Happy New Year

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This is the time when we assess what is behind us and look and plan for what is before us. I had intended to post this on the yesterday… but my thoughts were to disjointed and confusing to even try to make sense of. But I am doing better today. I think the reflecting part makes me think that while there were certainly some silver linings to be found but for others, it was a very painful and horrible year to live through.

Suffice it to say, behind us has been a struggle and that is putting it gently. Juggling life, work, and contradicting information was just plain hard! Nuff said!

What did we do with all that time?

Out here in the country, we coped by filling the time with projects around the place. We raised some chickens for their eggs, (they’ve been freeloading for the last 2 months, but egg production resumed this week!), some meat (pigs), and we are still working on the cow. We tested the garden area, it still needs improvement, some foods grew too well and others fizzled. Built a new chicken coop and pen and we are improving the barn, and trying to beat back the invasive honeysuckle. We are also in the process of some landscaping and generally enjoying the country life.

Traditions

New Year breakfast tradition: lox and bagel
Our New Years tradition, Lox and Bagels with the works!

2021 started pretty late… for us. We don’t stay up, so our celebration started the way it does every year. With breakfast. This our celebration and tradition. It lasts as long as the bag of bagels does, and then we put it away for another year.

Looking Forward

Now that 2020 is in the past, we have so much to look forward to. Spring is coming, which will bring better weather and flowers as well as the greening of the grass and trees. We will also have longer days and more sunshine and that always makes for a better mental balance!

I don’t know about a focus word for the coming year. I don’t think I did one last year… and if I did it probably went out the window about mid-March! This year there is so much expectation for a better everything and so much to do to bring it about. Maybe EXPECTATION is a good word… I think I will adopt it for 2021.

On the Horizon

Long-range planning with goals or milestones is not what I am capable of doing. It is not something I can comprehend, how do you make plans and be flexible? That may be because I have never really lived anyplace long enough to set a goal and achieve it. I generally live by the season… and my plans were things I’d like to fit into the ebb and flow as time permits. This year is still up in the air, but I do have 3 long-range projects currently in the works.

#1 Catalog all my digital photographs, (many 1000’s and categorize them in PS Organizer, there are only about 6000 for 2020). I know this because I already did this for 2020, and was playing in the program and promptly deleted the whole catalog. Maybe my word should be ‘Backup’!

#2 I am also cataloging the quilts I have made. Amazing how much I have forgotten about some of them. It has been fun revisiting them. Remember the word ‘Backup’, yep I had completed several narratives, and managed to delete 2/3s of the catalog, including the pictures. I will have to find them all again as well as rewrite the information.

#3 Finish the main floor. The contractor finished up his work in early spring, but that was when the outside work got started. There are a couple of small walls that still need to be primed and painted, possibly painting the kitchen ceiling, some touch-up painting, the new coat closet needs the shelves and a hanging rail, and walls that need pictures or quilts or both. There is also a wall in the basement that needs to be painted. I have put most of this off because I hate painting.

Visiting

Doing things with others in 2021, will depend on the vaccine and distribution timelines. While we wait we will finish the cow, plant a garden, and welcome 2 new pigs and we are hoping to have family and guests come to visit too. One young one that received a sewing machine for Christmas has already requested a springtime visit! A book is winging its way to her this week. She visited in October and her plans were to spent the day in the sewing room. So I set up a machine and we practiced pinning and sewing. The results of a morning at the sewing machine. A quilt for the Elizabethtown Hosparus (Hospice) for a veteran in care. Miss A did all the sewing. It has been quilted and is waiting for the opportunity to go to town.

Miss A Quilting Lesson
Miss A came for a visit. Her plan was to sew

Hope and Reflection

The best news is that we now have hope. Hope is a powerful force. With hope, we can conquer anything. We can beat the monsters back, build up the foundations, and lend a hand. I have an idea for several quilts, but I need to finish things in the basement and some business loose ends (like Inventory) and then back to the fun.

If you’ve made it this far thank you for your time and attention. Have you reflected back on 2020 and how would you sum it up? Any positives? What are you most looking forward to in 2021? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Happy New Year again, and more later, including another finish! Beth

There is always more to do…

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Not that I needed to find another task, especially at this time of year. But I did!

The Closet Area

I made a plan to complete the inside of the closet area. Bought all the stuff and moved all the miscellaneous boxes of stuff out of the closet space to hang the uprights. This closet is just shelves, with no space for a hanging rail. It needs some doors yet. Originally I had planned barn doors, a double-track system, so they could slide in front of each other. I may still do that… once I decide if I need flooring. In the meantime, if I keep it this neat, I might be able to stand looking at it!

New Closet Shelves
The new closet shelves were empty for about 5 minutes!

Kitchen Gifts

In the meantime, I am crafting ‘Friends’ gifts in the kitchen. I make biscotti every year and gift to friends and family. It’s not a surprise each year when I drop them off, as it has been my tradition for many years. I have a batch to drizzle with icing today and another to get into the oven. I think they are the last for the year. These are for the neighbors on our road, and this year for most of them, the first time.

