happiness is...

- yarn from my sock-yarn-scrap pal Amy!



- my snowman flannel pants and my new green shoes (though they are pictured here as appearing to be a part of one outfit, they are not usually worn together)



- the "found" part of the ongoing battle known as "lost and found." My spindle is no longer MIA, the pair of "snipettes" is now safely attatched to my knitting bag with a red ribbon, and my sock (in the process of turning a heel) and all four dpns have been rescued from my medstudent bag. (no telling if I'll be able to recover the potentially dropped stitches but it's worth the risk to have a sock with me at all times. Not pictured but also "found" is my cell phone wallplug. I can now recieve AND make calls!

Somehow it went from Thursday-that-felt-like-Friday to being Sunday night. How does that happen?

The endless weekends of rain combined with the relative “let-down” of being done with the studying for boards and still not knowing how I did has led me to feel a bit melancholy. Fearing the downward spiral similar to what has been known to happen in the past I found myself at a fabric store last week during my “lunch” break. (essentially they locked me out of the office when I ran to get my lunch from the car and it wasn’t opened up again till patients arrived at 1:00pm.) I was drawn to colors that don’t normally stir me – oranges, bright yellows and a lime green. I have lots and lots and lots of fabric for quilting, but none of it was immediately available so I picked and chose and matched and paired and left with several new fabrics, their destiny uncertain.

Yesterday I headed to my parents house, one of the only places I know of where the sewing machine has a semi-permanent spot in the family room and is always accessible. While in almost constant conversation with my mom I cut and put and moved and eventually sewed strips of fabric together. I didn’t think I was aiming for a “theme” that matched the season, but that’s what happened so I went with it.





the "leaves" of the "tree." These were taken with overhead lights and the flash, so the colors aren't true and don't really "shine" as they do in person.

Historically, across almost all crafty genres, I have awful cases of finishers regret; nothing ever looks like I think it will and I can always seem to find something wrong with the finished product. This was no exception as I sat looking at a few pieces that just didn’t fit in when it was almost said and done. My mom, knowing me well, encouraged me to leave it and come back today to see it with a pair of fresh eyes. (I left joking that if she could find a wall to put it on she could have it, she thought that perhaps a night away from the project would change my mind.) She was right and now there is a splash of color on my otherwise drab white walls.

I am waaaay behind in my emails, phone calls, blog reading and replying; finding the balance between my own time and wants with the needs of each rotation and amount of sleep I’ve been getting each night is a tricky game and I’ll admit that I still don’t have it figured out. I’m working on it but am afraid that some of my friends and family just aren’t sure what to do with me these days and a few are almost certainly convinced I’ve fallen out of earth’s gravitational field. I tend to pull in when I’m overwhelmed, and now is about the time I wish I could hibernate for a few months; that doesn’t help. At some point I’ll get and feel caught up but for now please accept my apology if I owe you an email, a response or a rambling. I’ll get there…!