Not Much To Share

It's been hot. There was motorcycle racing to watch. I had to drive to the semi-big city yesterday in 100 degree heat. I've gotten hooked on the Smithsonian channel's Air Disaster series, newly discovered by me but in its 20th season so lots of catching up. My lassitude feels typically summer so not too worried as long as it doesn't continue into fall! I think my deck flowers feel the same as they struggle to maintain blooms in this heat. I've finally started on the first sleeve of the sweater knitting project while watching tv that doesn't require full attention; otherwise, creativity a bit stalled. Hand me my iced coffee as I relax with a good book . . .

Helen Wells sent out a video addressing this very thing, how a change in season shifts our energy and can make one want a change in approach. She lists a lot of things she'd like to do in this time, "carving out" a little more space for them in this time when she wants to retreat a bit: "A time to retreat into creativity, a time to replenish, a time to be more introspective...."  She has keyed in on 4 things to consider in how she wants to spend these summer days. 

• What do I want to START doing?

• What do I want to STOP doing?

• What do I want to do LESS of?

• What do I want to do MORE of?

 I realized that this is what I've been doing for awhile now as I've felt a need to adjust a routine I've fallen into but want to get out of or at least modify. I just haven't written it down in list form as she suggests. There are things I know I want to stop but why is it so difficult to do that? Reading and knitting definitely fall in the do more of, and I have. Am trying to do less on the computer starting with not reading every single thing I come across, doing a better job of "curating" what's important and what doesn't really apply to me or is not new info, letting quick scans gather up what I need to know, passing up things I don't. As for what do I want to start? I'll have to give that more thought. I have so much going on, so many interests I'm already pursuing, I can't imagine starting something new. Then again, maybe I'm looking at that the wrong way. More thought!

You can watch the video here or read the transcript version below it. Let me know what you think. Does any of this resonate with you?

It Worked!

I started quilting on the rails quilt by stitching-in-the-ditch through the center of each block both directions to stabilize things before quilting the "arrows" in. It occurred to me that repositioning the architect lamp that usually shines down on the needle area over to the left and down to shine the light at an angle might produce shadowing so I could see those hera markings even over the light fabric. And it worked like a charm - I could see all markings easily.

I like the way the arrows rotate around the block. Makes me think of the storms and winds Noah and his ark must have weathered. My only concern is that there may be too much open unquilted space that I might feel compelled to add more stitching to. I'll not worry about that now.

Here you can see those initial lines of stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and the wedges of unquilted space.

I do like this gold/yellow thread on the back. It does run quite light as it variegates but I think it was a good choice.

Ready To Quilt

Slowly but surely I have overcome my procrastination and issues with pinning and marking of the rails quilt. Sometimes all one has to do is just admit you have no choice but to proceed and just do it. I was pleased to feel myself getting into a rhythm with the marking, and putting the rest of the pins in went quickly. As usual, was asking myself what the big deal was that had me putting this off for so long. I'd already started auditioning threads and found the King Tut pink variegated thread perfect for the top. As for the bobbin, there were several ways I could go including pink, but those flamingos are very peachy. I initially thought the King Tut blue variegated thread would be perfect, surely was the right blue, but I hesitated. Maybe that light blue one would be better, but it just looks like white or grey thread when I spooled it across the fabric. There's quite a bit of golden tan in the animals and I've decided that gold King Tut variegated thread was the one. I also think it would show less should I have any pull-ups on the front. It sure has gotten hot here, too hot to spend any time outside during the day, so no excuse not to start quilting in my air conditioned studio.

Did I mention I ordered more batting? I honestly don't need more, which a quick assessment of my stash confirmed. But what a knee jerk reaction to seeing a 30% off sale at one of my favorite internet shops, Connecting Threads. I wasn't aware of this particular blend of cotton and wool in a batting and I was intrigued. Cotton battings often quilt up flatter than expected, but I don't always want to use a wool batting. I'm speculating that the wool will create a loftier batting and keep it all natural. Has anyone out there tried it? I absolutely shopped like I was still making lots of quilts, buying the king size batt because it is the best value. I still remember Harriet Hargrave's batting lecture where she pointed out most quilters buy batting because it is the size they need for their project, not considering if its contents is appropriate for their project and never thinking they could get more than one quilt out of the largest batt available and save money. Well, you have to be using it up for it to be a good buy, so I guess my somewhat impulse buy may encourage me to make more tops. I do have two large quilt ideas I've not followed up on (even though fabric is set aside), and think I may still have it in me to get them made. Perhaps I'll be guilted into it! Whatever works, I say.

