In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Buttercup never got far from a quilt, let me tell you.... I'm leaving home today for a week with my daughter and the grandgirls. My son-in-law will be away on business, time for this abuela to lend a hand as well as spend Easter with family. I'll miss my hubby most certainly, but I'm grateful to spend time with other beloveds. I wasn't sure when I'd write this post, but last night as I was packing, the photo above popped up on the screensaver. A hound peeks out from the bottom of what is my first EPP'ed quilt, Buttercup was her name. Before the grandkids, we had a grandbasset, or a basset-beagle. Buttercup loved my quilts as much as a human, and this post is partially dedicated to her. So hand-stitching.... Seems it figures pretty heavily in my quilting life. In 2018, I read a few blogs, some of which are now merely markers to my quilt beginnings. I grew especially fond of Jodi Godfrey , an Australian artist who had found her joy in using paper pieces, which she...

It all started with a trip to Joann Fabrics. It was only about getting out of the house with my eldest while our guys installed a new kitchen faucet. It was a Christmas gift to said offspring, who received a sewing machine from her spouse and a trip from Mum and Dad to Joann for assorted sewing hoo haa. I knew so little about fabrics, other than Boy lots of them were pretty. All my previous visits to Joann were for, um, bra extenders. Recent rains hampered my attempts at an outside photo shoot. But on that February day, 2014, something altered. Perhaps it was my smart-phone savvy daughter, finding all kinds of hand-stitched quilt ideas. None of them were related to English paper piecing, merely that not every quilt was made using a machine. As I collected bright fat quarters, she kept scrolling, and we left the store with a heap of supplies for me, not quite as many for her.  Uncomplicated prints make for a vibrant throw! Thus began my foray into quilt-making. So unplanned, so unpr...

  I really love this Cornflower quilt. Visitors are amazing and marvelous and so necessary. After they leave, I wander around, wondering what to do, other than laundry, lol. It takes a few days, then suddenly I'm revising books and hand-stitching quilts (and still doing some wash, ha ha) as though guests left ages ago. I don't know if I required these additional days previously, as in five or ten years ago, but I certainly do now. Now I'm in my later fifties, ahem. Now I'm quite set in my routine until said routine is pleasantly jostled. And now, a couple of days post-beloveds, I feel my artsy feet are mostly back under me. Huh. That's interesting. Future Me nods as if to say, "Get used to it. It's not going to get any better." Past Me looks up from her cross-stitching and grunts, "What?" I smirk at them both, because smirking is big in my new novel , Tia does it often as does her big sister Lucy. I smirk, then return to this post, which isn...

  Guests left today. We enjoyed marvelous weather, sparkling conversations, plenty of yummy baking, card games, Scrabble adventures, and a great trip to the beach. Seeds were started; lettuce, green beans, carrots, and peas for my husband. I chose cosmos, marigolds, poppies and calendulas. Maybe by late April small plants will be ready to go into the ground, in addition to mixed flower seeds sown, assuming I pull a bunch of weeds, lol. I also have been reading through A Love Story , finding a few niggles that I have fixed in the document. Once I'm done, I'll upload a new version, but it's great to read it as a (nearly) finished novel. I've also been going through Life Stories , the second book in the series, which I will probably publish in July or August. I'm also hoping to re-release The Hawk in May, which is wonderful, but then I wonder when I'll find the opportunity for actual writing. Maybe in April, maybe. We're going east to visit friends at the end o...

Sometimes a novel's release is pre-planned, well-publicized, and meticulous organized. And sometimes a book's publication occurs during quiet time on a busy Sunday afternoon. The latter is my choice because if I don't do this now, who knows when I'll get this series started, insert laughing face here. The Enran Chronicles has been my fictional obsession for over a year. Tia Sorenson and Nathan Zanetti are characters tightly stitched in my heart, Tia's sisters Lucy and Wynn, as well as Shirl Wentz like members of my own clan. Their neighbor Dana Noth and Lucy's six-year-old son Bobby are just as dear, as well as two aliens from hundreds of years and millions of miles away, known as the Doc and Captain to Tia and Nathan, who have been inadvertently entwined not merely with each other. Love at almost first sight as well as life with aliens slam into familial tragedy right along my North Coast home, as well as lots of smirks and sisterly affection. Set in 2003, ph...

  Heading west on I-580, just having crossed over a lengthy bridge. My goodness, where has the time gone? I've been back for two days, but no moment has been free to post here. I enjoyed a lovely getaway with an old friend, some warm temps, and an environment wholly altered to where I live. All in all, a terrific holiday, and now guests are arriving, which will probably preclude my usual flow of entries, although I truly am hoping to release my next book VERY SOON, lol. Getting out of one's routine is full of positives, the sense of adventure, especially when going somewhere new. Spending time with a pal from the the past enhanced the sojourn, much over which to chat. She knew our locale well, for which I was grateful. And I didn't miss my hexie box at all, instead spending my downtime reading one of my old novels, again falling in love with the sense of writing merely for my own pleasure. Our impending visitors will preclude me from diving into the prose, but I'm certa...

  Tonight's completion, a little Liberty fabric on the perimeter. A quiet few days lately. No writing or revising going on, although I'm hoping to release a new book next week! I've spent a fair amount of time hand-quilting the Cornflower quilt, but there's PLENTY left to stitch. I cut fabric for a disappearing nine-patch, but now I'm prepping for a getaway, so packing and cleaning have taken precedence. And I'm not taking a hexie box with me. No time for sewing? What kind of vacation is this! It's the kind where the sights are my focus, and a friendship celebrated with a gal I've known since junior high (middle school). My hands aren't in need of a break, or not that I know, lol. But I need a change of pace, and a weekend with a dear friend is the perfect way to spend some time. When I get home, oh wow, lots to do; a novel to publish, a quilt top to baste, perhaps some gardening.... We're expecting balmy temps in a week, so I plan to start some ...

Nine patch blocks pre-slicing, those missing squares, and bonus rectangles! As I walked through the office/sewing room last night on my way to bed, I grinned at the spoils of yesterday's fabric play scattered on my work table. I found lost eight and a half inch squares (YAY!), indulged in slicing, then machine stitching, nine patch squares (coolio), then gathered a bunch of four and a half inch squares to make more nine patch blocks. Then I ironed fabric to add to that array of squares, wanting to make more disappearing nine patch excitement, but I won't cut these on the diagonal, going the traditional route instead. I also made six placemat tops from the diagonally cut nine patch blocks, put those big squares with the rest, as I knew I had more 8.5" squares but COULD NOT FIND THEM, ahem. I gave thanks for Past Me's hard work to sew together those leftover small squares, and for Future Me's patience in when I might get around to them. And I was immediately grateful...

Over this stormy weekend, snippets of blue sky have lightened my heart. We've been lucky to not have lost power, and I've enjoyed fixing soups and other warm dishes that lately I haven't bothered with, but this kind of weather calls for a variety of one-pot meals. This kind of weather puts me in a sewing mood, so this morning I cut fabrics for EPP stars and whatever else lends itself to English paper piecing. I'll spend the afternoon listening to the Warriors/Celtics basketball game, tending the fire, maybe tackling revisions of The Hawk , probably some slow stitching on the Cornflower quilt or diving into that stack of shapes and scraps, diamonds and jewels and a few hexies aching to be clothed with pretty prints. Spring is so close; I feel it in the fabrics, in the lengthening daylight, in how green is the grass and trees producing small buds, a few ahead of schedule. Despite this chilly spate of weather, the brighter skies make me hopeful, setting aside the darkness ...