Valerean

I'm really proud of the job I did cleaning up the sewing room. There was SO much stuff I needed to sort and put away from my spring cleaning efforts, plus just general sewing-related untidiness. Here's how it looks now: My baker's rack of cookbooks was a real mess -- lots of loose stuff that needed to be put in binders, books out of order, etc.: Got my project bins sorted out, too: I'm also going to make an effort to keep it tidier while I work, so we can use the room for family dinners and gatherings, too.

I'm not a huge Kevin Costner fan, but I have liked some of his movies enough to take a chance now and then. I also like modern-day cowboy stories -- I absolutely loved Longmire -- so when I saw that he was making a television saga about a ranching family in Montana I thought, why not? I've been trying to figure out how to describe it in one sentence. Basically it's The Sopranos on horseback. Alas, not a fan of The Sopranos. The opening scene of the first episode I can only describe as hideous; a car accident in which an injured Costner must put down a wounded horse. Definitely a trigger for anyone who cares for animals (I don't especially like horses, and it upset me a lot.) I suppose that was to shock me into becoming fascinated with the character and invested in finding out why it happened. Nada on both accounts, although I kept watching in hopes something else would. The scenery is beautiful, but that's about it. The storylines and the conflicts didn&#

Before I start a new sewing project I desperately need to tidy up my sewing room and secure or put out of reach everything that is a hazard to Oliver. This includes my shears, rotary cutters and boxes of safety pins. I also moved the shelf with my notions and sewing machine to corner spot where we can anchor it to the walls. I originally got these two bins to be projects-in-progress containers, but they're overflowing with projects I haven't even started. So I'm going to clean these out, too:

I could not resist purchasing this notebook-size crazy quilt block from the late 19th century, as it is probably the strangest piece I've ever found: The peacock is actually an intricate applique sewn onto the patchwork, which is silk, velvet and damask (with one oddball patch of blue/white gingham.) On the velvet leaf directly beneath the bird the maker added some veins in red ink: I'm entirely perplexed by the curving strip (which is beautifully embroidered) as well as the gingham patch: And then there's this creepy little clown boy trying to grab a huge fly on a richly embroidered silk patch: On the wine velvet patch is a primitive painted flower bouquet, which is the only embellishment I'd call normal: The patchwork was sewn to muslin and embroidered, and then covered with another piece of muslin, and embroidered again: Under the outer muslin layer: Some of the stitching is expert, like the different stitches decorating the yellow silk patch

I'm in the process of cleaning out four bins of old paperwork, mostly related to my rookie year in Publishing. While sorting through the manuscripts and proofs I found these in a folder: Mom gave me the magazine, and I bought the newspaper myself the day it happened. I probably kept them thinking the kids might want to read them someday (at the time my two were nine and seven respectively.) Now I'm wondering if I should just toss them out. What would you do with these unhappy relics?

I finished the patchwork tote last night while wrestling with my insomnia: For the back side I quilting some of the swirly lines: Lined the inside with plain muslin:

I worked on this piece last night after doing some exercises to loosen up my working hand. A new and unhappy development in the progression of my arthritis: I'm waking up in the morning with my fingers locked up in a curled position, like a half-fist. So far I've been able to flex them out of it after a few minutes, but now and again during the day they randomly lock up again. I'm also experiencing more pain flares during the day that I haven't felt in the past. The joints have now deteriorated to the point of gnarling, it seems. I'm not whining about it for sympathy. Long ago I accepted this would eventually be my fate. It's simply that of all the things I despise about old age, this is #1. I'll take the white hair and wrinkles and aches and pains, but losing what's left of my hand function really blows. Quilting this block with my pretty, sparkling threads last night gave me time to consider what I will do when it's no longer possible

Why I love carpet cleaning day -- before the cleaners showed up: Oliver is crawling around now so I put my foot down and said we were getting it cleaned. Here's how it looked after the cleaning: We also had them clean the carpeting upstairs so Kat's new room was super clean before she moved in: All of our carpeting is original to the house, circa 1997, so it's in very good shape for its age. I still hate it, and I'd like to tile every room. Edward mostly agrees (he still wants carpet in the bedrooms) but we've never gotten around to starting the process. Pretty soon we'll have to, as the carpet isn't going to last much longer. But in the meantime, it's clean. :)

I unearthed this patchwork block last night while looking for something to work on (small projects have more appeal for me right now). It was part of a lot I bought from KnJ Studio, who has since closed their shop on Etsy. With all the birthdays this month I'm running low on gift totes, so I think I'll make this into one. Now to hunt through the stash for complimentary fabric. I think this dragonfly print will work.

