A Contemplative Life

New fabrics are on the right, and they back all the coasters. Those on the left were made a year or two ago, waiting for this exact moment to be pulled from the tote and turned into something wonderful. Thanks Past Me! Kawandi-style stitching doesn't aggravate my shoulder. Good thing too, because I really wanted to sew some mug rugs and not deal with bindings. Bindings might be the biggest reason I now avoid making things with my machine. Or finishing things with a machine. I don't want the noise of a walking foot or the hassle of negotiating even a small coaster under a presser foot. Instead I'd rather hand-sew whenever possible, and once I get the perimeter of the coaster done (the only part that makes my shoulder shout), the rest is easy-peasy. I haven't done any serious evening sewing for maybe a month? Maybe. It was so lovely to sit the last few nights and stitch; how funny when something is removed from one's routine, then reinserted, as if the missing moments...

I'm sewing together the autumn quilt for one of my sisters. This sister ADORES Halloween, and I think she'll like the quilt, once the temperatures drop in her area, lol. It's warm here today, a sultry kind of heat, and smoky too. The AQI keeps jumping, then slipping, then spiking again. Fortunately I have plenty of indoor fun to keep me busy and if the air clears considerably, I'll spend an hour outside picking blackberries. I don't mean to rush summer off prematurely, what with fall-like quilts, but summer seems faraway, probably exacerbated by murky skies. We enjoyed a marine layer-free morning, but seeing how far the sun has moved south was another sign than autumn is approaching. Maybe writing also prods my feelings; I became a writer due to National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November, so the sense of butt in chair truly blossoms as August winds to a close. So, that novel.... I'm not quite halfway done, but edging toward that marker, and I like ho...

  I have five chapters left of my next book to read through, then I'll make sure there are no extra spaces at the end of paragraphs. Then I will upload the final version of Gracious Mysteries , which is available as a pre-order from various online retailers. It will be released on the tenth of October, the second novel in my current series That Which Can Be Remembered . I just spent several minutes gathering notes that I cleared off my desk in yesterday's computer swap. Arranging some decorative rocks near my monitor, I wanted to put away scraps related to this collection of stories. If I really wanted to get some cleaning done, I could try to do the same on my sewing table, ahem. But pieces of paper with ideas scribbled in longhand were much easier to sort, stuffing them in a folder, then putting that in a desk drawer. Fabric scraps require more attention; depending on their size and weight on my heart, they would go here or there or way over there. Much simpler to place plot ...

Thanks to my husband for help with this photo. Someone dear to me has been especially patient; for the past few years she's asked for a Halloween quilt and every time other projects get in the way. This year I'm going to surprise her with this beauty, making a few other shinies in the process. I'm not one for holiday comforters per se; I've made a few Christmas quilts and MANY Christmas placemats and coasters, but otherwise I steer clear of most themes. Not that I don't like bringing out special decorative items, I suppose I prefer quilts with everlasting meanings. I curated these prints a little haphazardly, it's definitely more busy than I meant for it to be. Yet it's a happy quilt, lots of smiles, dancing skeletons, and flashy bats. Spider webs aplenty and some pumpkins that look very much like nice fabric squash; I'm hoping to get some mug rugs from the scraps, as well as another quilt if time allows. I have revisions to sort, but right now I'm i...