Something from Nothing

I spent a quick 24 hours in Maine...it had been a couple of weeks since I'd been there and I just wanted to check on things.  Spring is just beginning there....several weeks behind Lexington.  But it was nice to finally see more green than brown and even some splashes of color.

And...speaking of anticipation (from yesterday's post)....it was time to pull the rain lilies out of the closet and start watering them.  I won't be able to leave them outside until the nights are warmer...but I'm hoping for a head start.  It's hard to believe something so beautiful will come from what seems to be nothing.



I was pretty excited to see the ferns from Lexington I planted in the woods are thriving. They're much further along than anything else in the woods....I guess they are on the Lexington timetable. 

Anticipation

I love flower buds...sometimes even more than the flower itself. 

These tightly wrapped little bundles just amaze me....the petals folded perfectly into a ball...then bursting open when the time is just right.  It's like getting ready for a trip or big party....the anticipation is often just as fun as the event itself.

My neighbor's crabapple tree is at that perfect stage. Oh how I love the beauty of anticipation.

These sweet little pink vibernum buds open to white.

 

Sunshine Hands

Mother's Day lasts a whole week...right? I'm still celebrating.

My son Sam made this mug for me way back and one of my favorite thing about it is that we both have sunshine hands.

Sam is a ray of sunshine in my life and has turned into a remarkable young man. We're heading into Boston on Friday for his Doctoral Hooding Ceremony at Boston University.  Could I be a more proud?  I think not.

Mystery Solved

I love wood piles....always have. The shapes, the colors, the textures...I love it all. 

I've seen these blue and white strips of paper (or so I thought) in a few nests and inside a birdhouse I wrote about here. I've always wondered where they came from....maybe packaging materials....I was never sure. But...while photographing Angie's woodpile I solved the mystery. 

There were a couple of blue tarps on Angie's pile to keep the wood dry...one of them quite old.  Mystery solved.  Thanks Angie!

Cleaning Meets Joy

I helped Angie with all kinds of projects and chores inside and out and one of my tasks was to dust a display of vintage bottles in her bedroom.  I piled them in a box and sat out on her front porch with glass cleaner and a rag and got to work.

I had such a good time handling this precious collection and reading all the labels....I found the exact spot where cleaning meets joy....it wasn't work at all.

 

 

This "Rid-Smell" bottle made me chuckle....and this tiny Vicks bottle made me melt. The smell of Vicks Vapor Rub reminds me of my mom and being comforted as a child.

Much to my surprise...Angie tucked some of these precious treasures into my bag including the priceless little Vicks bottle, the Rid-Smell, and a delightful collection of tiny perfume bottles. JOY!  Thanks Angie!

Heading Home

I'm sitting at the airport in Kansas City ready to head home.  It's been a great week with my sister Angie...we accomplished a lot and had a wonderful visit.  For now I'll share a few of my favorite photos and let them speak for themselves. There are stories to tell...but that's for another time. 

It's time to go home.

Heading to the Midwest

I'm heading to Midwest today for a week to visit my sister Angie in Sibley, Missouri.  The last time I was there was October of 2017 when the days were getting shorter and the corn was being picked. This time the days will be getting longer and the fields will be waiting for seed. 

I still have a sunrise from a morning walk on Angie's country road as the home screen on my phone.

The trip will be a nice mix of house and yard projects, visiting, and a day trip to see our dear aunt Beverly in southern Iowa....all good.

Angie doesn't have internet access so I'll be taking a break from the blog for a full week....and I'll admit that always feels a little weird...it's such a regular part of my day.  But I'll embrace being unplugged from this...and plugged into country living and family...and I'll be collecting all the little everyday joys that will most certainly present themselves.  I'll be back in a week.

Evolution of An Idea

This is an example of..."it was better in my head"...I'm officially calling it the "evolution of an idea!"  I'm not there yet and I see all kinds of ways I can improve on it...but I turned this quick experiment into something useful and sent it out into the world yesterday.

I've been thinking about ways to add pine trees into my stained glass fabric pieces.  The sketches looked OK....so before I left for my trip I played around with it.  Clearly a lot more thought and planning needs to go into this...but I thought I'd share my little experiment with you.

I wanted to try using a dark blue in stead of black hand dyed fabric for the tree branches and trunks....and I liked it. But I didn't like the dark blue around the pine...so I tried a contrasting green and really didn't like the way it looked.  

  

So I ripped it off....which was tough because it was REALLY fused on. But it was either try...or throw it away.  So I had to try.

Next I tried a new strategy for the pines. Using a long solid background I fused the wonky triangles on top then top-stitched around them in dark blue thread.  Hmmmm....maybe this could work.  I wished at this point I had stuck with the blues and greens...but I wasn't going to rip the purple off again.  It sat this way for a day or two while I packed and did chores and I contemplated just abandoning it and pretending that it never happened.  But....in honor of my decision to  put my experiments out there in the world....

....I added another tree to complete a rainbow scheme (maybe a little to loud) and...

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...turned it into a colorful Mother's Day mug rug/coaster for Margie.  The pines are intentionally wonky but maybe not wonky enough...they just look "off."  I could go on and on about the problems....but I bet no one else is going to get a Mother's Day card that can also be used as a coaster!  It's the thought that counts....right?  I AM going to let this idea evolve a bit more....I can do better.  

The Other Half

I've had a cathedral window quilt going for 12 years....and I'm using the word "going" very loosely.  It has spent a lot of time just sitting.

And for more than a year I've had half of it hanging in my studio. I took the other half with me when I was away with my buddies a few weeks ago and I realized I was closer than I thought to finishing it.

The last row on the wall has 31 white squares and the last row on the other half  has 23.  It decreases by 2 every time so I have rows 25, 27 and 29 to go....then I can connect the two halves.  Got that? I know what I'm doing and I'm not sure I have it right.

I have 25 white squares made....so I have 56 more to go and I'm taking them on the road!                                                                                 

I'm heading out of town for a week (more about that in the next post) and I've got my bag of squares ready to go. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to have to work on it but maybe I'll make a little dent.

This is row 23 on the other half....I'm almost done inserting the colors.  For every row of white squares there are 2 rows of colors.

I've written a lot of posts about cathedral window quilts....but here is the post with the step by step of making the white squares when I took it on the road with me to Colorado when I was visiting Margie in 2015.

This is what is looked like when I started 12 years ago!!!  I have to chuckle because at the time I thought I would make it queen size...and I became worried I wouldn't live long enough to see it through.  But when I realized it would make the perfect focal point wall hanging for the studio I knew I could do it.  

Boston Lights Gala

Engagement Education Empowerment

Paul and I had the privilege of attending the 2019 "Boston Lights Gala" fundraiser for City Mission at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston.  Hancock Church has a long standing relationship with City Mission helping the poor and powerless in greater Boston. Tonight our church received an award for a 150 year long partnership helping  them with their mission to "engage, educate, and empower" those who need it most.  It was a lovely evening.