It's That Anniversary Again

Each year on the anniversary of my husband's death, I pause and contemplate our life together, from meeting at college to forging a partnership through marriage and finally to our last days together. When I sit down to blog about it each year, I've looked for photos that showed the various aspects of the person who loved me, supported me and did good out in the world. Often I've shared the motorcycle part since that was such a big part of what might be termed the second half of our life together, and this year I got out an old photo album to hunt down pictures from a 1998 motorcycle vacation that included visiting Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin, looking for waterfall pictures which is what you see above.

Unexpectedly as I flipped through pages, I ran across these two photos of us from 1997 when we flew back to Olympia, WA for a friend's wedding. It was held at an old house with wrap-around porches sporting fantastic views, and I remember how much we enjoyed just sitting out there with no cares. My initial reaction upon seeing his smiling face in this photo was, well hello handsome - you clean up well! Then noted what I'd written at the top of the page: "Here's to you - you handsome devil!" Ah yes, I always loved it when he dressed up, always looking so smart.

Which prompted me to hunt down another pic I took of him "all suited up". Of course, the current furry child had to be included. This was in the early 80's and after realizing he had to give up teaching at least for awhile, he was putting out resumes and preparing for interviews. He really didn't have a suitable suit so I sent him off to pick something out. He came back with a beautiful 3-piece suit and what else he needed to go with it. Sigh . . . I loved it every time there was an event when I could accompany him wearing that suit.

 

So that's my story for this year. I'll be raising a glass of something later today saying, "Here's to you - you handsome devil! Thanks for every memory." 

Some Nice Things From Last Week

Our weather has been so up and down, but Friday was what I would call a perfect day for being out and about. Sunny, temps in the 70s and a light cool breeze coming off the lake made for a delightful walk at City Beach. Tourists have started arriving and the beach was bright with colorful umbrellas, towels and bathing suits.

The marina is full of sailboats and I saw several people out on paddle boards and small boats. Motorboats were being backed down ramps into the water. A few younger people braved the water which is still quite cold to swim and splash around. Summer is here!

Man With Turkish Coffee by Daniel Gill

I made a stop at the library having finished another book and ready to pick up the next from an author I'm catching up with (Lisa Unger) and was pleasantly surprised to see a new exhibit in the lobby cases. A local watercolor group was being featured and this painting by Daniel Gill caught my eye. Definitely the best of the lot, and in talking to one of the exhibitors learned that he is a local illustrator and indeed better than the rest in this group which lost its teacher to retirement but decided to stay together and share their knowledge with each other - sounds just like the quilt guilds I've belonged to. Daniel has occasionally given demos and I can see that the group would benefit from his expertise.

Also by Daniel, I took this photo of a still life not so much because of the painting but because of the shadows being cast across it by the brackets holding the glass shelves. Abstract in nature, they almost look like part of the presentation, the one shadow over the painting itself looking as if painted there.

Another pleasant surprise: I got a phone call from the yarn shop owner who promised to let me know when her next order of mill end wool yarn arrived if it included more of the lavender yarn I'm sure I will be short of to complete the sweater I've been working on. Four skeins were included in the order, all the same color number and lot number of the yarn I originally bought - woo hoo! I think two more skeins will do it but heck, why chance still being short, and one can always find something to make out of a skein or two, so just like I used to say," heck, just give me the rest of the bolt" when buying fabric, I said, heck, just give me all four! They are so inexpensive, why not? I'm nearly done with the front so I'll start the sleeves knowing I have plenty of yarn to finish them.

Lastly, after getting all the bedding plants transferred to pots, I did move two of them - the extra marigolds and begonias, out front and they are doing marvelously along with the snapdragons in the big pot alongside the stairs. The sun may have been out when I took the picture but you can see that the concrete is still wet from quite the thunderstorm that drenched everything shortly before this.

