In and Out of a bind

I spent the weekend putting the finishing touches on "November Nova" so that it could be shipped to the contest organizers for the second round of judging. I can say "mission accomplished" as my son and I took it to UPS this morning, packaged it up, and sent it on it's way.

I am not a terrifically fast hand sewist, so hand stitching down the binding and sleeve and little address label took me quite a bit of time. It didn't help that my skin is sooooo dry from the winter air that while pulling on an annoying thread, I sliced the tip of my finger open!! Luckily I did not bleed on Nova--I used one of my favorite medicine cabinet staples: New Skin (a paint on liquid bandage--stings some when you apply it but it is awesome).

So, OK, keep stitching and things were going fine until I poked myself REALLY hard.....right IN the cut on my finger tip! That was round #2 of New Skin. OK, back to stitching, making sure I am not bleeding through the New Skin. And then somehow I managed to draw the needle in a criss cross over the first cut and viola! now I have an X-shaped cut on this poor finger tip! Round #3 of New Skin. But at least I managed not to bleed on the quilt, so I am claiming victory.

I do my hand work sitting in one of those classic 60's butterfly chairs! I think I got mine from Crate and Barrel back in my college days and I am so glad I never got rid of it! The big open sides are PERFECT for having free elbows and for draping a big quilt over your lap. If you have ever grumbled about your elbows bumping into couch arms when you hand stitch, then you have to try this! And it is easy on the back, too.

Between the chair and my trusty I-Pod (filled with mostly music from the 80's--DH makes fun of me, but hey! that was my college era and this music has some great memories for me!) I got the job done.

I think it is true for most people--your favorite music tends to be from your heyday. I was a bit of a big hair metal head in college (!) and there's some of that in there (Def Leppard, Queensryche, Nine Inch Nails) plus classics like Journey and Rush and Eddie Money and Depeche Mode on there. I also have some newer music (Linkin Park) and some more mellow stuff (Sarah McLachlan). Must the Gemini in me--it's a real mix of stuff.