Winter Birds

Dominique Fortin-Art Propelled

Few if any birds flying today.  It's 12 degrees and sunshine.  And windy.

My cauliflower soup wasn't very good.  So I threw it and the recipe card away after G and I both had a bowl.  We didn't get terrible tummy trouble but I thought we might.

My One Dollar Goodwill Sunday netted me two Pendleton 100% wool skirts (to wear or to machine wash and use in fabric pieces) in lovely- found in Nature shades-- of green and brown.  I also got a puzzle by Vincent van Gogh-  farms and hayfields and blue skies.  $2.  1000 pieces to add cheer to Winter white days. Oh, and a lovely loose peasant-like blouse in a grey blue to wear when I get tired of all the white linen shirts this summer.

Our Dairy Queen opened.

Today is Library Day. G needs new books and I have some to return and pick up. And I just now got a call that my "for reading only" glasses are ready to be picked up.  Sparkle, sparkle.

Today is day three of my new eating plan.  Eat Food.  Not too Much.  Mostly Plants.  Michael Pollen.
In addition I have been doing most of my eating in the early part of the day and none at all past 5 or 6 pm.  Feels pretty natural.  I am making another soup today---one I know I like.  Full of vegetables.

I am working on three fabric pieces right now.  Two are looking promising.  The third is the one made up of the 2 inch squares.  I pieced the top and bottom "new additional strips" yesterday while watching television.  Now I have to stitch together the sides.  Then decide where I am going as this was intended to be a "base" for additions and stitchery.

I finally have the right fabrics and materials.

Write It On Your Heart

"Write it on your heart- that everyday is the best day in the year.  She is rich who owns the day and no one who owns the day, allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety"

"Finish every day and be done with it.  You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.  Forget them as soon as you can...tomorrow is another day"

"Begin the next day, well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear, with it's hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays."

If anyone knows who wrote these wonder-filled words--please let me know.  I failed to write the author's name at the end.  But perhaps it wasn't there for me to see? I have this written on an index card.  Found it, again, this morning in the recipe box. I think I needed to find it--again.

I love the words "write it on your heart".

I am trying for a "clean sweep" of the old before I am open to the new. But already I am feeling free-er. I straightened out my work space (getting ready to work on projects left undone) and sorted thru those recipe cards for a soup made with cauliflower.  I happened to have a cauliflower in the fridge that has been waiting it's turn.  It's now simmering on the stove and I am anticipating the finished soup.

I also removed from the recipe box about 10 more soup recipes.  I like soup and I should be making it more often. Soup is a wonderful "vehicle" for vegetables and I love vegetables.  And soup can be complex or simple depending on what you want.  But always warm and comforting on cold Winter days.  Spring feels far away as I look outside and see only cold, frozen white.

I will be making the one with carrots as the lead character tomorrow.  I also have a great many carrots  in the fridge...... waiting.

Year Of This Dog Going Forward

Anna Noel on Art Propelled

This year......I intend to be more authentic.  True to my own self. Not see myself as others saw me.

It's a Road I always intended to travel but made so many excuses not to take.  Not to move forward.
To always be looking backward for the missed opportunities.  Not forward.  Always back.

My parents forced me to find a job at 15.  To babysit.  Taking care of someone's small children, sleeping on the couch till the early morning for 50 cents an hour.  Then at 16 to take long bus rides to the shopping center and work until 9 pm and still do well in school the next morning.  I had no value other than the work I could do for money.

Today was my last day at work for money.  Forever, I am hoping.  Now, I will work for myself.

New Fabrics To Add

While up in the Attic--not looking for fabric--I was looking for my plastic boxes of embroidery floss-I happened to find these two hand dyed pieces.  Peach and More Peach.  I also have tea dyed squares.
Now I need to clean off my cutting board and cut more squares.  I was going to cut 1.5 (1") inch squares to make a new base--finishing to one inch.  But decided to continue with  the 2.5 (2") inch squares.  The Peach fabrics aren't plant based dyes but they are named after a plant.

I did make a small quilt once with 1.5 (1") inch squares.  But I did the sewing on the machine.

I did find my embroidery floss boxes and used the floss on yesterday's piece. But I also found a large bag of unwound floss.  So day I purchased two new boxes and more paddles.  I'll wind while watching television tonight.

I'm excited to have a few new colors to add to this cloth.  And along with additional colors (tones) I can now think about patterns.

And I am reminded of needing Peach for that one unfinished work---perhaps a solid Peach would work?

Speaking of work--I am working at the greenhouse tomorrow.  All day.  And I am sure my eyes won't like the glare of the bright sun in the glass greenhouse.  I may need to borrow a baseball cap from G.

What I Did On A Winter Day

I had made this piece for an Art Show Fundraiser and no one wanted to buy it.  Today I made it look like this with embroidery around the flowers--using Deb Lacativa's Magic Thread.

First a line around the outside edges to define the flower shapes.  They sort of got lost.  The flowers are my own hand painted fabric.  Carol, this is the pink I've used up.  In fact, all the colored fabric  but the green and black stripe is hand painted.  By me.

Then, while I watched television coverage of the walking bridge collapse in Miami, I stitched swirls around the flower centers.  Ebb and flow.  Imagining Spring.

I think it didn't sell because it just wasn't finished.  I added three button centers to the flowers (removing the French knots).  Antique buttons.  Faded and dull.  After taking this picture.

I went up into the Attic--but you guessed that!--and found a few little treasures.  This being one.  You'll see the other in the next post.

Snow Dog

When Life brings you snow--it's good to have a dog like Riley.

The light outdoors is very bright.  You could easily go "snow blind".  You can also easily SEE the DUST here in the house--so I think there will be some "housekeeping" today.  I have laundry to do. I have sorting to do.  I have a box to send to Connie.  I need a new coffee maker but am making do with my "fill it yourself" Keurig capsule.  Make do.  How I learned to live from my Grandmother.

Make do.  Use what you have.  Keep it all clean.  Starch all your house dresses and aprons. Make homemade donuts.  Fill Easter Baskets and hide them.  Wrap all presents in white tissue paper. Save everything: brown paper bags, string, cans, jars etc.  Crochet like a genius.  Grow roses.  Always have a vegetable garden.  Pickle any extra vegetables.  Grow peaches and plums.

I used to be a better "grandma" but I gave up the starch and iron a few years ago.  I just recently got two peach trees but gave up on the roses.  I do make a lot of pickles but have never made a homemade donut.  I find frying in oil to be wasteful.  You can't re-use it.  And I do-- save almost everything I think might have a second use.  My collection of Bonne Maman jelly jars is substantial as is the collection of Ball canning jars.  I stopped saving string when Santa brought me a tall cone of fresh new string.  I still fold used wrapping paper and try re-using it.  Especially the pretty papers.

Riley and I dug out the back stoop this morning after breakfast.  Heavy, deep wet snow.  Ugh!  I truly hope this is the end of it.  Open House at the Greenhouse this weekend and I agreed to work all day Saturday.  Last year I must have walked 10 miles.  I remember saying I would never do it again.

