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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Joshua’s quilt

Saturday, December 21st, 2013

ALERT:  Joshua, if by chance you are reading this, STOP and GO AWAY!  <grin!>  Ashley, if YOU are reading this you may, but please don’t share pics with Joshua!

Please

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Yes, I am

trying to keep

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below the screen line!

It’s worth scrolling….

Yes, I am trying to get the photo below the screen line LOL!  In a small miracle, I have made some headway on Joshua’s quilt!  He graduated and got his GED in late Spring.  I started on it in late winter and hoped to have the top done by graduation.  Then I got the chance to make my video workshop (here) and was delayed.  Then I had hoped to have all of Autumn to work on it–but offers of articles and two bloghops to promote the now-out DVD intervened.  But I did get the diamonds made.  Yesterday I FINALLY got to put them up on the design wall, and I AM HAPPY!   If Joshua doesn’t like it (I’m sure he will), I’d love to sleep under this.

Clearly the quilt was inspired by Kaffe Fassett’s quilts.  I actually prefer the Philip Jacobs and Martha Negley prints to Kaffe’s, but had a lovely stash.  There was one print in particular that Joshua liked, so there are ten diamonds in that one, plus I plan to do a pieced “quilt modern-ish” back so the quilt will be two sided.  I think the quilt will be about 87 x 95 when done.  Yesterday I got the pieces up on the design wall (and partly on the floor):

Inspired by Kaffe Fassett's diamonds quilts.  I used the diamond template I had, then cut strips to make 1 inch (finished) sashing/borders for each diamond.  There are not two pairings the same in the entire quilt.  Doesn't the color just make you happy?  Now to get it pieced without messing up the order!

Inspired by Kaffe Fassett’s diamonds quilts. I used the diamond template I had, then cut strips to make 1 inch (finished) sashing/borders for each diamond. There are not two pairings the same in the entire quilt. Doesn’t the color just make you happy? Now to get it pieced without messing up the order!

As I was stitching the edges onto the diamonds, I started popping them up on the wall.  What a muddle!  Wasn’t happy.  So I tried grouping them by center color (large prints) and, when that wasn’t so great, by border color (smaller scale designs/prints).  That worked much better, so I chose a simple rainbow flow:  reds to orange-ish/yellow to green to blues.  When I got to the bottom of the number of rows I needed, I had lots of blues, so used them to fill in the triangles on the tope and sides and really like how the darker strips help contain the quilt.  I’ll use a dark-ish blue for a simple binding.

Now I need to upload a few photos to a transfer site in the cloud for my next article for Machine Quilting Unlimited!  WOOT!

 

 

 

Il est ne le divin enfant, Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Saturday, December 21st, 2013

For today’s Christmas carol, we’re heading overseas.  In high school, Mme. Tuomala (as you might guess she was our French teacher at San Domenico School) taught us French carols, and I always loved Il est ne le divin enfant (the holy child is born).  I have a version that includes Ca Bergers (sorry, don’t know how to make the cedille and the accents in French on my laptop), sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.  Here is a version on Youtube; skip to the 2 minute point where the singing begins.

Mme. Tuomala met a US soldier during World War 2 whom she married and then immigrated to the U.S.  Her mother, Mme. Peyrol, also came and also taught at San Domenico.  I remember my classes and Mme. Tuomala (who was always Mme. Tuomala and never Violette to me).  I learned so much from her that I went straight into Advanced French in college and tested well when I entered the Foreign Service.  She was from Provence, and maybe some day I will get to visit her native home.  I can still remember her telling the story of her dog, alerting him to an intruder in the yard:  “Chat! Chat!” and watching him go berserk yapping at the cat on the other side of the sliding door!

Light One Candle, The Magi

Friday, December 20th, 2013

As we approach solstice, I think we can all relate to the idea of lighting a candle in the dark (well, here in the Northern Hemisphere anyway!).  As Arlo Guthrie noted on a favorite album, Precious Friend, you can’t have a light without a dark to put it in.   Though this song comes from the tradition of lighting the candles at Hannukah, it is a light that we all share.

One of my holiday traditions is to watch my DVD (started with casssette tape, added the CD, then the DVD) of the Peter Paul and Mary Holiday Concert.  If my family is lucky, I do this when I am alone out in the house, because I belt out many of the songs as loud as my not-so-great voice can!

And another favorite from that concert–The Magi:

Christmas in a Small Town and Angel Escalators

Thursday, December 19th, 2013

Yesterday on Facebook I posted a youtube link to a favorite carol.  Then I decided it might be fun to post here, as well, and every day for the coming week share one of my favorite carols from my Christmas Vocals playlist.  I have more pieces that are instrumentals, but I’ve decided that while the instrumentals are great in the background (like at Christmas dinner), I prefer SONGS–the kind with words where I can join along (at least when alone in the car so I don’t break someone’s ears!).   Today’s carol is a new one, by quilting’s own Ricky Tims.  I’ve lived in small towns since 1998, and I can’t imaging going back to living in a city (even a small one) or suburbs.   Love the scale of life, the pace of life, the unexpected joy of running in to someone I know.