The rain was so hard that dirt splashed up from the pots and covered the side of them. But the plants themselves were undamaged. This is such a lovely sight to enjoy when I leave and come back from my walks.

There was one not so nice thing that happened though. Even though all the windows and doors were shut, I was awakened one night by the smell of skunk! They do occasionally wander through my neighborhood and it always astounds me how strong their scent is and how long lasting. It must have checked things out under my deck because days later, after the smell had left the rest of the neighborhood, I still get whiffs of it when I step out onto the deck. I don't know if repeated rains are reactivating it or what, but I'm at a loss as to how to get rid of it, except with time.

Here We Go!

 

Layering of the rails quilt has begun. A big enough area of the work table has been cleared to spread out the backing, which to my delight only overlaps the width of the side by side tables by a few inches. Batting proves to be cut to fit edge to edge of table width and matching the side edges of the backing, which by the way I thought I'd have to piece for it to be wide enough. But it is 44 inches wide and the quilt top 42-1/2 so about an inch extra on each side. I usually allow more than that so I can turn the backing over the batting to the front and give myself something to hold on to as I quilt. But not having to piece the backing . . . priceless at this point. I gave the top a good steam press and removed a lot of stray threads from the back before smoothing it over the batting. Everything just fits.

I follow Angela Walters and watch most of her free videos on free motion quilting designs and a recent dot-to-dot series design caught my eye as one I could use on this quilt. I used one of my EQ mockups to play with different directions I could place those arrow-like motifs, finally settling on the one sketched out on the block in the second row. You might be able to see some arrows on the lines if you click for the larger picture. I worked out where to start so that the entire block can be quilted continuously, including along the sashing on all sides.

But I know I can't trust myself to free-motion quilt straight lines with any accuracy so as I started to pin, I started to think of how I might mark the lines and avoid any difficulty in removing markings. I remembered the technique of making creases in the fabric with a hera marker and thought this might be the way to go. I used to have two hera markers that were freebies, but I couldn't locate either one. No worries, any pointed thing will do and the tool I use to help close up pins has a short straight edge on one end not unlike a hera marker. So I gave it a go before too many pins got in my way. I found it surprisingly slow as I made the marks on two blocks, noting that sometimes a line didn't show depending on which way the light was hitting the lines. Add to this, as I moved to the second block, the sashing confused me into placing the starting point of the first line in the wrong place. Not sure I have the patience for this. It occurred to me that laying down masking tape as I go will be quicker and leave no marks. If I did ruler work, this would be the perfect place for it. But since I don't, I think I will abandon the hera marking and opt for masking tape as a guide.

What's your go-to method(s) for marking quilts?

A Sketch Expedition

Remember me showing you the water feature outside my library and saying I'd like to try sketching it? Friday turned out to be the perfect day to take myself on an "artist date" as I had a book ready to return to the library and another one to check out, good weather, and nothing else really pressing to keep me from spending some time sketching. In every respect, it was a relaxing and positive experience, from the mother with her two little kids who stopped to look over my shoulder and ask questions to the finished sketch. Granted, I do tend to get a bit timid with the colored pencils, kept going over the rocks to make them a little darker but I think they still need more definition. And how to show the foamy white water bits? I tried a white Posca paint pen after I got home which barely shows up. But the major parts like fitting the whole scene on the page even though I was sitting quite close to it (I often end up running out of room) and getting most of the perspective right was very gratifying. Am wondering now how I might do using watercolors - now that would be a real challenge for me!

Speaking of challenges, I had stacks of pads of paper that I use for bookmaking to move off the top of the box where my batting reserve resides so I could see if I had enough of that limited edition slightly plusher batting I liked so much in the last baby quilt left for this current one. All that paper is sitting on the work table that still needs more of it cleared so I can layer up this quilt. It has taken me awhile to figure out where I could open out the batting to cut an appropriate piece since the table is not available. Just dawned on me that I could strip my bed down to the mattress (sheets need changing anyway) and do it there. That realization felt like a palm slap to the forehead - I'm not as quick thinking as I used to be I guess.

