Valerean

Happy Halloween from Valerean. Image Credit: Image by HANSUAN FABREGAS from Pixabay

I got a surprise when I took this lithograph part to clean the frame and glass and remount the art. There was another lithograph under the truly icky black backing paper. This one dated back to 1977. Unfortunately it was water damaged, crumbling and filthy, and I didn't want to save it, so off it went with the nasty black paper to the recycle bin. I still need some backing paper, but here she is after I cleaned the frame, trimmed the litho (it was also water and light damaged) and remounted it. Pretty happy with how nice she looks.

While Hurricane Milton was raging I worked on this cat-themed Halloween treat bag, which I sent to my favorite Kat on the other side of the planet. The last minute addition of the vintage lizard brooch really made a cute touch. She was always picking up lizards when she was a little girl. The other side. I really like how the cat appliques turned out, too. For some reason the shot I took of the inside blurred, but you can still make out the novelty candy corn print, which was a scrap from a Halloween treat bag I made her when she was in high school. So (although I save fabric way too long) that was the perfect finishing touch.

While out wandering my guy and I often stop at junk shops to look around for treasures. My mother used to call this "junking." These aren't formal antique places, but establishments where pickers sell the pieces they find, usually for pretty cheap. That's how I happened to find this 1908 Albert Sterner lithograph for $5.00. It's worth close to ten times that . At the same junk shop I picked up a Crack Jack tin from 1994 ($4.00), a wee yarn ball holder ($3.00), and an Italian ceramic cannister ($5.00). The yarn holder is almost new and made in China; I just thought it would be handy for the smaller balls of yarn I use while crocheting my calendar project. But the tin is fairly rare and in the condition it's in worth about $20.00 . The cannister is in mint condition, and worth about $30.00 . I also intend to use my treasures. The lithograph is pretty fragile, but I'm going to try to remove and remount it after I clean up the frame; I plan

I go through a lot of notepads and desk planners, probably three or four times what other people use. This is because 1) my job requires me to be on the computer for hours and 2) despite my arthritis I'm still more comfortable writing down notes versus creating an electronic version. As it happened my arthritis was also giving me a lot of grief one day last month, rendering one of my only two working fingers unusable, so instead of quilting that day I decided to make a planner from the preprinted sheets in my Flow book. I just added some writing papers between each month sheet, punched holes in all of them them, trimmed some pretty card stock for covers, and bound everything with velvet ribbon. It's not terribly sophisticated but it's pretty, and I like it, which is what really matters. Like this I am learning to embrace my ever-increasing limitations and create in the moment. Sometimes what I'm able to do doesn't seem like much, but it means the worl

I knew when I was diagnosed with arthritis at 28 that the time I had to use my hands was limited. I had already given up a lot of dreams because of my condition. After two surgeries rendered my dominant hand basically useless all I had left was one. I lost painting, knitting and a lot of other abilities. Thirty years after that I made do with one hand (and got pretty good at it, frankly) arthritis invaded my working hand, ultimately leaving me with three fingers I could use. I was cheerful about it. Three fingers are better than none. I got thirty-five years of limited use out of my hands, and I am grateful. Most people with my condition aren't that lucky. I think sewing, quilting and my other creative endeavors have helped me hang onto as much use of my working hand as I could. Now the painful truth is I've finally run out of time, and I'm rapidly losing what use I have left. My fingers are stiff as little boards, the joints swollen and painful. Grippi

During my bedroom closet clean I weeded out the old winter clothes I had that don't fit me anymore for donation, so I decided to thrift some new cold-weather clothes. I won this lot of two dresses and three tops for the minimum bid; let's see what I got and what they would have cost me to buy new. Misia black tunic, retail: $30.00 Chico's top with assymmetrical hem, $49.99 new. Black and white Shein Curve dress, $27.00 retail. Annabelle sweater dress, $27.95 new. Chico's Travelers top, $89.50 retail. All of the clothes just need laundering and have no flaws. Altogether it would have cost me $224.44 to buy them in the stores; I thrifted the entire lot for $9.99. Savings: $214.45.

