Bystander, Bifurcated: Home Again

April 10, 2022April 8, 2022 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

Like my life recently, this is a bifurcated post. It has forked, diverged, split, branched, split, zig-zagged and divaricated. First a visual reminder:

Notice anything on this Index in the Year 2022? Nope, me neither.

I went back through my blog, which is a record of sorts, seeing what the heck I’ve been doing. Or not doing.

I have been doing pillow covers, which in a way, are small quilts, so I guess I could add them to the list, but if feels like cheating although January’s (the blue/white one) was more fidgety than some quilts I’ve made.

I chose this remedy: a list. Long ago in a lifetime far away I used to hang with the Finish-A-Long crowd, writing up quarterly lists, etc. Once I got into the habit of finishing, I bowed out. But since the pandemic seems to have scrambled our brains, I thought it was a method of organization worth dredging up again. One of my rules is to hand-draw the chart. At first I could only come up with one, but no worries, everything soon piled on.

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I’m more of a bystander, sometimes torn between two good things, or tasks, or the energy just gave out, or I just want to doom scroll on the phone. We’ve all done a lot of that, but with this break in the pandemic, I was hoping to feel a bit free, hoping to feel like my old self again — with enthusiasm in working my craft.

So I made the list.

Yet, I have been busy.

Started here. 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 29. Saw the sunrise after climbing through the Cajon Pass.

We stopped in Arizona, picked up Barbara, stopping for lunch at Viva Chicken in St. George, UT. We arrive in Salt Lake City near 8 p.m. after stopping at Shake Shack for a burger (worth it). My sister Cynthia greeted us and helped us into the place where we were staying. So glad to see her!

Wednesday, March 30. Pre-Op 7:30 a.m. and first time to meet the surgeon. Definitely a Very Nice Surgeon. Then up to JeniBee craft market, where I could have purchased too many things, but so fun to be doing “normal” craft market shopping. With people. I did buy some Ukranian wooden eggs, which took up residence beside Elenor Easterly:

And this little sign, plus a few other treats. Yes, indeed: Live Simply & Bloom Wildly.

Lunch with my sisters, first time we’ve been together in over three years, and our shoes always define us, to some extent.

Dinner that night with my sisters and more family.

Barbara and Barbara. My beautiful daughter is named for my beautiful soon-to-be-94 mother.

Thursday. Report for surgery at 6:15 a.m. My husband remarked that this was not a trip of restful mornings. Barbara (daughter) had been having pain in her hip for some time, and the surgery was to take care of it, but she was to be on crutches for a good 2-3 weeks. We were home by 10:30 a.m. and afternoon was a blur of bad pain meds, runs to pharmacy, finding food that will stay down, ice packs and then, “Can we go home tomorrow?” An okay from her doctor and we changed plans yet again.

Originally we were to be up there one week. No, two weeks. Really maybe only 4 or 5 days. I packed enough craft projects for two weeks, but in the end, they never left the car.

Friday, April 1. Up too early, but we were out the door fairly efficiently, having done most of the packing up the night before. We had to stop every two hours to give her a chance to crutch around a bit, and just as we rounded the corner to her home in Arizona, I feel something like a sigh come from Barbara. Then my husband said something like “We’ll be heading off here pretty quickly.” I thought we were staying for a couple of days, but as I said to him earlier in the week, I’ve figured out to make plans that can be changed. We did.

Friday, dusk. We and billions of trucks head to the Cajon Pass, driving through the Mojave Desert. Last time we drove through here we saw Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites, a subway train of lights in the sky. Not tonight.

We slept for the next three days. Sort of kidding. Barbara is making her way through post-op. She will recover.

This photo of Barbara & Barbara was taken five years ago, before my mother lost her eyesight. Glad to have a new one.

And next Sunday — Easter Sunday — Part Four of Heart’s Garden will drop, and we’ll plant our garden.

And then there’s this.

Since we were taking Barbara to Utah for surgery, and we were supposed to stay at my sister Susan’s home for several days afterwards, I looked at her change of address card, and decided to make her a little housewarming gift using those motifs.

I drew up the basic idea in my Affinity Designer software, using brushes from Artifex Forge to make the trees. I copied, mirrored them on either side of the house, changing the colors slightly.

I backed a homespun-looking piece of cloth with freezer paper, and ran it through the printer. (I use EPSON printers because I like their inks.) I use the same technique in making quilt labels.

I fused on the house (she has grey rock in the front of hers), the roof, chimney and front door.

Susan mentioned that her landscaper was going to put in a perennial garden out front. She has a sliver of a front planting bed, but I wanted to add that, too.

