In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Container nasturtiums on the back steps that scratch my gardening itch. With forty pages left to read, I am over the moon with my series starter. Often after I step away from a manuscript, I wonder if during my absence, a sprite accesses the story, sprinkling magical dust throughout the novel. When I return to give it a read, I find the prose is snappier, characters are well-rounded, plot lines are taut. Did I actually compose these scenes, form these sentences, shape these protagonists? If it wasn't me, then definitely a pixie has infiltrated my computer. No guarantees the second installment will seem this pleasant, lol. Yet I can only deal with one book at a time, and right now I'm quite enjoying what I have tentatively titled A Love Story . Not the most singular name, I grant you, but each part of this series will also possess an overall moniker, reinforced with a numeral, then a secondary title. I don't mind giving away the secondary title, but will keep the main identi...

A shot from the air as I approached our local airport. Boy it is good to be home. It's lovely to travel, don't misconstrue me. But wow, I am glad to be back in my usual sphere. Having made that distinction, I'll be stepping away again in a few days, lol. Need to visit other members of the family closer to home. Planes are great, but old fashioned road trips have their charms. I didn't waste any time reclaiming my routine this morning; I sat with my most recent manuscript, plopped myself about two-thirds into it and read till I reached The End. My goodness I missed that aspect of my life, good to reacquaint myself with the writing in a very simple manner. Summer is an intriguing season, known for getaways and warm days. Breaks from expected activities, reunions with beloveds. Long days permit all kinds of thrills, temperate evenings allowing for excursions apart from one's typical expectations. In winter I hunker down. In summer.... I want to experience heat and ligh...

Sleep has been hard to manage on this trip to the Midwest, but waking early allows me time for back/hip exercises and copious solitary moments greatly enhanced by sitting in my sister-in-law's sunroom listening to the lake, which laps gently or voraciously against the shore. This morning is of the ferocious style, a clear day with a strong breeze, the waves not quite whitecaps. Large geese have been spotted, a dark gray heron too. Frogs attempt to get into where my granddaughters sleep, and we joke that those amphibians don't get to go inside because they don't pay rent. Other than missing my better half, who is keeping an eye on our place, I'm enjoying a marvelous getaway. Well, I did break my pinky left toe, ahem. Going down the loft stairs a little carelessly, I banged it hard, thought nothing of it until much later in the day. Now it's taped to the one beside it, and I'll avoid the loft where my granddaughters play with toys from a previous generation. Other...

Not much to say about this quilt, other than I LOVE how it turned out! And how glad I am to have finished it in three days instead of four, lol. Now it's packed for travel tomorrow, but here are some pics as I completed it. I used Art Gallery fabric and some batik for the binding, hoping those cottons wouldn't be too difficult in the hand-stitching. They were good as gold, and I'm very grateful to have employed them. Batiks and some Australian aboriginal prints made up the front, a few of these I have had for a long time. Batiks aren't my faves for EPP, better to use them in machine piecing. Kona Berry makes up the small squares. I took a lot of pictures for myself as I hand-quilted, one of that method's perks being the time to admire the gorgeous fabrics that make up the top. The backing fabrics were also special; the rainbow flower extravaganza at the top was a wideback piece from my eldest daughter. The lighter flower fabric was from my youngest girl. And the pin...

With two days left, all that remains on quilt construction is half the binding to be attached to the back and a date with my washer and dryer. Yesterday was a heavy duty sewing machine day, the likes of which made me grateful this morning to have accomplished the bulk of the work. As I pinned the binding, I listened to a an old playlist newly renamed with a few additions, which has inadvertently become yet one more soundtrack for my fictional WIP series. But now with a name, I can refer to it here with an actual moniker: Four Corners . Not that I know what that means in the grand scheme, but it's something. The photo above seemed the perfect shot for this post; the four corners of my fabric WIP, one mitered corner completed. I've been wondering for a couple days what Four Corners means in my story, but for my quilt, it's marvelous to have so much done. It's nice to know I can still knock out not a rush job but a good piece of sewing, even adding some hand-quilting to bo...

Another quilt top is DONE! However, I leave for a little holiday on Friday and want to bring a completed quilt with me. I sewed the binding together before snapping the picture above, yet that strip requires pressing. And a back needs to be acquired, then a sandwich made, basting to follow, then machine quilting. Said binding then will require attachment, the whole kit'n'kaboodle tossed in the laundry. I'm flying east after lunch on the fourteenth, hopefully I can pull it off before then! The last few weeks have been a marvelous whirlwind of visitors, familial and friendly. I faffed around with this quilt, help coming from my grandson in the designing. When time was available, I sewed rows, then stitched those together, and after a couple of cloudy days spent gabbing with an old buddy from my junior high days, there lies many squares little and large alongside rectangles aching for total completion.  Currently I'm seated outside on a gloriously sunny afternoon so striki...

Past Me's grand design accomplishment, hehehe. I'm a stay inside kinda gal. I like to write and sew and maybe tinker in the garden, but all my life I've preferred indoor recreation. Maybe that was due to growing up in the hot Sacramento Valley, perhaps honed when we lived in England. It's certainly perfect for dwelling in Humboldt County, where the marine layer has encased our neck of the literal and figurative woods for much of this summer. I am FINE WITH THAT, lol. Pastimes that make me happiest usually occur in my office or living room or where paper shapes won't blow away in the breeze. Equally, I am most comfortable writing familial saga and relationship hoo haa. While I don't mind placing my characters in different worlds or outer space, fierce battles and adventurous treks aren't part of the drama, until now. My next story will be an introduction to some epic goings-on, leading up to some probable grand escapades worthy of far greater storytellers tha...

Last week I was hand-stitching a Cornflower block, and when it came time to add the squares, I was very pleasantly surprised to find the above two prints alternating as the squares. I cut these fabrics weeks ago, forgetting exactly what I had used to make up these blocks. I smiled, began sewing the squares onto the diamonds, thrilled for the inclusion of more than one print as the perimeter. That one moment stirred further considerations about decisions made previously that later bring great pleasure. How often do I rue mistakes from the past, but rarely might I ponder the blessings reaped by those actions. How innocuous was my choice to use two fabrics for this block, pretty dang happenstance let me say. But in noting this, two others come to mind, one for the garden, and one while writing. A couple of years ago I planted Sweet William seeds in three locations, two of which were easily impinged upon by deer and other critters. In all three spots the plants have thrived, but only in on...

Amid a marvelous wave of visitors, I have steadily continued the morning edits. The stitching together of Book 2 is now viewed with discerning eyes, in that finally it is being read on the heels of Book 1. Most of the loose ends have been neatly sewn in place, but a few ragged edges remain, which I'll get to...sometime. LOL. I'm feeling like the creature above, a newt that greeted me yesterday as I headed outside, remaining along the back steps when I returned indoors. Just hanging out, slightly concealed, but not running into the foliage for protection. I meant to show this picture to my grandson, hopefully I'll remember later today. His presence is an intriguing element to our lives here, in that he's garnered some insights to how grandparents manage their days, hedged in what would an eight-year-old find interesting. His family arrives tomorrow for a few days out of the heat and they all will return home hopefully with no newts in tow, but good memories as well as so...