Christmas Biscotti
Several Biscotti Gifts ready to to

Another UFO Finished

The photo used to create the Pink Water Lily Quilt
Water Lily photo was taken at the Morton Arboretum in Aurora IL 2017

On the UFO side, I finished another. ‘The Lily’. I took this picture of a water lily in September 2017 at the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago. I wanted to play with a multi-step color gradation. Which failed. I did not separate the darkest pinks enough by value and it is muddy in the medium petal areas. From a distance, it looks ok. But up close the shading in the medium color petals is difficult to see.

Water Pink Lily Quilt finshed front
Done is good

I did have fun using every single shiny threat that fell into the color scheme that I had.

Detail of the pine water lily quilt
Shiny threads

When looking at the back you can see that from inception to finish I forgot what I was intending to do. I have worked on a couple of these where I have hidden much of the threadwork from view, but wished that it would have shown in the end. So this began with the intent of showing all the thread work on the back… which requires as much thought as the thread color for the front and paying attention. I did not remember or pay attention. Again, it can be used as a teaching tool. All the shiny threads, the value flaw, and the issues with the back.

The Lily back detail
I forgot the intention for the back of the quilt.

I as usual have lots going on, the weather has turned cold. Icy cold, this morning 17°. All the water is iced over. The cows, the chickens, and the pond. A good day to stay inside. I need to plug in the cat water bowl too since the pond now has ice at the edges.

Christmas is fast approaching, only a week to go. I doubt I will get back here before so I will close by wishing you the Happiest of Holidays!!! and stay healthy, stay apart and wash your hands I want to see you here next year too!!!

Beth

Creative Space -and- A UFO

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In the last post, I shared some of how I organize my ‘Creative Space’. Nothing has changed unless you count making a mess. I have a new project. A small ornament swap, I’ll share more about that later.

New Command Center

The table stays pretty clear because I use it for just about everything… cutting, planning, computing, and shipping. However, the table is going to change and I have a new layout I want to try as well. This means I need to find a block of time to clean up everything that is currently out or in use.

Lift Table
going to be the new work table

A few months ago I found some motorized lift desks. The current tabletop on this desk is about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide, and irregular. My plan is to attach a larger melamine on top of the current tabletop. I like a big table, in the neighborhood of 4 feet wide by 6-8 feet long. In addition to bigger, I will be able to raise and lower the table for whatever I need to do. I really like a higher table for cutting, and since I am short a lower table for sitting at. The problem with a regular height table or desk is either a chair won’t get me high enough for comfort or if it does, my feet don’t rest on the floor. There are still so many projects to do in the basement area… so the picture also includes other things waiting to move.

UFO Report

In the meantime, I have a completed project… a UFO.

When I first set up the ‘Creative Space’, I knew I wanted to make some creativity happen. But with what? Did I want to piece, applique, stitch, quilt? Make something new or finish something that had already been started, (aka UFO)? Making a new something seemed like such a big mess to make so I decided to see what was in the UFO box. While I going through them I reorganized them. Bonus!

UFO boxes
The newly sorted and labeled UFO storage boxes

After sorting the UFOs, I chose a little piece that started as a sample and designed to remain unfinished for a little while. I love bright happy flowers, and these certainly fit the bill. This was the beginning of the project, and as you can see as we move along, this was the initial concept.

Free Spirit Flowers start
This is the auditioning of the large flowers and some leaves.

And the concept changed. I added stems and a vase before starting the threadwork. I completed the threadplay, or so I thought. Also, originally, there was a quilting plan, marked in blue water-soluble marker, but I didn’t like it. I spritzed the blue marks off with water and a color ran. I thought it was from a flower fabric, and essentially a ruined project to that is where I left it with disappointment. However, I determined it might be a good teaching tool; the colorfastness of thread and fabric isn’t always guaranteed. It is difficult to see, but at the top of the large pink flower, you can see a bit of a color bleed, between the 2 yellow zinnias.

Free Spirit Flowers Stitched
Flowers Free-motion stitched and background quilting completed.

For the quilting, I decided on some regular wavy lines, (that mimick the vase shape), and quilted those. I then quilted the “table” in a free motion wood grain. Bound it and gave it a bath. To my surprise, the color bleed was from the thread. The thread dye rinsed right out even though I had pressed it several times during construction!

Free Spirit Flowers complete
Free Spirit Flowers all done

All done. I still like the flowers, but it is not my most favorite composition… or completion. One of the things I learned is that before you begin work on a boxed UFO project, is to take a few minutes or a day to reacquaint yourself with the project and where you left off; and assess everything that still needs to be done. I had missed some threadwork and discovered it while quilting, (flower centers), so I did that while quilting. It made the back very inconsistent.

Cute Cats

I promised cute cats, (this one is especially for Linda). Linda has virtually adopted the cats and sends them treats. She has kept them stocked with ‘Temptations’ since we moved out here and discovered that 7 cats came with the place. The cats are fed in the mornings, but I give them a few ‘auntie treats’ after I come back from feeding the cow in the evenings.

Cat Hug
Senior Uno and Tutone

That is not all of the completed projects … I’ll share another next time!!! and if you are still here. Thanks for reading.

Please stay well, wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay home as much as possible.

More Later- Beth