This and That

I wonder if anyone else got found objects in their stocking?  Lucky me got a little elephant and a pterodactyl. What's not to love about that!

I finished the last of my new 5ftinf puzzles on another snowy day in Maine.....a perfect way to end 2019.                                                                                                           

I was re-inspired by batiks when Anne was cutting swatches from my stash....so I spent some time pulling fabrics for a project that might be just for me.

I can see from this line-up that I want less blue and more reds and oranges....but that's an easy fix. I'm not quite sure exactly what my pattern will be but I've been browsing Pinterst for inspiration.  I want to do something a bit more interesting than just strips....but I also want to keep it simple wanting it to feel more like a painting than a quilt.

And...I'm going to use up my very favorite stripy batik fabric as an accent here and there.  I wish I had 10 yards of this....it has been so versatile and I've used it in many many quilt projects over the years. But I'm down to just a little bit and I might as well do something that might end up hanging in my home.

Happy New Year!  I'm starting 2020 with some COLOR!

Year of Colour

Instagram has a software called "year of colour" where it will scan your 2019 posts and create a blob of the dominant colors and display them in "a fun circular bubbly way." You can manipulate it a bit....ordering colors by date, hue, or size, all changing the way your blob looks.

It's kind of silly....but for someone who loves color and dots....it captured my attention.

Here is my 2019 Instagram #yearofcolour. And dare I predict 2020 will be another great year of color....just a guess.

And...just as I'd hoped....sitting at my new puzzle table this morning watching the snow falling in the backyard was just a delight. 2020 will most certainly be another year of color....but it will also be another year of puzzles.  

Problem Solved!

Paul and I found a table by the side of the road this summer and it's been sitting in the garage ever since.  I'm trying not to acquire more stuff....but tables?  I can always find a use for a table.  And....I've been wanting a puzzle table at the condo so I don't have to keep moving them off the dining room table but I wasn't sure where it could go.  Puzzles will always be a part of my life....so it was a problem that needed to be solved.

Yesterday I hauled the table in from the garage...cleaned it up a bit....and am auditioning it behind my couch.  I think I'm going to LOVE it here!  Problem solved!

I recently purchased Philippa's (5ftinf) new little puzzles to add to my collection and I'm going to send off 2019 with one a day for the next three days. You can see a bit of my new old table in this photo....I love the wooden pegs as well as the scratches and imperfections. It's not as cool as Philippa's table....but pretty good for a side of the road find!

I put together the orange one today.

I added a light so I can work in the evenings and have tomorrow's puzzle all ready to work on with my morning coffee.  All is well.....problem solved!

Fun A Day

One of my greatest joys is inspiring...and helping someone to do something creative.  My friend Anne participates in "Fun A Day" in Deer Isle Maine.  Participants work on some sort of creative project every day for the month of January and share and celebrate their work with the community at the end.  It's that "creative daily practice" thing that I'm such a fan of....and January is the perfect month to settle in and make stuff!

This year Anne was inspired to do a cathedral window quilt project making one square a day and the inserts to go with it.....and I helped her get started.


There are 31 days in January....which is an odd number to work with.  My recommendation was to make a wall hanging that was three 3 by 10 squares...with an extra at the bottom. I did this mock up to help with the planning. I used my quilt I'm working on folded so Anne could see how big it would be using 6 inch (they get folded down to a smaller size) background squares. She decided to start with 8 inch background squares making the whole piece a little bigger.

This mock up has 31 background squares giving her places for 48 inserts.  In the end she's  probably going to add a 32nd square at the top and use it as a table runner.

A couple of days ago I gave her a tutorial....and she cut a swatch from over 50 of my batiks for the insert squares. I love being not only a teacher...but a resource! 

Anne is back home in Deer Isle now and sent me this photo of all her batiks laid out, her dark green background choice, and her first square.  I had to chuckle when I zoomed in and realized she folded the green square with the seams facing out....so I quickly called her and got her back on track.  Watching out for each other is especially important about our age!  Anne is going to keep me posted on her progress....and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I had forgotten that I had made a cathedral window ornament for Margie and Dave's tree years ago. Her living room in Colorado at the time was decorated with lots of teals....hence the color choice.....but it's a nice contrast to the Christmas reds and was fun to see hanging on her little tiny tree.  All of her ornaments have a story!

The Days After

I am quite fond of these days after Christmas.  The anticipation and preparation are over....the memories are made...and there's time to pause as we slide into the new year.  Anything is possible.

I took this photo before I left Lexington.  It's a tiny little USB fiberoptic tree I got from my friend Becky years ago.  I can plug it into the wall or my computer so the after Christmas glow can follow me wherever I go.  Perfect for these days after.

This feeling felt familiar....and sure enough one year ago I wrote nearly the same post....even giving it the same name.  Some things never change.

I did want to share a couple little details from Christmas that made me smile.  Like I've mentioned...Sam is a bike messenger in Boston. Every time he enters a building he has to get a security pass and he saved some up to use as his Christmas labels.  He also gave me a stack of extras.  Pretty clever repurposing! 

Margie attends an exercise class every weekday morning at her senior living facility.  At the end of each session they float their hands like they're playing a piano and sing a song.  Margie is in charge of the song often writing her own clever lyrics to a familiar tune....and they love it!

Early this season she took her singing cardinals that she got from her grandson North several years ago.  They dance and sing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" in a flashy and annoying kind of way bringing smiles and laughter at the end of the session.

And to keep the fun flowing throughout the season we found a Santa hat on-line that sings a Christmas version of "Shout." Margie was really rocking it at exercise class!  I posted a video on youtube that can be seen with this link: https://youtu.be/qmQC7tQ9P_s

And....I put a set of finger lights in her stocking that she tried out today! Good old fashioned fun for the piano playing cool down...and perfect for keeping the Christmas glow going during these days after!  

