Creative Juices

I have a new obsession... wait for it.... I'm addicted to Paint by Numbers!! I know it sounds a bit crazy (and juvenile perhaps?) but I am seriously in love with my new hobby. Over Christmas, Ruby and I decided to buy PBN from Michaels, and since then we've spent hours and hours happily painting. It made all that Olympic-watching more guilt-free because we were actually "doing something" while glued to the TV. I finished my first one and Ruby is almost done hers... she's been commissioned by her Auntie Shirley so Ruby's expecting to get big bucks for her artistic talents! (I think the last time they negotiated, Ruby went from $5 to "40 Bucks"!! It sounds funny when a 6 year old says "bucks"... I don't know why)

And once I got addicted... well, it was important to get some friends involved!! I now have 2 buddies that are into it as well, and we get together after we drop the kids off from school and drink coffee, gab and paint!! What a great way to waste a morning!

The second one I chose is significantly harder but I am loving it so far! (I noticed after I took the photo that the remote control was sitting right next to me - not staged! :) You will also usually find a coffee cup or wine glass next to me as well, depending on the time of day!


I'm also happy to report that I am getting closer to finishing Simon's quilt. Thanks to Shirl's moral support and motivation, she helped me finish the blocks while she was visiting a couple of weeks ago. Here's the top, all done and waiting to be "sandwiched". I'm seriously afraid of the sandwiching process so I've been avoiding it. I've also never machine-quilted a project this large so I am worried about how that's going to play out. The backing fabric is currently in the dryer, pre-shrinking. I need my sister to come back so she can motivate me to continue!! We've actually talked about meeting up at Harrison Hot Springs with our sewing machines and having our own quilting retreat sometime. But in the meantime, I have to be a big girl and do this myself!! Woot woot... go me!

(P.S. Just realized that the girl from Fabric-crappy-Land didn't cut me enough fabric for the backing..... ARGH!! I am so very unhappy right now. Why do people who don't know what they are doing, work there?? Next time I will have to figure out the math and not assume they know what they are talking about. Blah. Now I have to figure out a creative solution for the back (aka: wing it and scrap something together. Shirl, are you there?? Save me.)