Summer Starts in 2 Days

Summer has always been my favorite season. As a kid I always looked forward to the long hot months of no school, and being able to read as much as I wanted. I started spending my summers in libraries at the age of ten, and didn't stop until my mom got me a work permit and found my first summer job for me when I was thirteen. After that I had to work every summer at a part-time job until I left home for the military (Mom was divorced by then and needed the money), but I usually got mornings and weekends to myself, and off I'd go to the library.

I know my liking summer confuses some people, but you have to see the year the way I do. For me spring has always been about taxes and cleaning, and trying to figure out the year ahead, all of which are exhausting at times. As a kid it was the return to school after the Christmas holidays I hated, and then dealing with all the crap of the remainder of the school year. Fall is when the worst hurricanes hit, so it's a scary season every year. Then there's that disgusting pumpkin spice trend that keeps coming back that I really hate (Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, so that's the only bright spot.) Winter is cold and all about the Christmas holidays, both of which I do not like. After the Christmas from Hell last year I'm going to lobby for absolutely minimal festivities this year.

None of those things spoil summer for me. It's bright and hot and everything is green. There are lots of thunder storms, sometimes daily (I love the rain and thunder actually puts me to sleep.) It's also my birthday, the one day of the year I get to do what I want. The kids don't have to go to school so they're out riding bikes and having fun. People seem to be happier, too -- maybe like me they love going to the beach.

This summer I'm planning to have a lot of fun at home. I'll be winding up the last phase of my big work project so I'll be able to take some time off and focus on some projects I have planned. Maybe it's selfish to make this season all about me and what I love to do, but I generally devote the rest of the year to others. Summer is mine!

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Valerean

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