What's Next

“Despite all the hand-wringing about distraction, it’s asked less often what it is that we want to attend to in the first place.” David Schurman Wallace

It amazes me how often a quotation will appear that speaks to a topic I've been mulling. Just last week, I noted that I felt at loose ends after completing all the book projects that had been lined up for so long, leaving me with the question of now what? The quotation (which is from a lengthy article in The Paris Review) shifted my perspective a bit and after a quick look around, I have come up with an answer of what I want to attend to. Let's start with the need for a project I could work on at last Monday's charity meeting that didn't require my packing up my machine. Still not crazy about a lot of lifting, but the group had decided to have a free sewing day to work on whatever we wanted, and I decided that the above hand applique project was what I wanted to spend time on. Truly can't remember the last time it was out and fear it might have been as long as ten years ago, although it sits near the couch in a ziplock bag with this small pouch that has everything I need in it to work on this. It's a very old project, using a different applique method I learned from Jeana Kimball that works like a charm - you can watch her demonstrate a bit of it here: Back basted needle turn applique.  I did worry if I would remember how to do it after so much time had passed, and did I really have everything I needed in that pouch? (Yes I did.) But after a fumbling start, muscle memory kicked in, and I was back to soothing meditative stitching. 

Antique reproduction 4-patch strip quilt

But I knew I wasn't going to switch to hand sewing for the rest of the week. It was time to finally finish requilting the couch quilt, working on the clam shell quilting in the borders and setting triangles. I may regret this but I couldn't face redoing all of them, so concentrated on securing those areas where the bobbin stitches had broken. Hopefully this mend will be the last I'll have to do. In the meantime, I have another quilt with broken stitches that has been waiting for me to attend to it for quite awhile and darn it, let's just get it done. This one I'd quilted in a crosshatch with YLI Heirloom silk thread. Yes, there's a story as to why but all you need to know is that it was a poor choice, and I let my stubbornness prevail rather than switching to a better thread once I realized there would be problems. But silk is supposed to be strong, right? Maybe, but this fine thread which works well in tightly quilted free-motion designs cannot take the stress of a straight line of it being pulled on as in when you pull a quilt up over you. Like the couch quilt, I'd already spot-mended it twice, and once again I was hearing the pop pop pop of more threads breaking. This time I'm using 50 wt cotton thread and going over ALL the lines of quilting. It will take some time but it will be worth it to have it functional again. After that, I remembered I have a demo quilt block to finish piecing from the fat quarter quilt that is now on my bed. I'm pretty sure it will become a pillow sham. Well on my way from distracted to attending to things.

In the meantime, I had a birthday, one I am not particularly happy about but what can you do? You can feel better as cards like these started to arrive. Look at those beautiful flowers, especially on the card at the right.

In preparation, I checked my grocery store's fine bakery for German chocolate cake, as I've been having a real chocolate craving lately, and also found this small huckleberry cheesecake - how could I resist? Served up on a bone china plate from my collection, that got the week off to a good start.

Then a started working on that single layer cake a few days early. I still have several servings left.

The biggest treat, which may sound silly to some, was to order up dinner and have it delivered. I just never do delivery, except for last year's birthday when I couldn't drive. I'd never eaten at this eatery but besides pizza, they had calzones on the menu. I don't think I've had a calzone since I worked downtown in Tacoma in the 80's, and I would occasionally treat myself to one for lunch. Something small that you could hold in your hand to eat. I'd seen how big this eatery made them from pictures on the website so knew I wouldn't be holding this one in my hand to eat and that I'd have leftovers - that is half of one. I probably could have made do with a quarter of it.

Some birthdays, I try to think of something different I can do to treat myself, someplace to go for a different view, something to see I've been meaning to check out. This year I just didn't feel up to going out and found enjoyment in things at home. Between beverages and meals and desserts, let's just say there were a lot of calories involved and I'm afraid to step on the scales! But I savored every moment and ended up feeling much better about this particular milestone birthday than I expected. Onward!

