Putting an end to it all

Forgive me if I'm a tad abrupt this morning. I'm a bit frustrated. I won't go into details, but I received an e-mail last night (that I saw this morning). It's to do with a volunteer job I have and with people interfering with the work that I've done. I started to write a reply - my hands were shaking I was so frustrated. I did NOT put an e-mail address into the e-mail yet so it can't accidentally get sent. I'm going to be rationale and write a nice, but pointed response to the e-mail. Then I'm going to proofread it (maybe more than once) and then I'm going to send it. It needs a reply.

Let's just say that I'm not going to be volunteering for ANYTHING in a long, long time. I'm so done with it. I'm done with the lack of respect, I'm done with the interfering, I'm done with the lack of trust. And I'm so done with organizations having to beg their members to volunteer for positions. Well - I can completely understand why no one wants to volunteer when there is no respect if you don't belong to the TOP CLIQUE. I'm not kidding - this has happened to me TWICE in the last year!!!!  Why would I want to spend my time doing something and then have it questioned? I do not need that. I also don't need to be told how or when to do my job!

Extricating myself from this organization was already in the works. I just have a wee bit of paperwork to do and trust me - that paperwork is going to get done FAST so I can get myself away from this group of people. I still have two charity quilts to quilt for this group. I'll finish them. I made a commitment to do that.

It's just frustrating that all. OK - hopefully that wasn't too painful for you, but seriously - we need to look at the organizations that we belong to. Do we get joy from being a member? If not, then it's time to move on and that's what I'm doing!

Ronda and I did a road trip the other day. We were off to deliver a block for our block exchange and on the way home, we stopped at the Burlington Art Gallery to see a show of all the guilds that belong to the Gallery. The show is called Lore: Myths, Legends, and Other Stories. The show runs until May 19 which is tomorrow!!

One of our Monday group has a piece in the show. There were wood carvings, ceramics, textile art, paintings, and photography. It was very interesting and I saw some amazing pieces. My favorite was the bark carving that was inspired by JRR Tolkien. It was amazing with all these little doors carved in the bark and little people inhabiting the wall of bark. If you get a chance today or tomorrow to see the show, you should go. You can see a picture of the caring on the web site. It's the one on the right-hand side of the group of photos.

However, I'm warning you that the place was swarming with gnats. Not the gallery but outside the gallery. As we arrived, I saw a lady swatting the air in front of her and I thought - oh boy - they can't be that bad. OH BOY - when we got out of the car, they were everywhere. It was the type of day where you really didn't want to inhale which is a tad difficult.

As we got back in the car, several of them swarmed in with us!!  We made quick work of getting rid of them!!  Holy - if that's what living near the lake is all about - I'll say no thanks. We have NOTHING like that at our house.

Gnat in the car

I did sit in the gazebo for a bit yesterday and it was glorious!!! No bugs of any kind and just the merry bubbling of the pond.

While I've loads to share with you, my mind is muddled after reading that e-mail, although my hands have stopped sharking with frustration! Maybe I need anger management classes??

So I have this to share with you. This is the progression of an ender and leader project. Oh someone asked me about another ender/leader project I was working on. I'll unearth that one soon and give you the details.

For some inexplicable reason, I love the process of taking basically castoffs and making something from them.

You start with a pile of little cutoff triangles that need to be sewn together. I believe these cutoffs came from a raffle quilt (flying geese) that I organized a while back. OK - that was many years ago. Notice that I'm almost at the end of this first step!!!

Pile of cutoff pieces that need to be sewn together

 This is the pile that has been sewn together. Now those little guys need to be pressed and trimmed.

These are waiting to be pressed and trimmed

 This pile has already been pressed and trimmed. Oh yes, sadly, this pile is small.

This pile is trimmed

 The next step is to take four of them and sew them in pairs. These ones are waiting to be pressed so the next seam can be sewn. Oops - I see an unsewn triangle in there!!

Pairs of squares waiting to be sewn together

This is what those little pairs look like when they're sewn together.

Small squares are sewn together

And after four of those squares get sewn together, this is the final block.

Final blocks

And you'll have to wait and see what the end result of that project will be.



If you're looking for something to do this coming week, the Ailsa Craig Quilt & Fibre Arts Festival is taking place May 20 - 25. This year, it's the quilts of New Zealand that'll be on display.

I feel a wee bit calmer now. I'll take the girls for their walk and then I'll finish my draft of that e-mail.
Yes - it's definitely time for me to move away from all that volunteer stuff. I'm going to be extremely selfish in the future. If there's nothing in it for me, I won't budge at doing anything! I've done my time with volunteering!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!   Breathe deep - breathe really deep!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!