my least favorite part of making a quilt...

BASTING

and MORE basting...

It's part of the process, and moves me closer to completion...and sometimes I can get a little bit of a Zen thing going when I baste. But it's still my least favorite part...

little, tiny things

Tiny flowers, tiny pitchers and tea cup, with an egg for scale, as a spring centerpiece on our dining table. One of my favorite children's book series was The Borrowers, the story of a tiny family living a big world.  They would scavenge things like thread spools from the big house to use as furniture. I could get lost in those stories for an afternoon...
And remember these twigs? Check out this tiny, sweet little blossom! That's never happened before. Quite amazing.

I think I just paid my last snowplow bill. Happy spring!

p.s. The movie Australia did not get rave reviews at our house...

make things

We are defrosting after watching Gretta's season opening softball game. It was windy, dark, cold and damp. The girls lost, but are lookin' good, with a new coach and the optimism of a new season.

Check out this fun.

I found this, printed it out, matted it with scrapbook paper by Susan Branch, popped it in a frame from IKEA, and presto...a fun reminder at my sink.

This slogan was inspired by the 1939 version, "Keep Calm and Carry On". An anonymous civil servant in England coined the slogan for a propaganda poster intended to comfort folks facing the threat of Nazi Germany. 

And here's another little bag, made from instructions in The Impatient Patchworker. I sent this one to my sister-in-law, Ra, for her birthday. She's an April Fool baby and one of my favorite relatives by marriage. She calls everything equine a "pony", and so I thought of her when I found this fat quarter of fabric. And the lining fabric just looked like a pony meadow to me!

 

And what's up with the bowl of selvages? I am saving them now. One more thing to hoard in my studio... And why not, when there are all sorts of fun things to do with them???? Be sure to scroll down and/or check out the archives at the selvage blog to see some unusual projects.

Have a fun weekend!  We are getting ready to watch Australia tonight.

brimming

Gratitude is heaven itself.

-William Blake

This is a picture of our three girls, probably about 3 or 4 years ago. I love this picture. It is who they really are. Still.

And this morning I found an email from Lindsey (on the right) with information about a family gmail account she had set up. To keep our far-flung family better in touch. With a family calendar and other options to share. I am so glad she and her sister Hannah got this organized. 

There is a responsive reading by Antoine de St-Exuperey in our hymnal, and one of my favorite lines (of all time) is

Love, like a carefully loaded ship,

crosses the gulf

between the generations.

(and later,)

We live, not by things,

but by the meaning of things.

It is needful to transmit the passwords

from generation to generation.

To Stewart and our daughter-in-law Dawn, Lindsey, Hannah and Gretta....I say namaste.

 

patchwork of distractions...

Turns out, this is a really good day for staying home to sew! Gretta and I could barely find our way to school this morning, it was so foggy along the way.

One of my favorite aspects of the blog world is finding cool stuff all over the place. I thought I'd share a patchwork of  interesting things with you today, some in blogland, some in the real world. 
I am trying to stay clear of magazines these days (except my subscription to Quilting Arts magazine!) But I do pick up an occasional issue of ClothPaperScissors. They put out a special issue on studios every once in a while. The spring/summer issue is an amazing feast for the eyes. It's great fun to get a peek into the studios of other artists, to see their work and read about their journeys.
Real Simple's April issue caught my eye because of the lovely cover, and its story on cleaning with inexpensive everyday items. I enjoy the magazine at our library, but did buy this issue at the grocery store.

Also, check out this lovely blog post.  Susan L, the author does a beautiful job of summing up "Natural, Simple, Eco, Healthy, Frugal..." all in one place.

My friend Jane, co-author of Art Quilt Workbook and Art Quilts at Play was recently interviewed by Annie Smith, podcast extraodinaire. There's a link on Jane's blog to hear the interview. It's a fun listen.

And if you visit my friend Elin's blog (who co-authored the two books), you can link to see a book trailer for Art Quilts at Play. You'll also see her beautiful charm bracelet and info for a charm swap, hosted by ClothPaperScissors magazine.  I'm going to try to get some charms in by the deadline of April 13th. But that means I've got to get this quilt finished up, so I'm off to my sewing machine. Bye for now!

PS Speaking of Faith with Sherwin Nuland, yesterday was full of a-ha moments. Like "Healing is not a science, but an intuitive wooing of nature." And,  from the Jewish tradition of nefesh, "The soul exists in the universe, when we are born we inhale it." And, "Science and religion-it is not a debate, it is a conversation." And, "Everyone needs to be understood, that's where all kinds of love comes from."

work in progress

I've been working on this quilt in fits and starts. Tomorrow I aim to get the quilt top finished, and onto the basting table first thing Friday morning.
These are the appliqued words that I'll work into the border. I have yet to dot the "i" in kind. I'm pretty happy with things so far, and I look forward to hunkering in tomorrow. 

I plan to machine quilt. The auction is the 18th, so I've got breathing room, with just the right amount of pressure.

I'll probably listen to VPR while I work, but may switch to music as I go...any suggestions? I need something new and different.

a late bloomer

Beauty will save the world.

-Feodor Dostoevski

For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,

hill and vale and tree and flower,

sun and moon and stars of light,

Source of all, to thee we raise this,

our hymn of grateful praise.

words:Folliott Sandford Pierpont

from Singing the Living Tradition

Beacon Press, Unitarian Universalist Association