Obsession

My new hobby is crazy quilting. Except it's not really a hobby anymore. It has progressed well past the "hobby" stage and is settled firmly in the "obsession" phase. Every spare minute I have, I sneak off to embroider another flower. I find myself not wanting to go to work because I'd rather sit at home and stitch ferns. I look at people's clothing with an eye for copying the stitch work along hems. Really, it's getting out of control. But on the plus side, I'm almost done with a really stunning pillow cover. So that makes it all okay.

The best part of quilting is Monday nights, when a group of staff women get together to eat dinner, stitch and -- of course -- bitch about school, husbands, weather, monkeys, or anything else that strikes our fancy. The food is great because it wasn't made by the cafeteria and the company is excellent. The women who come are not the same women I hang out with generally and so it's nice to see new faces and just get a change of scenery.

And have I mentioned how freakishly nice everyone is at this school? I'm used to pleasant people--I do my best not to associate with mean people, as a general rule -- but everyone at Woodstock goes above and beyond the call of nicety. For example, last night one of the women at sewing group volunteered to walk part way home with me, since her house is on the way to mine, to make sure I found the path okay. Only instead of dropping me off on the path, she continued right up the mountain with me, going an extra half hour (uphill!) to make sure I didn't get lost in the dark. And as we parted, she invited me to stay over at her house any time I didn't feel like making the trek home. I may need to buy her chocolate.