In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

A heart quilt. Just finished Part One of On Being Brave. And other incidents of bravery, lol. Welp, as my eldest daughter sometimes exclaims, I finished the first part of my current noveling WIP. Should probably update my WIP page, I do believe. But first I wanted to write this entry, posting pics of the beautiful Mr. Carter hearts English paper piecing quilt. This pattern , from Tales of Cloth , was an easy and uplifting project I began late last year after my nation elected a president I do not find at all appealing. Cutting, basting, then stitching heart blocks was SO NECESSARY. There aren't enough exclamation points in existence to exemplify how imperative it was to construct those blocks, then begin to place them accordingly. So many gorgeous prints in heaps of beautiful colours! So, scattered within this post more to do with writing are shots of a quilt I am still missing in my evening repertoire. Not sure when I'll make another, but dang, one day I hope to! Yet, as today...

Not the heart quilt but what I worked on last night for my medallion quilt also known as Alexandria. Pics of heart quilt coming soon! Kind of like life without grandkids around, or being on the other side of the solstice. It's an emptiness or loss that you knew couldn't be avoided. Eventually one quilt top is completed, and even if you make the pattern again, different fabrics proffer an altered vibe. And IF the same fabrics in exactly the same placement were used, the manner of application cannot be duplicated. Life isn't static. Everything changes. Yesterday after lunch our daughter and her crew departed for their home. Items were left behind, nothing essential, merely a way to remind us that a return trip is desired, or how I interpret it, lol. I threw some things in the wash, collected scattered toys and scraps of paper from art projects off the floor. I still need to toss their milk, as we drink lactose free and have no use for regular two percent. Last night as I sat ...

Row B 6 upside down. The final row of this quilt! I have yet to snap a photo of the Mr. Carter Heart EPP quilt top, but I will. In a few days. After our youngest daughter and her boys have visited. They are on their way, but I have time to wax a little poetically. Or something like that. Finishing that quilt top happened last night, kind of by accident. I was tired. The San Francisco Giants were losing to the Cleveland Guardians. While sewing, I realized I was nearly done with the project, but constant yawns made me wonder if I'd have the gumption to complete it. Plus all the needles I had threaded were running out, and while it wasn't dark where I was sitting, the light was growing dim. Even so close to the solstice, eventually evening wins out. The Giants didn't win, but that was after I went to bed. After I threaded ONE MORE NEEDLE (using my reading glasses, which are stronger than my prescription lenses, ahem), I sewed the final side of a heart block, then stared at the...

Brollies in the green colourway; Kaffe Fassett designed this gorgeous fabric, which I am turning into a placemat. Mourning and rejoicing simultaneously, because what else is there to do? At the end of last week, I finally started writing. Kind of a Just Do It! sort of situation, and much to my thrilled relief, I have nearly twelve thousand words accumulated. That's pretty darn fine amid occurrences that feel pretty damn horrific. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12.15. Because truly, that's what we're called to do. In the smuggled correspondence with his best friend Eberhard Bethge, imprisoned Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that most of his fellow prisoners only knew whatever emotion was most prevalent; they were frightened if circumstances were poor, greedy when opportunities arose, despairing as though no hope existed. Bonhoeffer sounds a little judgemental here, yet his complaints are valid, in that...

I didn't learn of this until mid-afternoon. The tragic scope of unbridled hatred that stems from our current governmental administration is directly responsible for these heinous crimes. This morning I read a brief devotional that noted how conditions won't alter unless our hearts do. Until violent rhetoric and mean-spirited actions stop, tragedies like this will continue. I don't know what to do other than pray for those mourning their beloveds, those fighting for their lives and their loved ones. Stay safe everyone.  

A peek at my back steps garden; Sweet Williams flourish as do volunteer nasturtiums. In that my husband is feeling better! Not completely over his cold, but better. In that the migration of my Smashwords account to Draft2Digital is done! Not that I'm completely at home there, but it's done. In that I wrote over twenty-four hundred words today! Not that one chapter constitutes a book, but it's a start. WHEW! Those are indeed some turning points. Especially the first and last ones. The first one personally, the last one.... Kinda personal, kinda 'professional', for what my writing means as more than a pastime, lol. Mostly the last one is a RELIEF. Well, my husband's well-being is also a relief, but you know.... Anyway, I'm feeling RELIEVED on various levels. D2D is what it is; if I'd had my choice, I be happy to stay with the familiar. Been publishing with Smashwords since 2011. I'm fine with their Meatgrinder system, or I was, but now that's the ...

From 20 June, 2005; our village in England. This was snapped at 8.11 p.m! The impending summer solstice, a sick spouse, and other musings.... I love the lead up to the longest day of the year. Daylight-wise, the solstice is a magical moment that hasn't been diminished despite my mum passing on that day several years ago. Hard to believe she's been gone that long, hard to imagine what she'd make of life today. Long days are still long even if the marine layer muscles in, attempting to lessen the brightness of the rising, then risen sun. Last week when the granddaughters were here, sunshine beckoned without any clouds. For three or four days I watched the sun rise so far north on the horizon, or how it appeared. Even with the fog, the light can't be hidden. This is my favourite season of the year! (It was even more astonishing when we lived in Britain, as we were further north than I am today, but that's a memory for another post....) My husband's cold continues, ...

Why stitch a small autumnal coaster when so much else is waiting?  Maybe a better sentence is why do anything when the world seems fraught with unsolvable issues? Or maybe that's too deep to analyze. However, stuff like that has been on my mind, reading most mornings just snippets from Eberhard Bethge's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was Bethge's friend, mentor, as well as relative through marriage. I could veer off on a faith-based tangent, and perhaps one of these days I will. However right now my granddaughters are visiting, the youngest still in bed and if she wanders down imminently, breakfast will be my agenda for us both. Yet mentioning these musings matters, because they are strongly on my mind. That my faith propels me to be in this world, not out of it, a tenant I've claimed over the years. That as a believer in Christ, I am not of this world, and lately I've discovered how incorrect that is. That sewing a small autumnal coaster in early summer wit...

Venus from this morning around 5.11 a.m. Not going to ponder more than that on that subject. It's June, 'nuff said. Our granddaughers are visiting, and today Grandpa took them to Dyerville to see the giant tree that fell in 1991. I'm still fighting that dang cold, but my back is MUCH BETTER. I'm looking forward to hearing what the girls thought of such an enormous nurse tree! What else??? Doing a little hand-sewing, watching a terrific season (2014) of Great British Bake Off with the girls; it's the Nancy/Richard/Luis series, with Martha, Kate, Norman, Iain, Jordan, Diana, Chetna, Enwezor, and Claire. The girls request a series on each visit, and it's lovely reacquainting with marvelous people and their magic with food. And truly that's about all that's going on; I have loads of thoughts on various subjects, but not enough time to write about them here. Still hoping to get baby chicks soon, which will depend on how I'm feeling by week's end. Jus...