creative.mother.thinking

I had a marvelous day yesterday but right now I’m a bit exhausted.

I didn’t sleep much and then I had to hurry a bit to get the 9 o’clock train back to Augsburg.

There I met lots of sewing blogger again, this time about 35. First we went to a fabric store where there was extremely beautiful fabric that I didn’t buy because I need to sew other things first. And it was a little on the pricy side. I was sorely tempted by some orange and pink fabric but then decided against it after all.

I ate the sandwiches I had made at home sitting in a park in the sun, and talked with all kinds of people, mostly about sewing. I learned a lot by talking to other people who sew clothes, that was great. But we also did a lot of talking about where do you come from, what are you doing and such.

Then we went to the textile museum in Augsburg and learned a lot about different fibers and mechanical looms and all the kinds of looms that are used in the textile industry, complete with demonstrations, and a little about fashion and work conditions in the textile industry here in the 19th century.

I seem to have been the only spinner in the group and the only weaver (I’m a little hesitant to call myself a weaver but still.) and since I’m me I kept adding stuff to what the guide was telling us, ahem. Also reading all those books about silk and flax and wool and fashion and the history of textile work seems to have made me know things I was asked several times if I work in the field professionally.

It also shows that I’m a know-it-all who can’t keep her mouth shut.

I also was recognized by my voice for the first time ever, turned out one of the other women is a podcast listener.

I count that as a milestone.

After the tour we went out for an early dinner where I talked to yet more people and took a train back home where I promptly watched Netflix for too long and went to bed too late.

Today I’ll probably spend the whole day not doing anything and being cranky because of that.

I could try to write 11,500 words to make up for last week and reach my goal but I doubt that I will.

There will be knitting and reading and maybe a little reading, and then we’ll see. Sewing would be a nice change.

Pretty good day. I didn’t really want to get up in the morning, though.

These days I’m sleeping from somewhere between 9.30 or 10 until my alarm goes off at 6.30. Sometimes with a brief break somewhere around 4.30. So it seems my step has improved. Which is good.

I’m making slow progress on the Carbeth cardigan. I’m at the point where the rows are the longest so things will pick up speed again soon.

I went for a run pretty early, and then helped making moqueca  or at least an approximation of it. I managed to write 600 words before teaching (and I also wrote 630 words the day before after all) and practiced and taught my students and the I actually managed to make myself do strength training. It was push and pull day and by the last exercise my arms felt limp and weak and I only managed six reps on each set. I am expecting to be really, really sore by Saturday. I’m also feeling my legs which is weird because this was not about legs at all.

I guess it’s time to get back into shape.

Then dinner and a little more writing.

Today there will be the cleaning of the house, and the making of the pizza (I’m only helping this week.) and then the teaching and a little practice, and then I’ll be off to Augsburg for the sewing blogger meet up part one for dinner.

I’ll probably be back home rather late, and then I’ll be off to Augsburg again Saturday morning for a visit to a fabric store and a guided tour of the Augsburg textile museum, and another dinner.

So my blog post tomorrow morning might just be a little short.

Busy day ahead. And I still can’t quite decide if I want to wear the purple Swing dress tonight, or the new t-shirt with the denim skirt, or if I should wear the skirt on Saturday because big pockets are always a plus for a day-long excursion or the orange dress with red polka dots.

I’ve been wondering if the orange dress is a little too kindergarten for me at this point of life. Especially worn with orange and red stripy leggings.

At least I only have three outfits that I have to decide between because, of course, for a sewing blogger thing I need to wear something that I made myself.

This is all so exciting. And a little scary. As these things are.

Pretty good Tuesday all in all. And sometimes I think I should stop judging my days.

I didn’t write quite as much as I wanted to (what else is new), and I didn’t make progress on the tee I wanted to sew. I did run errands and went to the health food store, and even washed two small windows. And swept the kitchen floor. And did a load of laundry.

