I can do one (or both) of two things when I have anxiety. I can either eat a couple gallons of rocky road ice cream or I can knit. While waiting for the results of a biopsy (turned out to be not cancer, thank you God) I worked on a stress afghan.
First, I bought two big skeins of yarn. That’s what’s at the bottom of the afghan. Then, I realized two skeins weren’t enough so I bought more yarn. That’s what the rest of the afghan looks like. While it may not be great art, it’s nice to snuggle under.
The full moon this month was a super moon. I shot moonrise.
And I shot moonset.
There are problems getting the sky right when shooting the moon. The moon is so bright that it throws off the light metering.
The antidote is to put the landscape into the photo.
Fall in western New York, where I’m from, is yellow, gold, and red. Fall in the desert is mostly green with a bit of white and yellow tossed in.
Itty bitty flowering plant that flowers in the fall.
This is what the flower looks like up close.
So far, this barrel cactus has survived a two-decade drought. But something weird is growing on top of the cactus.
I’ve no idea what this is. I don’t think it’s a seed pod and I have never seen a barrel cactus grow a little cactus.
I’ve no idea what this is, but I thought it looked interesting.
A few flowers cling to the desert sage bush. The bush flowers after it rains and it hasn’t rained in a while. I doubt more rain now would trigger blooming. The shrubs know it’s fall and time to rest.
I decided to take my commissions from Spoonflower sales and order sheets. This is the pattern I used. What I love about the Spoonflower sheets is the fitted sheet actually fits the mattress and the top sheet is generous.
I started the free motion quilting on a quilt last week. I had all sorts of problems with the thread breaking. I cleaned the machine, which I do every time I sew. I rethreaded the machine. I adjusted the tension. I’m using King Tut thread and I was told that thread is a touch thicker than regular thread and I need to use a topstitch needle with it. I’m using a Klasse 90/14 topstitch needle which is what Superior Threads recommends on their website for quilting with King Tut thread. I watched a video from Pfaff about free motion quilting on the Quilt Expressions 4.2. I searched the manual for any hints. The tension is adjusted properly. I’ve got the machine set for the free motion quilt foot. I’m using a Pfaff foot. I’ve unthreaded the machine, cleaned the machine, put a new needle in the machine, rethreaded. That’s supposed to solve almost all problems and if it doesn’t solve the problem, it won’t make the problem worse. I switched to a regular foot, regular straight stitch, and gave that a test run on the quilt. Works fine, no problems. I give up. I’ve written to Superior Threads and asked what I’m doing wrong.
This is a manipulated photo of a sandhill crane on one of my trips to Bosque del Apache. I had Spoonflower print the photo on cotton. Maybe I’ll play with different quilting in different parts of the sky. I’m not about to rip out all that free motion quilting. I don’t see well enough to be able to do that. I meet with an ophthalmologist to discuss cataract surgery later this month.
I sold one of my designs in Spoonflower. This was the first time anyone had one of my designs printed on wallpaper. My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman
I’ve been working on knitting tube socks using some interesting variegated yarn. Once I figure out how to take decent shots of the socks, I’ll put them in my store, Deb Thuman Art, http://www.DebThumanArt.com I chose tube socks because I don’t need to know how long the customer’s foot is which is what I’d need to know if I were putting heels in these socks. With hand-knit socks, the part that wears out first is the heel.
With other variegated yarns, the color changes are more frequent. This is Lion Mandala yarn and the color changes are far less frequent. I’m assuming I’m not the only person who loves funky socks. And if I am, because they are tube socks, they will fit my feet and I’ll happily wear out 11 pairs of tube socks.
I’m still having problems with depression. I can take a double dose of antidepressant and be fine for a day, but the next day I have to drop back down to my regular dose or I’ll be walking into walls. I have my first ketamine infusion on Tuesday. If it does nothing for my depression, at least I’ll have been able to enjoy the hallucinations. I grew up in the ’60s and never did drugs. Not even pot. Now, I have a medical marijuana card, THC infused chocolate in the refrigerator, and I’m about to embark of a magical mystery tour. I never thought my life would be like this. Becoming a geriatric pothead and taking hallucination-inducing drugs wasn’t on my list of life goals.
March 5 was the nine-year anniversary of finally having an accurate diagnosis – bipolar disorder. I knew from representing clients charged with assorted crimes that I would have considerable misery unless I accepted my diagnosis. Which I did. Right after I stopped crying. Suddenly, my life made sense. Finally, there was an explanation for why antidepressants alone were not solving the problem. I’m on an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer. I discovered I’m a nice person. I discovered I can be happy. It only took 35 years to get an accurate diagnosis and two psychiatrists missed my diagnosis. It’s not as if bipolar disorder were difficult to spot. My experience with psychiatrists is that they don’t listen. Instead, they grab a prescription pad and proceed to overmedicate me. That’s why I refuse to see a psychiatrist.
Deb's Art 