I'll Go With Vincent Today

He may have been "mental" as my Boston friend says, but Vincent is and was magnificent.  The colors themselves are lifting my spirits on this "all white" day here in Maine.  It snowed for over 24 hours.  And it looks like it is still snowing.  We are completely house bound until G can get out there to start clearing the driveway.

I am learning to make coffee in the Keurig.  Packing coffee into the little plastic thingy and then doing 8 ounces and then 4 more to fill my big Polish Pottery mug.  No morning paper.  But the power is on.  My coffee maker gave up on me yesterday morning.  I guess it just lost the will to live. It happens with people, why not appliances?

We are watching "The Alienist".  I am lost.  I am really having trouble following the plot here.  Might have to read the book to figure it out.  Two more episodes.  It's wonderful to just look at though. Dirty and crowded and ugly but beautifully presented.

I spent yesterday traveling with Jude Hill on her Small Journey site.  85 posts with audio and video and all that.  Somewhere along -#60 or so, I reunited with the concept of Page.  I had seen it on a blog post and was quite taken with the concept of a book and pages made of sewn bits of cloth.

I found additional posts (I must have stopped reading her daily posts- or missed these) about "page" and found out what happened next.  I made many notes.  The original "page" was 5 squares by 7 squares.   And----the block I made out of my antique cotton and plant dyed experiments is five blocks by seven blocks.   A memory?  Had I stored that in my brain?

I was very conscious of "needing" to sew more blocks and add more strips and then knew to STOP when I had 5 by 7.  Jude's squares are one inch.  Mine are two inches. (so mine is actually a double wide page) And on her second "page" she stops using matching thread and starts using contrasting thread to sew the squares together.  I used green thread.  Not white.  From the start.  Perhaps I had also seen the second page.

But then I didn't know what to do.  Now I do.  I sent Jude a thank you note via email.

I don't know why I opened that particular file -Small Journeys- and I don't know why I continued to read every entry......for hours...but I am very very glad I did.  Now to cut one inch squares.

Nine Plus One Feather

I have this nine patch with circles up on the wall.  I walk past. I look.  And eventually am bothered by the "too nothing" look of this one circle.  So I added stitch to the outside edge.  Look at it for another week.  Decided on a feather floating.

My choice of color for the new embroidery was determined by the colors already present.  A new color might indicate a "disturbance in the Force".

And that would be one disturbance too many.  Already today my coffee maker decided to stop working.  Why not yesterday when we were out in the Spring weather and I could buy a new one? Why in a snowstorm which could become a blizzard.  And then there is the 2K replacement of the oil tank with the agent coming this morning to tell us that.  Plus, of course, the fees for disassembling the old one and removing it.  And the new tank will have to be in the garage-in plain sight. An unheated garage so it could also freeze in Winter.  I think--she says no.  She suggests kerosene.  A better fuel. And so much more expensive.

I was disagreeable.  Her visit was right after the coffee machine stopped working.  Nothing "sparkly" about me this morning.

Rolling Along

I was planning to make manicotti tomorrow during the snow storm.  We went shopping.  No fresh pasta sheets at the grocery.  They always have them but now they don't.  Not even an empty spot where they used to be.

So, I will be rolling my own.  I love my Atlas pasta roller.  We've been together for years and years. We even traveled to Europe together.  I think my husband bought it for me at Crate & Barrel in Chicago the first time we lived there.  I roll out pierogi dough for Christmas Eve dinner. Every year-no matter where we are living.

And, now so many years later, I'm going to roll pasta for manicotti.  Getting old is certainly interesting. What's next?  Ravioli?  Well, yes, I think I might--I do own a metal ravioli thingy you make them on and then roll something across the top and "hey presto" ravioli.

Snow is supposed to be coming and staying for a few days.  Things are already being cancelled.  I teach a class on Wednesday at the local library (where I used to work) and hopefully that takes place. Saturday is the Open House for the greenhouse where I work (occasionally, these days).  I hope the storm has passed so the Open House is a good one.

I stitched a feather on the cloth with the nine circles. One circle seemed to "need" a feather.  I will show you that tomorrow.

My husband purchased 10 (ten) Earth Boxes for my gardening this season (a surprise).  We took one out of the box and tried putting it together.  Not the Earth Box I am used to seeing at work.  Newer design. Slightly smaller. Perhaps better?  No place for wheels.  And he got me trellis set ups for 3.  So the tomatoes don't fall over.  It took some......time....to get it put together correctly.  Nicely designed.  Sturdy. A test of how we work together.

I was taken to the eye glasses place to see if my glasses could be worked on to improve my vision.  We tried  a few things.  None of them worked.  Michael found me "amusing".  In the end, we put the frames back the way they were.  Ordered "dedicated" reading glasses.  So I cannot read thru the wrong trifocal lens.  Which is ---I guess, what I have been doing.  Making my eyes exhausted and blurry.  In about a week I should be able to give them a test drive.  They are sort of gold and sparkly.
And I am sort of "old" and sparkly.

Just Another Saturday

I was busy, yesterday, cleaning up the bookcase and doing some stitching to keep busy while the furnace man was here.  I had to be visible to the dog as he was "anxious" over the noises coming from the crawl space under the house.

During my "busy-ness" I noticed this little 6 inch piece pinned to the wall and very dusty and dirty. So this morning I washed it in the sink with some Dawn.  And it's now drying flat on the kitchen island. The baskets were sewn by machine but the handles were appliquéd by hand.

I remembered making this while my husband and daughter were off skiing in Vermont--long ago. And I am reminded that the making took an entire day.  I think I intended to make more--but..... the process wasn't what I would recall as being "fun".  It could become a "center" for something in the next few weeks?

And here we have the in progress patchwork--all stitched by hand, but at a much faster rate (I must be getting better with this as I get older?)  In order to make the nine patch I had to UNSEW one patch and replace with another as the long strips were all the white fabric squares.  Then I stitched the three rows together.  I then had two sets of two rows each but they looked boring so I decided to unsew some white squares and add in blue ones.  Except it was trickier as the hole left by the unsewing was U shaped.  So three sides to stitch on each blue replacement.  But I managed.  Now I am planning to do the long seam on each to stitch them to the center.  The nine patch is the onion dyed fabric.  The blue was a tea bag and a tiny spot of blue craft paint.  So not plant based.  Though I do know now I can get a sort of blue with red cabbage and lemon juice.  Actually more of a violet.  But I am liking this small patch project.

I got my haircut yesterday.  I mentioned that I thought the previous cut was a bit too short.  And while looking at my hair-- the stylist reflected that it did indeed look like a few areas had been cut a bit too much.  "A few areas".   Now that made my day.

G brought home a cherry pie from Whole Foods in Portland.  They just never have any cherry when I shop there and G said this pie--here in my house--was the ONLY cherry pie.  I feel so amazingly happy about that.  Really.  People say I am so difficult to please.  Whole Foods Cherry Pie.  Easy.

Winter Storm = Soup

I have everything in this photo from Food52 to make a "Beans and Greens" soup.  I even have Parm rinds saved in the freezer.  Beans, greens, and some tomatoes.  I made G a big kettle of chicken soup yesterday.