The sewing didn’t happen because when I looked at the fabric left over from my Plantain Tee I thought there was enough to make a Boogie tee as well. And there was. Only there was no piece of it big enough that I could cut the back piece out. I considered making a center back seam for about ten seconds after I had placed the back pattern piece everywhere I could think of and had to admit defeat.

I then briefly thought about buying new fabric right away. And then I came to my senses again and realized that I will be buying lots of fabric soon, and that there is no need to go wild so that I can have something new to wear to the sewing blogger meeting. No one there has ever seen me or any of the clothes I have made for myself so I will be perfectly fine wearing something that’s already in my closet now.

I can still make progress on the dress today and tomorrow and everything will be fine in the end.

Today there will be running, and then I’ll ride my bike to the nursery for heavy garden stuff because my husband is all frazzled because he needs bigger veggie beds for the potatoes which means about a week of digging. (No kidding. The ground here is mostly gravel with rocks and tree roots. So for every shovelful you lift out you then have to spend about fifteen minutes sifting through it picking stones. Fun.) And then I’ll write like the wind, and then start on that dress already. This might be the day where I finally press that fabric.

But what I really wanted to write about today was

The daily writing habit

A few days ago I found yet another writer who is sending out helpful e-mails to other (mostly aspiring) writers and I liked what I read and then he had this paragraph in his newsletter saying that I could sign up for free so that I could develop a daily writing habit and be accountable and part of a group and possibly unicorns. (Okay, there were no unicorns.)

I clicked the link and thought, „Oh yes! I want a daily writing habit! I’m so disappointed with my progress! Sign me up!“

I did come to my senses, though. Just when I was about to put my email-address into the signup form a small voice in the back of my head started saying, „Wait a minute. Are you sure? I don’t think you need this. You already have a daily writing habit, you dumbo!”

Oh.

I had forgotten.

I have been writing here on this blog every day without fail for the past 209 days. I might not be completely happy with the amount of novel-writing I do but, um, I’m still writing several hundred words per day on average on the novel plus the blog writing. Okay, I’d rather write more consistently, and I’d love to have a higher output but I definitely don’t need to sign up somewhere so that I can develop a ‘daily writing habit’.

Sometimes I’m a bit slow. Blogging does count as writing. This is certainly not high literature or aspirational but – it certainly is something I am, indeed, writing every day. And several hundred words at that,

Duh.

Not a bad day, not the best either.

I actually started writing before lunchtime so that was a win.

Lunch at my mother-in-law’s was very good but she forgot that my husband and I can’t have onions. Oops. We were there for two hours or so.

Then I went and procrastinated a bit before writing some more. I sang and I played the piano. Then I tried to make myself start with the dress I want to sew but unfortunately the boy needed my help with some homework again. So, you see, it wasn’t me, I just didn’t have a chance. (Never mind the hour I wasted beforehand.)

I’m almost finished with the second sleeve for my Carbeth cardigan.

My husband is turning more lawn into veggie beds. This time it’s for the potatoes again.

I’m laughing at myself because I used to think that I wasn’t an anxious person. Until I realized that all of that organizational and planning stuff I do is because I am, in fact, anxious.

I’ll be going to a sewing blogger meeting in Augsburg next weekend. I looked up trains weeks before. And put them in my calendar. And thought about what to wear. And then I got the confirmation e-mail with all the addresses and times. And looked up more trains, and looked up the locations on google maps, and today I pulled out the list of attending bloggers and looked them all up.

Yeah. Not anxious at all. Funny. At least I won’t stay home because I’m feeling uncomfortable.

Oh, and today I found out that I’m no longer getting an email when someone leaves a comment. That’s why I haven’t been replying to them. I just didn’t know.

No idea what’s wrong, the settings are fine. I’ll try to remember to check more often, and I hope I’ll catch everybody’s comment. Sorry, I had no idea.

And tomorrow there will be running, and then teaching and in between making music and writing some more and knitting. Sounds good to me.