And Then, the Light Was Out

I awoke early Sunday morning, determined to make some progress on the design for the upper right section of the Nine Patch quilt.  The sketch from the night before wasn't razzing me.  I need this section to tie everything together.  Hmmm.  This needed a serious cup of strong tea to get the brain cells fired up.  

And light – lots of light as the sun was not going to be seen for at least 3 more hours (got to love being on the western edge of the Eastern time zone – not!)

One thing I had forgotten to pack into the traveling studio bag was graph paper – REALLY?!!  How stupid could I be!   Here I was facing a 32” x 36” section of quilt that needed to be designed, with multiple nine patch configurations and I had no graph paper.  

Obviously, I was going to have to use more brain power when working to remember what I was thinking since I was without a detailed road map to get there.  Rough sketches started to flow and then it hit me.  I needed to incorporate all the other sections nine patch layouts into this one.  But then, take it a step further and have a new nine patch to showcase the accent piece.

Energized by the revelation, I started cutting some fabric.  Excellent – not yet 6 am and I was ready to sit down at the machine & start stitching.

Except when I turned on the Singer workhorse, no light!  ACK!!! Had my machine died during the night?  I had all this work to do in front of me and now – no sewing machine!  Since I had switched on two overhead lights, a lamp & the iron, I knew I had power in the house.  Did the plug on the machine wear out & was failing to make a strong enough connection?  I switched the machine on & off, almost frantic, thinking if it didn't fire up, I could drag out Lillian, the 1933 Singer 99.  But my machine was working perfectly just 8 hours previously. What happened??

ACK!!!

Okay – BREATHE!!!   Sit and sip some tea to wake up the rest of the brain cells.  As I sat back in my chair, my foot hit the control pedal and the machine and she zoomed ahead.

OH DUH!!!!   The machine was getting power – only the light was out. It was not the end of the world.  

Just a huge pain as a replacement bulb was over 20 minutes away.  And, I hadn't bought the new Ikea light with me because the base is very heavy.  I now knew exactly what I needed – the Ikea lamp with the clip on base that I hadn't bought because I didn't think I really needed it, because I hadn't foreseen this happening, because I thought it indulgent to buy 3 lamps at one time.

Because sometimes I’m an idiot.

Fortunately, DH and I have to go to Ikea to look at some curtains for the master bedroom sometime this week.

I’ll be buying the Jansjo lamp with the clip base…maybe two of them.