Christmas in July

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A plethora of lovely designs and colours; can't wait to chain-piece these (and free up the cutting mat for something new lol)!

A couple of days ago I received an order of fabric; some is for myself but most is for various projects that will go to new homes. I tucked away nearly all the cuts, but opening a mini charm pack, immediately I began to play. And now I need to sew those squares into bigger squares as soon as a free moment emerges. No way am I going to transfer all those designs to the quilt wall or stack them up for another day.

Every year I buy a mini charm pack, sometimes Christmas themed, other times from a design that tugs on my heart. I make coasters from them to give to family and friends. I add strips about 1.5" wide for a border, make little mug-rug sandwiches, then machine quilt most of them, a few hand sewn. Slap a binding around them and voila, nice gifts for anytime of year. But not only are gorgeous prints making feel extra blessed; I'm making slow but steady progress on the rewrite while still perusing the latest release for any previously missed errors or grammatical alterations screaming to be righted. Subjective editing I call it, unless I do find a typo, which so far has yet to occur, YES! And while Christmas fabric feels a little odd in mid-summer, even here in cool-ish Humboldt County, to spend a lot of time indoors at my computer working on novels also seems.... Not strange, yet kinda weird. Soon enough we'll have months of dreary weather, God willing. Late autumn and all of winter and a goodly portion of early spring are GREAT for dabbling in fiction, awesome for sewing too. I plan on doing a little gardening next February, sowing various seeds like maybe a Paul Robeson tomato plant, having just harvested my first tom of the year yesterday, WOO HOO! That plant was from my eldest down in the SF Bay Area, probably sown in January or February. More mid-year gifts; right now I feel like Christmas Eve is just around the corner, when truly August is breathing down our necks.

Bonus shot; my first tomato from our garden; a Paul Robeson and my goodness it was GOOD!

Sometimes life is hard. The last few years have sucked for everyone. And for many times are still tough; economically, socially, emotionally, mentally.... War in Ukraine continues, mass shootings occur, as though all hell's breaking loose. Yet I can't lose sight of the good, and I don't only mean fabric and prose and tomatoes, although tangible gifts strengthen not just morale, but my soul. But further is faith that despite setbacks, tragedies, and inexplicable wounds there are beauty, goodness, blessings. Quilts and coasters are parts of my heart, books another, and the garden's harvest is a kiss from heaven. And no matter how downtrodden I may feel on a given day, I so need to remember that mourning lasts for a night, but dawn's healing is a sunrise away, or it's a thick marine layer that eventually burns off. Each day is a little, or not so small, miracle; it's vital that we remember this and perhaps I'm steeped in such grace due to the books I'm currently sorting. Both are full of abject sorrow and great hope, one about a fictional realm, the other set right in our galaxy. These novels are serving as reminders that no matter how bleak life seems, peace and joy are near; we just have to be exceedingly brave at times to walk through the darkness. And not stop searching until light appears.

Even in Humboldt the sun shines. Sometimes not until late afternoon, but still it peaks through the cloud, which it's doing right now. Time to check my tomatoes, pumpkins and some coleus seeds sown a week or so ago. Happy weekend everyone. 

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