From Bad to Good

Saturday D left early to go help out at the bonsai show, and I looked forward to being able to do some painting and some sewing.  What made those activities really attractive wasn't that D wouldn't be here; rather, the attraction lay in the fact the workmen wouldn't be here.  As thoughtful and nice as they are, what they do can be painfully noisy, very dusty, and well, intrusive.

Anyway, I started with the painting I had sketched out Friday.  This one was a scene from our trip to Vermont this year but not one of the lake.  I knew that I wanted to paint in a far less detailed style and I wanted the colors to be intense.  The way I wanted the painting to look was very clear in my head.  Ha!  The result was without a doubt the worst work I have ever, ever done.  It was down right uuuughhh-leee.  It was so bad that 1) I won't show you (I'll spare you the agony) and 2) even D couldn't think of one positive thing to say other than, "Well, it's not your best . . ."  Puh-leeze.  A hair ball would have been more attractive.

Then in the afternoon I decided I would continue working on the quilt with the palm trees and the finials.  I had finished the finials on Friday.  They were a breeze to do unlike the trees because I decided not to use the fabric I had selected and prepared for the job.  Instead, I used some jewelry findings.  They were so much better and easier to sew on than the planned ones would have been.  What remains will be less difficult because it's just embroidering flowers.  

But first, I wanted to attached the novelty yarn I planned to use as a vine climbing the walls.  All I would have to do is lay it out where I wanted it to be and then couch it (that means sewing small stitches every inch or so to attach it to the surface).  Okay, all I had to do was find that yarn.  It wasn't in the bin with everything I needed for making the quilt.  It wasn't in my special case with crazy quilt notions like embroidery thread, ribbons, buttons, and beads.  It wasn't in my ribbon box.  It wasn't on my work area.  It wasn't - well, it just wasn't; I couldn't find it anywhere!  Oh, did I mention that because of the construction there are piles of clothing (from my closet which got new doors), linens (from the bathroom linen closet in the bathroom that is currently ripped apart), and bathroom supplies from toothpaste to sunscreen to well, to everything else all over my studio in an attempt to minimize the clutter in our bedroom and computer room (the guest room is a disaster).

I was so annoyed with my horrible, no good, very bad day that I gave up.

Today I didn't paint.  Today I didn't sew.

Today I hung up the clothes and put away the shoes that belonged in my closet.  I tidied and cleaned up the quarter of my studio that had all the bathroom stuff - at least it is tidy.  I tidied the studio closet and then went through all the storage bins, re-labeling those that needed it, and organizing them in order of projects to be done next.  By doing all of that I located the bag in which I keep my embroidery threads for traveling to class, and in the bag labeled "Novelty Threads", I found the yarn I want for the vine.

Today was a glorious, good, very wonderful day!