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Being driven nuts by technology!

Well, my phone came back from being repaired in record time.  Dropped off at the collection point -  my local Co-op - on Tuesday, was returned by courier on Thursday morning.  But then the frustration began.  The SIM card must've got damaged when I'd removed it prior to postage.  The damage only realised when I tried setting up the phone again, the repair having necessitated the mobile be returned to its original blank factory setting.  A new SIM card's been ordered, but in the meantime I can't even use my phone to get on to Google.  Cause in order to do that I am instructed to input my email address - yup, can do that - input my password - no probs - then Google will automatically send a 6 digit authentication code to my phone ...  which won't receive it because there's no functioning SIM card.

Nooooo!!!!! 

Sweary words have been said, and I know this is very much a 1st world problem and I shouldn't moan but technology has the power to frustrate us like nothing else.  Anyway, I have to wait for the replacement SIM and get over my grumpiness.  That's all there is to it.  

In the meantime I've finally got around to cutting up sari fabric, making bundles I can put for sale on Etsy, and I've been working on various sewing projects.  One being this scrappy quilt that's a work-in-progress.  The blocks are very simple, made of only three pieces.  For no other reason that the idea popped into my head I've been making applique birds and sewing them onto random blocks.  

This photo shows the birds prior to being stitched down.  (Photo taken & saved before the current phone-based drama ...)  I used black thread and machine-sewed around each bird in a freehand machine embroidery style.  Or my version of it as my Brother machine's not set up for freehand embroidery.  The black lines of sewing are meant to be meandering, kind of wonky, to give the birds some character.  I've appliqued on four birds already, and intend to add more.  

I don't know what I'll do with the quilt once it's finished.  Honestly, I've got so many quilts - a couple of full-sized ones and many more lap-sized - that I forget what I've made.  There's a stack on 'em that I rifled through yesterday and came across this quilt, having forgotten it was there!

An improv quilt, pieced together before I decided I wasn't happy with it.  So I chopped it up to reassemble it differently.  Sometimes you need distance from what you've made in order to see it clearly.  I think I still look at this quilt and see the faults with it, when I ought to concentrate on the sections I like.  Maybe if I put the quilt back in the pile with the others I'll forget about it for a while longer and grow to appreciate it properly a little further down the line?  

How critical are you about what you've made?  I'm aware when crafty folk post images on Facebook they often begin with 'I know it's not perfect but - ' when I look at what they've produced and think 'that's amazing!'.  Maybe we all need to work harder in 2024 at silencing our inner critics?    

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  1. Cherie12 January 2024 at 14:02

    Oh, wow, those quilts are gorgeous. It's such a lovely hobby isn't it.

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    Replies
    1. Valerie blogs at rubykittyruby13 January 2024 at 03:47

      Thanks Cherie, you're right, it is a lovely hobby. To be able to create something from scraps of fabric and thread, it's so much fun.

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