 

 

Celtic Weave Binding

Does this look familiar? Yes, just like in quilting, I find myself draping threads to audition colors for stitching. When I was doing my shopping on the internet, I had a feeling that the butterscotch thread in one collection might work well with this handmade paper and it seems that I was right about that. As for the many greens, I was disappointed that there were no true olive greens the color of the leaves. That lightest one at the bottom just didn't look like it fit to me. The dark green one though was like the few dark green sprigs and stems, and in viewing what other members in my club had chosen for the woven part of the binding, choosing that one seemed a good bet. I did let these sit overnight before making my final decision, but I'm trying to keep to something that came out of a 5 day journaling exercise I did back in July - LESS DITHERING, MORE DOING! I could have gone back and forth over several other options and combinations but after sleeping on it, it was pretty clear I'd be going with the butterscotch and dark green.

Now that it is done, I've had second thoughts about my thread color choices. I'm very happy with the butterscotch, just not so sure pairing it with the dark green looks as good as I thought it would. On the other hand, I simply did not think the "khaki" green thread, the lightest of the bunch, would look right either in the link stitches, really didn't go with the rest of the green going on. And to ditch green thread altogether to use something else with the butterscotch? Well, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So here I am, wondering if it looks alright, if perhaps I should have just gone with one color or the other for all the stitches. It makes me want to make another one right away!

The link stitches on each end of the spine are done first, to stabilize the book and make the weave part a bit easier. An unusual technique in the making of this book is the insertion of the first and last signatures into front and back covers respectively which have been folded in half. Apparently this is because the stitching might rip through the soft handmade paper. This method makes the attachment of the covers strong.

The covers are cut (or in my case, torn) wider than the width of an open signature so that the fore edges can be turned inside to create more stability along that edge and also to provide pockets if the top and bottom edges of the flap are secured (I used double stick tape).

Here's a closeup look at the stitches - link (or Coptic) stitches on the outside, the Celtic weave in the center. The weave looks very complicated, doesn't it? But it really isn't, a simple crossing over of threads using two needles as one works up through the holes of each signature. Once you've got your rhythm, it's a bit meditative, and reminded me a bit of braiding hair.Click on the photo for a larger view.

Here's one last look at the finished book. Since this is to be a gift, I can't tell you how pleased I am with the way it came together. The stitching is nice and tight without keeping the book from closing naturally which means the signatures have very little gap between them and little if any wriggling. And it feels so good in the hand, soft yet substantial. I'll be adding a few things to the pages before sending it on, Celtic inspired things, which should be fun.

That's the last of the books (unless I want to keep going by working on the one I have a cover set aside for but I think I need a break from bookmaking). I hardly know what to turn to next, though I planned for it to be some sewing. Do you find yourself at loose ends once you finish a major project if you don't have something immediately waiting in the wings? After being so driven and focused for so long, it's a floaty feeling for me, relief and indecision all at once!

Road Bumps

I made a good start last week on the final book that I had set out directions and signature papers for prior to last year's back surgery: Celtic Weave. I chose a handmade paper embedded with small leaves and sprigs for the covers, tearing it to size to maintain the soft rough edges and folding per instructions. I so wanted an olive green thread to do the binding stitch with, but I didn't have any green bookbinding thread. Well, maybe that tan hemp thread I've been using so much lately would do, or even a white thread, but you just know I could not get my mind off of green thread. I spent way too much time on the internet tracking down a green in the waxed linen thread preferred for bookbinding. As you can see, I succumbed to a collection of green threads - something in there will be right - and another collection with a possible better tan/brown thread. First road bump taken care of.

And because if I just added a few more things to my cart, shipping would be free. Yes, I easily succumb to that one too, but to be fair, it will be nice to have these extra color options as I continue to make books.

While I waited for my order to arrive, I gathered and folded my signatures, placing them and the covers under weights, then went back to watching a few instruction videos for this stitch as well as a follow-up one where another member asked what she could do about the very problem I'd had when folding that embedded handmade paper. Some of the leaves are so close to the surface, or totally exposed, that when folding, some of them pop off. I had wondered if brushing on some matte medium might help keep them in place as the book is being used, and sure enough, that was the suggestion given. So second speed bump that had to be dealt with before I could get to sewing my book together. I had a pretty good size piece left over that I could test this on, and I was pleased that the matte medium didn't make the paper buckle or take away from the textural feel of it. The thread is here but I didn't have time to coat the book covers until today, so with any luck, stitching will commence tomorrow.

In the meantime, we are having our own heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, where many cities exceeded 100 degrees and my own little town managed to break a record yesterday with a high of 99 degrees. I've been staying in as it heats up fast in the morning so even shady deck sitting isn't pleasant, and waiting for the sun to go down before going for my walk when, while it is still 80 degrees, without the sun beating down is quite pleasant. 