At least the snow reflects light and makes everything look "brighter".  It had been so dark here for too many days.  Makes the three of us "sad". We've got at least 12 inches piled up over night an possibly more.  And it just now (1pm) stopped snowing.  Every single thing outside is coated in snow. Everything is WHITE.  Blinding.  No newspaper and no mail.

Read Jane Harper's second book "Force of Nature" straight thru yesterday.  Loved her first book "The Dry".  Same lead character.  Excellent author if you like a well written book.  Australian author. I selected a few books from the New Mystery section on my last visit to the library.  Not sure about them.  But I was judging by the cover..........

Stitching my antique fabric.  Finished squares are "about" 2 inches.  And the square part is also "about" as I am doing it all by hand and using the rather odd Jude Hill method of sewing one block to another.  The thread at the seam shows and we are supposed to stitch "imperfectly".  So the opposite of machine work.  I am really loving the look.  Soft and with personality.  I did cut some strips apart to add in some of the onion skin fabric in a nine patch design.  Looks very nice.  Or it could have been the tea bag fabric?  I don't quite recall.  I am going to see if I have any real thin old blue fabric anywhere (old shirt) so I can make some very pale blue squares. If not, then I will do something else.
This will be my "base" for working on for Spirit Cloth Beginning class I am following--solo.

Haircut tomorrow.  And the oil company is sending a guy to do the annual furnace cleaning tomorrow between 12 and 4.  Slow Living.

Continuing With Plant Based Dyes

Top is more of the dried onion skins.  Second is not plant based but is from vinegar and rusted nails and other things from G's workshop ( very India Flint), bottom row left is from the bag of spent geranium flowers-red ones.  On the right, hot pink spent geraniums. All got placed on wet cotton fabric, wrapped up in foil packets, pounded with a meat mallet and steamed for about 25 minutes in a steamer over simmer water.  The nails etc did not get pounded.  The reverse of the rusty things cloth is much darker.  This image is of the backside.  I thought it would photograph better--I was wrong.

None of the green things took any color.  And I haven't found anything blue yet.  The colors are a bit more intense but today we have cloud cover and no sun at all.  Storm coming.  Lots of snow and the "promise" of power outages.  More snow than the January storm which was awful.

And to make things more fun--the TiVo remote has decided it won't turn on the TV or adjust the volume.  G tried all the many "fixes" the service support (joke) at TiVo had for us.  The good news is that the sound level is perfectly okay with us.  And, as I told G, I don't mind unplugging the tv to "turn off" the tv.  The TiVo is working perfectly (knock wood) and recording things and being in contact with the Mother Ship via a cable connection and a phone connection.  I am thinking the problem may be Samsung.  The TV itself.  I don't know and, at this point, don't care.

I am going to make a big pot of chicken soup for G.  He'll be out snowblowing into the night tonight.
I'm thinking it might be time (his age) to think about hiring someone to plow the driveway.  G could still do the edges and walkways.  Next Winter.

I just keep repeating.......we need this snow to hydrate the Earth which has been short of water here in Maine for years now.  Once, not long ago, we had a vernal pool on the west side of the yard.  It filled (filled!!) with melted snow water each Spring and peepers bred and ducks would stop to swim and Riley (then a few years old) would jump into the pool and chase the ducks and then enjoy a swim.  It's been a long time since that has happened.

I stitched two more rows of seven squares while watching the Government and the White House self destruct.  So sad, as Trump would say.  Where are the grown ups?

Experiments With that Old Fabric

I cut squares and then used what I had here in the house to make little "dye" packets.  The top one in a small dab of blue paint and a dry used tea bag.  Wrapped in foil.  Steamed.  The second row was layered with very dry onion skins.  I wet the squares (water) and then stacked them like an onion skin sandwich.  Wrapped in foil. Steamed.  Row three is wet squares and dry used tea bags.  Row four is wet squares and a small drop of pink paint.  The onion skins worked out very well.

I had asked G for rusty nails or wire.  Either he didn't have any or he didn't hear me.  So, rusty things will happen the next time.  There is a fifth packet but it's slow.  I smashed fern fronds trying for threads of yellow green on the squares.  It might still happen.

I have dry (used) coffee grounds (grinds) and I am going to try that.  Also more onion skin sandwiches because that yellow bronze color is quite lovely.  Everything has been pressed with steam iron.  I stitched the squares so the thread shows at the seams.  I used green thread.  I don't know what this will "be".  Right now it just "is".   I don't have a vision of anything as yet.  Could also clip seams and resew into more of a square.   I think I had intended to make a square but got lost along the way.

These are the plain squares I cut and stitched together.  The colors you see are the stains the fabric had from sitting for years and years.  The inside yardage is yellowed but not dark.

Still Life - Morning Sunshine

As I was waiting for the water for my tea to come to a boil, I noticed the light playing across the now empty cookie jars and my last orange.

I can see circles in the jar bottoms and the circle of the orange.  

I also see the reflection of the sun on the left side of the orange.

Such a simple arrangement but so many things to see.

I'm glad I decided to take this picture for you.  I would have missed out on the noticing so many facets to this still life if I didn't have a photo to remind me.

And... just by writing to you each day, I reflect on and think about things I may have left unexamined. The purpose of this blog...so many years ago, was as a journal. And this journal has become so much more than I had imagined it would be.  A life examined.

Lenten Rose & Space and Time

As winter gives over to Spring the Lenten Rose starts crawling out of the ground and sending up leaves and eventually flowers.  I have two plants over by the south western side of the house.  With a rock path nearby to catch even more warmth from the sun.  I can see the plants (when they emerge) from the French doors in my dining/family room.  The room with the new rug.

We (G, Riley and I) didn't see much of the recent storm.  No wind and no rain and no storm surge as we are too far inland.  But right now, at 11pm, snow is falling.  Winter clings.

G and I voted to NOT watch any news today.  News Free Day.  We may continue it into Monday.

We watched Netflix--The Voyager satellites sent up in the 70's and finally reaching and crossing out of the "bubble", as the science guys called it, of our solar system into the unknown. 40 plus years. It was sort of like writing a paper and then waiting 40 years or more to see if you got it right. We still don't know if it will make contact with who or what is out there. Still sending messages back to us.

As we watched, the film marking events as years passed and the Voyagers I and II  passed Jupiter, Saturn and Voyager II headed for Neptune and G and I recalled the events of our life together.  From first child to sitting on the couch together tonight.  I'm so happy we can still remember.

I found folded and yellowed and stained yardage of old cotton fabric (the attic) --from the years when the width was 48 inches but could be less.  I cut a section (small) off and washed it and it came out so soft with a incredible feel to it.  Perhaps overjoyed to have been found again?  It is antique white ;-) but...I went and got the rest and washed it.  Deserves to be seen, touched and used.

I don't know where it came from or how long I have had it up there.  I am reminded of two possible sources.  One a woman who collected odd fabrics and moved away from Maine and was selling her fabric.  She asked me over before she left and filled my car with what was left, unsold.  I think I got that old yardage there and an old cupboard (taken apart and stacked in the garage).  Over 25 years ago. Voyager hadn't reached Neptune yet.

