Getting Down to the Wire

We have been experiencing an incredibly mild fall. As a result, it came as a shock to me last week to realize how little time is left before the holidays. Since it has also been a very busy year, I have had to revise my plans for making things as gifts. There are two that I still hope to make before our larger family celebration, but I will have to buy most gifts this year.

We did manage to get out to my quilt guild's show. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. This is by no means a significant sample, but should give you an idea of what we enjoyed there.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Seems Like Constant Motion

The grandchildren have now flown back home to be with their parents. They return to school in a couple of weeks. During the last few weeks they were here, we made the trip to the zoo. We also had another chance for a fishing trip, where each of the kids caught fish, which we then had for a late afternoon snack.

I have made a little more progress in organizing the studio, going through two sets of magazine subscriptions, and working on finding places for the things I need to keep. Additionally, I am working on an autograph quilt from the wedding. An example of the basic blocks, which my son's MIL, Jan, made from fabrics in both of our stashes, is shown above. (The example is not one of hers. I found it at Strawberry Patch Quiltworks.) I am making a center piece with embroidery that will also contain a picture of the bride and groom. Once I have that done, I'll piece the top and hand it back to Jan for backing, quilting, and binding. (She has a long arm machine.)

Seems like it never slows down around here.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Celebrations, Visits & Living Life

It has been quite a year, so far. The wedding was beautiful. Everything fell into place, and the weather cooperated. The wedding party was composed of all the attendants the bride and groom had hoped for, including the grandchildren as flower girl and ring bearer.

Since then, we have had a few visits with the grandchildren, including a few days while their parents were in town when they stayed with us. Grandpa got to have them help him feed the birds and there was the obligatory fishing trip. We are looking forward to another couple of visits before they return home with their other grandmother.

The garden has been going through its paces. We have milkweed growing and hope to entice some monarchs to our yard. The lilies, both day and tiger, have been blooming profusely. In addition, we have a volunteer trumpet creeper that is blooming and will, we hope, attract the hummingbirds. (We do have feeders, but the volunteer is a nice addition.) The gooseberry bush produced an enormous amount of berries. The cherry tree was also prolific. Now the raspberry bush is beginning to set fruit.

I have slowly been putting my studio to rights. I've made some progress since the picture above, but not enough to call it done. One thing I am trying to organize is specific projects with the hope that it will help me to tackle them sooner. In addition, I have been thinking more lately about mending, both to take care of items and get more use out of them.

I've been reading a lot about the latter at pages instituted by Jen Gale. She has a blog at My Make Do and Mend Life. She had a Facebook page associated with a decision she had made to blog about mending for an entire month. While I was unable to fully participate in mending during that time -- it was right in the middle of the preparations for the wedding -- I did follow it and was able to contribute some, I hope, helpful tips. Now, I am thinking more about the issue, especially in light of my continued interest in downsizing and not having more than I need. I expect I will talk more about the subject in future posts. For now, it seems enough that I have finally gotten back to the blog.

I hope you are having a wonderful season. Until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Sprung into an Empty Nest

The last month and a half have been surprisingly busy. Our youngest decided he was ready to move out. The move was accomplished by the middle of this month, though he still has a few things here that he needs to clear out. Once that is finished, we will be remaking his room into my new studio, and my current studio will become a dedicated guest room. It means I will, hopefully, finally be able to have all of my studio tools in one place, though some materials will need to be stored elsewhere.

In addition, he and his fiance have finally set the date for their wedding - in June of this year. That brings another set of challenges. Obviously, there is the scramble to get all of the details taken care of, but I have not had to be involved in most of that beyond giving advice, especially on where to find information. However, I do need to find an outfit, and prepare our home for guests! Our older son and his family will be traveling back to town for the wedding and a short vacation. They will be staying here part of that time. As mother of the groom, of course, my outfit is supposed to complement that of the mother of the bride.

In addition, the grandchildren will be staying for the summer with their other grandparents. That means we will be able to spend more time with them over the couple of months following the wedding. So, I have been trying to plan things we can do with them that they will enjoy.

In the meantime, spring has been starting to make an appearance here. Our forsythias have begun to bloom, as have the hyacinths and daffodils. The lilacs are budding, and the grackles have arrived en masse. We have been talking about what to plant in the garden and are adjusting to being empty-nesters.