Monday I took my sketchbook and captured the nearby EMS station which really does sort of sit in an open field backed by trees. My lines are not exactly straight, partly because I drew this standing up.

I sketched my pussywillow branch again a few weeks ago, this time with different pens. It's interesting (at least to me) to render something using different mediums. (Plus it's helping to use up a few remaining pages in a Sketchbook Revival sketchbook.) I'd run across an article where Phillip Pullman says,

"Drawing helps us see better. We never look at anything with so much attention as when we’re drawing it, and it’s a thinking attention, comparing this shape with that, the breadth of a hand with the span of the glass it’s holding, the darkness of that shadow with the brown of the velvet curtain, the foliage of that silver birch with the quite different leaves of the hornbeam beside it. Learning to draw is learning to see much more vividly and clearly."

I would add that it sparks curiosity as well. Not just about the thing one is drawing, but one's own abilities. This was always a driving force for me in my quilting, a curiosity about if something could be captured in fabric and thread. I find I have the same curiosity about my ability to capture something with pencil, pen or brush. 

And yesterday my curiosity was aroused by these ribbon-like undulating clouds, picking up the last of the sun behind the mountain. Rendering clouds in fabric and stitch has always frustrated me, and I have no illusions about how well I could do it with paint, yet I can't help but study clouds closely now, noting where the dark areas are and where the colors brighten. I can think of worse ways to spend my time.

 

Powering Through

I was quite determined to get a couple of books completed last week, and I DID, thanks to a rearranging of my daily schedule putting studio time first. First up was the second butterfly binding which had gotten sidelined by motorcycle racing. :-) Here you see it stacked on top of the first one and can see that although the covers are of the same piece of handmade paper, I opted for the tan hemp thread for this second one. I'd considered it for the first one but thought perhaps I should pick up some of the purple petals in the paper. This time around I was sure it would look good and I was not disappointed. See this post for more about this binding.

Next up was another coptic binding, this one from a March 2021 First Journal Challenge (which I believe was the first challenge offered to non-members of the club). Yes, THAT long that the challenge was run and I printed off directions and opted for a 6 x 6 format to make a watercolor sketchbook and am just now making it. Because the covers are the same watercolor paper used for the signatures, I needed to come up with something decorative to glue over them. I didn't have a lot of options lying around, and what I had wasn't big enough to wrap around the 6 x 12 inch pieces (which will be folded in half to make the cover sturdy), I opted to try another one of those techniques for turning brown paper bags into faux leather. Instead of an actual grocery bag, I tried it with a thinner piece of brown packing paper, which after crumpling and smoothing, running a stamp pad over the high parts of the wrinkles, spritzing with water, then massaging with hair conditioner, developed some tears. Just too thin a paper for this process. But once dry, I was able to get two pieces out of it to wrap around the cover papers. The hair conditioner is to soften the fibers to create a supple and suede-like piece to work with. I have to say, that much was true, and I can imagine just how much more like suede one done with the heavier grocery bag would feel. And I had no issues with it as I glued it to the watercolor covers and turned the extra to the inside. If you are interested in trying this, here's the video I followed.

This was not going to be my first journal, nor my first coptic stitch book, had I done it when the challenge first came out, but just another opportunity to learn a different way to do covers and practice sewing that binding. It definitely came out better than my actual first coptic stitch book with watercolor paper which sprung open like crazy for several reasons I figured out later. I was making my stitches quite tight for one thing, so that may account for some of the stitching being a bit loose on this one even though I thought I was pulling them up snug, causing the signatures to move up and down, but at least there is very little spring! Love the look of those stitches, made with that hemp thread again.

Open cover waiting for stiffening inserts and strap before gluing shut

The covers were sewn on before gluing them shut, the sewing holes punched through the fold. Another piece of watercolor paper cut slightly smaller than one side of the cover were then glued inside for added stiffness, and I opted for a strap closure, one end of which was also glued inside and slits cut on the opposite side for it to slide through on the front. I didn't think my "faux suede" paper would be strong enough for a strap, even if doubled, so went looking for something else, finding fabric self-made bookcloth strips trimmed off while covering bookboard of another project. Too narrow to use one alone, but two butted together and fused to cardstock was perfect. Well, maybe the cardstock made the strap stiffer than necessary but at least it will hold up.

