Monday, July 1, 2013

in june, I read 9 books and sewed a quilt top...

books
...but didn't do much else. Success or failure?

The headaches left me drained this month. Even when I wasn't in pain, I was exhausted. Like I've been hit over the head with a wrench and don't even have the energy to type an e-mail kind of exhausted. I only ventured out of the house a few times and even that was taxing. Yuck.*

Reading and sewing were my salvation during the pain-free days in June. I couldn't concentrate on art (or deal with paint fumes), so sewing my first quilt became my creative outlet. Turns out cutting fabric into little pieces and sewing them back together again actually quite agrees with me. Huh. The repetitiveness of making the quilt, the hum of the sewing machine, and the fact that it didn't require decision-making, just following steps, made quilting the perfect activity when I wasn't feeling well. Now for the hard part...turning the quilt top into an actual quilt. (Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath!)
quilt top
Self-portrait with quilt top. Ha!
(Turns out using the camera's timer to take a photo of yourself holding up a giant piece of fabric is actually quite challenging. But anyway, that's 300 squares stitched together. If I ever finish quilting it, I will figure out how to take better photos of the final product.)

As for the books, here's what I read this month:

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

* Anyway, I'm feeling better now! I finally got all of my June shop orders shipped last week and I even socialized and drank wine this weekend for the first time in a month! I'm slowly getting my shit together and getting back to normal and hoping for a productive July. Less bookworm, more busy bee.

(P.S. Show me what you're reading and drinking this month and tag your photos #booksandbeverages on Instagram!)

2 comments:

Bonnie said...

That is a beautiful first quilt!!! I hate quilting as well, and have just decided that if it's bigger than a baby quilt, I'll send it to be professionally quilted. The queen-size one I made recently was about $100 to get quilted. Leaves me more time for stuff I enjoy!

Glad you're feeling better!

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Bonnie - I think if I sent my quilt to a professional, they might be horrified at my sewing techniques! I'm interested (and a little nervous) to see if I can fit the thing through my little ol' sewing machine to quilt it myself. It's picnic blanket sized, so smaller than a bed quilt (which I don't think I'd have the patience/stamina for), but bigger than a sofa throw. We'll see...