A Contemplative Life

Warm Hearted quilt in its full glory. Tomorrow I'm heading out for a few days with family in the SF Bay Area. My suitcase is mostly packed, a few things with those chickens to accomplish, like cleaning out the coop today, lol. From my bedroom I could hear one of them making a racket, so I trekked outside to find Ruthie in a grumpy mood, probably because Owl was in Box #6. Ruthie, at times a broody hen, croaks the loudest, not a cluck exactly, more like the caw of an angry crow. I hope she behaves while I'm away and doesn't cause my husband too much fuss. I'm SO GLAD I denoted what I planned at the top of the quilt. An upside-down view of it. Two days ago I had big ambitions for my Warm Hearted quilt, since the back was finished. Big because on Thursday I'm leaving; what did I think I was going to accomplish in three days amid preparing for a trip, chickens to look after, etc, etc, etc. This morning I put the EPP part of this project on my work table while the back w...

The hens from days ago, before Gigi became super broody. Photo courtesy of my husband. The latest from here.... The sun is shining as though all those days of cloud never existed. Gigi is VERY BROODY, having picked her chest feathers down to her skin.  Our world is in turmoil. But the sun is still shining! I had a very apt entry going through my head first thing this morning of how to tie these things together in a very meaningful way. Now it's murky, though the sun is still blazing. The sun was blazing during all those gray days, I merely couldn't see the brightness, though the days were lengthy. The cloud was pervasive, but couldn't derail the trek toward the summer solstice. And now it's like those days in late April and early May never happened. Those fires in the fireplace? Nah! It's so bright out, blue sky and no clouds. NO CLOUDS. Seriously? Yup. The last few days in Humboldt County have been CLOUDLESS. Now I remember where I was going with that thread. Our w...

Yours truly from a few days ago with my Peace Around the World EPP WIP. It's not done, lol, but my novel sure is! In a most unexpected fashion, churning out THREE chapters yesterday to complete The Deadfern Miracles . (Heads up - this is long, but not as lengthy as the book, lol.) So, I guess I still can pull words outta my backside, hehehe. 8954 words thereabouts, as I just checked the document. The first chapter was only twenty-five hundred words, which I completed at nine thirty Friday morning, having gotten an early start. Yet I wasn't plotting more than dealing with laundry and attending last night's May Day protest at the Humboldt County Courthouse. In fact, I ate a quick lunch before beginning the next chapter, which I knew would either be the last or penultimate. By one thirty p.m., that chapter was done, but The End had yet to be found. One thirty, hmmmm. One thirty seemed early enough that if I sat at my computer and let God do his thing, The End would e...

I was fooling myself last week, assuming I could have the rainbow quilt on the living room sofa, all ready for me to hand-quilt. Conveniently I forgot about securing the perimeter, that I prefer to do in our guest room, with said quilt spread out on the bed. That imperative fact somehow slipped my mind, or I blocked it. Either way, for the next few days that precious quilt will loiter in its own space, and eventually it will meander to where I am currently seated, typing this post. One reason I didn't make the quilt sandwich until today was that yesterday I attended a protest/rally to denounce the murders taking place in Minneapolis, as well to honor Keith Porter, killed by ICE in Northridge on New Year's Eve, 2025, and others harmed and slain by ICE in the last year. This protest was announced in our local news and on Reddit late on Saturday afternoon. Less than eighteen hours later over one thousand people stood in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse seeking justice, peac...

  I did try to hang the quilt outside to photograph it, but it was too heavy and fell to the ground. Today my husband held it aloft, and while not the perfect photo, it's good enough. This quilt seems to have had two lives; the English paper piecing blocks have been around a LONG time. Many were done, the fabrics not my faves, then I fully finished them earlier this year or late last year after a big PUSH when I had Covid last summer. While quarantining in my bedroom so said husband wouldn't get sick (not that it worked, but....), I sewed Lucy Boston (LB) blocks because I didn't want to touch/contaminate anything I truly adored, haha! Come to find out, these at times obnoxious, at other times sweet blocks from my early EPP days have wormed their ways into my Kawandi heart. And what's especially precious (not in a sickly sweet manner) is that this quilt is WHOLLY HAND SEWN. No machine was employed in its creation. The back is a flannel twin-size sheet, the front i...

The short row of stitches directly under the lower safety pin are those done SLOWLY with my left hand. In sewing, book publishing, and everyday life.... I considered this post a few days ago when I was happily appliqueing by hand Lucy Boston (LB) blocks. Since then my right shoulder has asserted its right to be cranky, and I don't know for how long this will be the case. Hence, perseverance now applies to waiting out troublesome joints, being fully aware that what will be most certainly will be. Ahem. Anyways.... I pondered this post while hand-stitching a project I truly had no idea would come to fruition. Perhaps this entry is also about being faithful to one's inner spirit, or Spirit, depending on your beliefs. Either way, being faithful, obedient even (now there's an idea to spark blog post musings....) to what calls upon your heart is EXTREMELY VITAL. It's why I have books available for readers, why a Lucy Boston quilt in an altered form continues to evolve (as ear...