Late On Saturday Evening

Reading Letters From Paris by Juliet Blackwell.

In a garden in the Latin Quarter under twinkly lights the American woman writing her story is having apero with the handsome but aloof French guy who has set the small table with chilled champagne, pate de champagne, water crackers and fat walnut halves seasoned with cinnamon and black pepper.

Ah...to be there.

My two classes (10 am and 2 pm) went very well.  Everyone was going home to get seeds started for their gardens.  The light in the greenhouse was nearly blinding.   I wished I had sun glasses. But it gives me some hope for warmer weather and Spring.

Too many hours of news tonight as I watch the White House fall to pieces.  Like a terrible soap opera with cheap and tawdry actors.  And how much did Mrs Trump get paid to hold her husband's hand getting off the plane in Florida????  96K for an overnight to Florida.

That's about it for tonight.

I Just Had To Post This

From Art Propelled--Basic Goodness by Judy Martin

Now this is a MOON!!!  This is what I wanted.  This is what I didn't have the fabric to make.  I know...a poor artist blames her materials.  If you can enlarge this image-- the entire surface of the MOON is covered in white stitch.  Just endless running stitch.  And then a thicker line along the outside edge.  Sigh.  And it was at the top of the art right now on Art Propelled so just posted.

Like Time and Space and the Atoms of the Internet wanted to let me know what was possible when you say : I want to make something about the MOON.

Damn.

I stopped at work and had copies made of all the handouts I make for all my classes.  I WANT people to KNOW about the topics.  Go forth and be successful.  And there was birthday cake for Ted.  And a card to sign.  And they had re-opened the entire greenhouse.  Everything was fresh and neat and "perky".  Color-filled.  I said hello to all who have returned to work for the season. And then got in the car and drove away.

I just popped 4 pounds of pork (country rib) and a rub of garlic, cayenne, brown sugar and salt and pepper into the oven with 2 cups of cider vinegar.  In 2.5 to 3.5 hours it will be brown and tangy and delicious.  We're going to have food for dinner tonight.  Last night we didn't have any dinner. We were reading books until it was too late to make anything.

DianeN I just had to come back to this--we'll see if it can be often enough for you (and me).

Marching Into Spring

I quilted this while watching Survivor.  It was a 2 hour episode.  We haven't watched Survivor in YEARS and the contestants haven't gotten any smarter.  Really bozo moves.

So- here is the circle nine patch  quilted over a "felt" thickness batting.  I like a flat batting--no poof.  And I pressed it with steam.  To get out any creased and puffy spots.  I quilted along the seam lines--quarter inch away and then around the circles and around the interior elements. While pressing I noticed one circle --the middle one in bottom row--that didn't get "around the circle" quilting so, that's what I will do as soon as I hit publish.

We have a second day of unseasonable WARM temps and sunshine.  Mainers are wearing flip flops and tee shirts.  It's in the 40's.  So 50 to 60 degrees warmer than December and January.

I don't think I will be posting everyday this month.  I have two classes scheduled in the next 2 weeks- so prep time etc.  It'll take up space on my daily calendar.  And, seeds to start for my garden.  And, books to read--a nice pile of four easy reading books.  Mostly book two of an author whose book one I enjoyed.  See how they progress as a writer.  I also have an unpublished book to read here on the computer as a beta reader.  And I am noticing tree limbs and branches that need to be removed.  Before leaves start hiding them.  Spring pruning is one of my favorite things to do.  Still too much snow on the ground--but soon......

I'll still be here to let you know what I am doing and thinking about and even making though that has been difficult for me lately.  Thank you to all who have checked in here everyday.  Really, really means a lot to me.

Pictures From My Life- February 28

Here is my nine patch.  Each of the squares had a circle hand appliquéd to it's surface.  Then the squares were arranged and sewn together.  All of this was done with needle and thread.  No machines.
Not even a rotary cutter.  They looked boring and unfinished.

So I took a handful of scrap pieces of fabric with me to the couch where I spend quite a bit of Time. I tried out different things.  Some I liked enough to sew down.  Some I didn't like after they were sewn down (and then snipped and removed--sometimes more than once)  This has never been pressed with the iron.  Though I really would like to press it.

The idea here was about moons but really--it's about "circles" as nothing here ever was saying anything about moons.

The next prompt for the work is supposed to be layering and invisible stitches to hold the two layers together.  Then quilting or adding embroidery stitching.  I am wondering if I should just cut all the squares apart and make something else.  Like a placemat for the table.  To set my dinner plate on top of.  I can continue to adorn this fabric square with more and more---I have another piece, much different, which has been so adorned and now is "just awful" and is buried in the scrap wastebasket.  Waiting to be cut up and used for something.  Such a waste of Good Thread.

And so ends February.  It hasn't been the greatest month.  Another storm is coming in with March.  Supposedly rain but possibly snow and ice as well.  Flooding.  There is no sun today. I am getting tired of bananas.  Haven't had a decent lunch all month.  Put sugar in my coffee twice by accident and the pot is empty.  So over sweet coffee or none was my choice.  Had to accompany G to his doctor appointments because I am the only one of the two of us who remembers anything.

I think I am well and truly ready for February to push off.  March will be better, right????

Pictures From My Life- February 27

We are getting to the end of February and the end of the old pieces of fabric art.  I think you have seen this one before--but, I forget if that is true.  Getting old.  Not trusting one's memories.  The black is a very cheap black cotton I found at Walmart about 15 years ago.  This is the back side.

So, today's topic is the second side of fabrics.  The back.  I liked this side so much more that the front. It has a sort of blackboard surface to it--not completely clean of chalk residue.  I used it on a few of these long pieces.  And on this one I did topstitch over drawn flower motifs.  And then went back in with a few golden yellow stamen.   The side triangles were cut from scraps of the painted fabric I kept on the table.  As I mentioned, I wanted a cohesive set of pieces at the end.  Telling different stories but using the same fabrics.

As February is ending--with bright sunshine and mellow temperatures here in Maine-- I will need to think of some new project for the days of March here on the blog.  I am working on a nine patch handsewn piece these days and evenings.  Appliqué.  Needleturning. Hand sewn seams. I made the nine patch and then added circles to each.  And that didn't seem to be doing much.  So then I added more appliquéd shapes to each. Still not what I had hoped for but better than it was.  You'll see it tomorrow.  Sewing nine patches together by hand wasn't all that much fun.  But I do like the way the uneven stitches look.

The whole piece is imperfect.  My fingers and eyes go to the exposed stitches. It hasn't been ironed.

I like the look of perfect machine stitching and then pressing with an iron and a can of spray starch.
But the imperfection of hand sewing is always there, whispering in my ear.  Which is why I do it. Try to do it.  Always go back to the machine.   And then pick up the needle and thread again.  Back and forth.  Like the tide going in and out.

It's just that the things on the machine are so modern and abstract and the things by hand so plain and simple.  Like a split personality.  Riley wants his lunch--it's way past his meal time.