Here's a look at the inside after the cover was glued shut. Not sure how much that cover paper looks like leather. Sometimes the look and feel reminds me more of cork, which I am discovering is a favorite of many in the club for covering boards. They are buying the cork fabric you may have seen in quilt shops. I'd lose that feel if it turns out the paper can't hold up to use and need to have a coat of acrylic varnish added to protect it. Always an option but I didn't want to do it outright.

And here's the finished product, which I am pretty pleased with. I was also pretty pleased with the way I moved right along, day after day. So much of bookmaking actually is doing a step that doesn't take very long, then having to wait hours or until the next day while signatures are being pressed or glue is drying before proceeding to the next step. This pace and the breaking up of tasks suits my current attention span, not to mention it keeps me from overdoing it physically as it forces breaks that my sewing and quilting do not.

Capturing Flowers

I had planned to finished up a second butterfly binding book this afternoon, but the deck garden and warm weather were calling to me instead. The garden has turned from sorry to delightful and I have been spending many mornings doing a little reading in its presence. I still wonder at my desire to sketch florals but there's no denying I do enjoy it, from the close observation that sometimes reveals surprises to the matching of colors to the methodical movement of pen or pencil as each petal, stem and leaf is reproduced as closely as my skill allows. So one afternoon it was the pink Dianthus I tackled with colored pencil, this afternoon it was the rich maroon one along with the single osteospermum bloom that has finally arrived (upper right in above pic), outlining each in micron pen before adding colored pencil. As for the row of faces at the top of the spread, I did those a few weeks ago, an old Draw Tip Tuesday exercise where you draw a bunch of thumb shapes on the page, then add features, hair, whatever, to turn them into people. Some winners, some definitely a bit odd.

The Dianthus indeed had a surprise for me upon closer inspection: white stamen curling up from the center. Adding white is tricky; the white colored pencil didn't show at all while a white gel pen fared no better. I don't think I confessed to you that, after all my negativity and misgivings about Posca pens, I ended up buying some. There were coupons and vouchers involved to bring the price down, and because I couldn't make up my mind about what colors to get, I ended up splurging on this set of . . . yes you are seeing it right in the photo . . . sixteen colors. Sheesh. But I was glad I had them, including a white one that worked like a charm drawing in those stamens. It's making me eager to experiment with them more. And, in case you didn't know, they work on fabric too.

Not that I was compelled to draw them, but I did notice that the lavender geranium has new blooms and I still can't get over that color for a geranium. Perhaps I should sketch it.

I've been doing a lot of close cloud observation too lately. I've watched many tutorials on how to paint clouds and it's a tricky proposition. And any time I've tried adding them to a quilt either as applique or quilting stitches, I've only frustrated myself. But I observe anyway with thoughts of how the various ones I see are "constructed" and could be painted. Every now and then I see a formation like I've not seen before and think that if I could in fact reproduce it, no one would believe it really existed. I tried to capture one such cloud with my very poor cell camera, but if you look closely, the cloud on the right looks a bit like someone dragged a comb through it, lines running from upper right to lower left. The cloud to the left looked more like someone had taken a brush to it.

Love Love Love It!

I've finished putting together the Little Link Stitch book and can't believe how taken I am with it now that it is done. A bit like making a quilt, in that you may really like all the components, but sometimes when they come together in the finished product, it is more lovely than you anticipated. Here are the steps once the signatures were folded and put under weights.

Note how the fore edges of the signature extend past the eco print

There's no way around it; when you fold a stack of papers, there will always be some fore edge creep. In purchased books, that creep, where the middle paper's edge and all those surrounding it goes beyond the outer paper's edge, gets trimmed off for a smooth edged text block. In handmade books, it is often a matter of preference whether or not to trim the papers flush. If there's a cover which extends beyond the fore edge, one can definitely get away with not trimming, and I have done that on many of my books, more out of laziness than preference. But with this book, it was necessary to trim back those fore edges to be flush with the eco print wrapper.

When I folded the signatures inside of the eco prints, I alternated the ones with mixed media paper with the ones with sketching paper and chose which side of each eco print would be on the outside and in what order. Of course, when I took them out from under the weights, I found myself questioning the order of the eco prints and reshuffled them to this order. Lord knows I've done the same with my quilting choices.

