Is there some freakin' RULE?

About finishing things?  Is there a time limit?  Is there a gold star at the end?  Does anybody even give a crap?

Then why is it ingrained in me that I cannot go on to something new until something old is completed?  And I don't mean just sorta finished, I mean sleeve/binding/label/stick drilled/blocked/and photo taken finished.  Why does everything have to be done in Outline Order?  You know, with I. the first tick off, then IA, IB, and IC before you are allowed to even visit II and it's never ending sublists.  Forget it if there is IA1s and 2s and then IC3s,4s, etc. because you will be trapped in limbo land forever and ever.

When I used to work on the Arts Council in my town giving out lottery money, we had a director whose mind worked in outline form-  she would arrive at the meeting and start her lists and even if there was no need, every single item had to get covered.  Even if we all agreed on a point, we had to vote.  Even if we all hated a proposal, we had to discuss and discuss forever!  I hated that committee so much just because so many nights we would have to re-meet for unfinished business because of that type-A chairman who drove us all to drink (yup, right after the meeting, she wasn't ever invited!).  Nice to know your Arts Lottery committees are lushes and hate their jobs, eh?But why oh why can't I take what I know of that and transfer it to my own work and CUT BAIT once in awhile?  I mean cut bait without guilt too!

But why does this happen?  Today I decided to just ignore the poor Swamp Thang lying hopelessly tethered by the down needle position on the blasted machine.

 I decided to wash out the marbleized fabrics from 2 weeks ago and think about getting something smaller underway to take home at night to stitch on.  (I have a great coat to knit and the yarn is all ready for me but the darn pattern didn't arrive at the same time so I need hand work for nights.)

Anyway, I have now pulled fabrics out of ever conceivable bin that might work with the hideous colors in the marble fabrics which of course resulted in an even larger pile of even more hideous fabrics so it doesn't much matter if it 'goes' or not because it's still hideous.  The funny thing is that I have the MOST ideas for the MOST hideous piece.  To refresh your memory, it's black and chartreuse with a huge amount of Pepto Bismo pink blobbed throughout.  I found an old faded tea towel with a little image of Alice holding a flamingo that works perfectly on it, then a stash of old hat flowers made from silk that I've been hoarding for decades, and a pillowcase with silk embroidery in (gag me) pinks and yellows.  Yup, call it a done deal, a project that I will put into a waiting bin to schlepp back and forth with me until I get sick of it.

In the process I found another pile of stuff that works (as well as anything can considering...) with the chartreuse and black combo- a piece I made right before I got too adventurous with the pink paints.

But it doesn't have a focus yet, we'll see.  I'll live with this pile in active rotation until the damn Muse comes back all tan and rested from wherever she went this month.  Capri?  Damn, I resent her so much.

I bet she is staying away until Swamp Thang is liberated and sent off somewhere, hopefully to be lost by UPS.  It's already entered into my guild show in Boston so there is an actual deadline now, but that doesn't seem to phase it (me?) into getting done.

OK, I'll get the pictures on here next, then go out into the rain for the poor doggie who needs to pee.

(so boring being a studio-dawg, next time I want to be a Junk Yard Dawg!)

 Then maybe go home and feel sorry for myself about my inability to move this all along!

Albatrosses R Us,