Crazy Wednesday
Today is What’s Leah Working on Wednesday and I have a confession to make: I haven’t quilted on Shadow Self in a whole week.
There’s no point in posting photos cause she hasn’t changed a bit. She’s been rolled into this ball all week:
I’ve officially had to put her on hold (why not? she doesn’t have a deadline!) while I’ve been quilting the squares for the beginner DVD.
Fortunately all the squares were finished on Sunday so I should be able to get back to her this weekend. All I want to do right now is go upstairs, lock the door, and quilt like a junkie getting her fix.
But it’s times like these that a perfectly wonderful quilt becomes my bitterest enemy. I really start to go a bit crazy about finishing a project, so overwhelmed by the idea of the final goal, when I really should be enjoying the process, smelling the roses, yadda yadda.
So maybe it’s a good thing that I haven’t been able to quilt on her this week.
Instead I have spent every waking hour slamming through this DVD project. 10 blocks stitched on Saturday and 10 blocks on Sunday make for a total of 30 awesome quilt blocks ready to be photographed, edited, muted, dubbed, and finally produced into files.
Yesterday I edited 7 videos, dubbed 20, which in retrospect was about 4 days worth of work rolled into one. This morning I got up again and have 10 more videos to record audio for, then figure out how they’re all going to fit onto 2 DVDs.
In a perfect world, DVDs would have unlimited space. Not just a measly 4.7 G, which is really pathetic!
Yes, I sound crazy. What can I say? I’m a type A personality and a project taking even 2 weeks longer than I expect drives me totally nuts.
I find myself daydreaming about having a personal assistant, or heck, a whole team of personal assistants capable of graphic design, video editing, book writing, and publishing who would take this whole project and make it into…what? Something smaller and less insane? That would be nice.
When I started this thing I didn’t know how big 365 was. I didn’t even really realize how big 150 of something was!
So it’s now huge and unwieldy and I apologize for the lack of ability to move around easily or find the designs by texture or design type. More organization is on my list of things to do, but that list is now like 1 million things long.
There is so much I want to do with this project, so much that I want to share and explore with these textures, but there’s also only me working on this!
So be patient and I promise in two years this really will be a lot better organized, much easier to navigate, have loads more information, and many more ways of digesting the designs.
Sorry for the rant today. I love the suggestions ya’ll send in so don’t stop sending them in, even if it might take me a really long time to act on what you suggest.
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
You are so amazing! I am in awe every day of how much you get done and how talented you are. Don't beat yourself up for what you can't or haven't gotten done, but celebrate what you have achieved. I appreciate everything you have shared with all of us out here and haven't taken the time to say thank you. So, THANK YOU! Now, go quilt something fun, just for you!
Hi Leah. I love that you are so driven. I get a lot of inspiration from you and I admire the motivation you have to take and idea, and put it into action. Some of us are probably not so gifted – that is, to have the ability to visualize and create something from start to finish. You are a true entrepreneuer. You take risks. Please do not worry about what you have yet to finish or get to. You are producing far more than someone like me, who dreams, but doesn't action.
Oh me, oh my Leah! Thank you for restitching the free motion filler on black with white thread. What a difference it makes, the detail is so clear. I especially love how the thread play simply jumps out at you, for instance on the pointy paisley. Kind of looks like it is lit up and sparkly! Many of the designs in your photo look brand new just because of that simple change you made. You've done beautiful work, thank you for sharing it with us.
When you are ready to hire, let me know!
Oh I love it when you rant! Such a high achiever deserves a little normality once in a while 🙂 Continue to inspire and drive so many of us on!
I keep checking your great design for inspiration. Even though, I am a slow starter, I eventually end up creating and use the sewing machine. I find that it's is good to find some quite time, when I can, and just focus on exploring various textures and especially, practicing various shapes. When I do it, I enjoy it. I know, I could push myself harder, but I don't.
You are awesome. I feel lucky just to see all the wonderful free motion designs you do. Add the video and explanations and wow. I tell all my quilty friends about your blog.
The new black background designs are so clear and beautiful. Thank you so much for working on all your projects and sharing them with us. I think this weekend I'll be able to continue on my journey of doing the beginning patterns again – really looking forward to having a try at the designs again. Thanks.
Well Leah, I am very glad you started this project. Just seeing you do a design a day has gotten me interested in one day quilting something I make, quilting beyond an overall meander with no qualms about crossing lines.
Know nothing about viedo, and the what not, but do know about databases. If built right you could enter the infor. #1, type, level, etc. Databases can be added to, sorted, etc. So a database might be a way to organized info that is in your viedos.
I don't do Pay Pal so am not able to order things, but you keep up the inspriring work. Thanks.