I sketched in the dimension with pencil, then marked evenly around the outer upper edges. Using masking tape as a guide, I hand quilted rays of sunshine emanating from her new house, hopefully wishing her happiness.

I trimmed it, bound it in some of my current favorite fabric, and sewed on a hand-written label.

Happy New House, Susan.

While the original plan was to stay with Susan, our daughter Barbara took one look at the stairs up to the guest bedroom and worried about getting up all those stairs on her crutches. So that’s why we headed home early.

We’ve seen many pictures of refugees lately, people leaving their homes to escape conflict, destruction, fleeing for safety, for their future. I feel incredibly sad for these people. Our church congregation works with some of the Afghan refugees here; this past week my husband drove them to a dentist’s appointment, and helped assemble bunkbeds for children (he’s a saint). There is so much to do when they come to a new home: find a place to live, find furniture, household goods, acquaint them with our community, help them. I have forgotten what it’s like to start again, in a new place. But my hope is that one day, when all the displaced walk through their new front doors, they too will say: Home Again.

A Quiet Week

November 23, 2013November 23, 2013 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

After the big TaDa! moment of getting Santa and his blocks and his neighborhood all done, it was a quiet week. No bee blocks. No quilting. No sewing, unless you count the samples that I put together to teach my Pleated Tote Bag class on Tuesday night. Tonight, I finished the bag that I’d used as a teaching sample (above), putting the pieces together, arriving at completion.

And because I have a quiet week, and I’ve had a chance to reflect on recent events, and because we are approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s time to count my blessings, quilt-wise. In the photo above, Cindy, of Live A Colorful Life is seated at my dining room table, sewing on my little featherweight. This was the second year she has come down for our Good Heart Quilters Potluck Event, and I’m so glad she did. One of the blessing of modern quilting is the internet, the connections we make through Instagram, through blogs and their comments, through emails, and through bees (Cindy organized the Mid-Century Modern Bee, of which I’m a part).

When she arrived, on Halloween Night, we turned out the lights on the porch and went out for Pho and flatbread from a new restaurant in town. She was pretty adventurous, even so far as to have the Korean-style flatbread, with kimchi on top. Later, we came back home and talked and sewed (my husband was out of town, so we had the run of the place). Cindy’s gift of collecting people and connecting people has greatly blessed my life.

After sewing all day Friday, we set up the tables in my dining room, and hosted the Good Heart Quilters, or about half of them. It seems it was a very busy weekend, and we were missing a good number of these fine quilters.

This was what I made for my contribution to dinner: stuffed pumpkin (recipe found *here*).

from l: Carol, Laurel, Janette, Leisa and Tracy

from l: Simone, Caitlin, Cindy and Lisa

We always start (and usually finish) with Show and Tell. This is Laurel’s finish–a quilt for her sister. It’s very tall, so the angle isn’t the best, but as always, Laurel combines piecing with appliqué to create something we all want to sneak off with, into our cars.

Lisa got her borders sewn on tonight–a Hallelujah! moment because she’s been busy getting ready for her daughter’s wedding in about three weeks, and she has sewn her own dress and most of Bridget’s trousseau, amidst working all day. We were thrilled for her.

Simone started coming this spring for the first time, and has her first finish: an apple core quilt done in modern fabrics. It’s fabulous.

But she didn’t stop there–she used the scraps to create a table runner. A clever quilter, wouldn’t you say? Last year, we ate and then just chatted, but this year we ate and then got to work and everyone made progress on their projects. Next quilt night is at Simone’s, on Saturday, December 7th, a shift from our usual Fridays (the church Christmas supper snagged that Friday!). In counting my blessings, this quilt group is one of my big quilty blessings. Sometimes we’ve been only a few ladies gathered at a house for munchies and sewing, sometimes there’s been a lot of us, but after meeting for sixteen years, roughly 8-10 times a year, we’ve all become close friends, and are always ready to welcome in a new quilter (like Simone and Caitlin).

I don’t know if you can see this, but when I went to Arizona to spend time with my daughter and her family while her husband was in Tonga doing free dental work, I got to sleep in her daughter Keagan’s room. I turned out the light, pulled up the covers and was greeted by a giant pink Hello Kitty and the time, all broadcast to the ceiling. It made me smile, and count my blessings of having grandchildren who like to know what time it is. Even if it is in the middle of the night.

While I was there, Barbara took me to a giant fabric/quilt shop store where they had tons and tons of great quilt fabrics: 35th Avenue Sew and Vac, in Phoenix Arizona, where I found a piece of Ann Kelle’s Christmas trees for no good reason. Ah, but the very good reason became apparent to me after I finished off the Santa top. This will be the perfect backing (and I got it on sale!).

