Patience and Prudence

←This is Patience she measures in right now, before borders, at 64" X 78". She has all but emptied out my bin of 3.5" square scraps. Hallelujah! This was a great stash/scrap buster! Fifty 8" squares of every shade and hue. Im glad that I stuck with this one, it makes me happy. Patience has a baby sister, too:

This is Prudence↑. She's made with the leftover HSTs from her big sister; she measures 25" X 38". (Since one definition of "prudence" is: "skill and good judgement in the management and use of resources" it seemed to be the perfect name.) Isn't she cute? I do plan to add borders to Patience this week. But, you know how it is... things keep coming up, we'll see. I used to keep up with this blog, it's a wonder to me now how I ever did it. I'm not making any more promises to get better about posting. Speaking of things coming up:

Ta-da! Quiltdivajulie has been posting pics of her glorious Amaryllis bulbs. Here's ours... it's always fun to watch these emerge and climb high before bursting into glorious blooms to brighten the otherwise bleak winter days. Every day there's a visible display of progress and growth!

Dad had this photo sent to me. I told him that I wanted to see his smiling face but he told me to "get over it". Even in his current situation he's kept a great attitude and sense of humor. That's a blessing. The pillow that he is holding here was presented to him by his nursing team last week. It is made from a jacket that belonged to my mother. 💖 As sad as I am that Dad is no longer at home I am comforted by the fact that this facility is staffed by such loving and compassionate individuals that they would do something like this for him!  Acts of kindness such as these make a huge difference in the lives of those that they're caring for!

I'll close today with this picture of Lynnleigh, we spent the day shopping with her today to celebrate her 13th birthday! Yes, THIRTEEN! I know. sigh.  We're no strangers to birthday shopping trips throughout the years but they're no longer to the American Girl store. Sigh. So, what did the birthday girl choose for her outing? We shopped for books, craft supplies, accessories, a pullover, skin care items and, naturally, we just had to end our special day out with an ice cream sundae! It just doesn't get any better than that!

Life is Good!

Here to There and Back Again

We've been on a road trip to the Lakes Region of NH. Spent time with Mom and Dad for both Father's Day and my mother's birthday this past Tuesday. This photo is from five years ago. There have been a lot of changes since 2019. Mom can't physically navigate much anymore, she's a good deal weaker than I've ever seen; it's so hard to watch this happen. But, on the bright side, at 91 and 96 they're doing quite well, all things considered. Just two months ago when she was hospitalized, Mom's doctor never expected for her to be at home again. We're rejoicing in the fact that today she is, sleeping in her own bed and spending her days in her favorite recliner alongside Dad; there's much to be thankful for. 

We took Mom out to an ice cream stand for a cone on her birthday, take a look at the cones available to choose from. 😉 We also ate lobster, Mom's favorite; what a special treat! I had lobster rolls two days in a row. It was my duty you understand "when in Rome...".

Arriving home on Thursday other special treats were waiting. 

The garden Phlox and Echinacea are in bloom. 

The Brazilian Verbena is attracting Zebra Swallowtails and Goldfinch in flocks!

I potted up a dish garden for Mom's birthday, found a wide variety of small houseplants at a local nursery before we left. I believe that Mom will enjoy this, they have great big windows that let in loads of light in their family room and kitchen area where this should thrive.

A friend from church shared this. She had gone to prepare the altar for Sunday service and sat down in one of the pews to pray after she'd finished. She looked up to see this reflected on the carpet. Wow.

😊

Smile- God is watching!

Life is Good!

What a Difference...

...a year makes! Our little Augie is all grown up! It hardly seems possible that he's been with us a year now. It sure didn't take him that long, though, to train us. 

The best seat in the house isn't a seat at all; he's the resident "hearth hound"!

He's filled our hearts and home with pure, unconditional love over the past twelve months.

And in other news around the house, (I'm trying to catch up!) the Christmas Cacti decided to put on their show a month early, I suppose they're Thanksgiving Cacti instead.

My parents sent this, a Swiss Cheese plant, when I broke my wrist at the end of August; it's already doubled in size! Have you ever seen one of these before? It was new to me.

These treasures were gifts from my mother, they belonged to her mother and are at least 100 years old. The smaller, clear glass cake plate is also a pedestal style, I tipped it up to show the detail. I'm so grateful for these and can't wait to use them for Christmas entertaining. 

I was privileged to be asked to create paraments for Advent for our sanctuary at church.

They were dedicated and placed into service this past Sunday. 

We watched this movie recently, if you like happy endings like I do, you'll love it! ⭐⭐⭐

I've got this pretty piece under the needle currently; this top is one of MANY (in the 100's!) left behind by a lifelong quilter who passed away last year. Her daughter is donating them to charitable causes, I'm honored to help her bring them to completion as blessings to others. 

So, back to "what a difference"... how about twelve years? Augie's not the only one growing up at the speed of light. Mason is driving now, he's not four anymore; and I tried SO hard not to blink. Sigh. 

Life is Good!

Button, Button...

... who's got the button? 

I do!

This huge jar of buttons represents three generations of button hoarders keepers collectors! I have inherited the button baskets that belonged to my grandmother as well as my mother; keep in mind that I already had a very healthy-sized, full, button tin of my own! In an effort to tidy up, organize and consolidate, these buttons now all occupy the same space! This jar itself stands well over a foot tall and is nine and half inches in diameter! Take a guess at how much that many buttons weigh*!

😲

It's become a decorative conversation piece on the desk in my sewing room now, along with the buttons it holds as much sentimental value to me as anything.

