In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

  Humboldt morning sky. My husband's sixtieth birthday is approaching and we're hosting a party. Our eldest daughter has organized much of it over the last several months, as it was unknown to my hubby until the end of last month. He was GOBSMACKED, in a very nice way, and now it's days from happening. Time really moves at its own fickle pace, in that when this party first came into being, spring was flirting with our part of the state, but in full swing in the SF Bay Area, where our daughter lives. Today I wore a turtleneck, the first of this autumn season. We ran a lot of errands, some party-related, some not. I finished reading through The Hawk Book 2 yesterday, and no editing occurred today, nor any sewing. I just spent the last hour adding To Do's from the party spreadsheet onto my phone in the form of reminders, including that of Fill in white board with day's tasks . The white board dwells in the mud room, we probably need markers for it as it came with the ...

  Trees on our property that won't bow to the wishes of the stars. Photo by my husband. The Big Dipper and the rest of the stars near it will have moved further westward in the sky. That was the first thing I considered when I peered out the living room window this morning, noting how far westward that constellation has veered. Just a couple of months ago, it was much further eastward, yet I can still see it, twinkling over the treeline as though it told the Redwoods to get out of the way. Deep breath taken; that's not the only thing to consider, but maybe it's better to start this post with musings about natural phenomena than, well.... Politics isn't even the way to describe the state of America's electoral process. And honestly, I won't delve deeply into what might occur, in that actually in a week all that will definitely happen is advertising won't feature this or that candidate or proposition. In one week, that will have ended. What comes next is.... N...

  Such a colourful, pretty quilt! The last few days have been full of sewing; I completed a quilt top, made a backing, then fixed a quilt sandwich, basting it this evening. Now I'm plopped on the sofa while the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers clamor in the background. I might not even get to any hand-quilting tonight, but that's okay. It's enough that the quilt is lounging quietly beside me. I also finished the most complicated (so far) block of the Red Sky at Night EPP. Idle Moments was anything but, yet I took my time, basting, then stitching, a quarter of it each evening, completing it last night, WHEW! Today I cut fabric for the last of the small blocks, bagging it all up with the coordinating papers, then bringing it to where I sew at night. Hand-quilting will share time with hand-sewing over the next few weeks, as I'm hoping to complete the quilt before Thanksgiving. I read there are sixty pieces in this particular pattern. Dude, that's a LOT o...

  This sticker graces the back of my phone case. I LOVE the colour blue, indicative of my political leanings too. This morning I put flannel sheets on the bed. A few weeks back, maybe even last week, I wore capri pants. However it is now the twenty-fourth of October and I'm already wearing warm PJs to bed, so.... It was inevitable, merely in that seasons alter, wardrobes as well, and finally linens. I've also added an extra blanket on my side of the mattress, obscuring the quilt completely. Which gives me pause about keeping that fabric WIP for myself, in that the crocheted throw extends well over the end of the bed, one of the reasons I was making a new quilt for myself in the first place. I have a person in mind for that quilt, lol, which hasn't garnered much of my attention recently, too many afternoon errands on the agenda. But I will get to it, maybe today, maybe. Fall housekeeping also calls my name, sigh, and while I'd love to turn a deaf ear to that task, an inn...

  Yesterday we hosted a woman and her husband for whom our house and property are very meaningful. She grew up here, and he's been accompanying her back to her hometown for over fifty years. Two years ago they visited, finding a water tank on the southern edge of the forest from where water used to flow to the house. The outbuilding isn't large; the wooden roof was rotten, mosquitoes finding it a haven. It was her quest to locate the structure, merely to satisfy her curiosity. Yet my husband took it as a challenge, fashioning a new roof which he has turned into what he calls The Lookout. He included the railing, making it safe for all ages, and to their delight, it provides a marvelous vantage point to admire the house and woods. Afterwards we went out for lunch, thoroughly enjoying the camaraderie. She asked what I had been up to, and I noted that in addition to quilting, I was busy with revisions, hoping to publish a third novel later in the year. Both she and her husband wer...

  Bright but...a mess. Tilda and Anna Maria fabrics feature prominently. My husband was away for a few days, visiting our son. I took the opportunity to do a fair amount of reading on The Hawk Book 1, going to two sessions of PT for my right hip and knee, raking leaves, designing a quilt, then redesigning a quilt. Because sometimes fast isn't best. Fast is what I wanted this quilt to be; eight-inch squares would sew up VERY SPEEDILY, yet they looked a mess, but this is for me, for winter, and for much of that season it wouldn't even be wholly visible on the bed, covered by a slender but necessary blanket I crocheted eons ago. So basically this quilt doesn't need to be spectacular, merely WARM. I'll double the batting, back it with flannel, and be super happy on cold nights, lol. Yet.... When I went to bed after the initial design, I wasn't happy. I wasn't mad either, not at myself for the haphazard manner of putting together a new quilt top, but I sighed as I g...

  The Hunter's Moon, October 2024. Bright moonlight proffers alternative glimpse of the world. Also how catastrophes make one feel like there is no day, only the suffocating darkness. Well, that's a mouthful, notes I made over an hour ago while sitting in the not quite dark living room feasting upon the moonlit landscape. The Hunter's Moon is indeed bright and beautiful in our clear Humboldt sky, and despite being awake since, oh my goodness, three a.m., I was cognizant enough to note a title for today's entry and scribble a couple of sentences for later perusal. So now it's later, which can be qualified because while it's also five thirty (at the time of writing) in the morning, when one is up at three, five thirty seems like mid-day, kind of how the night appeared, not really like night at all. It's currently this twilight-night, that marvelous moon illuminating far beyond what spotlights could achieve. I was up early yesterday (although not so stupid earl...