Pictures From My Life- February 26

Painting Fabric with really cheap acrylic paints.  Carol asked about this.  So here it is.  I buy bottles of colors I like.  Light, medium and dark.  If I want orange fabric I buy 2 orange colors and one yellow that looks good with it.  Green?  Two greens and a yellow so I can mix chartreuse.  Blues are more tricky.  A light blue could add too much white and make your blue swirls murky.  I lighten the darker, rich blues with water.  There might even be a bottle of clear "extender" you could use to mix a lighter blue.  The more water you add--the more you get a watercolor effect.

I mention blues and greens because those are the two fabrics I painted that were seen in the quilts I showed recently.

I use plain white 100% cotton fabric to paint on--nothing special but I like a tight weave-muslin is okay.  I set a square of dry, unwashed cloth on a washable plastic surface (old shower curtain or kid's plastic painting table cover).  I squeeze out paint and add water if it feels too thick and temper the colors with the darker one or the lighter one as I go. (I have a plastic muffin pan that I use to mix colors)  I then start painting circles.  Just the outside circles.  Then I wash & dry my brush and pick up a lighter or darker shade and make another circle inside or outside the ones I already painted.  I just keep going until the entire surface is covered.  I sometimes add little detail dots on the green.

Instead of circles you could make V's or W's.  Dashes or dots.  A square of lines going up and down next to a square of lines going left and right. Or just rows of squiggles.  I make circles because I like circles and they go well in the things I make.  Organic.

Fill in all areas-- do not leave any fabric unpainted.  Usually, when I am done with a "painting" I move it off to the porch onto some newspaper to dry.  I then put another square of unpainted cotton on top of the paint that leaked thru the first square and PRESS down to soak up the leftover paint. I usually have on a plastic glove when I press down.  A Two-fer.  You get a lighter more flexible "print" to use.  You could also scrap across the surface of this second print with a credit card.  Let that dry next to the other square on newspaper or paint on top with any paint you have left in the muffin tin cups.

If the paint seems too thick and gloppy--add more water.  You can test the texture on the drop cloth or on newspaper.  Or on yourself.  I now wear a wipe-able apron when painting.  Trust me.  Once this stuff gets on fabric --it doesn't come off.

Let your painted fabric dry completely.  I use it stiff.  For machine quilting and stitching.  If you want use it with hand sewing--mix the paint to watercolor lightness.  I have washed the finished painted fabric and let it dry flat outside.  It softens a bit.  But no color loss.  After 15 years --no fading.

Ask questions.  Give it a try.  The only downside is getting paint on your favorite white shirt.

Pictures From My Life- February 25

More from the archives.  The green painted fabric, the blue and a tiny bite of orange.  The gray fabric with writing is a "decorator fabric"-- I was wanting writing, script for my work at this point in time. I learned later from a quilting friend--that I could just scribble on fabric all by myself.

I don't think this piece "worked" because it doesn't seem to have a focal point.  Just all over the place. Again, I don't like the grey fabric at the top.  Cropping to a shorter, long side would help--just at the top of the blue section.

Yesterday was dark but warm.  Like Spring.  At around 11am it started snowing and now the plow truck just came by and blocked us into the driveway.  Still Winter.  G is out with the snowblower. It's the wet heavy kind of snow.  Not the best kind to pick up with the blower.  He'll be tired and out of sorts when he comes in.

Remember I mentioned working on a nine patch from Jude Hill's Cloth Whispering series?  Well, after many (way many) false starts I have a few more seams to hand sew and I'll have a nine patch. I started with the public side of the background squares and then decided to use the backside.  I appliquéd  circles to them and then removed the circles and used their backsides also.  So all the fabric is backside up.  Faded.  Soft.  Whispering.

Once they are together I can decide if it's going to be a square or a rectangle.  Then make three more squares if its rectangle (12 patch).  It has a name.  Moon Garden.  I have no idea what happens next.
The prompts are Theme, Story, Base, Grid, Surprise.  I guess I need to work on Story.

The stitching is nice to have...my right shoulder blade is acting up again.  No shooting nerve pain at this point but it aches.  It feels like it did after the nerve pain went away.

Lunch today was roasted organic beets from a local farm (cold storage) and soft fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.  My white bowl has a puddle of deep red delicious juices.
I know on cold days we should eat warm things but I wanted to taste something cold and fresh today.

Pictures From My Life- February 24

Some of the painted fabric in blue and green (can you find the green circles?).  And, YES, I will show you how easy it is to paint your own fabric.  I just need to "do it" and take photos.

And, "space and time and desire" worked together and I looked in my pile of fabrics on my little rolling cart (for something else) --and there it was--that special green batik that I thought was all gone.  What a delightful surprise.  I had it right where I could find it---which is a real joke.

The piece at the top would have benefited from my "future" interest on the "roots" of things below the surface.  There are three seeds.  I put those in every piece.  But the leaves should have stopped at the inset rectangle and the bottom should have been an earthy color with roots etc.  Since nothing of might (-and I meant to type mine) is ever really finished-I may just cut the bottom ⅔rds off and add a new bottom.  This was made long before my Master Gardener training.

This spell check on the computer is getting really interesting. My daughter mentioned to me that on her text messages--the program on the iPhone seems to have learned her speech patterns and starts finishing her sentences before she has even started typing the words.  She finds this very creepy.

And now I am finding words I didn't mean to type which are sort of sending me "meanings" I hadn't thought of.  Nothing of might.  Is ever finished.   This gives me quite a lot to think about.

Typing.  In high school I was never good at typing.  I couldn't give over control of the keyboard-had to always look at the keys.  But... for most of my life I have typed.  For the Women's Club Newsletter--I started with looking at the keys with every word but at some point I realized I wasn't looking any more.  I was typing with all 10 fingers. No one else would type because it actually was WORK and most of the members didn't want to do any work.  The electric typewriter I used was very fancy. The text was in columns-no correction. Not a computer but it was professional grade. 1983.  And then we got the Mac and I typed the private school PTA newsletter in columns while continuing to type the Women's Club Newsletter.....there really were no volunteers.  This took days and days every month.

Pity the family if I forgot to hit "save" every 10 minutes on the Mac.  The good old days.  Then when we returned to America, I volunteered to type the Leaflet for the Morton Arboretum's Botanical Art Group (I was a new member).  Columns also but I needed to start and finish with even edges and top and bottoms and leave spaces for ads. Now that went into a real computer (always Apple) and was saved on a disc and then printed professionally.  From there I went to work for a newspaper and created ads.  Work = Typing.

And here I am....... I never could find a job typing here in Maine until I discovered blogging.

Pictures From My Life- February 23

More of my painted fabric with a bit of that used up favorite fabric for the flower stem and then over the right.  The left flower was cut from another painted piece of fabric.  What is so interesting about the painted fabric? It doesn't fade or even wash out when washed.  I put it on thick and it is rather hard to had stitch.  Machine? Like buttah! But I did need to change out needles more often than with regular cottons.  I used invisible thread on the zigzag setting.

I took apart a piece that wasn't working and now have a 12 inch square of the green circles to use before needing to paint more.  I can't even recall the last time I painted fabric this way.

I'm making a definite CHOICE today to be more involved.  To be more pro-active.  To think positive and constructive thoughts--rather than not think ANY thoughts (which is what I have been doing). Not thinking makes a long Winter day--even longer.