Ready To Layer

The rails quilt is finally together and ready to layer. Still struggling to get a decently lit photo with true colors for you. All I can say is that I so like how it has come out, that it is so PRETTY and that is partly due to the fact that the pinks are slightly different. I was concerned that not all my pinks were a clear strong pink and I had to use some that were more muted and even with a slight orange cast. Now I see how well they work together and make this a better quilt.

These colors are more true, and I took this to show how I carefully placed the sashings and borders so the raindrops are all falling down. They don't do that in the blocks however; that would have been too much fiddling to figure that out before piecing and decided they could just represent the swirling storm the ark sailed through. It was only upon studying the picture that I realized that border was NOT on the right direction.

Glad I caught it now rather than while I was smoothing the top over batting or even after pinning. I would have been furious. I'm already a bit put out with myself. I was being so careful and double checking before pinning. Don't know how it happened . . . although I may have been looking at strips in a block turned the other way rather than at a sashing. Well, easy to fix although time consuming any time you have to get out the seam ripper!

Back to Rails

I finally got into the studio today to continue work on the rails baby quilt. Finished sewing the block quarters into full blocks and sewed the sashing spacers between blocks to create rows. Took a break at that point to snap this poorly lit and possibly confusing (I just put the blocks up on top of what is already hanging out on my design wall) picture for today's post so you could see how it is coming along. Next step is to sew the long sashing spacers between rows and then the narrow border strips all round. I'll soon be layering for quilting.

Egging me on is this picture my goddaughter shared of her and her six month old baby that this quilt will go to at her graduation at Baylor in Texas. She has been working on this degree for at least 14 years, a lot of the classes taken on line, juggling a job and a growing family. How proud we all are that she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP-FNP).  Now if only she lived closer so she could be my NP. . .

What else have I been up to? Well, I did knit those final few shaping rows of the purple sweater's back. While my yarn may be going farther than I originally thought, I still think I will come up short for two full sleeves. Still waiting for the yarn store to get in their next order of these mill ends but it did occur to me that this company also sells regular skeins of yarn and perhaps I can find this color elsewhere, although not the same lot. We shall see as knitting progresses on the front.

And between motorcycle races (and there were THREE different series racing over the weekend), I finally made the final decisions of how to distribute the last of the bedding plants bought nearly a month ago. I've been watching them carefully, placing them tentatively on the pots I think they will go in, rushing out to water when I see them drooping. They have been ever so patient with me. They went much farther than I thought they would, took more time to transfer than one would expect, and I had to pull three pots out of the garage that I didn't use last year. This is a tentative arrangement, and one or two of the pots may go out on the front steps to keep the pot of snapdragons company.

As usual, the star of the show are the geraniums. They never fail to please.

New to my garden are the begonias, which are giving those geraniums a run for their money as top pleaser. Two in this small pot, four in a much larger pot which is a candidate for out front.

The snapdragons and the mystery bloomer went in the long planter per spacing directions. They'd better spread out and fill the space. The matching planter has one of the mystery bloomers and two of the dianthus. The other two are in a separate smaller pot and although growing tall, have no blooms yet while the ones that waited so long for a home are popping a bloom.

The pansies looked so much more robust than they have in previous years so I snatched several up. Yellow ones in a separate pot and two rich colored ones in a bigger pot.

And marigolds. I don't generally add those because I've never liked the smell when you brush up against them. My college campus had them everywhere, no doubt because of ease of growing them and they do add bright color. I decided to succumb this year in order to add some orange to a mix that was heavy on purple and pink. One in a small pot, the other two in a larger pot which may be another candidate for the front steps.

It felt really good to get this done - I didn't realize how much it had been hanging over me for so long. I still need to hose down the deck to remove the spring pollen and the dirt I spilled (too much rain again), and then I will be ready to enjoy the heat wave expected this weekend as I sit on the deck and enjoy my spring flowers.

Scenes From This Week

We've had so much rain in the past week, including one particularly rainy day leading into the Memorial Day weekend. So much so that when I walked through the nearby park, there was standing water in places I only see it when the snow melts.

I tried to find out how much had fallen in the 24 hour period and one place said a little more than half an inch. It sure seemed like more as it pounded down all afternoon and late into the night. I canceled my walk that day!

