Plenty of colour

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Christmas lights offering an ethereal glow.


With it being the twelfth day of Christmas, these lights, and the placemats on the dining table, are the last vestiges of our holiday decorations. I did very little in the way of sprucing up the house last month, our beloved's fight against cancer taking some of the wind from my sails. My lengthy sojourn away from home was another part of it; by the time I returned, it felt far too late in the season to scatter mementos. I had Christmas coasters lying about, lights on the front fence, and a few cards adorning windowsills. That felt like enough holiday decorations for me.

My malaise turned out as a blessing after the earthquake hit; not only was there less to clear up, but the notion that some of my breakables could have been damaged. I try to follow the spirit in all manners of my life, and am grateful to gone with that guidance, not berating myself for being lazy or not wishing to partake of the usual festive air that December brings. And in eleven months, when again the Christmas season dawns, hopefully I'll be led to dot the house with special trinkets, aware some need to be placed safely in case another quake occurs.

Yet the lights pictured above knew no harm; they have twinkled 24/7 throughout the last four weeks, brightening our dark cloudy days, illuminating the evenings, and mornings, hehehe. I'm of two minds about when to remove them, enjoying their splash of colour but aware that exclusiveness shines even brighter when limited to an auspicious season. Not that we suddenly have loads of daylight, only that with the second week of January approaching, it's time to put away December 2022 and embrace 2023. We're slated for a break in the storms this morning, perhaps I'll remove the lights then.

Or maybe not; pops of primary colours are no longer tied to Christmas as when I was a kid. Twinkling lights are strewn for myriad celebrations in a variety of sizes. Maybe I'm drawn to them because they remind me of fabrics, haha. I spent much of yesterday afternoon cutting prints for the next round of my Alexandria quilt, both the blues and greens for 2" hexagons and the smaller 1" jewel shapes to form inner stars around which the larger hexies will rest. Those jewels are a variety of hues, each sporting a pale yellow 1" hexie center. I have two totes for this project, one for fabrics waiting to be employed, a second for those already cut and their accompanying papers. And the latter is starting to fill up, a dozen hexagon-flower blocks with most of their jewel centers waiting to be basted.

That's a LOT of colour, believe me, but currently tucked away. Maybe that's why I want to leave the lights shining, needing those beautifully bright shades during these still dark days. I also wonder if focusing so much on the Alexandria quilt is due to the rather muted colour palate I've chosen for two other projects. Well, that Alex was hogging my cutting table, ahem. Now that it's been moved, there's room for pulling out a more sedate pile of prints, not that I require more to sew, just that the Myrtle and Mandolin quilts need some blocks prepped. I've found that each of these projects possesses its own vibe, moving my year of slow stitching along just fine. And don't forget the Cornflower quilt; dude, that's a lot of paper piecing!

Perhaps instead of taking down the lights, I'll spend time at the ironing board, pressing fabrics. I have some extra totes and can store prepped prints and papers for when the mood strikes. The Christmas season might be over, yet the essence is so meaningful and necessary. Our days aren't visibly lengthening anytime soon, best to let colours twinkle while they may.

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