Time to stitch. I measured off a length of the hand-spun hemp I've been using so often, knowing that the off-white would compliment this book well. I made the first passes to attach the first two signatures together, took one look and thought, no - this doesn't look right at all. Looking through my limited selection of waxed linen thread, I decided perhaps the white would work and I liked that so much more. Look at those near perfect stitches! Again, it was reminding me of quilting choices I was so sure about but not working as I suspected they would.

These pictures show the interplay of design of the eco prints from signature to signature. 

The closure is attached by looping around the center coptic stitch in the middle of the spine, adding a bead (or two) at the end and then wrapping around the book several times. Again, I thought I would use a dark brown leather shoelace but when laid across the book, it didn't look right at all. But peeking out from the same bowl of odds and ends was this lime green piece of raffia. No, I thought, surely not. But yes, surely yes when it was laid across the book. I never would have dreamed to use that color but it does pick up the green and yellow tones of the eco prints. Remembering how well those wood beads worked for the closure on the wine and beer notebook, I instinctively reached for them. But because I usually do check ALL my options, I searched through some larger beads in my collection. I used to frequent a bead shop on Water Street when I lived in Eau Claire WI, and since this was early in my beading experience, meaning I often didn't know what to buy from the wonderful array of choices, I took advantage of the discounted grab bags or scoops from a bin of odds and ends. So I'm sure that's where these two beads came from, although I have no idea what they are made of or why they are such odd shapes. But they have a hole through them that I could feed the raffia through so on they went. So pleased with how this came out. At 6 x 4 inches, I could see using this as a travel companion - a place to not only sketch but keep notes on where I went and what I saw.

I've also finished up that sketch of garbage trucks, having fun working with the Inktense pencils and a wet brush. I've not done much with the Inktense pencils since I got them long ago, just a little testing and experimenting on fabric. This seemed the perfect place to use them.

Waylaid

I folded the signatures for the Little Link Stitch book, putting them under weights overnight and never got back to them. It was a weekend of racing to watch, and I'm not sure what else kept me away, just know that I shouldn't put off posting any longer with the intention of showing it all finished. I did get the signatures sewn into the cover for the wine and beer notebook though. I used the handspun hemp thread that has become a favorite, using a long enough piece to have plenty to wrap around the book as a closure. But that end needed something, and I pulled out an unopened bag of wood beads, bought ages ago with the intent that they end up on a quilt, but don't they look perfect here?

Oh, now I remember. I made two late afternoon trips to sketch these garbage trucks that I pass by on one of my daily walking routes - the first to get down the shapes and details in pencil, and the second to ink them in and add a little color with Inktense Pencils. I do not do "quick draws" so each session took about 45 minutes and I knew I could put the final touches on it at home, primarily to find something to color in the cyclone fence and to activate the Inktense with water. But like the Little Link Stitch book, the drawing still sits in my bag waiting. Don't ask me what it is that intrigued me about these trucks, hunkered down for the night after a long day of picking up trash, but there was something that made me want to draw them.

Daniel Sroka - Allusive 2023

With so little to show this week, I am sending you over to Daniel Sroka's latest online gallery. Through written and spoken word and a couple of short videos plus his beautiful photos, he tells a story about childhood and nature's inspiration that is not unlike my own. Enjoy Getting Lost In Nature.

Establishing/Returning To A Practice

Since getting "serious" about art quilting and later starting up yoga lessons, I've been bombarded by this idea of "a practice". Usually it has been presented as more than just setting a schedule or routine, but more of a focused dedication. I've never been able to sustain this kind of practice, and in fact joke with my yoga teacher when she talks about "our practice", saying "Practice? What Practice?" I only seem to be able to maintain my yoga one when there are weekly sessions to attend, and my art one when there is a deadline of some kind. I get discouraged that I can't seem to maintain what I think others mean by a practice. Then a ran across this: 

"But if there’s anything I know about practicing it’s that it isn’t about rules or consistency or scarcity or god forbid optimizing: it’s about coming back. A practice is built on the movement of return." (Mandy Brown and the A Working Library blog)