Finished the do over on the failed crazy tote : I used scraps left over from my mask-making project to frame three sides of the squares because that was part of my whole zero waste thing. Because it reminded me of a flower bouquet I thought the basket print on the bottom of the tote worked nicely: I quilted everything with gold holographic Sulky, and hand-sewed in the lining made from the scrap aqua broadcloth I found during spring cleaning: Very happy I didn't give up on this one.

You all remember the crazy tote fail from May, right? I don't like unfinished projects, so I started working on that again last night: I'm using scraps from my mask-making project to frame the squares, and a couple of strips of basket-weave print for the bottom of the bag. Stay tuned to see how attempt #2 works out. :)

Earlier today I saw a bunch of white ibises in our front neighbor's horse pasture, where they were wading in her seasonal lake (think really big rain puddle.) At the time I didn't have my camera with me, and cursed my bad luck, because they're very cool birds, and we don't see them too often. I think they're also psychic, because when I went out to walk the dogs after dinner, guess who was in my backyard? The brown/spotty ones are the juveniles. Some unhappy trivia about white ibises: they are becoming more prevalent in urban areas due to loss of habitat. Up to a third of these birds are infected with salmonella, which they pick up while foraging, and pass along to humans via their feces. Yet another reason to stop feeding wild birds and otherwise encouraging them to hang with humans. They posed long enough for me to take a few shots, and then flew off: Never a dull moment in the back yard. :)

I'm off to spend the day with this handsome dude. See you tomorrow.

My guy caught this little ring-necked snake in the garage last night (and I apologize for the blurriness of the shot; this was the best I could manage with how he was wiggling.) We actually haven't seen one of these since we left South Florida 16 years ago, and since they're nocturnal and very shy we probably won't see one again. After I snapped the pic we took him far away from the house and set him free.

I finished the third piece in my scrap play project with lavender Holographic Sulky and some crystals and pearls: I didn't want to make these pieces into anything practical, so I cobbled them together into an art panel with more feather stitching: As I arranged the pieces I saw the story in it, from left to right: feeling unhappy and isolated (panel 1) immersing in meditative art to heal (panel 2) and rediscovering what brings joy as well as healing (panel 3). I need to focus on the end of the story rather than the beginning of it. I should also say that those who made me so unhappy do not visit this blog, or (obviously) care about me. Just so none of you worry. :)

Over the last month I've been trying to work through some personal stress and unhappiness. I don't want to get into details or have a self-pity party; it's still upsetting to even think about it. It makes it harder to keep trying to reach out to friends, too, as in these times I tend to withdraw and go silent. Color always helps cheer me up, so last night I hauled out the mask-making scrap bag and started playing with pieces of fabric leftover from some that I made for myself: I love these colors together. I also have another project I want to use them in, so I needed to play a bit with the colors while I thought about it. Feather stitching is probably the most meditative stitching I do. For this block I used some ancient rayon embroidery thread that is too old to use for anything practical, and just allowed myself to mindlessly stitch for a while. Once I felt like I'd warmed up, I tried blanket stitch with french knots to make a row of flowers, which t

My adopted daughter stopped by yesterday to visit and give me a lovely present which included this mug: Yep, that's pretty much what it's like. :) On the quilting front, I took that big rectangle of recycled strips and shreds and with some scrap ribbon for the handles and scrap muslin for the lining made it into a tote: I wasn't planning to wash it, but then I thought, this would be a true test, as I used the tiniest strips and shreds for this piece. So I threw it in the washer and dryer, and here's how it came out: A bit fluffy, and it needs pressing, but I'm surprised -- it held together pretty well, with only a few popped bits I can stitch back down. Still, not a technique I'd recommend for anything you're going to wash regularly -- I think even with dense top stitching the piece will simply disintegrate over time.

Ten of My Favorite Bird Pics (All taken by yours truly)