Semi-retired

The next quilt is finished.  I worked on it all day yesterday.

 I did a feather and curl type design on the outside border and a leaf design on the inside border.

It's hard to see the design so here it is on wax paper so you can see it better.  The stitching on the quilt looks better than my drawing does.  It's a feather that starts with a curl, gradually gets smaller until it starts with another curl on alternating sides.

The center area got meandering and the rest got line dancing.

I had to giggle when I read the comments about me being just as busy now as I was when I was quilting full time.  Yes, I am very busy these days but it's a different kind of busy.  I guess because of my age too I find it very hard to work a full time job and work a full time household schedule.  There was a time when I made choices to either work at the quilting machine or work around the house.  The quilting machine always won because I knew customers depended on me keeping the machine moving.  Preserving foods, sewing, organizing, and things like that take time.  I couldn't do both at the same time as multi-tasking home and work just didn't happen regularly enough for me. 

My decision to retire from full time quilting was a difficult one.  I really enjoy machine quilting for others and the money sure did come in handy.  I get great satisfaction knowing I could take someones top and make it into a really nice quilt for someone else to love.  The problem was the "for someone else" part of the job.  I wasn't doing much of anything for myself to enjoy in those days.  I occasionally got to piece and quilt one for charity or for a grandchild but nothing was happening for ME.  In semi-retirement I get to do things for myself, like preserving foods, creating art, and still get some customer quilts done too.   I earn just enough money to help with my budget. 

There are still many days when I read other machine quilter blogs and wonder to myself..... how does she/he manage to get soooo much accomplished.  Then I remember what it takes to keep a heavy schedule, especially as a single person.  I don't have anyone to help with chores, I do them all myself.  I'm slowly getting back into habits I long ago got away from in favor of keeping the quilts moving. 

Last night was very noisy with motorcycles racing up and down the street.  Lots of people were roaming around on our block between the two clubs.  Then there was the police helicopter flying around above my house too.  I don't know what was going on but it sure was lively and loud until 5 this morning.  I didn't get much sleep and I'm sort of dragging today. 

I have of my fair entry quilts on the machine today.  I need to get it finished because they have to be dropped off this coming weekend.  I still have binding to finish on all three.