A Contemplative Life

  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...

  Grateful and grimacing at the same time, such is life as one gets older. Last night I sewed four-inch squares onto the sixth row of my Cornflower Quilt. I lamented the five missing squares, but didn't stew obsessively, as I have another quilt requiring hand-stitching as a distraction until I am ready to deal with those absent squares. Yet, as I headed to bed, laying that sixth row under the fifth row, I sighed softly, wondering how long I could put off basting five more squares to complete that part of the quilt. Dressing for bed, I was grateful for our relatively warm winter temperatures, many Pacific storms leaving Humboldt County drenched but not chilly. I snuggled under blankets, closed my eyes, receiving a tender goodnight kiss from my hubby. He turned off the light, departed the room, leaving me with some last musings for the day. I considered how I could sew triangles to the first row, filling in gaps before conceding those five missing squares were truly beyond my possess...