A small and very expressive chipmunk has taken up residence in G's truck engine.  He came out to check who was walking near his home--out of the engine and onto the piece holding the tire on.  Sort of like his front porch.  We stood like that--looking each other up and down--sizing up the situation--and then he decided I was nothing to worry about and went back inside the engine.  I continued down the driveway to get the morning paper.

What am I watching:  Curling.  PBS's Wuthering Heights but the second part was so confusing.  I still don't know why so many women love this story?? Top Chef.  Alienist.  Thinking about watching Netflix for the Frankenstein Chronicles and in March for season 2 of Jessica Jones.

Right now I am going to find out when the waning moon is in Cancer for starting seeds.

Pictures From My Life- February 22

My own painted fabric--the blue...as I am feeling blue. I was really happy when I purchased  the alphabet fabric in black and white.  I think I was wanting "text" fabric.  Again--from the Attic Boxes.  A whole life in boxes.

I have a pot roast in the oven--slow and low.  Later I'll make cole slaw and later still, mashed potatoes.  Five months late but I'll still think of it as my "birthday" dinner.  And there is ice cream for dessert with fudge sauce.  Perhaps a candle?

Eyes are still itchy.  The Benadryl is really helping but it dulls all the senses.  So, I  am feeling dull and listless.  Watching Curling on TV but as usual, they are only showing matches that invite the American teams.  I would like to see more of the Korean women's team and more of the Norway men's team-  Very good players.

G and Riley are out on a walk.  We might go to the grocery store when they get home. G needs things for his lunches and I think I need things to use up the béchamel sauce.  Will look up recipes.

Have two classes to teach.  One at the greenhouse on the 3rd of March and another on the 14th for the Community Garden Lecture series at the library.  Things are beginning to thaw.  Hopefully I will be more interesting in a few days?  We can only hope.

Pictures From My Life- February 21

Happy Sunshine Day.  The background fabric in this fantastic PINK square is hand painted by ME!  The flowers are fussy cut from whole fabric and the vase is commercial also.  I think this one should never have been in an Attic Box.  In the very bottom right corner I can see evidence of some printing.
I was influenced by an artist named Sonji Hunt.  I don't think she is on the internet any more, but if she is--let me know.  She painted fabric.  No dyes.  Just paint.  And once I tried it--I was hooked.

Another thing I loved that was lost for 10 years.  I should call those years "My Lost Years".  Grief is a hard master.

G wanted Bechamel Sauce so I found a recipe and made a batch.  A white sauce with cheese.  So now I know and can make it any old time.  Even for homemade mac and cheese.  Or cheese manicotti.
He's having baked chicken, rice and broccoli for lunch.  I'll have whatever is left of the rice and broccoli.

Taking two Benadryl for the itching of my eyes.  Seems to be working.  And I think the air in the house is very dry so that is making things feel uncomfortable.  I know that I am having some sort of reaction to an allergen because the Benadryl isn't making me sleepy.  Busy working.

That's all for today.  More Curling.  More eye resting. Perhaps some Seed Starting?

Pictures From My Life- February 20

Thinking about Spring.

I have been looking for a particular piece of fabric--one of my favorites and couldn't find even a tiny scrap which seemed odd.  Then I walked past the very large quilt hanging on the living room wall and--well, there it is.  The background.  I must have used all of whatever I had to make this piece.  Which is lovely.  But on a wall I don't view very often.  I made it just before leaving for Ohio and the death of my father.  I also had a one woman quilt show opening that weekend.  I missed it. 

Still having issues with my eyes.  Now it's allergies and itching.  And I often forget and rub my eye and that's it for the day.  Feels like I have sharp particles in there.  I use my drops and I rest my eyes and try to think positive thoughts.  Mostly I wish I was a "napper" and could just be sleeping.

G wants to drive to Portland.  I do not.

I want to go to the library.  But I have wanted to do that for several days now.  I guess we are in that "period" of Winter when things are no longer interesting or fun.  We are just wanting to be outdoors doing fresh new stuff.  We want it to be Spring.

I had to go back into the Attic--I am starting to get really tired of it---to find the fabric bag that goes with the circles.  I can't explain it any better than that.  I started making what I called the French Quilt with squares of French type fabric and then appliquéing a circle of another fabric on top of each square--a very long time ago.  At least 10 years.  I have a pile of finished squares (they have circles on them) another pile of squares with "potential" partner circles and then just a pile of squares.  I also have freezer paper circles.  I iron the freezer paper circles to some of the squares....etc. etc.

Spellcheck keeps changing the word circle to castle.  Or am I typing castle?

I was thinking sewing circles onto squares would be easier and more enchanting than doing reverse appliqué on the Chinese cat squiggles.

I could possibly make pot roast today.  Or not.  I think it's more like a Kraft Mac and Cheese Day. Dark, raining, dark, dreary.......  The tiny ray of sunshine in the days is that the cuttings (from a customer's repot) of kalanchoe are starting to flower.  One pot has pink flowers and the second has orange flowers.  I am finding this fascinating as I had no idea there were several different colors in the customer's very large overgrown plant.  She asked me to cut it all back and then start some in another pot but I could have any leftovers.  I made myself two 6 inch wide pots of tiny cuttings and they have just been doing nothing for months.  Getting a bit taller in January (must have made roots) and now flowers are beginning.  Now what are the chances that in a large pile of cuttings--I got all pink in one pot and all orange in the other.  Statistics, anyone?  

Pictures Of My Life- February 19

Works I made as a "Friend Of" but not a member of the Twelve by Twelve Group on the internet. Abstract fiber works.  Like painting but with fabric.  I have a collection of these.  I found them all at the bottom of a box (in the Attic).  I never liked the 12 by 20 size but it made me stretch as I worked on them. I think Jude Hill would call it "long cloth".  Each of the six uses the same handful of fabrics but used in very different ways. This wasn't part of the challenge but it is what I did to make the finished group cohesive. Don't worry--you'll see all six.  They are even here in the archives.

I am attempting Jude's first cloth class on my own.  Just to learn. I have listed the simple requirements (any soft, old cloth you find--even old clothing) for the first nine patch.  Also a theme.  Which I cannot (could not) conjure.

Which brings me back to the work up at the top.  Each had a word cue.  I would mull that word cue over in my head all month and finally come to a conclusion of how to make something that defined the words. And now I have come back around to trying to making art to define the words.  My usual method is to just put fabric I like together.  And it doesn't often "work".

Working from some one else's word cue is one thing--coming up with my own was impossible. But then I sat myself down and asked--what are you liking right this minute?  Moons.

So--I wanted Moons.  I am into Moons right now.  I could just make nine squares with moons (just exactly like Jude).  But then I was reminded of the class I am teaching in March.  Container Edibles with a side of Moon Gardens/Gardening.   So---my theme is Moon Garden.

With a theme--I can now look at ideas and fabric and judge--moon? or not moon? and get rid of all the distracting other stuff that doesn't work (right now).  

Now that I consider the concept--this is how I cook.  I open the fridge and decide-- "I am making chicken soup-which of the things in here makes chicken soup ????"

