A Contemplative Life

Ah, another Mandolin quilt is completed. The EPP portion that is, lol. Not that the rest of it is going to be complicated, other than adding to the fleece backing so it's large enough. No batting, as an English paper pieced quilt top is heavier than a machine pieced top, or mine are because I use wide seam allowances, adding to the heft. I'll stitch the top's perimeter onto the fleece, then do some hand-quilting, and BOOM, there's a completed cozy. However... I want to make some notes, just on the very obscure chance I ever start another EPP project. Seven await my attention, ahem, so even pondering another is ridiculous. But I learned A LOT in making this quilt, much of it upon studying the photo above. How chaotic it appears to me, sigh, because I used two different fabrics in constructing the joining blocks, not including the center hexagons. Yet the last Mandolin quilt I made looked, well, dull, what with white joining blocks edging hexagons from a sunflower print. ...

From a few days ago before I did too much hand-sewing and angered my right shoulder. Our granddaugthers are here for the week, and we've already enjoyed some marvelous summer weather. This morning is a June Gloom extravaganza, lol, but in a few hours that marine layer will lift, the sun heading high into the near-solstice sky. Currently it's myself and chirping birds, fog beginning to rise upward, a few cups of black half-caff tea ingested. I've not written much about giving up almond/oat milk in tea, but after the last week to ten days, I've managed what I never thought possible. And maybe that sums up our lives, going about this and that, wishing for a dream to become reality or to shed that which hinders, then a week to ten days pass, a few months perhaps, and there we are in that long-considered yet didn't think we could achieve life. Huh. Pretty weird. But good! Why did I give up a milk-substitute in my tea (but not my coffee, lol)? Because when I visited my da...

All I need to do is baste the above quilt. How I deal with the edges will appear another day. Isn't that often the way we work? Stressing out about this or that when truthfully all we need to focus on is one small detail. I realized that this morning, as in truly grasping it with all gears. LOL. And of course, as these things go, my laptop just notified me the battery is SUPER LOW. So I've plugged it in, and will continue this as soon as possible.... Okay, I've eaten breakfast and am ensconced at my office machine. Probably the laptop is fully charged by now, hah, but as I was saying, we freak out or worry or over-analyze this, that, or some other and if all we'd done in the first place is to deal with the initial step, voila! All our anxieties would be gone. That sounds SO SIMPLE. So EASY. So, so, so.... So something, ahem. What in our human natures seems to crave drama, fretting, over-analyzing. Why can we live and let live? Why, why, why.... Why's as deep a subje...

And LOADS of other musings like aging and chickens and writing, lol.  On Wednesday, although it feels like AGES ago, I snapped pics of the latest round on the medallion quilt. Later that day I chose the border fabric, then many other items landed on my proverbial plate, a chapter of my new novel completed being one of them, WOO HOO. I left the clouds at the top of this shot because they are quite indicative of the colouring of the quilt, winterish and such. Maybe tomorrow I'll cut the border fabric and truly get this top or back DONE. But there's been no time until now to write about that pretty quilt, or the broody chicken Gigi, who as of this writing has yet to lay an egg today, although she did lay late yesterday afternoon. She's definitely broody, spent some time in the broody hen condo until my husband felt sorry for her and took her into the garden. He let Camilla in too, then other hens, then everyone was shooed out, and Gigi found her way back to the coop. Tomorrow ...

  Strange to complete a quilt, yet not share a single photo of it. Yet, as safety pins gathered in their container, I knew the end was near. All those pins pictured above were used in basting this quilt. A few nights ago I took a good look at how full the container was becoming. Yet, it seemed like a finish was days away. Isn't that how life works sometimes? We anticipate or expect this or that to happen far off in the future, like chickens laying eggs, lol. But occasionally we are caught off guard by immediate responses or occurrences, which throw our worlds into realms odd and surprising. That's what this quilt finish is, quite a surprise. Eggs from earlier today. Again we are gobsmacked at how prolific are our hens! A few of my novels have ended that way, in the crafting of a draft. I'm aware The End is nigh, then a chapter emerges and so does a story's All's Well That Ends Well, assuming the tale has a happily ever after. Most of my books do, I like happy ending...