All told, it hasn't left much time for working in the studio, though I have done some organizing in preparation for the move to the other room, and while I have been working on my book, I haven't taken time out to blog. It may be hit and miss here for a while, for which I apologize in advance. I hope you will continue to check in, and I will try to get back to a normal schedule as soon as possible.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Goal Setting and Other Thoughts

These lovely quilts were in the space where our family celebration was held.

While I am still getting ready for my nuclear family gathering at Christmas, the larger family party is over and my thoughts are turning to doing my year-end inventory and goal setting exercises. To help myself do that this year, I have been working with Gail McMeekin's book The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor. She presents a series of "challenges" to get you to think about your creative process and work towards making a list of goals.

In addition, I have been trying to be more aware of the things that capture my attention. I was reminded of Ragfinery by this video VTV at WWU's video. It, in turn, has reminded me to add recycling/upcycling to the list of items I want to be sure to include in my goals.

On another note, we are still dealing with above normal temperatures, and with a minor blip toward normal ones over next weekend, are supposed to continue to have them for the next couple of weeks. I find it truly disturbing. At the same time, I am happy that an accord has been reached in Paris on climate change. You can read more about that here: Nations Approve Landmark Climate Accord in Paris.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

(Note: I provide links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply affiliation by me with any site.)

Creating & Questioning

Making progress on Christmas gifts. Can't show much, but here are a few hints on some of them. Our large family get together is the second Saturday of December, so I have lots to do.

As a result of a class offering at the local community college, I have also been thinking about business niches. I know that I said that I was going to simply create for myself and for gifts, but the idea still stirs questions. Primarily, I find myself asking what I love most to create.

Since my next post will likely be after Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful holiday, if you celebrate it, and offer my thanks for your interest in my blog.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Autumn Activities

It has been a busy couple of months, with the birth of a new great-nephew, for whom I had to make a quilt, a niece's wedding, a quilt retreat, and completion of a quilt top my daughter and I have been working on for years.

We also experienced some "interesting" fall weather, as the tornadoes that hit Illinois and Indiana just missed our area. We did have extremely high winds. I am grateful that friends and family members in the affected areas were not hurt, and hopeful that things will return to normal for those who experienced property damage as soon as possible.

 

This baby quilt is based on a pattern in an old "Quiltmaker's" magazine. I made some changes, and resized it. The quilting pattern is my own free threadplay.

Here is a closer look at some of it.

This quilt top is the Ozark Maple Leaf quilt pattern from Nickel Quilts. We began it with the intention of hand-piecing a queen-size quilt, but after many years, I requested my daughter bring me the blocks she had finished. Between us, we had enough blocks ready to make a lap-size quilt. We were able to find materials in my stash for the first and third borders. The other fabrics used in the quilt run the gamut from leftover fabrics from my daughter's childhood through fabrics we purchased at a quilt shop in the town in which her grandmother lived. The placement of blocks and choices of colors are my daughter's. She now has possession of the top and is planning to dye the fabric for the backing. Once that is done, she will return it to me for sandwiching and quilting.

I have another couple of projects that I am currently finishing, but can't show since they are intended for Christmas gifts. I really appreciated the opportunity to go on the quilt retreat, since I was able to get a lot of work done in that time. One thing that it demonstrated for me is the value of working around other artists. This is also highlighted in this interview on Makers-In-Business-with-Liz-Smith. It gives me a greater appreciation for the idea of a studio space in a community of artists.

I hope that you have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving this year. I feel I have a great deal to be grateful for and hope you can also find things that make you happy in your life.

As always, until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Christmas 2012

Now that Christmas is over and the gifts have been delivered, I can share what I was working on this last month. (There would have been more, but a nasty cold visited our household after Thanksgiving.)

There was the playmat for my grandson, who is very much "into" cars and trucks. His twin sister also enjoys playing with them, and they share amazingly well for their age. It is backed with a bright number fabric, since he also enjoys counting and can recognize some numbers. Additionally, it has a tie, so the playmat can be rolled up for storage or to carry along on adventures!

Then, there were the table runner and hot pads for my DIL, who is a marvelous cook. I made them with Insul~Bright batting (which you can find out about here: http://www.warmcompany.com/ibpage.html), so they should stand up to the heat. I also tried some new free motion quilting techniques on them, and was pleased with how the quilting turned out.

In each case, I used preprinted panels, which I knew as soon as I saw them were meant for the recipients.

I hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year) and that 2013 proves to be an awesome year! May you be blessed with peace and all good.