And lastly, about fifteen years ago I started this Friendship Quilt. At that time I wanted to remember lots of women in my life who had been my mentors, my friends, my sisters and sisters-in-law, my daughter and daughters-in-law. Some of these women: two of my aunts, and my mother-in-law have passed away already. It’s time to get it done. I have put it on my Finish-A-Long list nearly every month, but hadn’t done much about it. Recently I laid out the squares in what I thought I remembered as my original design. Holes in the pattern were apparent. I realized that I had just enough missing blocks that I could gather my granddaughters’ signatures, as well as the my most recent daughter-in-law. It’s tempting to keep it going, to add those friends who are close to me now, but I decided some time ago that with the exception of adding those related to me, I would leave it as it was: a snapshot in time. But because I am counting my quilty blessing on this post, from new friends and far-flung internet friends and old friends both near and far, and all those related to me, I must end by counting these sweet blessings in my life:

These were the signatures I collected last week, from the three-year-old Dani to the eldest granddaughter Keagan, and all the others in between.

I am beyond blessed to know these little women. They make my heart sing.

Happy Thanksgiving week, every one. Don’t let the cooking interfere too much with the sewing (although, judging from what I see on Instagram (photo above), things are proceeding apace! (Nice quilt block, Leanne!)

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As a reminder, if you see an ad on this blog, it is because my blogging software puts it there.
I make no money from their ads, but since I blog for free, I figure it’s a fair trade-off.

200 Quilts · FAL · Finish-A-Long · Quilts · Schnibbles

Pacific Grove Blues

October 25, 2013 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

Oh, yes, you’ve seen this before, but only (as the Australians say) as a flimsy, a quilt top. So I needed to get a few projects done and finished and this was next on the list. I was originally going to name it Sand and Sea, but changed my mind to keep it fresh.

This is the block, made in fours and arranged into the quilt. The original post has more information about the pattern, if you’re interested.

I call it Pacific Grove Blues, because of the time we spent in Northern California last month walking along the coastal path in that very interesting town. I don’t have the label for this quilt finished yet, but will, soon. Of course, I visited the fabric store that was there, Back Porch Fabrics; look for the review of that in an upcoming post.

It also hearkens back to an earlier quilt, titled The Blues of Carmel, made from a fat quarter purchased there, and homage to my mother’s blue blue eyes.

We watched these waves every morning, trying to get to the walking just before sunrise. A peak experience, as my Dad would say.

It can now join my growing stack of Schnibbles on top of the guest room armoire. My husband keeps asking me what I’m going to do with all of these little quilts. I really have no idea. Table toppers for holidays (especially the last one, that’s all patriotic)? Doll quilts for the granddaughters? (But I’ve already made them all doll quilts.)

What would you do with a bunch of little quilts? Any ideas, besides stack them up and enjoy them? We’ve all heard quoted a million times that factoid from the book by Malcolm Gladwell about how it takes 10,000 hours of practice to get really good at anything. I figure by cranking these out, I’m keeping those 10,000 hours of practice alive and going. I don’t really know how much longer I will continue to do these Schnibbles, but I have to say that Carrie Nielson of Miss Rosie’s pattern company always has solid designs and colorations, and I can always keep learning something new about how to piece something, or put a combo together, or be exposed to a new block and its possibilities. I like keeping my options open.

∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

This is one completed project from Finish-A-Long, hosted by Leanne of She Can Quilt, Quarter 4 of 2014’s goals.

This is quilt number 123, on my 200 quilts list.

100 Quilts · Finish-A-Long · Quilts

At the Bandstand, Under a Starry Night

September 22, 2013October 3, 2013 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

At the Bandstand, Under a Starry Night, front

I’ve written about this quilt on this blog before, where I referred to it as Hunter’s Star, a description of the block. But now it is finished, binding and all, and has a new name: At the Bandstand, Under a Starry Night.

I’ve done a couple of “under the starry night” experiences this past week, and there’s also been some bandstanding, or music. The photo above is of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, where they have an LED art installation, The Bay Lights, which makes patterns with fish swimming across the bridge, clouds, waves, shooting lines, sparkly doodads and all sorts of patterns. We drove up to San Francisco to see this, as it’s only here for two years.

And here’s The City’s lights, with the Ferry Building in the foreground. I had first made this quilt for my youngest son’s college quilt. He was enamored of music of all kinds, acquiring the nickname of Audioman, so I incorporated music-themed fabric into the Hunter’s Star design, a personal favorite.

At the Bandstand, Under a Starry Night, back

However, he took one look at it and kind of squinched up his eyes, subtly shook his head and didn’t say much. I figured it out, and made him a different one (#43 on the 100 Quilts List), which he liked much better. This one sat around.

