Quilling

For some reason, I really want a button maker. It’s not a wild hair idea…I think I’ve wanted a button maker since I was six years old. All I got was a bunch of those crappy snap together buttons.

I want a Button Biz maker. They’re like $300 dollars. Yikes!

I think my current idea…is mood buttons. A few people make them…but I’m thinking more like mood announcement buttons. Depressed, Anxious for no particular reason, PMS, Sick, Tired…excessively perky. Need my dog. Need more coffee.

If only I could draw…or at least doodle. Maybe I can recruit a drawer. And there’s always the wonder of slogan buttons. I had one for a little bit that said “Medicated for your protection.” Came in handy.

Maybe the amount of quilling I’ve been doing lately has got me into a crafty mood. But I think it’s more of the need to be doing something I like…rather than feeling like poople all the time.

(Poople. I just made that up. It’s a combination of “poop” and “people.” Poople. But…I’m trying to avoid the whole getting an idea and then immediately plunking down cash thing. Though…my last couple of cash plunks seemed to do well…the Fujitsu scanner…is DREAMY. And I love my netbook.)

Anyway…quilling is an art of patience. Last night…while watching three episodes of Law and Order and I managed to make two poinsettias and started a rather complicated snowflake. I need to get into Mom’s Christmas decorations so I can dig out the ornaments that Aunt Darlene made…and see if they’re something I can copy. She had the mad quilling skillz.

And…though it’s a little more popular than it was in the 90’s…it’s still not wildly popular. I have to mail order supplies. Thank Jeebus for

I bought a few extra quilling boards and tools for our “Women’s Craft Event” here at work. It was really just a bunch of crazy women with wine and glue guns. Fun. I wasn’t expecting to actually have my own table or anything like that…and I had four women who were pretty interested in learning.

It was nice…the feeling of imparting something I know to someone else. Gave me one of those warm and fuzzy feelings inside.

I couldn’t count the number of times someone said, “But my snowflake doesn’t look as nice as YOUR snowflake does.” Well…no. For one, I learned how to quill when I was eight. That’s 30 years ago. What do you expect? I wasn’t that great the first time I got behind the wheel of a car either.

It’s not hard to master…but it’s tricky to get consistency when you’re first starting a project. If you need six teardrops for a flower…make eight and pick the best six. THAT’S why my stuff look as nice as it does. If I make a subpar circle…I toss it. But when I have one hour to impart the basics of an art that women used to learn in finishing school…and snowflakes STILL look passable…well, not a bad accomplishment.

But…I still have the urge to do something…and do it well. And in the crafty department…quilling is what I’m good at. Buttons? Not a skill or a craft…but maybe more of a need to express myself.

So…I’m filling out the paperwork to teach quilling at the Park District. We’ll see how that goes.

www.helpholly.com

Hello. I'm doing something I usually don't do. Asking for some help.

But not for me.

If I've done you a good turn in the past...and you've always wanted to repay me...or something schmaltzy like that...I ask you to take a look at my friend Holly's web donation site.

www.helpholly.com

I've known Holly the entire length of her illness...and it's 100% real. Unexplained growth of odd legions on in the area between her lung and the "lining" of the lung...that cause her sharp pain. Imagine going for the last six years with the constant feeling of a near-broken rib.

Yeah. I don't really want to imagine it either.

She's managed to stump the folks at the Mayo Clinic...and after losing her job...is getting ready to lose her health insurance because she took a "part-time" job not realizing the State of Illinois would recalculate her benefits.

The nerve block injections are similar to the ones they've done on my back...meaning they cost around $1500 each. On a part-time salary...she can barely afford food, rent...and her COBRA premium. Plus...she has fibromylagia...gets migraines...and one of the medications she was put on for her fibro caused a weight regain that I can completely sympathize with after my couple of years on Effexor. And let me tell you...it's always fun being a chubby girl with health problems. Cause I get the "fatty" looks every time I go to the doctor too. *sigh* Like losing weight will MAGICALLY make my not need antidepressants...and will make my spine shiny and new.

I digress.

She has some help from her family...but there's only so much money a cash-strapped Iowa family can send to a daughter with a severe illness.

So...if you could...either donate...or pass along her story by linking to her website in your blog...etc. Or...I know she could use some help with her website. Or with job leads if you're in the Chicago area and looking to hire an Office Manager.

If any of my friends from outside the USA want to know what it's like to NOT have socialized medicine...her story is a good place to start.