Pictures Of My Life- February 18

G vacuuming the new rug last night.  Eight by ten feet.  The same cotton "hooked" style as the other rugs for the halls and bedroom from tee shirt discards from the garment district in New York. But a different pattern--smaller circles. It has that "certain something" that changes all the plain Jane white walls and doors into something super warm, inviting and welcoming.  It's Magic.  Even this very old cherry floor looks super nice.

That big rug was $400.  No tax and free shipping.  I always wait for the big 65 to 70% discounts on Houzz.com. There is only one downside to these rugs.  Our doors were not trimmed for rugs.  So I can't have one of these where a door would need to open across the surface. We'll have to let Google remind us to turn this rug every few months.  So the sun evenly fades it.  The side to the left of the vacuum faces South and is a wall of floor to ceiling windows and French Doors.

Woke to Fairy Tale Beauty this morning. All the tree branches had tall puffs of white snow.  The sun was shining and the sky was deep blue.  The sun is super bright and everything is melting. I was surprised that it snowed.  Haven't been watching any news--so surprised by snow!!! G is out snowblowing.  He was not surprised happy.  But he's almost finished--I can see him out clearing the mailboxes on the street.  Then he does the fire hydrant so the firemen don't have to clear that one.

Worked on the Chinese Cat some more--now I just have the fiddly little lines and squiggles on the cat's body to do.  Had to do some additional basting to hold the beige fabric down on the red fabric. I wish I could NOT do the squiggles but... they are printed.  Got the face done but the eyes--well, there needs to be some actual appliqué of eyes.  The cut circles fell apart.  Partially my fault.  Partially the fabric not being tightly woven.

Two loads of laundry to fold.  It's a good day. All the water stayed in the washing machine.

Pictures From My Life- February 17

Chinese Cat--I believe the cat is supposed to be "Lucky".  As you can see--a work in progress--for a long time.  That outside ring is the section I got done onWednesday.  And then the little triangles in the ears and above the eyes took so long I gave up for the day.  Just contemplating the logistics of stitch for the eyes and nose (important cat features) is more than I an manage.  Perhaps I was meant to embroider those tiny details?

Our new dining room carpet arrived.   It was on sale on Houzz.com at 65% off.  Eight feet by ten feet. I have a photo and will download it.  FEDx left it leaning against the garage, in the rain, near puddles. No knock or doorbell ring.  I was home.  Also could have placed it on the very large DRY porch. When G got home we carried it into the sunporch.  Checked for wetness.

Yesterday, G wanted to open the rug packaging and see it.  So, before doing that he had to move the rattan table and chairs and all the lamps etc.  Then we rolled up the faded braided coil rug up and dragged it into the hall.  Vacuumed.  Decided to change to the cherry table in the attic--- carried the rattan upstairs the cherry downstairs.  Rolled out the carpet, checked for defects, then vacuumed the carpet.  The dust and stuff off the carpet filled the filter.  Set up the table and chairs and I retired to the couch with a dizzy headache which I hoped was NOT the flu. (it wasn't)

We both love the colorful rug.  Sibling to the other rugs.  But different sized circles.  Changes the whole tone of the family/dining room.  Amazing what changes these rugs have made to the way we see our home.

All this and the news.  So I switched to HGTV and the home improvement shows I had recorded. We enjoyed the old time Mississippi accents and the Red Velvet cake.  G and I even wondered if we could live in that small town in Mississippi.  He thought we could.  It reminded both of us of the years in small town Georgia where both of our children were born.  Of course that was nearly 50 years ago.  G and I will be married 50 years in September.  Can't wrap my head around that.  Perhaps that's what is making me feel dizzy?

Pictures From My Life- February 16

Blue.  I don't recall making this, but I did make it.  Could have been from scraps belonging to quilting friends.  Could have been in the box of fabric and things I got after Beverly died.  And I finished it. And quilted it and..... well it was lovely to find it again.  Anything that Beverly might have touched is special to me.  About 36 inches square.  Possibly this size because that's all the fabric I had to work with.  There is more of Beverly's stash up there.  Waiting for me to be ready to work with it.

I finished my book yesterday, then rested my eyes.  I started working on the red and beige reverse appliqué cat when my eye focus cleared up.  I was going to have it's picture here this morning--but I must have moved--the picture is out of focus. I'll try again later. I practically zoomed around the outside circle but then things got very slow as I worked on the small cuts.  All I have left are the small cuts (details) so it will be a difficult slog getting the cat finished.  Lucky cat with one paw raised.

Found a new show on HGTV--House Perfect.  Loved how they finished a very small house and was amused by the dynamic of their professional and personal (married) relationship.  The woman says or does something and the husband glances at the camera and-well, you can see how it's going to go.  She was measuring the amount of carpet edge she wanted out in front of the bed but not so close to the French doors and the husband and the helper were just.........and my husband said--don't laugh--that's YOU!!!

Pictures From My Life- February 15

Pollen.   Not quite ready for it yet....but Spring is coming.  I chose this photo from my files because I LOVE black and grey with that shock of yellow.  Black and grey were the colors of my Printmaking Class.  Zinc metal sheets engraved.  Printed.  My one true love.  For a year or so--I used fabric to recreate that black/grey engraved look.  I found them in the Attic Boxes.  Pictures soon.

Today my eyes are tired.  Too much reading yesterday.  And I am still GREATLY perplexed by this new author.  I read Book Two first (you all know I don't like doing that).  And now I find Book One takes UP where book one ENDED.  It defies logic.  I was about 70 pages in and I started thinking--when is this????  And then I realized...it's what happens after the other book ended.  And I'm just sitting here saying--what the hell?  If I read them in order-- one then two---I'd already know the secret in book two--ruining the whole book.

So, I am reading.  Wondering if the stupid cop (who can't shoot his gun to save his friend's lives) will ever figure out his son Theo is NOT in his bedroom with the music blaring 24/7.  I'm not the best parent--but I would open the door once in awhile to just...check?   I finish what I start.  My husband says--put it down----stop reading---stop yelling at the book.  I have to keep reading.

Two nice guys are in the garage installing the new garage doors.  Somewhere around 40 degrees.  No sun.  No wind.   I think I might put some allergy drops in my eyes and find a cozy spot on the couch and rest my eyes.  I also have a cup of coffee around here somewhere to drink.

The news from South Florida (just up the road from where our first house was located) is ...I don't know anymore.  And our local paper printed a very long list of shootings (past and present) and the number of dead and wounded.  What has happened to our children?  Is it the video games? Does it numb them to sit in front of the computer and "shoot" for hours and then--when they have problems--just pick up a gun (houses seem to be full of them) and shoot.  Do they think life will "reboot" and everyone will be alive again?  I just don't understand.

Pictures From My Life- February 14

Jane Kenyon- ArtPropelled

Happy Valentine's Day.  I often wonder what my college art professors would have thought if I handed in something like this in Painting 101.  We tended to scrape off a painting if it didn't work. Now you just keep painting over things until..well, it looks like this.

The house feels cold this morning.  Yesterday was warm (for Maine in February) My eyes are itching and I am going over what I had for meals yesterday to try and figure out the allergy culprit.  Nothing comes to mind as being "new or different".

