We are really in the thick of mid-winter here. It is snowing off and on all the time. Sometimes we get a couple of milder days or some rain and the snow melts a little and then the next wave comes. It doesn’t really make much difference to our lives as the Swiss are always supremely efficient at clearing the roads and keeping the trains running. I’m actually quite blasé about the temperatures, as a degree or two above freezing feels pretty balmy and I don’t get my hat out until we get down to about minus 10!

Today is my very precious day off from work – but actually by the time I’ve done all the shopping, cleaning, ironing, errands and translations that need doing, as well as taxiing my son to tennis and French, it actually seems busier than a work day! I’m sure once I have settled into working again, and stopped feeling like I’m living someone else’s life, I’ll get myself organized and into a routine and hopefully will have more time to do the things I want to do…like sewing…for instance…. Today so far the best I can do is look longingly at my Siblings Together quilt top….and fantasize about the next step….BASTING!! Maybe I would rather be doing the ironing if I’m completely honest with you!!

I’m definitely still in a transition stage and with waking early (I leave for the office at 7), going to bed late and waking in the middle of the night because I’ve got so many things going round and round in my head, periodically the adrenalin that’s keeping me going runs out of puff and I collapse into an almost comatose heap. Like last Friday when we had friends round for dinner and I frankly felt worse than a wet dishcloth and I’m sure I degenerated into speaking gobbledegook instead of German as the evening went on. This week I’ll be out on three evenings – all organized before I started work – and I know before I start that it is too much. I may just need to take to my bed to recover on Friday….which makes me feel about 90!!

I’m still trying to fit blogging into the whole scheme of things….I don’t seem to get to it when I’m working, but I’m certainly not giving up and I’ll be here as often as I can, so I do hope you’ll bear with me! Next time I might even have something to show you rather than pictures of snowiness!!

have a great Wednesday

Helen

Today in-between cooking, doing laundry and being a taxi driver I’ve managed to get the blocks sashed together for the Siblings Together quilt. Thanks for all your advice yesterday – I went with the majority and picked the darker fabric – and I’m really happy with the result.

So here it is…

Since taking the photo I’ve added another deeper border in the pink and pieced together the backing with the light pink spots and the deep border from the darker pink – which I discovered once I unfolded it! No photos of this stage yet I’m afraid, because my camera is playing funny buggers with me. Sometimes it does this and then after a sleep it co-operates again…

So now I just need to get down on my knees and do some lovely basting. My absolutely least favourite job in quilt-making.

But enough for today. Now it’s dinner and Call the Midwife (my new favourite TV series!) and some gentle sock-knitting. And bed. Early. Ready for the rigours of work in the morning.

Helen

Happily I managed to make twelve wonky log cabin blocks from my Spring Fever jelly roll. It’s amazing how quickly those blocks went together. I so rarely sew anything that doesn’t require a lot of accurate point matching up that it was like a breath of fresh air to sew these blocks. They are going to make a great quilt for a little girl.

Which gets me onto the next problem…my twelve blocks are too small for a quilt – so as I talked about last week, I’m thinking sashing and borders and that should pretty much get me up to a decent usable size. I’ve been rootling around in the stash and auditioning fabrics and I’ve finally come down to two possibilities – I figure I can use one for the sashing/borders and the other for the back – I think I should have enough of either.

So what do you think? Lighter pink with spots, or dark pink with a green pattern in-between? Both work pretty well with the blocks, but the light pink is more subdued.

I’d  love to know what you think. So come on girls, give it to me straight!

Helen

Making progress. Hoping against hope that I have enough to make at least 12. Contemplating how to make them grow into a Siblings Together quilt.

Helen

My family have hardly noticed that I’ve gone out to work again. It’s quite astonishing really – maybe proof that what we do as mothers is mysteriously invisible to the rest of the family, or maybe I just have terrific organizational skills and as far as they are concerned it’s business as normal.

I generally head out for the train at about the same time as the teenagers and am home around 6 to start cooking dinner as I always have.  Thanks to my new cleaning fairy, if anything, the house is cleaner than before and so far there haven’t been any issues where my actual physical presence was missed in the hour or hour and a half between the teenagers coming in from school and me coming in from work. If I’m honest, they only ever said hi and then locked themselves away in their rooms, so it wasn’t like we were really having quality time then anyway.

All of which means that I think we can put a big tick next to this working lark – plus I love my job – did I tell you that already?

Although to the outside things don’t look that different, for me it’s hugely different. I’m still at that funny stage where I feel like I’m actually living someone else’s life. Is this businesswoman really me? Whether it’s really me or not, and I suspect it is, it feels really good. I’m on a pretty big learning curve at the moment and it feels great. I feel more alive than I have in a good long while.

The pace of my life has pretty much doubled…I don’t have as many free minutes to play with as I used to, so I have to make really sure that I use them wisely and efficiently. I’m thinking more, organizing more, planning more..but also I’m feeling better about myself, so I’m socializing more too – which has to be a good thing. The troubles and difficulties of the last 6 months are behind me now, things are in a healthy perspective and I feel like I’ve finally come out of hibernation.

The only thing that seems to be getting short-changed is sewing and blogging time, but I guess that goes with the territory. I just have to accept that the chance of me doing much of either on the days I’m at work isn’t very high – I’m too tired and to be honest in the evenings I’m drawn more to peacefully playing the piano rather than stitching much. I’m going with the flow and doing what feels right and what I want to do. I imagine soon a routine will start to fall into place.

And those stubborn pounds that I’ve been trying to get rid of unsuccessfully for years…boy oh boy, they’re dropping off with this change of pace. (This might have something to do with the lack of a biscuit tin at work !!).

So altogether I think we’re looking at a new me….or an old me come back visiting…

And it feels pretty nice!

Helen