TAST week 3 challenge was Buttonhole stitch and Reversed Buttonhole Bar. The bright yellow flower is Reversed Buttonhole Bar with regular buttonhole around it (2 strands of floss and perle 5). The stem is backstitch (perle 5). The dark gold flower is a spiraled overlapping buttonhole over a snippet of fabric (2 strands of floss). I didn’t like how it turned out, so I added single chain stitches (perle 5). That one’s stem is stem stitch (perle 3). The bottom of…
I don’t know who walked up onto my deck this morning, but I have never seen such big bird tracks before. The crows’ feet aren’t that big. I imagine something the size of a turkey. They are about the same width and half the length of my feet! (Yes, I do go out into the snow in bare feet,)
Yesterday, after finally clearing the creches off the mantel and piano, I decided I wanted a planned mantel. It’s always what I want, actually, but somehow never what I’ve had. I googled around and finally ended up reading at The DIY Playbook and got an idea what I’ve always done wrong. I was sure I had a “before” photo, but if I do, I can’t find it. It’s not in iCloud or on Flickr. So… I played around with GIMP,…
By the echinacea photo I took today
The cloudy, rainy days get to me. Since the rain has paused, I went out to look for some cheer. I didn’t need a coat, though if were going for a walk I would have put on a sweater–or better yet, my rain slicker. This is what I found: Not bad for January 5! The grass is greener than ever and the driveway is, too(with moss)! Pretty soon the early blooms of spring will be out. Woohoo!!
This post is really me thinking/planning for the new year, which is as close as I get to resolutions. I’m making it public for a certain level of accountability. And, who knows, maybe someone else might find something helpful. Goals are not, never have been, my strong suit. Nonetheless, periodically I do set some. Although 2020 has been a crap year for most, I have minimally come out on the plus side. This is partly because what is a lockdown…
Digitizing I’ve had laundry basket labels on my to-do list for some time. With a label, Iqbal will know which basket to put things in when he does that chore and I won’t end up shrinking or bleaching something if I forget to double check before putting them in the machine. I started working on them last spring, but interruptions and distractions kept me from finishing. At first I did them too big. When I stitched one out, I didn’t…
I’m in a kind of meditative mood. This title just popped into my head and immediately it had two meanings. While away from this blog, I did some things. I never do as much of what I want to do as I think I will, though. My sister moved in with us temporarily while she looked for and found her new home. She will probably be here another month, waiting for closing and then new flooring and painting before she…
Even though I was not directly affected and personally know only one family who lost their home, I dreamt of the fires this morning, of being in them, I think, but not harmed. Perhaps it’s because that one family is so close to me. The bad part is that I woke at eight a.m. with a brilliant quilt idea that wouldn’t let me go back to sleep until about ten. That’s all the middle of the night for this night…
… ‘Cause life keeps getting me behinder. The fires got close to Salem on September 7, 2020. My granddaughters and their parents are all safe, but their house is gone. Fortunately they have a house in Portland. Air quality since the 7th has been moderate to hazardous and I guess it will remain at the latter for a while, unless we get rain. Obviously, with hazardous air, I didn’t get restarted on walking in the park. My knee therapy was…