Back in 2018 I made all these quilts and fabric projects. It was one of my better years as a maker, and I had a lot of fun. I used to do an end-of-the-year collage like this one to celebrate what I managed to accomplish. 2024 is shaping up to be one of my favorite years for creativity, probably because I've tried so many new things, like making this quilt out of my old t-shirts. I've also revisited old skills and used them in new ways. Challenging myself has helped me accomplish more, but so has being aware of my moods and working on being more positive. I'm really proud of the fact that I only had one upset day to date in 2024. I also think looking back helps motivate me to move forward with confidence. Rather than try to make an end of the year collage (all the stuff I made in August makes that difficult), I think I'll put together a photo album of the projects I think turned out best and post a link to that at the end of the year.

Over the summer I discovered Flow , a book/magazine/collection meant for paper lovers like me (thank you, Barnes and Noble.) It's packed with so much stuff I can't possibly cover it all, but I'll try. Basically it's 300+ pages of writing papers, tags, cards, stickers, wrapping paper, envelopes, planner pages, paper to make dimensional projects, several note pads, mini posters, a reading poster, a journal with a cover you can customize and even some paper dolls. There are themes to each section (Time to Slow Down, Time to Plan and Time to Play) and images and designs everywhere to inspire you. Postcards, too. A pop-up card (I love these.) Tissue paper for wrapping. The little journal. A record player-shaped notepad. Flow is not cheap ($33.99 US) but it's a great value when you think about what you pay for all of the above separately. The popup cards I buy at Disney Springs run about $13.00 each, for example. It's also a book

In September our neighbor cut down a tree that died a few years ago and has been threatening to topple over and block the road I walk every morning and afternoon (my guy reported it, in fact; no one else had noticed the threat.) When I walked past the pieces he was cutting up for firewood, I noticed the tree had been covered on one side with hundreds of mushrooms (they resemble turkey tails, but I'm not expert enough to be sure.) Moss grows everywhere here, and sometimes it creates a little pocket pasture like this one, no bigger than the palm of your hand. This tree is an old friend. It's the most beautiful one I see everyday, and has ferns sprouting from a slight hollow on the right side. In spring it's covered with honeysuckle vines. I always through the fence was built behind it until the other day, when I looked at it from another angle. Whoever built the old fence stopped and restarted it on either side, which charms me. I'm not the only one

During my late summer walks with the pups I discovered a new neighbor living in one of the trees along my route. I don't think anyone else noticed her because no one ever looks up like me (I do this constantly, too. You never know what's going on above your head otherwise.) She had built her own beautiful house and was thriving there, probably because no one had noticed her. Here's a somewhat fuzzy close up of my new neighbor. She's a golden silk orb weaver (Trichonephila clavipes), also known as a banana spider here in Florida. Her web really does look golden in the sunlight -- I just couldn't get a shot of it. She's a wonderful web spinner, and I look forward to seeing her every morning.

After making twelve patchwork blocks out of my on e pound of thrifted fabrics chosen by someone else (say that three times fast) I put tghem together in this quilt top. It's small but the colors and prints are really romantic, and made me think of Jane Austen's quilt (not that mine in any way compares.) I decided on using a white thread and a light gold holographic Sulky for the hand quilting. Hopefully my hands cooperate!

Since I was running out of summer at the beginning of September I decided to get started on the quilt I want to make from this one pound of thrifted fabrics, which were chosen by someone else (the blue floral on the top right is the backing fabric that I chose from my own stash.) I've been dithering because I wanted to try a couple of traditional pattern ideas, but none of what I considered would allow me to use all of the fabrics. So I decided to go with the one classic patchwork pattern I knew I could use everything to piece. It's also a very simple pattern to cut: you just need to make everything into strips. Then I was able to make ten log cabin patchwork blocks out of the fabrics. I had one more thing I wanted to try -- piecing two more blocks out of the leftover trimmed pieces -- and then I'd be ready to sew the quilt top. Stay tuned to the blog to see how I did.