Tag Archives: motel

Photo Finish

Leave a reply

ImageImage

I finished this table runner early this morning. (12:15am early.) It’s machine pieced and hand quilted. Yay, another one complete! This will probably either go in my etsy shop or be sold at a craft fair. Want it? Make an offer.

In other news, this new house finally feels like home. Why? I unpacked my sewing machine today. I refused to take my machine out of its case while we were staying at the motel. An adult mini-tantrum for sure, but I stuck to handwork. After three months of storage, the whirrrr of its motor is comforting. Plus now I get to work on little Mary’s baby quilt!

Advertisement

Settle Down Now

Leave a reply

As my sister gets the hang of being a new mom, I’m finally starting to put down roots in my new city. Motel living isn’t homey and we’re pretty sure we won’t rent in this area, so the neighborhood isn’t even mine. But on the fourth day of my nanny job, things are starting to feel…. right. This is my job. These are the children I get to spend my time with. We have a rhythm now. That kind of a feeling is infectious. On the way home today I signed up for a library card. At MY library. Which one? The one right near work, so it’s convenient no matter where end up living.

I promised photos of my current projects, and those are coming. I’m adding the finishing touches to “On a Good Day” so it’s inside out and upside down right now, which isn’t very photogenic. Expect a good picture on that one soon. I’ll leave you with a picture of baby Mary and her mama for now.

Image

Don’t Yank My Hair!

3 Replies

My haircut this week was just in time for another transition: a new job! I’m excited to get back into childcare as a nanny for a local family with two young children. As it turns out, one is an infant, and will soon be in the grabby phase. You know, when anything within reach goes directly in the baby’s mouth? My long hair used to get wrapped around tiny fingers and yanked right off my head in clumps. OUCH! So, my stylish new look also comes with the bonus that there’s less to pull.

newdo1

My hair was pretty long before we started.

newdo2

Okay, so I blinked. But you can still see how happy I am as the stylist shows me different ways to work my new look.

newdo3

It’s layered in the back as well as the front.newdo4

I’m looking forward to playing with my new ‘do. Mom even bought me some mousse, a curling iron, and something called pomade. She has three boys, one of whom I married, so it’s fun when we do girly things together.

My next post will include updates on my handwork projects. Stay tuned!

It’s Also a Bathtub

3 Replies

Motel living has me really appreciating everything for its multi-functionality. Our nightstand holds the laptop computer and (clean!) underwear. The ice bucket holds our utensils. The bed, of course, makes a nice surface to assemble and sew quilts. It’s also a fun kitty fort. A spotlight is clipped onto the vacuum handle. I’ve taken to scooping kitty litter twice a day. Why? i’m usually pretty lazy about cleaning in general, but take a look at this litter box location.

Nevermind; don’t look at it. My camera’s battery isn’t taking a charge. No photographs for now. Grrr….

Anyway, the litter box is snuggled in next to our mini refrigerator. Ew. Also, we’ve seen a few bugs. It’s not too bad, just one or two tiny things each night. So as not to attract them, food is stored in airtight containers. Our food, and the cats’ food as well. The shower is where we clean our bodies and wash dishes. They dry on a towel over the dresser.

Ah well, do what you can with what’s available.

An Artist’s Motel Room

1 Reply

At the beginning of March my husband and I, along with our kitties, moved into a motel in a new city. We moved out of our two-story, three-bedroom with a garage rental house into this bold new adventure.

Here are some modifications I’ve made to our little room here that help me continue to make art.

* Space. I’ve created more space in this room by asking the motel staff to remove the second bed and bringing a desk here from our storage unit. We also now have a folding table stored under the bed… which means that I can set up my sewing machine AND computer.

*Handwork. As a quilter, most of the stuff I make uses some combination of machines… sewing machine, rotary cutter, iron, etc. When I knew (mid-February) that we weren’t moving in to a lake house, or master suite, or duplex… all solid plans that fell through last-minute… I got busy preparing handwork to bring. I’m working on a hexagon crumbs quilt by hand. Photos soon.

*Food. Real food. I thought that I would be just fine eating sandwiches, cereal, and fast food. Turns out that two weeks without vegetables is quite long enough. My body has been a lot happier with me since we bought an electric steamer, swapped for a larger refrigerator, and went to the grocery store.

*Sleep. This is a new place. It feels new, sounds new, even smells new. It’s exciting but also scary. Fluffy blankets from our storage unit, good pillows, and soft pillowcases borrowed from a friend help us sleep better. So does keeping the A/C fan running all night. That way we’re not awakened by every strange new sound. And at our pet-friendly downtown motel, there are many.

*A notebook. I’ve had more ideas for art I’d like to make in these past few weeks than in a very long time. Paring down to the very essentials makes me think of new uses for… well.. everything! A shampoo bottle could be cut and decoupaged into bangle bracelets. Soda tabs could be sewn together into a pretty tray. The cuff off a stretchy sweatshirt could be the base for a baby’s headband. What if I cut plastic grocery bags into strips and knit them into bags for beach toys? A notebook is useful for writing this stuff down.