Monday...on task

Simply Quilts was fabulous this morning.  It was great seeing how the 3 different quilters interpreted the landscape challenge.  Sue Beevers was the most inspiring for me personally...that was just eye-opening to see her demonstration in process.  It encouraged me to get my day started this morning.  I'm still adjusting to being home and not working and finding a rhythm that works for me.  On a typical day, I wake up between 6:00-6:30 to see my petites off to school...then from the time they leave its a combination of daily hygiene, getting dressed, coming online, making coffee, and thinking about what household business, personal tasks, quilting goals I want to attempt and doing them.  I sometimes get derailed by poor concentration and fatigue and sometimes I just keep on pushing for a few days followed by days of pure exhaustion and on occassional days I feel miraculously well.  The schedule I'm attempting to settle into is being driven by looking at quilting as my primary work.

After SQ went off today I turned off the tv, popped in Stevie's new cd and one by Regina Carter to keep me company and pulled this quilt off the wall.   I'm sewing through 5 layers...tulle, top, batting, stablizer, and backing. About 20% of its quilted but its slow going for me because the stablizer doesn't cooperate being under the machine well and wrestling with it tires me out. 

In the last 6 months I've had considerable improvement with the PH symptoms but the fatigue and muscle burning and sometimes mild dizziness still have me yo-yoing throughout the day.  My challenge is to take frequent breaks while remaining task oriented...meaning not to get side-tracked and take a detour while on break.  My mind just streams though...one thing will lead to another and another and another and clock-time becomes insignificant...but I've found that the AQ blogs help me stay on track. It never fails that I'll come across something that reminds me to stop wasting my time and get back to my mission...its when I read the current affairs during breaks or start watching tv that I find myself getting off schedule. 

But this is my break at the moment and this picture of one of my favorite mugs given to me by woman known as Pudge-Princess Moon on Water was inspired by Sarah who gave us photos recently of her favorite mugs. It holds about 2-3 cups of coffee and Peter hates it when I use it because I deplete the coffee pot very quickly which leaves him very little coffee without having to make another pot...but afterall, I AM THE QUEEN!

But I got to get back to work and will leave with these photos of postcards I received from Liz, Sandy, and Jenny entitled  Debris2, Mullion Windows #1, and Sunshine on Blue Mountain.  All the cards received in this swap have been some of the most unique cards of all the swaps I've participated in.   Thanks one and all for a wonderful exchange. 

hangeth in.