Last night I worked on a Red Sky at Night block. Small pieces are a little futzy, as well as making sure the perimeter shapes are correctly basted so I don't find myself removing stitches when pressing it flat. One of the differences with this kind of EPP, that will be incorporated into a machine-pieced quilt, is seam allowances can't remain tucked around papers, or shapes once papers are removed. Plenty to consider as many minutes turn into accumulated hand-sewing. I was pondering other things last night, amid the Golden State Warriors/LA Lakers game that caught my husband's attention. We're grateful for the near-return of basketball, as another lengthy season winds down; the election will have occurred in three weeks, and I am SO READY for that, although I don't anticipate a winner announced immediately. I miss the British manner of elections, where the Prime Minister simply calls for one, and within weeks it's DONE. This summer kind of felt that way when Kam...

  Loads of Art Gallery fabrics, some linens, a few French fabrics, and one Ruby Star Society print make for a new quilt. Oh wow. This quilt, for my husband, has been completed today. It began.... Ages ago, May 2023. I had to scroll through my pictures folder to find exactly when I began laying 4.5" wide strips on the design wall. Never has one of my machine-pieced quilts languished SO LONG, sigh. And that it's for my hubby adds more guilt to my heart, but now it's done, la la la la la la! A little bit of a close-up. Quilted at the top and bottom of every row, then each strip was hand-quilted, which I enjoyed, but wow, that's a lot of hand-sewing. Ahem. I'm rolling my eyes at myself, but yeah, it's done. Once washed it's not quite as wide (or long) as I had hoped. But it's pretty (and it's FINISHED) and he's happy and no longer does it take up space on the sofa making me cringe for how much time it has taken to complete it. Another kinda close-up...

  Jawbreaker candy that illustrates my current state of body and mind. Physically, emotionally, mentally.... Are there any other ways to be roughed up? Not spiritually, because only in that sense am I feeling like my feet are on the ground. It's a weird Sunday, but hey, sometimes they happen. Occasionally it's a bad Monday. Or a wild Tuesday, or discombobulated Wednesday or.... You get the drift, in that at times life feels HARD. Unpleasant. Frustrating. Wearying, etc, etc, etc. I need some ice cream, or a strong drink. Ice cream is better, lol, and now that the sun is shining, perhaps it's time to scoop up some Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. No gluten in that, just small chocolate fish amid delicious chocolate ice cream and plenteous marshmallow filling. Yeah, I'm going to retrieve that, then return here. Okay, that was delicious, maybe not nutritionally satisfying.... But I'm in a mood today, feeling overwhelmed and grateful, lonely and uplifted, mildly disgust...

I didn't mean to cut back a dahlia, but sometimes it happens. We might get some rain tonight, so today was spent prepping for it. Leaves were raked, the wood area cleaned, and boy my back is feeling all that exercise! I've lamented not doing more in the garden, but have earned my outdoor stripes over the last few days. Amaryllis have been cut down, blackberry vines among them whacked back. My better half dumped several bins of refuse, bless him! I swept the back patio and am looking forward to how much leftover dust is washed away by the precipitation, perhaps a quarter-inch worth. I can't complain about the impending wet weather, because it's nearly the middle of October and we haven't had much in the way of damp days. In fact, we've enjoyed loads of warm temps for our neck of the North Coast. Yet it's time for a change. Huh, not much about retirement, semi or otherwise, so far in this post. I did feel quite relaxed while raking this morning, the sun shinin...

All photos taken at The Hook in Capitola, California by yours truly. Not that I need another hobby but.... Yesterday I made cards to share with family and friends. The blanks were initially purchased to use with grandkids, making fabric scrap art, which my granddaughters recently thought was The Bomb! That was very pleasing, so I bought more cards, then recalled prints made LONG AGO when we lived in Silicon Valley and every few months I drove over Highway 17 to visit The Hook, in Capitola. Part of the process; I used a rotary cutter specifically for paper when trimming the photos. Boy that feels like Someone Else's Life! Yet over a dozen years ago, every time I completed a new draft, I treated myself with a trip to the Pacific. Usually I brought with me a pretty good camera for the time, a Nikon Coolpix 8700, and took shot after shot after shot of the ocean. September 2010 When I say shot after shot after shot , what I mean is HUNDREDS of photographs of one section of the Californi...

Where did last week go? Family left yesterday, and only now am I sitting at my computer, mulling over what to say, as the right side of my middle back recovers from a recent wrenching that I can't explain other than to say I moved wrong. Aging sometimes sucks, but it beats dying prematurely. Well, that's a mouthful. I enjoyed a relatively pain-free, marvelous week with family. The weather was FABULOUS, and remains so, a multitude of bright, cloud-free days that were warm in sun and not bad in the shade. So much occurred that I simply had no time to sneak in an entry, but I considered writing here, and managed a wee bit of editing on The Hawk that reminded me exactly what is at stake in next month's election. More than economic policies or immigration outlines, but true liberty for every single American. More about that soon enough. The center square is a scrap from an old fave. Love this design! Currently on my mind is the possibility of busting out a quilt in the next six...