A Contemplative Life

I chatted with the giver of fabric today, and asked what was the idea behind those 1.5" strips? At the end of a fabric's life, if an inch and a half remained, a strip was cut, then put in the bag for a possible log cabin quilt. I simply ADORED the process! I've never made a log cabin block quilt, though I made a large log cabin top earlier this year. I still want to make a scrap strip quilt, but this afternoon I dove into the bag, retrieving lighter-hued strips, then pressed them smooth. Being only an inch and a half wide, at times when ironed, the fabric curves a bit, making for a perfectly imperfect block, especially when paired with Kaffe Fassett jelly roll cuts I've had for more than a few years. Blues and greens worked amazing well with the neutrals, as did the random black and pink batik scrap. All those were two and a half inches, but it was marvelous to cut off the pinked edges, making for relative smooth sewing, curved pieces notwithstanding. A quilt in the ma...

A quilt I made in 2015 for a beloved healing from a car accident. All those low volume prints I recently received could easily facilitate another methinks, insert smiley face here. I'm currently reading, not in order, the second section of On Being Brave that I wrote during summer. This is the first I've looked at it since and I'm pretty pleased, though I have no idea when I'll release it, two other sections still to create. At the end of Chapter 16 is a scene that relates SO MUCH about forgiveness and love that I'm putting it below, even though I've offered the entire chapter twice in previous posts , LOL! Yet some life lessons are so important, valuable, priceless, that hearing them again matters. Or that's my take on it. If you've read Home and Far Away , references to that novel are like treats. But that book isn't required, merely a manner to proffer it if this scene resonates. Have a lovely, peaceful day! Chella stood as soon as the screen ...

Recently I was blessed to receive four bags of fabric! The bags were for full-queen comforters, recycled as a quilter might dream, lol. One was all solids, two were a mix and many of the pieces were a yard or larger, SCORE! The last bag, on first glance, was of much smaller scraps, and I opened it last, finding quite the treasure; one and a half inch strips, mostly neutrals, many being Width of Fabric (WOF) in length! I divided the prints into stacks; stuff for the grandgirls, autumnal fabrics, batiks, Christmas, low volume (Most of which was one-yard cuts, sweet!), and a small pile, maybe no more than four or five pieces, for a Kawandi quilt I'd like to make. I didn't make it through all the solid hues, and those fabrics weren't run of the mill cottons; they felt like a blend of cotton and linen, what treasure! The fabrics also felt HEAVIER than what I currently sew with; the oldest piece was dated from 1997, but who knows from when these were purchased. The giver is older...

Noticing striking patterns as I hand quilt the Mandolin cozy. And how endearing these unexpected designs are to my heart! Stitching this has become a love affair like few others I've experienced while hand-quilting. This evening I realized that I wasn't sewing the center joining blocks the same way I had done them around the perimeter. Instead of ripping out stitches for a matchy-matchy, I merely sewed additional squares and triangles to correspond with those finished first, then I studied it, and was so utterly pleased it was like I'd written a book in those few minutes as well as sewing fabric. This cool pattern also caught my eye and is easier to share than what is described above, lol. It's late and I'm tired, but I wanted to record this relatively minor marvel because sometimes life is very hard and makes us ache and other times it sparkles so brightly we wonder how we are so graced as to not go blind while admiring the beauty. Another nice design. Maybe more a...

 "The sunrise is not relevant to the treeline or the marine layer." What I said to my husband at 6.57 a.m. today referring to when I was going to feed the hens this morning. I'd checked my phone for the time, announcing said time, but he thought that was when I was heading out to feed the chickens. Nope. Far too dark in our slice of the North Coast for such activities, in part due to the sun isn't rising until seven thirty and because of the treeline which obscures it as well as the marine layer that darkens the horizon. A tad grainy but true colours to what I saw this morning. Might I say that when I woke a little after five today the sky was CLEAR! Stars sparkled, Jupiter rose proudly, the Big Dipper lingering over the western edge of the landscape. Those clear skies lasted until well after six o'clock, maybe as late at six thirty. By then I was having breakfast, not gazing at the heavens. When I did glance at them, welp, the marine layer had muscled in, I could...

The North Jetty, Humboldt Bay. Snapped yesterday by my better half. My husband and his friends are off trekking about this morning, having toured Samoa Beach and the North Jetty yesterday afternoon. His friends are truly enjoying their Humboldt visit, and we're reveling in their joy, as well as appreciating new guests with whom to share our beautiful corner of California. Yesterday I read out loud three chapters of The Deadfern Miracles , and just finished another three this morning. Six remain, which I'll wrap up this coming week, then it will be time to decide what to do with it; proffer it up for agents or merely release it myself. Queries (lol) for Future Me to ponder. Present Me is thrilled at being back in my computer chair, as well as not having to do dishes, both chaps volunteering to sort that task, as well as making me a cup of tea after they returned from the ocean. My normal role as mom or BFF doesn't apply in this situation and I'm thoroughly pleased to hav...