One thing for sure, not much swinging is going to get done til it drains away.

I usually exit the park here and follow the path around the dog park back to the main street. When it's like this, I need to detour across the grass if it's not soggy.

I checked out the decorative plum trees to see if they were still blooming.

Oh yes - and every open bloom is so pretty.

The lilac bush is still blooming too, but along the fence around its yard, some roses are now blooming, putting forth so much scent.

And drawing this bee which was flitting so fast between blooms that I could barely catch him on camera. Just a few seconds after landing it was hurrying on to the next. Hard to see how it could be picking up any pollen at all at that speed.

As proof that nature always prevails, once home I notice this little viola blooming in the crack in the driveway. You might remember my surprise when last year I discover the pot by the front steps was suddenly full of these blooming away, me not knowing where they came from. This little guy must be from that pot which now may not have any in it this year. I've planted snapdragons in it after removing a layer of moss and digging up the soil to aerate it. But we shall see.

I also made a trip to the library this week and noticed that their outside water feature was up and running with flowers blooming around it. 

Doesn't really show in the picture but there IS water gently cascading from back to front, its sound one I crave. I've sat before it when I didn't have a sketchbook with me but would like to try sketching it sometime.

Knitting continues, ready to shape the neckline which takes only 6 rows. I put an inscription on the opening page of the second butterfly binding book and sent it off as a graduation present to the daughter of one of my late husband's students at his very first teaching job. Making me feel even older than I already do and reminding me of the special relationship we developed with his whole family. Haven't seen him in years but do the "keep in touch by Christmas card" thing with the arrival in the mail of the graduation announcement being proof it has been worth it. 

It rained overnight - of course it did :-)

Otherwise, having one of those not much time in the studio weeks, but finishing a riveting novel, watching interesting shows on TV and doing some extra holiday cooking including recreating my mom's potato salad. Memorial Day weekend probably would have meant dad taking us off camping and fishing, and that potato salad plus baked beans and hot dogs to roast over a fire would come along too. My husband and I only did the camping thing once (his favorite saying was "I consider Motel 6 roughing it"), trackside at a motorcycle race, tenting it with few supplies (everything had to fit on the motorcycle), but he did enjoy barbecuing, so among other things, I miss that on these holidays. However, there was racing to watch and that always makes me feel close to him. How did you spend the holiday weekend?

Hoping to get a bit more on track during the upcoming week, but you never know. Ran across this quotation and thought it rather sounds like me, how I've always been, why I somewhat flit from interesting thing to interesting thing a bit like that bee and recently find myself thinking that I have too many interests:

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

A Different Way Of Working

Working around what's not put away from the last mixed media project

Making slow progress on the rails quilt. All those quarters are now pressed and arranged and I've begun sewing them into 12 inch blocks. I am getting there. Just short stints, but as they say, those moments when you do get something done add up quicker than if you do nothing at all. Yes, a pep talk, and here's another.

Ran out of room on the table, ironing board steps in

Austin Kleon has once again led me to an artist I am unfamiliar with but who has an interesting outlook on what comprises "success", Steve Albini. I may not recognize his name but he is well-known enough to be interviewed for The Chicago Sun Times. When he was asked, "Do you feel successful," this was his answer:

“To the extent that I could care about that, I would say yes,” he replied. “I’ve lived my whole life without having goals, and I think that’s very valuable, because then I never am in a state of anxiety or dissatisfaction. I never feel I haven’t achieved something. I never feel there is something yet to be accomplished."

Wow, I was not expecting that. No goal setting? When I think about it, setting goals has been something stressed throughout my life - through the examples of others, by my parents and teachers, by the business world when considering a career or even just jobs to pay the bills (a mini-goal in itself), by every bit of advice about being a successful artist . . . I can barely think of any facet of life where one is not pressed to set goals, and I've dutifully complied. But I also recognize experiencing what he says he doesn't sans goals, anxiety and dissatisfaction. And I've always had that aplenty, in exactly how he goes on to describe:

 "I feel like goals are quite counterproductive. They give you a target, and until the moment you reach that target, you are stressed and unsatisfied, and at the moment you reach that specific target you are aimless and have lost the lodestar of your existence."

