Sorry I have been gone for the week again, I really want to aim to post at least twice a week, but sometimes life gets in the way! More about that after the meme's if you can hang on till the end!!
Barbara's 4 Things Meme!
4 Jobs I had..
- Hancocks/Minnesota Fabrics shop employee: my love of fabric started early, was working in a fabric shop in high school and college breaks!
- Door to door
militantGreenpeace fundraiser: those folks scared me, I lasted less than a day...I'm a horrible sales person and I was just a high school kid wanting to save the world! - Secretary for an agency that had contracts with the US Agency for International Development: a very cool place to work, so diverse, so open, people were travelling the globe. I worked with a project that sent various consultants on public health, population and AIDS communications studies to all of Africa...I even got to travel as a conference coordinator to Entebbe and Kampala, Uganda. Being me, I took time off and did a tent safari in Tanzania, a wonderful experience!!
- Freelance Graphic Designer: the job in number 3 above gave me educational benefits and I took a day course on Adobe Pagemaker, used it to design books and pamphlets for them and then used it to get a job in Ireland many years down the road. The job in Ireland turned into a freelance opportunity and I still do work each year with some US companies. Having received a bachelors degree in French and German language and literature, I find it amusing that I can charge a pretty good rate for doing graphic design from a day course I took as a secretary!!
4 films I can watch over and over…
- Persuasion (Jane Austen novel turned film with Ciaran Hinds, yummy!)
- Strictly Ballroom (love the comedy and sweet romance)
- BBC Miniseries (cheating is it?) of Pride and Prejudice...have worn out a VHS of it and wearing out a DVD currently, can you tell I like Austen?
- Anne of Green Gables (another miniseries, more for young girls, but I still love it!)
4 Tv-shows I watch
- Bones (totally addicted...hated David Boreanaz as Angel -don't throw things at me please!! - but he is yummy in this one!)
- CSI .... love the Las Vegas one, laugh at the Miami one sometimes, though the stories are well written, the actors preening cracks me up
- Medium
- Ghost Whisperer (note my secret love of supernatural TV programs)
- College Park, Maryland (my parents lived there in the same house my whole life, till they moved last summer to Oregon!!)
- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (ran out of French courses to take senior year of high school, so went off to the sister nuns of my high school up in Quebec for a few months!)
- St. Mary's City, MD (St. Mary's College of Maryland where I acquired above degree)
- Castillon-la-bataille, Doulezon, somewhere east of Bordeaux France (as an au pair in a 15th century chateau. I just looked it up for the first time ever on the internet...check out the wine bottle...my room was second one from the right on the top floor!)
- Capitol Hill, Washington DC (rented a room while working as secretary job that sent me to Africa!)
- Fairfax, VA (lived in sin with DH before our wedding!)
- Atlanta, Georgia (Jonesboro) for DH's work
- Ireland: Dublin, Drogheda, Navan, Waterford and now Ballina/Killaloe!!
4 places I would love to be right now
- Here, hanging out with my own little family!
- Oregon, hanging with extended family and getting my yearly fix of American living!
- Macchu Picchu (a site I would love to see some day!)
- Australia (looking forward to seeing it next year!)
There were a few other thing on the meme, but I'm going to be naughty and leave some out and add a crafty one to bridge to my next meme! And I won't tag anyone as I've seen most folks have gotten this meme already!!
4 Crafty Projects you really want to finish!!
- My Dear Jane, of course!!
- A Baltimore Album wallhanging (don't think I could manage a bed size quilt!)
- The Great American Aran Afghan...looks lovely on knitting blogs I've seen it on...but will be a big project!
- A pair of socks for DH and the kids
Tracy's Why Do You Craft Meme
1. When did you start to create and make crafts? I am sure it was very early in my life. I always remembering hand sewing Barbie clothes with my grandma on visits to her in St. Louis... I remember tons of art projects in Brownies and Girl Scouts, my mom taught me knit and I remember lots of attempts at scarves, not so many finishes though! My neighbor taught me how to sew on her machine when I was about 12 or so. I remember making a witches costume with her for halloween and winning a scariest costume prize with it!! A year or so later, a craft shop opened in my neighborhood and I remember taking candlewicking classes, soft sculpture (do you remember that, with panty hose and fiber fill to make dolls and other softies??)... I did cross stitch for a long while and clothes making throughout highschool. Wasn't till college I finally got into quilting and tempted my neighbor across the dorm hallway, Katy to come along with me, lol!!