Merry Merry!

It's been two wonderful days of almost non-stop Christmas celebrations.

We had a delightful Christmas Day  with Margie at her place and a day after celebration today at the condo. Then more celebrating this afternoon/evening with good friends Dana and Ann.

I'm exhausted...in the best possible way. Merry Merry!

All is Calm.....

....all is bright.

Quiet Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve....one of my favorite days of the year. 

Last year I wrote about my childhood memories of Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house. I can easily put myself right back there...the sights, smells, sounds and tastes.

I love Christmas Eve.

I've had a cold for the past week or so which has shifted my focus these days just before Christmas. Can a cold be a gift?  I'm much much better....but it forced me to slow down and pay more attention to the simple joys that present themselves each day....just like I talked about yesterday.  Christmas cards, texts and e-mails from family and friends have been such a delight and maybe even more so in the quiet this year.  I am grateful.

Today a box of Harry and David pears came.....a tradition started by my dear friend Connie and continues by her daughter Andi. Simple perfect joy!

Happy quiet Christmas Eve! 

Notes, Photos, and Posts

Wonderful things keep showing up at my door, on my phone, or on social media from people I love.

I got a text from my sister LaVonn with this absolutely precious note. LaVonn's daughter-in-law Megan is a 1st grade teacher, and Megan's daughter Maeson just turned one year old.

This note was from one of Megan's students and it made my heart melt right into a puddle.  I'm not sure Maeson can manage the task...but I hope my nephew Samuel can.  Every teacher deserves to have their feet rubbed!  

Paul has sent me a photo each of the past two days on his early morning walk.  

It warms my heart that he notices something beautiful and shares it with me.

And Sam put this photo and several others on Instagram.  He worked in Boston all day as a bike messenger and stopped to buy Girl Scout cookies. He also stopped to watch, listen, and take a video of a waterfall of melting snow off the roof of a building.  "I'm out in the city all day and I'm trying to pay attention to that stuff like that," he told me on the phone this afternoon.  Makes me smile.

Take time to look...and really SEE.
Stop and just listen.
Document.
Share.

Paying Joy Forward

Remember yesterday's quote? "When you choose joy you feel good & when you feel good you do good, & when you do good it reminds others of what joy feels like, & it just might inspire them to the same." 

What's best about this is "doing good" might just be doing what you love!  And by the way....this is the last Sunday in Advent...and it's all about LOVE.  Do what you love and it might inspire someone to do the same!

As I've written about before my dear friend Tracie was inspired by my 100 day project to do one of her own.  She painted a little watercolor for 100 days sharing her progress with me as she went along.  That alone tickled me down to my toes.

Just today I opened a special package from Wisconsin with this note and 8 beautiful notecards of some of her watercolors. The fact that Tracie is now sharing her 100 day project with others makes my heart overflow with JOY.

Doing things you love can inspire others....and you just never know how that joy might be paid forward.  Thank you Tracie for spreading the JOY!  Now I spread Tracie's JOY too....I've got some notes to write!

Joy

It's nice to get a little joy from friends when you're not feeing well.....perfect for the last day of Advent JOY week.

Becky sent me this good reminder....she found it here.

And a sweet JOY Christmas card from Linda.

Quiet Little Project

I've been feeling a little under the weather....but this hand stitched cathedral window pincushion was the perfect quiet little project while I was laying low.

When I first moved to Lexington almost 11 years ago the Project Group at our church was in the middle of a cathedral quilt banner for the sanctuary.  I had my own cathedral quilt going so I knew the drill and jumped right in.  You can read about that church project in this post.

Just recently I found a few of the leftover batik background squares and knew they would make a nice pincushion.  I chose one of my random batik quilt blocks and a swatch of batik fabric for the inserts and plopped myself in front of the TV and stitched.

The first step was to hand stitch the two squares together creating a new square in the middle.  I should have shared a photo of my first attempt where I had one block flipped to the wrong side and had to rip it out.  I guess my head was a little fuzzy.

Next I trimmed up my quilt square and pinned it into the middle and folded down and stitched the edges of the square creating the "window."  I also folded back the opposite edges creating that nice rounded pattern around the "window."  For interest I added some blue quilting lines on the quilt patch.

The next step was to fold it in half with the wrong sides together and hand stitch that edge making a bit of a cuff or a tube and creating another square for the batik swatch insert.

 

I repeated the process on the back inserting the batik square then stuffed and stitched the remaining openings.  Finally I added beads for a bit of interest.

There are lots of things you can do with a cathedral window pattern using different background colors and inserts. It's all handwork so that you can take it anywhere.

I have often thought it would make a beautiful long stained glass like piece with black background squares and bright batik inserts. hmmmmmm.  

I just did a quick online search and found this quilt by Jo Avery that gives me an idea of what it looks like with a black background. I'm picturing one long and skinny with rich batiks or even bright solids.  

Here are some other images I found online that I thought were interesting.  

I liked that this one had contrasting fabrics that are exposed after you fold down the edges of the window.  I actually think I made another pin cushion a while back experimenting with this....but it's in Lexington.  I'll look for it when I get home.  This quilt can be found here on Favequilts.com.

This pattern was interesting found on the Quilting Digest site.  These pillows were done by machine but could be done by hand.

And finally this one with a pin-dot background and bright colors made into a pillow.  The possibilities are endless. 

You can read all my posts about cathedral window quilts here which includes a little wall hanging I made for my friend Lynn in Madison many years ago to coordinate with a few of her watercolors in a bathroom.