Crystal Manning fabrics (with a Speckled center) from a few years (or more) ago. This will be appliqued onto a light pink t-shirt, once of these days. Gotta fix a cup of Metamucil, then I'll be back to expound upon this ominous title. Okay, so getting used to life without gluten, dairy products, and red meat and NO CHEATING on those edicts has been...fine. Kinda like using Draft2Digital is FINE . It is what it is, and you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit. My eldest granddaughter used to say that when she was little, but now at ten years old, I don't hear it from her much anymore, LOL. I don't mind the Metamucil, although it will be a cold day in hell before my husband drinks it, as it figured heavily in the lives of his elderly parents. It wasn't anything my parents used, and it still tastes like watered down Tang, no big deal. I feel good, have lost six pounds, and my knees don't hurt, so if dairy was aggravating those joints, it's a trade-off wor...

Camilla Chicken from a couple days ago. Photo courtesy of my daughter. It's lovely to have family present; my eldest and the grandgirls are here for the week. My oldest granddaughter likes checking on the chickens, while youngest grandgirl treks about with Grandpa on trails. Meanwhile I've learned about KPOP Demon Hunters , how AI can produce gluten-free, dairy-free, iron-fortified, red-meat free meal plans in the blink of an eye, not batting an eye in also excising seafood, tofu, and coconut milk from said menus. Definitely twenty-first century living even tucked away on the North Coast. Rain has fallen, then was immediately sucked into the parched ground, more rain arriving today. Temperatures have been pleasant, sun shining even. The chickens weren't sure what to make of all the precipitation, and by last night my husband was wondering if Camilla, our largest and usually most confident pullet/nearly hen was experiencing a bit of an identity crisis. When he went to check ...

Little Camilla in the run from a couple days ago. We went away for a brief sojourn, returning home on what's turned into a warm summer's day. Is it late summer already? It's the twentieth of August, and it feels like summer only began. The chickens are eight weeks old yesterday. They seemed happy to see me this morning, also thrilled to be let into their run, lol. After a day spent shopping for groceries and getting resettled at home, I'm sitting down this evening with the usual thrills; handsewing, baseball, then a visit to the coop to collect the feeder and see if the chickens feel like leaping onto my right forearm. Sometimes life is that simple, sometimes. Sometimes driving to the San Francisco Bay Area so my husband can have successful skin cancer treatment intrudes. That's what happened yesterday. But twenty-some hours later we're home and he's feeling okay, and the chickens have little or no memory of being in their coop for a day. A neighbor checked ...

My patches amid what's left of an EPP masterpiece. All that dwells under the re-quilting.... Now back in my stitchy-novelistic realm, I spent late yesterday afternoon and early evening adding another round to the Kawandi-style lap quilt. It's hard, in one way, re-covering this particular cozy because its original design is a gorgeous EPP diamond star pattern. However it's been in disrepair for a long time, sporting patches adding by yours truly, and in desperate need of an overhaul. Kawandi is the perfect vehicle to upcycle it; even if the beautiful English paper piecing is obscured, the quilt itself remains a viable (if not weighty) blanket for many years to come. Decisions about what patches to save, as well as if I choose to salvage any of the EPP, make for slow work in adding new inner rounds. I did half of the current round, then required a break to gather the mental acuity to move forward. Sounds like an apt metaphor for life in general, lol, which is why this post ex...