A heart quilt. Just finished Part One of On Being Brave. And other incidents of bravery, lol. Welp, as my eldest daughter sometimes exclaims, I finished the first part of my current noveling WIP. Should probably update my WIP page, I do believe. But first I wanted to write this entry, posting pics of the beautiful Mr. Carter hearts English paper piecing quilt. This pattern , from Tales of Cloth , was an easy and uplifting project I began late last year after my nation elected a president I do not find at all appealing. Cutting, basting, then stitching heart blocks was SO NECESSARY. There aren't enough exclamation points in existence to exemplify how imperative it was to construct those blocks, then begin to place them accordingly. So many gorgeous prints in heaps of beautiful colours! So, scattered within this post more to do with writing are shots of a quilt I am still missing in my evening repertoire. Not sure when I'll make another, but dang, one day I hope to! Yet, as today...

Home again and happy to be here! The roses above greeted us on the front porch; clouds were thick and we even received some drizzle last night, although night now depends on your mood. It was still light at well past half eight (8.30), the heavy mist reminding us that while we'd been in Nevada, now we were back along the North Coast. I wondered what the chickens would think of rose petals this time next year.... Lol! Chickens are still on my mind, but other items lurk in the gray matter, one of which *might* be the start of a novel. Maybe. Possibly. Really? I don't know for sure, but I am feeling like closing my eyes, allowing the muse to open the door where my writing hat lives. The muse could wander into that room, setting the cap gently atop its head, and maybe, MAYBE, I'll find myself writing another book. In the interim, there are chickens to consider, the garden in need of attention, some sewing to ponder, and bravery is necessary for it all. On Being Brave is the t...

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...

I've spent much of this day prepping my next novel for release. Brave the Skies: The Hawk Book Two has been published tonight! As it takes Smashwords/Draft2Digital several hours to get a newly published novel onto the Smashwords store, I have chosen to upload a new book in the evenings, Pacific Daylight (or Standard) Time, then happily find my story the following morning. Publishing novels isn't an earth-shattering experience, although writing a book and getting it to this stage takes much time, work, self-belief, and assistance from those who have been in my corner for the last thirteen years of indie publication, over seventeen years on my overall authorial journey. For seventeen years I have actively written/revised fiction, and despite the writing feeling a little thin recently, I have been heavy into edits both for The Hawk and The Enran Chronicles . Two series at one time is indeed a LOT of effort, taking away from time I'd love to craft a new story. After Brave the...

I attended our local April 5th Hands Off protest this afternoon, an AMAZING turnout on a beautifully sunny and warm day. My knee cooperated, especially as I kept moving, saying howdy to those I've met at previous rallies, also noting that I hoped to not run into them again. Their knowing smiles spoke the same. During this Lenten season, I've been able to maintain my PMA via prayer, reading, meditation on said texts, revising Brave the Skies for a Monday release and of course sewing. Lots of sewing on loads of projects, lol. I wonder if my copious collection of both EPP and Kawandi-style items makes up for scattered thoughts, probably. I've fashioned a few coasters with orphan English paper pieced blocks; they come together easily, actually more quickly than I thought they would. I like having timely finishes, makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. Protesting relieves my heart, but for now, not much emerges from it other than personal peace. Small and large bloc...

How can I NOT finish this quilt? Mandolin musings.... So a couple days ago, probably right after I wrote the previous entry, I considered using six-point diamond papers from my Mandolin pattern for Alexandria, which is in desperate need of diamonds. I've been pondering the Mandolin EPP quilt-in-progress, as well as the Myrtle design, Lavender, Ice Cream Soda, ummm... Lots of English paper piecing WIPs, and sometimes I rob Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, to keep them all supplied as I don't have exact kits for each. The Mandolin quilt, blocks pictured above, is my second version of this pattern, and the first one I actually use the proper kit to construct, lol. Why not steal some diamonds for Alexandria, then get to work on that, I blithely considered. Until I found I had finished eight Mandolin blocks! I thought I had maybe five, six tops. But eight, out of the dozen I had planned, wow! Slight guilt crept over me as I examined them, all made from autumnal Art Gallery fabrics, ...

The last Lucy Boston block DONE! The inner honeycombs are from the Maine fabric store, some not bad fussy cutting if I do say so myself, hehehe. Sometimes things you don't think you're going to finish get completed. Quilts, books, um.... Well, for me quilts and books are what I enjoy most as pastimes, and washing dishes and doing laundry are in a constant cycle of gathering, then getting sorted, so books and quilts it is. Okay, rainy weather too. We have had HEAPS and GOBS of rain this month, which is already on the twenty-third day, how the heck did that happen? Where has March gone, or is going, and am I actually going to put thirty Lucy Boston blocks to use and close that quilty-EPP chapter of my life? Yes, I believe I am. Dang, that's a weird, unpredicted aspect of this year! Okay, just a little bit of backstory on my Lucy Boston experience. In 2018, when I started English paper piecing, I bought 1.5" Dritz hexagons from Joann, stiff and easy to baste but a bear to...