Valerean

Current disasters aside, 2022 was one of the most productive years I've had in a while. While I was writing six novels (technically, six and a half) for the day job I was also finding new ways in my spare time to sew, quilt and even make garments. My focus was using more sustainable and recycled materials, like this koi quilt I made for Katherine from remnants and bolt ends. I also tried to use up every scrap of leftover fabric, as I did with this quilt bag from the remnants of the koi quilt. My art quilting was practically non-stop, as making smaller projects was easier for my arthritic hands. I'm still dealing with the loss of my mom, and art quilting helped a lot with channeling those emotions in positive directions. Rescuing orphan patchwork via an estate sale and making those pieces into projects was fun, and gave my spirits a boost, too. I made a lot of bags. Pillows, too. Thrifting and making over three boxes from Goodwill into journa

In the middle of the night the dogs began barking, which woke me and my guy. I thought it was the sound of a neighbor's car, but my guy heard some cracking and popping. This morning we woke up to a disaster. Our floor just outside the kitchen rose about an inch along one tile seam for about a length ten feet, It happened so suddenly that one of the tiles by the wall cracked. Either a pipe burst, or the foundation shifted (we're not seeing any water, so there's that much.) Hopefully it can be repaired, and our insurance covers the damage.

The following is a letter from December 27, 2009, delivered yesterday from the past to me by FutureMe Dear Future Me, I know you're probably feeling better than I am right now, or you've at least gotten over this rotten respiratory infection we contracted over the holidays. I also know you have the same e-mail address because you haven't changed it in ten years; what's another twelve? Did you remember to finish all the UFOs in the closet under the stairwell? What about donating that crazy quilt to the folk art museum? Don't tell me you forgot it again. If you wait much longer it's going to disintegrate on you. Also, remember to call Kat today; she's turning 28. Are you happy to be retired? (this is assuming the world didn't end ten years ago in 2012.) You didn't cave in and cut your hair like all the other old ladies, I hope. Give our guy a big kiss from me and thank him again for the lovely new office chair he gave me this Christmas. Sincer

Because she won't get home for another year or two, Katherine is trying to see all of her local friends while she visits. Right now she's out hiking with one, who will come by for dinner later. At lunchtime today, however, we took her to her favorite Japanese restaurant so she could have sashimi. I was super surprised to learn that she hasn't had sashimi or sushi since she went to the islands; it's too expensive there for her budget. At our local sushi place they hang up napkin art made by the customers. It was about 50-ishF outside, and of course Katherine found a lizard stranded in a cold spot, picked it up and transported it to a sun-warmed spot. It didn't want to let go of her. I know just how it feels. :)

I hope you all are having a lovely holiday. Here it was exactly as I expected, only a little worse. I'm trying to be grateful it wasn't much worse. Thanks to the bomb cyclone Katherine got stuck in Denver for 5-1/2 hours, but late on Christmas Eve afternoon her flight finally took off. Thousands didn't, so I am very grateful she didn't have to spend Christmas Day in an airport. Meanwhile, I suggested to my guy that we leave an hour early because the airport was going to be a disaster area. He felt confident a half an hour early would be time enough (the man has no concept of time.) Turns out a disaster area would have been pleasant compared to Orlando International. We used all of our spare time stuck in traffic. They closed all levels of the parking garage because it was full of people coming and going. We went in anyway, and circled all the full lots for what seemed like forever, but couldn't find a parking spot. Getting out of the garage was th

Merry Christmas from Valerean. See you after New Years!

In the last batch of vintage brooches I bought I noticed this double dolphin pin was particularly heavy. On the back it had a faint stamp that looked like 925, which is a hallmark of silver purity (as in 92.5% solid silver.) Although I rarely clean old jewelry, as I like the patina age gives most pieces, I decided to give this one a bath in silver cleaner to see if I was right. And I was, as you can see from the results. This piece is definitely near-solid silver. Katherine will be the happy recipient. :)

Tomorrow Katherine arrives to spend the holidays with us. I haven't seen her since she left to work in Montana, almost two years ago now. She's followed in my footsteps a bit, visiting places like San Francisco and Yosemite where I used to go, but she's also found her own way in the world. I will not be posting on the blog while she's here, so I can spend as much time with her as possible. I'm so happy. Best Christmas present ever.

I've been working with Fabscrap recycled fabrics for a couple of months, and I've had a lot of fun, too. This is everything I have left over from the November challenge. As with any resource I have some opinions about how valuable it is, as well as the drawbacks. I also need to be practical about what I want to use, what I can use, and what will likely be difficult for me to use. The quality has been consistently outstanding. All of the scraps are in new or very good condition. Much of the fabric I've got in all the different scrap packs is more toward the dark end of the color spectrum, however. I didn't realize how much I've gravitated toward using lighter fabrics until I starting sorting the scraps according to what I liked most. That will guide my buying choices when I go back to shop for more (probably not for a while; I've got a lot of fabric now.) I really love the lace. The quality, the variety, the colors -- I can't say anything bad

The final Fabscrap sample garment I creatively mended was my favorite of the four, this red, white and blue flannel men's shirt. I wear these instead of jackets in the winter, and I really wanted to fix it up so I could wear it during the holidays. It's beautifully finished, but missing part of one sleeve. I was briefly tempted to use another flannel sleeve I'd gotten in a scrap pack to repair the shirt, but as you can see the colors don't match. Also, the point of mending these garments is to finish them properly. So I cut off the other sleeve to match the length of it to the shorter one. I always have to roll up the sleeves of the flannel shirts I wear, so I decided to use the cut-off sleeve portion to make new cuffs for both sleeves. I had to use almost every scrap of the trimmed fabric piece to make both cuffs, so that worked out nicely in a repurposing sense. The finished garment.

I thought creatively mending this sample pajama top, which was as long as a dress, would be a snap. It had only two holes cut out of it near the hem. I found a coordinating piece of fabric among my spandex scraps, pinned it to the inside of the garment and stitched it in place. Did I mention that the pajama top is mostly spandex, too? Two stretchy fabrics should have been easy to stitched together, but they weren't. They stretched as I worked them through the machine. The thread I was using didn't stretch. Aka puckery disaster. In hindsight I probably should have run with my other idea to applique fabric over the holes, but the damage was done. I also wasn't inclined to unpick all my stitching and start over. Thus with much regret I trimmed off the bottom of the garment along with the offending puckery mess, and hemmed it. The finished garment. It looks fine, and it taught me a lesson, so in the end I'll call this a fail and a win.

Pantone announced their color of the year for 2023, which is Viva Magenta. While I'm sure someone was paid lots of money for creating the color campaign video, I don't think I've seen anything quite so hideous in my life. In fact, the very last place I want to visit is the Magentaverse. So. Pass.