So that is what I determined I'd do during my week of semi-isolation and contemplation, come back to my studio practice, a little at a time but steadily. And that is how the Mixed Media Challenge Journal above got finished. It's a good size book (6" x 9") filled with Fabriano 108lb mix media paper, and with its bookboard covers, heavy in the hand. And a good thing I wasn't making it as a gift. The first (and smaller version) of this journal gave me fits ( so many awkward parts to master and I was not happy with my straps), but I was confident I'd avoid these second time around, which I mostly did. Instead, different issues cropped up, ones I've never had before. The cover paper is some that came wrapped around an order with the encouragement to recycle/upcycle, and the color was just what I was looking for to go with the strap material which was the real reason I wanted to try the book again in a larger format. That's a leftover piece from a silk papermaking or fusion experiment after cutting the full piece into Japanese Stab Binding covers. Waste not, want not, and really too big just to toss. Anyway, the paper appeared sturdy enough for gluing to bookboard so I was stunned that it wrinkled and bubbled across the PVA-covered board. I worked and worked with my bone folder to smooth it the best I could, and some of it disappeared while drying under weights but there is a spot you may be able to see about a quarter of the way in along the top of the cover where the paper is no longer attached to the board. For now I am ignoring it, but at a later date I might be willing to try slipping some glue under there. The big button is out of my grandmother's/mother's button collection, probably off a coat, and I adore it. I really didn't want to do a lot of stitching down of the strap (nor had I wanted to split the strap into two narrower pieces) so this was my solution. I fashioned a closure from what I trimmed off to shorten the strap.

Only one of those lovely buttons but I rather like this one too which is the same size but not as thick, a bit better for the back of the book. I should have used this cover for the front but it really did look worse to me, but in fact the paper now looks less wrinkled etc. for reasons I can't fathom. And why did I think the strap should overlap so far over the covers? Well, I think I meant to leave more of a gap over the spine but even so, it probably should have been trimmed even more.

With the strap and closure sewn on (through holes worked into the covers with an awl), time to glue on the endpapers which will cover where the threads come through and are tied off, and where the accordion spine now glued together attaches its end flaps to the covers. These are from another piece of wrapping paper which was brown paper bag-like on one side and this slightly glisteny green on the other. I was ready for the worst and I got it. The paper started curling as soon as I started applying the glue and was a real challenge to position in place. When I started smoothing it down with a bone folder, I found many places along its edges where it wasn't sticking down and I struggled to get glue on those areas without it ending up on the right side. Back under weights until dry, hoping the wrinkles and bubbles would disappear and for the most part they did. But you can still see dark places that I don't understand and the paper not really heavy enough to mask the underlying threads and knots.

The other thing that became clear as I worked with that accordion folded spine was that I really should have heeded suggestions for a sturdier/heavier paper than my signature paper. But since that signature paper was the size I needed (so no cutting) and supposed to take wet medium, I opted for the easy way out. The paper didn't stay flat when the watercolor paint hit it and when you flip through the book, some of those painted peaks are not stiff and flat. But they do add the bit of color I was looking for. The book itself opens pretty flat and there is minimal rocking from the strap and buttons. It should work well for collaging and experimenting with the Posca Pens I bought.

There was slack time between steps while waiting for glue to dry while under weights, so I forged ahead with prep for the next books. Remember when I experimented with eco printing paper? I've used quite a bit of the product of those sessions but 7 of these smaller ones were still waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. Then the Handmade Book Club lady gave directions for this coverless Little Link Stitch book where the signatures are wrapped in a slightly heavier decorative paper. I checked my eco prints and although they were a bit larger than what the directions called for, I could just up-size my book. Have had this idea floating around for ages and now its going to get made. My signatures are cut to size and paired with a wrapper, ready for folding and punching.

In the meantime, here's another "use it up" project that will take no time as long I get the pieces together. And so I did that too - an orphan piece of eco printing and trial printing of lined paper teamed up to make a notebook for recording info on wine and beer. Right now that info is scribbled in a falling apart spiral notebook that is awkward to use when I take it with me to the store. This will be much better - holes punched and ready to sew those signatures in!

So yes, a productive week, returned to my practice which I plan to continue with renewed enthusiasm but remembering it is the returning part that is important. And partly fueled by the young neighbor girl who generally shows up at my door to borrow an egg, then bringing me a sample of whatever it is she's baking in return. But this time she just offered up the plate of cookies on the left, then returned the next day with the two cookies and selection of teas on the right. Can't she see I don't need more fattening up? :-) She is a very good baker, I must say, and since cookies are not my forte, these are much appreciated.

By the way, here's the link to the post where I ran across the "coming back" to a practice. It is actually about keeping up a blogging practice which was of interest to me, a die-hard blogger while so much of the social media world has moved on from that. Read it here: