A Contemplative Life

  I did try to hang the quilt outside to photograph it, but it was too heavy and fell to the ground. Today my husband held it aloft, and while not the perfect photo, it's good enough. This quilt seems to have had two lives; the English paper piecing blocks have been around a LONG time. Many were done, the fabrics not my faves, then I fully finished them earlier this year or late last year after a big PUSH when I had Covid last summer. While quarantining in my bedroom so said husband wouldn't get sick (not that it worked, but....), I sewed Lucy Boston (LB) blocks because I didn't want to touch/contaminate anything I truly adored, haha! Come to find out, these at times obnoxious, at other times sweet blocks from my early EPP days have wormed their ways into my Kawandi heart. And what's especially precious (not in a sickly sweet manner) is that this quilt is WHOLLY HAND SEWN. No machine was employed in its creation. The back is a flannel twin-size sheet, the front i...

Yes, Past Me, there were four blocks remaining. And now the Lucy Boston quilt is completed. WOO HOO! Meanwhile, another hen has joined the Layers Club; my husband found an egg when he removed their feed late this afternoon. I had done some coop cleaning mid-afternoon and had checked all the boxes, and the hubby checked my checking, LOL. It was dark when he removed the egg, but once he brought it inside, we found it was Nadia-coloured, so probably a Barnevelder. I wondered if Cami the Welsummer had laid it because on the field trip this morning, Cami submissively squatted when my husband tried to pet her and she had NEVER squatted for either of us. Cami detests being touched, maybe she'll be the fourth member of the Layers Club in the near future. From left; mystery chicken's egg, Camilla's egg, Nadia's egg. My poor Quilt of Grace, wholly usurped by CHICKENS! Or rather eggs, lol. So, back to the quilt, under which I am cozily seated at this very moment in time. I'll ...

One of the four alleged blocks left to hand-quilt. And one of the four safety pins left to remove.... Last night I did a little hand-sewing on the Quilt of Grace. I'd already made a hexie flower, it was well past my usual time to pick up a new evening project, but something within me said, "You're not that exhausted." Which was true, though I was tired, lol. I ran a lot of errands early that morning, but not before Nadia presented us with her second egg! Nadia's second egg! Which is still thrilling, let me say. And this morning, when my husband was giving them breakfast, Camilla was scoping out the nesting boxes (Update: Camilla laid egg #3 today, bless her!). I'm also pleased they are upping their laying times to a.m. and not p.m. And I'm still gobsmacked they are laying at all! But back to last night and that Lucy Boston/Kawandi mash-up: So I loaded some needles with light blue Coates and Clarks hand-quilting thread, then completed maybe three blocks? It...

The block on the right was sewn last night. Don't those safety pins look annoying? Last night I worked on the Quilt of Grace (QoG); I appliqued one Lucy Boston block (LBb) in place, then hand-quilted around it, and in a few other spots accessible as only THREE blocks remain to secure! Out of thirty, which makes me pleased to have (slowly) accomplished that much hand-stitching. Each block requires some hand-quilting within, but I'll save that until later, because, well, in appliqueing them I remove more safety pins. And right now, removing safety pins seems to be the greatest joy of all! Safety pins are much happier safely ensconced in shaped plastic. Or I'm much happier, one of the two. What a silly notion, ridiculous even, but I can't help feeling super-victorious with every pin I gently toss into the plastic container on the coffee table. That container is nearly full, and I'll need those implements for my next project, which I am hoping to start next week, heh he...

I'd forgotten I had titled this project a quilt of grace. Stitching on it doesn't bother my right shoulder, and it has been an ABSOLUTE PLEASURE to construct, especially when I remove a safety pin. Every one that goes makes me feel, 'Yup, I'm that much closer to being done.' Not that I want to hurry the process, only it's a big friggin' quilt and there's HEAPS left to stitch, and well.... I've had grace on my mind recently, and this quilt on my lap the last several evenings. The previous two I have been SUPER SNIFFLY, so today my husband moved the sofa, then I dusted the windows, then he dusted above them, then he hoovered the living room. The afternoon was sunny and pleasant, so we left open the windows, hoping to air out the space. I just closed them, and have returned to complete this post. Which was originally going to be about Nadia Chicken jumping the run door, cheeky gal! But instead I thought about this quilt, the only cloth item that lives o...