back to pick her up I was carrying her out and I tripped over a chain, her head hit the ground as we fell.  That's when I woke up (thankfully).

So what's that all about?  Well, I've been working as a locum midwife for the last ten days and I don't think I could have a clearer indication of Mummy Guilt than that dream!

There has been little or no sewing, basic housework only, a funeral service for a dear friend and one-pot dinners.  It was a grand reminder of how easy my life usually is.  Kudos to all of you who work full time and manage kids and households as well.

Anyway.  Today I have a 75th surprise birthday party to go to.  Being so busy I haven't had time to think about a gift so I set to this morning and in half an hour I had this:

This lovely lady who is having a birthday has a tendency to leave her keys on cafe counters.  I'm hoping that a beautiful patchwork lanyard might help her keep them safe!

To make it I cut three inch fabric strips of various lengths (1 1/2 inches upwards).  I sewed them together end to end, pressed the seams open and then pressed the strip in half lengthways.  I then folded each lengthwise edge into the middle fold and pressed it again so those long raw edges were hidden in the middle (like making bag handles).  I also pressed under one short edge by half an inch.

Now here comes the only slightly tricky bit.  I threaded a keyring onto the strip, then I tucked the raw short edge into the pressed under one and pinned it to hold it.  Then I top stitched down each long edge, moving the ring along as I went.  You end up with a big ring of fabric with the little ring on it.

Then I moved the keyring to the area where I tucked in the short end and pinched the fabric together above the metal ring.  I zig-zagged across the fabric to hold the keyring in place and to catch the tucked in ends neatly so they didn't unfold.

Done.

I found the keyring in my box of treasures but I know you can buy them at the hardware store or any place that cuts keys.  You could also put a clip onto the lanyard and you can pick them up at sewing stores or maybe the hardware store too.

I can see many more of these in my future!  

Chaos at my house.

School holidays have been keeping me busy. How on earth home-schooling Mama's and Mama's who don't use daycare survive, I just don't know! Mind you, I haven't a husband presently. He's taken his testosterone and gone to shoot red deer somewhere (I'm not 100% sure where, and I'm not 100% sure when he'll be back either). I've also had a niece for two nights and then later the whole package of aunty and three nieces for another two nights.

The cheeky redhead is the niece who came to stay and is also turning seven very shortly. She gave me the ultimate compliment about my carrots, "They taste MUCH better than the supermarket ones!"

To cut a long story short - I'm apologising for my lack of blogging lately (I know you all wait with bated breath!).



But last night I had complete silence for a couple of hours after the children went to bed and today it's just me and my two, so I'm feeling a little less stressed and I'm actually accomplishing a few things.



We're baking a huge dairy-free chocolate cake for the birthday of one of the above nieces. If it turns out to be a good recipe I'll post it here. We're also hanging around waiting for the water truck to arrive (I said the morning - earlier the better - and it's now 1.30pm!). I've finally had to buy water, even though it's showering today, it's just not enough. I'm intermittently working on a few WIP's; my mother-in-law's batik quilt, and a pillowcase birthday present for that said niece again.


I'll be back again soon, I've got lots to blog about. See you later!