A Contemplative Life

Embracing what I have and not lamenting what isn't.... Ironically I have always been a morning person, lol, yet as a kid, sunrises weren't my jam. I more appreciated sunsets, and I still adore them. However, where we live not only are sunsets hard to wrangle, what with that pesky marine layer, but the western treeline of our property obscures them. Ahem. Seedlings Quilt, February 2020. Well, o-kay.... So instead I've glammed onto, as much as I possibly can, the notion of grabbing the sunrise when it's available. Today was one such morning, as I slept poorly, finally ambling out of bed around four a.m. hoping not to disturb my husband, which I didn't which is a WIN! Reaching the kitchen, immediately I turned on the kettle, because it was going to be ONE of those kinds of CAFFEINATED mornings, lol! Yet as I stepped from the kitchen, I yawned. I was SO TIRED. I really WANTED TO FALL ONTO THE COUCH and GO BACK TO SLEEP. But (BUT!) I peered out the window to find starry ...

  Paper pieces in the box along with all the fabrics, etc. Going to be so much fun! Okay, it's not a total surprise because for the last few posts I've been going on about the Red Sky at Night sampler quilt . I've received the papers for the this project, have already started sewing an EPP block, lol! I'm super excited about making some version of Jodi's pattern; definitely a mix of machine and hand-sewn blocks, but no idea how many of each. The surprise I'm referring to is how suddenly the next few/several months will be full of traditional blocks that previously I had no desire to stitch. Not that I had some grand plan for fall in the quilt department, in fact I'm busy with another quilt that will fit itself into the schedule. But after a VERY QUIET MACHINE SEWING SUMMER, autumn is looking to be chock-full of me seated at my machine, even if I'm finding how my tinnitus isn't really keen on all that noise. (I wear earplugs and noise-cancelling head...

  Small, futzy blocks aren't usually my speed, but the units above have been rockin' my world since receiving Jodi Godfrey's pattern for Red Sky at Night . From top left going clockwise we have Square in a Square, Hourglass, House, Flying Geese, Pinwheel, and Half-Square Triangles. These are not blocks in themselves; Jodi refers to them as units. I capitalized them because, well, at three and a half inches square, with the exception of the Geese, measuring 3.5" X 2", these units have stretched my machine sewing muscles like no others. The Honeycomb Squares quilt was a lotta work, but nothing compared to what RSAN will be. Previously if I wanted complicated, English paper piecing sufficed. It still does, and certainly will with this pattern because some of the paper pieces are pretty dang little. My idea of enjoyable futziness is basting papers, then sewing them by hand; give me all the angles you want, lol! Using my machine, and loads of scant-quarter-inch seams,...

HST stands for half-square triangles, which in my decade of sewing have remain conspicuously absent from the routine. I don't like sewing triangles; I can't control them. They have their own agendas and.... Anyway, in Jodi Godfrey's latest delightful pattern , HSTs and other angular manners of machine sewing figure heavily. I was reading over the clearly written instructions yesterday, when suddenly I found myself cutting squares, drawing a line down the centers of the light fabrics, then.... Well, those pictured above are what I curated before it was time to eat dinner. I spent a good while rummaging through my stash for appropriately unbusy low volume fabrics, of which I don't have many. Then it was a matter of choosing darker prints, then chain-piecing, pressing, and finally trimming to size. The trimming was the biggest hassle, well, right after finding low volume scraps. A few times I nearly walked away, then I'd gaze at my monitor, where the pattern waited, te...

The whole enchilada!   Here's a quilt I made, love, and would enjoy sewing again if time, energy, and the right fabric collection all align. The Seedlings Sampler quilt, designed by Jodi Godfrey, my version pictured above, based upon the fabulous Literary collection by Heather Givans . Elderberry Quilt block These shots were taken last month at my eldest daughter's home. My youngest granddaughter needed a cozy, and her mum brought out this fave blanket. I snapped it while cuddling with said grandgirl, pondering many things. Yarrow Quilt block How nice it is to snuggle with a beloved. How lovely that when a quilt was required, my daughter offered this particular one. How marvelous it was to create. How blessed we were at that moment to be together. How much I wanted to write a post about this comforter, but it took me a few weeks to do so, lol. Feverfew and Cornflower blocks This quilt was planned in September 2019, and I began stitching during Jodi's sew-along the followin...