In other hot-weather happenings around here:

  One of last year's Blocks-of-the-Month is now quilted and ready for binding, this one is Lady's Scrap Basket by Bits 'n Pieces. Quilted with Daisy Swirl pantograph. 

And another one, same quilt shop different BOM from last year. Timeless with a Twist by Michelle Renee Hiatt for Studio 180. Quilted with Oh, My Feathers pantograph. 

As we've continued to clean out cabinets as is necessary with the current, ongoing, kitchen re-do project, I ran across a shelf devoted to candle shades such as this one pictured. I had collected them over the years and used them, seasonally, in decorating spaces here and there around the house. I was going to give them all away, thinking them to be just "one more thing" adding to the clutter. But, I just couldn't do it. I truly love them and each one meant something to me, connecting me with another time and place. Mr. G. reminded me to think about the Japanese Art of Tidying and Marie Kondo's mantra about sparking joy. "If you love them", he said, "keep them. After we're long gone if our children want to toss out or auction off all of our belongings they're free to do that". I took his words to heart. 💗 They're staying. 

Moving outdoors: I bare-root save my front porch geraniums over the winter in cardboard boxes in the basement. Come spring, I remove them from their dark storage containers, pot them up with fresh soil and begin watering them in. Here's a side by side for comparison. L: April 1st, R: today.  I've been doing this with the same plants for years. Honestly, I didn't think I'd removed them early enough this year (I forgot), I typically start them in March; they did struggle at first but, as you can see, they've done just fine again this year. Phew! 

And now, back to that kitchen project: Along with new cabinetry we're replacing our 22+ y.o. appliances. Here's the new dishwasher, someone decided to thoroughly check it out! I asked Mr. G what cycle he thought I should use on a load like this one. His reply "A short one!"

*So, did you hazard a guess as to how much "three-generations of buttons" jar weighs?  

21 lbs!

That's a LOT of buttons. 

 Life is Good!

Winter Stitching and other Happenings

I've been as busy in the sewing room this month as an active puppy will allow me to be! Never a dull moment around here. I've begun cutting out all the pieces for "Stars and Snowflakes" by Wendy Sheppard. 

The trial block is shown here, under construction. I hope to have this all cut and prepped to take along for stitching together at an upcoming weekend retreat. While preparing all the pieces for this one I managed to finally gather enough folded triangle leftovers to constitute a 9" block. I can't throw any of these triangles away, even the 1.5" itty-bitties! 

Yet one more block for the bulging, overflowing, orphan block bin. I need to get all of these blocks out and stitch them together soon! Something I keep telling myself. 

This donation quilt for a child received a mini Cloud Stipple quilting design to bring it to life. It's really sweet with the small character panels, and quilted up quickly; I really loved working on it. 

Augie has become quite the little sewing room companion. He sits in my chair with me whenever he can. 

He also has his bed and toys in here, which helps when I'm at the longarm! 

He's grown quite a bit in the past 6.5 weeks!

He thinks that his job is to prune all of our houseplants! The training is going okay; he's slowly learning. We didn't attend puppy class this past week due to a reported case of Giardia; I didn't think it was worth it to risk him being exposed, just in case. So, he's learning new things as a home schooler right now; first lesson: time out for tearing up plants! That's a tough one!

Speaking of plants; this beauty, an Amaryllis bulb Christmas gift, is putting on a show in the kitchen right now... 

... while these forced forsythia branches are brightening up the family room! A harbinger of things to come!

Our youngest grandchild finally had her "official" birthday celebration last week. 

They're all double-digits now. Sigh. I'd better hang on to our Augie baby as long as I can! 😉

Life is Good!

New Starts

My second new quilt start happened this week with yet another block-of-the-month class. This one is based on a pattern called "Cream and Sugar" by It's Sew Emma. I've decided to adopt the lower-contrast neutral palette as illustrated; I think it will be pretty and a nice way for me to experiment with value, it will be fun. One of the class participants expressed that she thought beige quilts were so "blah". I laughed to myself because I was thinking the exact opposite; I'm looking at this one more as a "palate cleanser", sometimes it's nice to create a little breathing space, color-wise. I find it to be calming and very soothing. 

Here's another new start, or maybe this could be termed a fresh start! When my MIL passed away, almost six years ago, I brought a few of her houseplants back to our home, one of them was this scraggly Christmas Cactus. It survived, over the years (albeit barely). This spring I decided to release it from it's too-small pot prison and replant it, with fresh soil, into a larger pot with room for its roots to spread and grow. The transformation in the plant's vigor and vitality has been amazing after a summer on the porch. I'm super-excited about the prospects for this one come blooming season, fingers crossed.

More new plants, new starts: out with the overgrown geraniums and in with fall Pansies. I've taken those overgrown geraniums inside, trimmed them and boxed them up, bare-root style, for wintering-over. I've done this before but it's always a concern: more crossed fingers and high hopes. We'll see!

Last week Mr. Goodneedle and I hit the road and headed for the mountains, another mental health day. The weather was great and the foliage color on our route didn't disappoint. 

We discovered this winery along the way, a great find and a completely relaxing afternoon; one that's good simply for recharging!

Here's a recent shot of our patio. The leaves aren't the only things falling! You'd need a helmet or a hardhat to sit out here lately. I thought this might be an ominous predictor of what kind of winter we're in for, but, apparently all that this profusion of acorns signifies is a substantial mast crop. Okay, we'll see. 

And sew, here we go again; new starts, new beginnings. I'm excited to see where this goes.

What new starts are your brewing up at your house?

Life is Good!