Simple pleasures

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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 of winter. I built a fire before lunch merely that we hauled a lot of wood just for this cold weekend and had only used some last night. The Sierras have been pounded with snow, Interstate 80 closed from Placer County to the Nevada state line. Yet it's March, not January, and soon winter will be a memory.

Daffodils bloom along roadways, the sun is over the treeline, so much feels alive and warm and new! Such awareness of life's treasures balances the less stellar moments, but how vital is it to impart the good. Crises and sorrow never go away, why the gifts must be acknowledged.

The block above is one such delight; the inner diamonds are some inexpensive solids I bought to test if this fabric would be right for the attaching pieces in the Flock of Stars quilt. But seeing them together made me want to use them for another purpose, then I stitched some decorative Tilda fabric around them and fell in love. I might have inadvertently started yet another quilt, lol, but for now I'm enjoying stitching these random blocks for the succinct pleasure of making myself happy. Sure there are plenty of chores and dilemmas to deal with, but sometimes life can be as straightforward as delving into beauty, whether it's outside or in.

Wherever joy finds you today, embrace it!

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