And photos from yesterday and this morning.  We have a glorious lot of snow this year before Christmas, so yesterday I walked the dog down our driveway (which is long, 3/10 mile) to the mailbox so I could shovel out the plow heap and get mail.  This was the view along the way down:

Walking down the driveway.  Our house is in the middle of a large rectangle.  The other lots are on the outside, ours is in the middle, so we have a 3/10 mile driveway that is a narrow strip between the two neighbors, then it makes an "L" around the bottom of our lot up to the house.  This is on the bottom of the L, looking to the straight part between the log house on the right and the  other one (hidden) in the woods on the left.

Walking down the driveway. Our house is in the middle of a large rectangle. The other lots are on the outside, ours is in the middle, so we have a 3/10 mile driveway that is a narrow strip between the two neighbors, then it makes an “L” around the bottom of our lot up to the house. This is on the bottom of the L, looking to the straight part between the log house on the right and the other one (hidden) in the woods on the left.  The willows had grown from shrub to Godzilla (each one) and were threatening the swallow cars on the driveway, so they got a major buzz cut recently.  LOVE the look of the stubs (and fear not, they will recover and grow with wild abandon again).

After clearing the plow pile by the mailbox, on the way back up the sunlight streamed through the woods (now on the right as you walk back uphill) and lit the beech leaves.  I LOVE how the leaves refuse to let go all winter, only dropping when new growth pushes them off.

After clearing the plow pile by the mailbox, on the way back up the sunlight streamed through the woods (now on the right as you walk back uphill) and lit the beech leaves. I LOVE how the leaves refuse to let go all winter, only dropping when new growth pushes them off.  There is a quilt in the tenacity of the beech tree.

My favorite tree, a very old, prolific apple.  It is on the right as you walk uphill (left looking down, as here).  This tree is SO going to be a quilt!

My favorite tree, a very old, prolific apple. It is on the right as you walk uphill (left looking down, as here). This tree is SO going to be a quilt!  Maybe this winter if I don’t goof off!

And this row of evergreens planted by the former owner on the property line.  Usually we have wind with the snow, so don't have the frosted look too often.

And this row of evergreens (opposite my beloved apple tree) planted by the former owner on the property line. Usually we have wind with the snow, so don’t have the frosted look too often.

And taking a step or two beyond the apple tree and looking uphill, you see the big meadow, the hedgerow/stone wall in the middle left, there's another meadow (i.e. not-mown place) and the house at the crest of the hill.  Midday in Maine as we approach the solstice.

And taking a step or two beyond the apple tree and looking uphill, you see the big meadow, the hedgerow/stone wall in the middle left, there’s another meadow (i.e. not-mown place) and the house at the crest of the hill (just to the left of the sun). Midday in Maine as we approach the solstice.

And this morning from Route 131 in Appleton, looking southeast.  Isn't that sky and sun and rays glorious?  When I was about 4, we returned to the US from Argentina and stayed with my gramma a while.  I had to go to Sunday school and learned all about angels.  I also saw escalators for the first time (early 60s) and was enchanted as they didn't have those where I had lived in Argentina.  I wondered how angels got from Heaven to Earth, then say the sun rays and figured they must be escalators for the angels.  So forever after, Angel Escalators--even my kids know that's what they are.

And this morning from Route 131 in Appleton, looking southeast. Isn’t that sky and sun and rays glorious? When I was about 4, we returned to the US from Argentina and stayed with my gramma a while. I had to go to Sunday school and learned all about angels. I also saw escalators for the first time (early 60s) and was enchanted as they didn’t have those where I had lived in Argentina. I wondered how angels got from Heaven to Earth, then saw the sun rays and figured they must be escalators for the angels. So forever after, Angel Escalators–even my kids know that’s what they are.

Enjoy your holidays.  Don’t let the hustle and bustle of the season distract you from the beauty around you and the joy of being in a place and with the people who make life wonderful.

And for those of you not on FaceBook yesterday, here is yesterday’s, Emmanuel God With Us by Amy Grant, which my dear friend Deborah Boschert shared with me years ago and has become a favorite.

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Christmas Cards Done!

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013

Well, they are ordered!  Now I have to write the newsletter, wait for the cards to arrive, get the address labels ready, write personal notes, add stamps (already purchased) and get them in the mail…..

 

Stationery Card
View the entire collection of cards.