Holiday Preparations

It hit me Saturday morning that I have only four weeks until my larger family Christmas party. Now, ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem, but I am woefully behind on my preparations. For several reasons, my normal engagement in the process did not kick in at its usual time. Since I still give gifts to many of the family members who will be there, I will have to do some quick work to get ready.

We are quite fortunate in our ability to get together for this holiday celebration each year. The family has been doing this since my grandmother was alive and all my uncles and their families living close enough would come to celebrate. Now it is my generation that is continuing the tradition. Our children, grandchildren, and even some great-grandchildren join us as they can. It makes for one very large party, even though some of the children are not able to attend, since they live too far away.

As a result of the time constraints, I may not be blogging for a while. I will return as soon as possible, however. In the meantime, I wish you a happy holiday season, however (and whatever) you celebrate.

Direction

I receive an e-newsletter from SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) on a regular basis. (I think it may be weekly.) It always has a calendar of events involving SAQA members. The latest one includes information about an exhibit of illustrations from Salley Mavor's Pocketful of Posies. Her work is so unusual and lovely that I had to check out her website: Wee Folk Studio.

In going through some of the entries, I realized I had seen information on her "Rabbitat" before, but watched the documentary, again. It was the right time for me to do so. I was inspired to think about the artistic work that I have done over my lifetime and question what I did that made me feel good while I was working on it. It also helped me to isolate the more general types of artwork I can use in future work. While I still have not determined a specific direction for my work, I do feel it is becoming more clear.

On another note, though I, like many I imagine, have been hiding from the heat this last week, we are supposed to have a break from it starting tonight. We also received good news about one of the family members who was diagnosed with a tumor. The tumor was noncancerous. This person is still fighting a form of leukemia, but at least, will not have to have chemotherapy. I was also glad to see that, not only has progress been made against the fires in Colorado, they had some rain. (No news yet on just how much.)

Finally, my husband and I celebrated 36 years of marriage this week, still feeding each other (though these days not so much cake) and trying to make one another laugh.

Until next time, I wish you laughter, peace and all good.

Changes, Changes, Changes

Sorry I've been quiet for so long, but things have been a bit harried around here. Since I last posted, my older son and his family moved into their new digs, he started that new job, and we have only had phone connections with them. It means I have spent a number of evenings on the phone either talking with my son or on speaker-phone talking with all of them. Even though we can't see the babies, hearing them clapping at the sound of our voices is priceless!

Last Saturday, my younger son/youngest child graduated from college. The day was raw, more like being at a football tailgate party than a college commencement in May, but well worth the effort in sheer joy of the experience. Our kids have all made us extremely proud by their tenacious efforts to acquire their degrees and do what they are called to do with their lives.

In addition, I realized this last week that I am down to about five weeks before I retire from the day job. Finishing projects and cleaning out my office have become the constant in my life. Unfortunately, it leaves me extremely tired at the end of the day, and since weekends have not been free to create, I have not been getting into the studio much.

I have, however, been doing a little editing of some stories, planning for an open mic with a writers group I belong to, beginning to think about the garden, and brainstorming the designs to finish a quilt for a Friends of the Library group.

We did have another unusual visitor to our neighbor's yard recently. Very often, in the summer, we have had a pair of ducks come to our yard. This time it was one duck of a different breed, who allowed me to get fairly close - as if she wanted to make sure I got her picture.

Until next time, I wish you peace . . . .

Holiday Prep

I am always amazed at the swift passage of time during Fall. My plans always include a number of gifts for family and friends. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a large family.) Sadly, it also seems I never have enough time to do as much as I would like to do.

This year, I am busy making quilts for the latest editions to our family - our twin grandchildren. Since I want to be sure they get them before they outgrow them, just about all other creative items have been put on the side. I am making progress, however, and will show them to you after I have given them to the babies. (I want to make sure their Mommy and Daddy are a little surprised. I'm sure the babies won't be checking my blog this year.)

Also high on my list of preparations is our Thanksgiving celebration. This year, we will also be celebrating three birthdays on that day. It makes for a very happy time and a lot to be grateful about, as well as careful consideration of each person's favorite things. At the same time, we will be missing some people around our table because of losses over the last year. I hope that you are looking forward to the holidays with happy anticipation. If you are not, however, I want to extend my promise that I will be thinking of you and wishing you well as you work through whatever is keeping you from doing so.

I want to leave you with one of my favorite photos, taken while we were visiting family in Arkansas. I hope you enjoy!

Until next time, may you experience peace and all good.