I pulled it out because I’d put it on my Finish-A-Long list, rummaged through my fabric stash, finding the borders already cut out. I slipped in the yellow inner border for some variety (funny how your quilting tastes change), found a large piece of IKEA fabric and put a back on it so my quilter could get it quilted for me.

Back detail

As you all know, it had been a beyond-stressful week for me not only for my own puny reasons, but troubles within my larger circle of people I love. And then the landline phone on the house telephone went out. That’s it, I said. So I sat down and put on the binding, and Friday morning found me traveling north with my husband to a scientific conference. I happily stitched as he drove.

quilt on a large cypress tree, outside our hotel room

So we found ourselves here in Monterey and it’s the jazz festival — a Big Deal, with Big Names — jazz in the lounge, on the stereo, musical instruments being seen everywhere. And I thought of the best kind of music, being played with great affection and intensity under a starry night, perhaps even by a band on a bandstand on a summery night, and so the quilt found its name, and its finish.

This is one of my project on the Finish-A-Long list, and quilt #47 on my 100 Quilts List. Yes, I went backwards. (Although now I only list them when they are completed, earlier I slipped in a couple of tops only.)

FAL · Finish-A-Long

Finsh-A-Long–Second Quarter Report

July 2, 2013July 2, 2013 Elizabeth E.5 Comments

First, on July 3rd, I’m guest hosting today over at Leanne’s, of She Can Quilt, where I have written a tutorial for making a faced binding on a quilt (used on Kaleidoscope). This tutorial is in conjunction with the end of the second quarter of the Finish-A-Long, which she is hosting this year.

Now that you’re back, every quarter we monitor our progress and check in with Leanne, who is hosting this year’s Finish-A-Long program. So now it’s time for the second quarterly report of how many of our goals we finished. For a reminder, here’s my original mosaic, showing the quilts I was thinking about finishing:

And now the wrap-up:

Hunter’s Star–still in the closet (not finished)

Four-in-Art: Fire–Doloket, finished

Italy Quilt–Take Me Back to Italy, finished

Lollypop Class Sample I–(top is finished, but the whole project is not finished, because it’s at the shop for a sample)

Lollypop Tree Quilt–(not finished, still hanging in the closet)

Lollypop Class Sample II–Christmas Treat, finished

Friendship Quilt, still in the closet (not finished)

EPP Quilt–Kaleidoscope, finished (amazingly)

So that’s four finishes. Not bad. I also snuck in a few more that weren’t listed:

Spooling Around

A quilt for my sister Christine: Christine’s Philadelphia
(We’re in a pastry shop)

One really nice thing is the way that participating in the Finish-A-Long (FAL) keeps me focused on what to do next. So often I can be swayed by what I see on Instagram, or from blog reading, or the latest internet craze, ignoring my own goals and projects. I still have way more ideas and fabrics and projects that I will ever finish in my lifetime, but I like participating in FAL, where I least have a fighting chance of pointing to something at the end of the quarter that I did, that I finished, and that I’m proud of.

Now I need to think of things I want to try and finish for next quarter’s FAL. Hope you’ll join us.

FAL · Finish-A-Long · Quilts

FAL Progress: not much

May 30, 2013May 24, 2013 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

This is one of those I-think-I’ll-beat-myself-up posts.

I’m participating in the Finish-A-Long this quarter, after having such a gang-busting last quarter. Really, I was hot hot hot.

These were my goals.

1. I glimpsed the Hunter’s Star quilt top when I was finishing up the vacuuming after my sister and her husband left (they stayed with us for a few days and we had great talks). It’s still hanging there, waiting for a border or two and then a trip to the quilter.

2. Hey! I finished something–the Four-in-Art * Fire quilt, titled Doloket.

3. Hey! Something else was completed. Guess I might not have to hate myself so much. Yes, I did finish the Italy quilt — a Schnibbles quilt — part of Another Year of Schnibbles on Sheri and Sinta’s blogs. Title: Take Me Back to Italy.

4. I can’t finish this one, as the sample is hanging in the shop — the shop owner likes it unfinished so she can show people what machine appliqué looks like from the back.

5. Oh, right. Next.

6. Finished this one, woohoo! Title: Lollypop Treat.

7. What was I thinking even listing this? Next.

8. Sigh.

So, I guess it’s not total loathing here in Riverside, just partial. But the one good thing about this FAL is that keeps me honest, and usually focused. But I had to add in another Schnibbles (above, as I know no post is good without photos), and I slipped in Christine’s Philadelphia because the idea was burning in my brain. Okay, confessional over. I guess I should get to work.