I'm not sure I totally agree with goals being counterproductive. I've often felt they were quite helpful in moving me along. However, now I'm wondering if this is why I've been a bit happier since stepping away from art quilting and exhibiting and getting back to quilting for myself and others as well as dabbling in things that I have no plans of ever exhibiting or trying to sell. Oh, I still have frustrations and self-induced stress at times, and have often been told I'm too hard on myself but it definitely feels different now since I've given up setting so many goals for myself and try to just do what makes me feel good and happy, working on setting aside pressure from within and without. He continues:

"I’ve always tried to see everything as a process. I want to do things in a certain way that I can be proud of that is sustainable and is fair and equitable to everybody that I interact with. If I can do that, then that’s a success, and success means that I get to do it again tomorrow.”

I've always been a process person too, and wanting to be proud of what I do and the way I strive to support people, and I do think I've been fairly successful at that. But the way he wraps it all up definitely makes me smile and want more, that getting to do it again tomorrow. And the interviewer sums it up similarly after asking Steve about retiring (which he shares will be when his hearing goes): "Until then, he’ll do what he loves, every day. Which is the best definition of success I can imagine." Me too.

Back On Track

At least it feels like I'm back on track with the rails baby quilt. With my additional selections of pinks, I decided to ditch the idea of adding in some blue, particularly because those blues would clash with the more aqua blue of the backing. A small thing but I tend to be swayed by them. Here are all my strips cut and ready to sew into blocks. You'll note that there are more than 4 different pinks which means a few of the blocks will have different combinations of pinks.

Here's a sample block showing the basic arrangement of the smaller 4 strip quadrants. I dithered slightly about whether to press seams to one side or open, ending up pressing to one side and wondering if open would have been better. I don't intend on doing much stitching in the ditch so open might have been better. I have to say, this is going to be a very pretty girly pink quilt!

More tree blossoms along my walks are opening up. I thought they were late but in looking back at a May 10th blog post from last year, this is pretty much when spring sprung then. 

I'd periodically check what I think are flowering plum trees in the little park I sometimes pass through and they too bloomed this week.

The annual Lilac Festival Torchlight Parade in nearby Spokane WA is Saturday, and I thought to check the lilac bush by the abandoned house on one of my walking routes yesterday to see if the blooms had opened yet. Indeed, like nearly every year, they had, right on time. I cut a few for a bouquet and their scent fills the downstairs. My knitting is coming along too, ready for decreases to form the armholes, and echoing the color of the lilacs.

Speaking of walks, I ran across a great article expounding on the virtues of walking. A bit of preaching to the choir but it had many quotations I'd not run across before, including this one which to my long time readers will sound a lot like me:

". . .I’ll first note the Latin phrase solvitur ambulando meaning “it is solved by walking.” The phrase is attributed to both St. Augustine and the Greek philosopher, Diogenes. The sense of it, as I take it, is that when you are stuck on something, you should get up and take a walk. By the act of walking you somehow allow your mind to think more freely and creatively."

I like where the author takes all this, a response to our ever-hurrying world:

"As Watters observed in her essay, “Walking lets you read the world — and much like the slow, contemplative mental processes involved in reading a book, the pace with which one moves through the world while walking allows for a different, deliberative kind of seeing. You notice more. You think more.”

To walk, then, is to inhabit a fitting scale and speed. It is the scale and speed at which our bodies are able to find their fit in the world, and the world rewards us by spurring our thinking and disclosing itself to us. Perhaps this is the deeper fitness we should actually be after.

This principle of proportionality or fittingness is one that we do well to remember and insist upon to whatever degree we are able because almost everything about the human-built world, in its economic and technological dimensions, is bent on pushing us past a human scale and speed, which then denies us the opportunity to cultivate our competence and enjoy its rewards. We are, in turn, sold a series of tools and techniques that promise to help us operate faster and more efficiently so that we may keep up with the inhuman demands. Some will even say that the point is to eventually slough off the encumbering body so that we may keep up with the machines and find our fit within the artificial systems we have built. Only exhaustion and alienation lie down this path."

It's an interesting read - give it a go. And then take a walk and ponder what it says.