2. Why did you start creating? I don't know? I have always loved it. My great grandmother did quilts, my grandmother sewed and knit, mom knit... I just always seemed to be drawn to it!
3. Why do you create? I create now because I love to do it. If I didn't I think I would find the evenings awfully boring. I can't just sit and watch TV usually (especially if DH has control of the remote, which is usual till 11pm!!), unless I'm near sleep!! I usually have hand sewing or knitting on my lap! It is definitely engrained in my character... I just need to craft! I love to be thrifty, so find scrap quilting inspiring. I love to make things for family and friends, especially for mom and dad, as they have so much "stuff" that handmade is appreciated by them! I also love to craft to make useful things, socks, sweaters, bed quilts, lap quilts...I find wall quilts wonderful too...if I can appreciate and love something for its beauty when it is in my home, it is useful too!! Making things is just a part of who I am... I wonder if I have at least one who is following in my footsteps...this is what she is doing right now as I type: drawing away with her markers and books and paper around her!
4. What do you create? I create quilts by hand and by machine, I knit things: sweaters, hats, scarves, mittens, socks, dishcloths, even felted bowls... I've recently tried crazy quilting and am getting back into stitchery... I used to do willow basket making and plan to do that again soon, now that I've found nearby classes again! Soap making is something I've always thought I'd like to try, but am afraid of the lye and things with kids around!! Pottery is something I've done before, but am not great at! Would love to give it a go again someday!
5. Has this changed since you began crafting? My tastes have evolved since starting... I used to like brighter colors in quilts, but have been attracted to civil war repros and antique quilts in the last few years. I used to not be a fiber snob when knitting and now hate using acrylic!! I like cross stitch now, but mostly antique like samplers, not the cute picture type designs I used to buy in high school... I hope I always continue to evolve and change...keeps it all interesting!
6. What are your crafting goals for the future? I hope to continue learning and improving my hand quilting, and hope to maybe do basket making and pottery next year!!
I haven't seen this meme go around as much, so I'll tag 5 people to do this: Tazzie, Andrea, Jenni, Kristen, and Ruth.
If you made it this far, I'd like to take this time to add some gratuitous photos of kids crafts and kids from Halloween yesterday. We printed out and Aine colored in this spooky garland to add to our decorations. We visited a friends house in the afternoon and she had a craft set up for the kids... I forgot the camera for action shots there, but here is Aine's finished pumpkin... Aisling isnt cooperating this afternoon for photo ops, so I'll add one from earlier in the week of her and a few bits of her favorite jewelry, lol!!
7 comments:
youyouyouyou--love it; I completely 'got' the me meaning--and I too am surrounded by little girls needing me. Well deserved. Loved reading about you. And the wrap up with the girls' craft was perfect. Like mother, like daughters.
Loved reading about you - French and German lit! Wow.
I'm going to have to mull over the second meme for as day or two :
Ruth
Wonderful post, Cathi! Really enjoyed reading all your answers and the meme! (your film faves echo my own, btw!) Fun to learn even more about you and how you began your crafting life. Long live crafting, learning and trying new things. And so great to see your girls and what they've been up to. :o) Happy weekend to you all! ((HUGS))
Very interesting. Very interesting indeed! I also can't just sit and watch the box (does my head in LOL)
Keep on crafting (it will keep you sane)
xka
This post was indeed long but a fun to read. We know you better now. I liked the creative meme, it reminded me of myself, having a go at everything, trying, knitting in front of the TV,... I wish you a lot of quality, creative time with your DDs. Take care.
I sympathise with your free machine quilting problems. Recently, after, like you, many years of happy quilting and a couple of taught classes, I suddenly had problems. Very frustrating. It turned out to be the tension on my machine. As to your problem, I can only suggest making sure the same thread is in the bobbin and on top, changing both threads to a different brand, and (sorry to be so obvious) double checking that the presser foot is down. Hope you work it out.
Wow!! I love your quilt. I have real trouble quilting on my machine with skipped stitches at times like yours. I rethread and clean well, and still happens at times.
I played with my tension and that seemed to help me.
good luck!! great work on your dear Jane.
JulieQ
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