Not the heart quilt but what I worked on last night for my medallion quilt also known as Alexandria. Pics of heart quilt coming soon! Kind of like life without grandkids around, or being on the other side of the solstice. It's an emptiness or loss that you knew couldn't be avoided. Eventually one quilt top is completed, and even if you make the pattern again, different fabrics proffer an altered vibe. And IF the same fabrics in exactly the same placement were used, the manner of application cannot be duplicated. Life isn't static. Everything changes. Yesterday after lunch our daughter and her crew departed for their home. Items were left behind, nothing essential, merely a way to remind us that a return trip is desired, or how I interpret it, lol. I threw some things in the wash, collected scattered toys and scraps of paper from art projects off the floor. I still need to toss their milk, as we drink lactose free and have no use for regular two percent. Last night as I sat ...

Youngest grandson's hexie shirt; more about that at the end of the post. This morning as I watched the moon rise and Venus emerge, I was grateful for clear skies and warm tea and the quiet moments in which to appreciate these blessings. A few hours later I learned one my beloveds is in hospital with a serious ailment. The trajectory of how I wanted to present the above treasures now takes a sharp twist, as sweet meets bitter, yet I am undaunted to recount the good while praying for the lesser element. Because this is often how life goes, joys hand in hand with sorrows. How we balance that is another issue altogether. I'm nearing the end of Letters & Papers From Prison , Dietrich Bonhoeffer's last two years of life documented in correspondence between him and those he loved. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, the letters dwindle, and I'm reaching that point in the book, but the truths exchanged between Bonhoeffer and his best friend Eberhard Bethge det...

We squeezed in a trip to the beach, low tide and calm waves a pleasure. Close friends visited over the weekend, and while this morning is a cloudy mess, we enjoyed bright blue skies, warm temps, and marvelous camaraderie. Chatting with those of a similar age and interests is always pleasant, for while we are on different paths, the journeys coalesce in manners that remind we're not alone in 1) Getting older, 2) Navigating our purposes and 3) Maintaining sanity. Definitely important elements in this thing called Life. Then Life returns to its usually scheduled programming, which of course is wonderful too, mostly. My wonky knee remains tricksy, but is improving. Shingles have cleared up and left no visible reminders other than I'll probably need another vaccine in the next few months. I'm SERIOUSLY contemplating what I'd LIKE to next write, whoa! I'm making good strides with the Mandolin quilt, but A Quilt of Grace was moved off the sofa so others could sit on the so...

My latest release, Brave the Skies: The Hawk Book Two certainly falls under that heading, as do some errant but fun EPP blocks that might or might not turn into more than shinies. Time will tell. When starting a novel, I allow the characters free rein. We plan to let our chickens free range, but that's months away, lol, yet a similar notion, although if not all the hens survive into winter, that is out of our hands. Birds of prey, as well as foxes and possums, roam our neck of Humboldt County, and while we'll do all we can to keep the flock safe, nature always triumphs. As an author, I have more control, at least of nature. What my cast muscles their ways into is another story. The Hawk began with humble aspirations; I had been writing short stories back in 2013, my goodness, that's a dozen years ago now! Anyway, I'd been penning, or typing, brief tales and wholeheartedly assumed Eric, Lynne, Sam, Renee, Stanford, Laurie and the rest would neatly tie up loose ends in a...

Appliqued block 1/30, hah! The Quilt of Grace has traveled from my office/sewing room to the living room sofa. That's a BIG MOVE. That means it is ready for all the hand-quilting, as well as applique, I can proffer for its completion. That means it's Kawandi-time! I SO LOVE not needing a binding strip. I SO ADORE how crinkly is Kawandi stitching. I SO LOVE knowing that once I finish securing the last stitch I am truly DONE. No binding, um, I've already said that. Anyway.... Although, let me mention that I never detested making or hand-sewing bindings. What troubled me was wrestling a large or lap quilt under the presser foot to first secure that binding onto the quilt. I am SO OVER using my sewing machine, LOLOL! I'm so over a lot of things, but as my dad used to say, cry in one hand and want in the other and see which is filled the fastest. (Took me AGES to understand that, which I never admonished to my own kids....) Anyway again.... Sorting the top of this quilt wasn...