G took me to a different Goodwill location yesterday as a "treat" and I was happy to find three new shirts for me and a pair of pretty print summer pants.  Pink.  At the cash register I was asked my age. Well, I was asked if I was older than 60.  I said yes I am older than 60- I'm 71.  And I got 20% off my entire purchase.  The sales associate also said I didn't look old.  Thank you.

G welcomed me to the breakfast table with gift wrapped Twizzlers.  Just what I wanted for my Valentine.  Then the doorbell rang and daughter hand delivered Turtle candies from the candy factory where she is working for the Winter.  And the neighbor sent over a squeaky dog toy for Riley.
The only one without a Valentine is G.  We'll see what happens.  We had our Valentine restaurant meal yesterday when things were more relaxed.

I usually work on Valentine's Day-at the greenhouse-- so this is my first holiday at home in 10 years.  It's nice. Daughter was off to work at the Candy Factory and she said it was going to be CRAZY.

Pictures Of My Life- February 13

Well, another trip into the Attic Boxes.  And a visit to JoAnn's for the yellowish roll and the beige one to it's right.  Everything else is from the Attic.  Pinks (the many browns are not included in the picture as they are quite boring) but the furthest one before the block is an old favorite.  The print has birds.  I know some think bird prints are unlucky but I had used this same bird print (in a darker colorway) in another small quilt and sold it right off the library wall to a guy who kept coming back to look at it and decided he could not live without it.

I could not find any small print greens in my closet or the boxes.  It seems like I donated all of them to the Linus Project or simply used them up. The visit to JoAnn's will be the last...for fabric.  The selection was too horrible to even think about.  I actually shuddered a few times.

But the lack of greens means--I won't have to use greens.  The yellowish sprigged roll will sub in for the peach.  Same intensity and it looked good when I held it up to the blocks with peach points.

I found a book to read. Book one to the book I just finished.

My prescription for my inhaler is ready for pick up so I am off to the grocery.  Driving.  Myself. I  drove yesterday and it was like learning how to change lanes etc all over again.  Haven't driven since early December.  The snow, sun, headlights and those bad lenses--couldn't SEE.

Pictures From My Life- February 12

Here is the square I found in the attic boxes.  Twenty four inches square but could be smaller. The background fabric is back side up.  I think Jude Hill said "fabric comes with two sides" so I often flip it over and use the second side.  I found more of one of the pinks.  And the mini black print.  I have yards of the two sided background print. The rest is just not here.  So my choices--are to just back it and quilt it as a square.  Or........... Make different stars.  I'm considering it.  What I do NOT want to do is go shopping.  But if I continue, I am going to need brown.  I really like this piece because it shows that I DID know how to sew small pieces together to make larger pieces.

Today a Coffee Date with a friend.  A good thing.

I also re-potted several little orphan plants that have been collecting here (G wants to know how they get into the house).  Fresh soil, new larger pots so they can wiggle their roots around.  Get comfortable. Stay awhile.

The nerve in my shoulder is giving some twinges--I don't want that nerve pain to come back.  And my jaw is making noises again and making it difficult to chew hard things.  Like crusty bread--which I love.  So--while I sit here I am flexing my shoulder and jaw to keep everything loose.

Sewed a button back on my sweater.  Not much else so far today.  After coffee I will walk over to the library and see if I can find a book to read.  Hopefully the sidewalks will be cleaned off. If I can't find a book--I did find an unfinished turned edge appliqué project.  Now that  I have my new glasses-it is possible to SEE the turned edge.  So could work on that a few hours a day.  Show it to you soon.

Pictures From My Life- February 11

Let The Good Times Roll!

I love beads.  I have bags full of beads.  I intended to use them to make a crazy chandelier to hang off the big branch of the oak in the backyard. Loud and gaudy colors.  I should slip a few around the neck of the Goddess on the front porch.  She's wearing only pearls right now.

On my only visit to New Orleans - it was August, 100% humidity, the home we visited had dropped ice blocks into their pool to try and get it to a "refreshing" temperature for the kids.  Everything downtown smelled of urine.  The food we ate was divine.  Loved all the people we met.

Next up is Chinese New Year.  Year of the Dog....Me!  Can't wait to read what's in store for G and I.  Both Fire Dogs. I have a window ledge that still has last year's Rooster displayed.  Need to change to a dog.  Our daughter is a Rooster.  The year was very good for her I think.

Reading The Ninth Grave by Stefan Ahnhem.  Danish and Swedish detectives solving two sides of some brutal murders.  This was on the new shelf and there seems to be a first book- Victim Without A Face that I will try and reserve.  When I checked out--very big, thick book--I wasn't sure I would be able to read it.  But, the glasses came in and all is good.  I have the last quarter left to go.

Snowed and now is 35 degrees and raining.  The snow is now sheet ice with water on top.  Going anywhere is dangerous for old people like us who don't want to risk broken hips.  Or broken elbows.
Who'd dress us?  Take us to the bathroom?  These are my thoughts when surfaces are covered in ICE. G has gone out to the woods with Riley.  Dog has to walk.  G has on snow shoes.  He has trouble walking in the woods if each foot fall sinks into the snow.  Usually, he returns with the snow shoes over his shoulder......

Pictures From My Life- February 10

 Two Sewing Caddy's From The Attic Boxes

Silk and velvet.  Embroidered and be-jewelled.
Circa:  2000-2004

Both of these are finished.  The ribbon on the top of the picture was used to tie the caddy closed when I traveled.  Kept all my sewing needles and threads together.  Scissors.  The silk and velvet was sewn in a crazy quilt pattern and then all sorts of threads and needs and stitchery was added.  The more the better.  I taught classes of between 4 and 12 women how to make these.  I brought a huge section of fabrics, threads and beads.  I asked them to look thru their sewing boxes and jewelry cases--see what was there.  Charms worked well.  The circular ends of the caddy are padded to hold needles when in use.

In snowed again last night.  So the roads were sloppy this morning.  g drove me to work ( teaching a class today) and I set up and waited.  No one came.  Which was okay--I had so many re-pots to do and people were buying plants and pots and I did those--so I was busy.  And then at around lunchtime I "taught" a seed starting class in the aisle by the seed starting soil and trays.  About 30 minutes of questions and answers between the four of us.  So-a class.  My employer suggested I just walk around the store and start talking--gather a crowd.  I could make a "talking stick" announcing my intention to talk.

That "talking stick" thing just flew into my head.  There is such a thing--it's passed around and only the person holding the stick can talk.  Does anyone reading this know more about it???

I got my new prescription installed in my glasses frames yesterday.  I can see.  I can read. I am over the moon happy.  I read almost an entire big fat murder/crime/mystery from Denmark or Sweden.  No problems.  My left eye got used to the new prescription pretty fast.  Really such a mood changer to not be struggling with focusing your eyes.

I had a number of conversations with my co-workers.  It was nice to have these conversations and catch up on their "doings" as someone in my family used to say.  It was also nice to share my knowledge of plants with the customers.  Today was a very good day.  I am thankful.