« January 2021 | Main | March 2021 »
Did I finish 10 things?
No, but I did finish this (more sides shown here) + 5 other things.
I am not counting cups of coffee.
One of the other things included a scrap of fabric sent to me by Nancy.
The print with flowers and birds on a white background.
Thank you! I love having pieces of community in this.
It's for us all in a way.
And yes there is snow.
I think 5 to 6 inches at the moment and still coming.
And there is a little trouble too... I blame not finishing on her.
A late start today.
I am off work for the day and took an early morning nap.
And there are distractions.
Widget discovered a flock of birds outside the window.
Each time there is a gust of wind the flock flew up and then came back down. This went on for about 30 minutes.
She would have been a good barn cat.
Finish is such a strange thing when considered.
It can mean being done with something in it's entirety (which I don't really believe in) or finishing a step, using something up.
Today I am setting myself a goal to finish 10 things.
It could be as simple as finish this ball of yarn on the insomnia blanket.
(I work on this throughout the day, but it remains my go-to for early morning knitting.)
Or finish assembling this.
10 things because I don't want it to be too easy to accomplish or impossible to well...
finish.
So much of making is just showing up and doing the work. There is beauty and peace in repetition.
The pink velvet was once white. I dyed it years ago. The fabric was given to me by a friend. Her mother-in-law was a rock collector and liked to use velvet for display.
I like knowing there is a little piece of that friendship here.
Being able to knit or hand stitch is challenging right now...
Working very hard on Widget not seeing my hand as something to attack.
A towel is helpful.
Lots of attention to wear her out so that she takes a break.
And then some knitting.
This is morning it really looks like waves on the sea.
This morning
Stitching
and thinking of family.
The baby in the photo is one of my grandfathers, being held by his mother. The other woman in the back row is my great-great grandmother. The rest, an assortment of aunts and uncles and siblings.
There are two family names, but I am not sure how they are related. I am hoping I can figure it out using some notes I have. Maybe Dad knows. Grandma would, but we can't ask her right now and if we did she might not remember.
Most of them would have lived during the Spanish Flu...
just thinking.
At first, I wasn't so sure this block was going to work.
Then by the time I added the outside colors it was good.
I can't remember where I read this but somewhere...the advice that if enough different colors are used it doesn't matter whether they "go" with each other or not.
And that brings me to the thought that we need diversity to succeed.
"Thunder or raccoons on the roof?"
The first two nights, half asleep, I really wasn't sure... leaning towards raccoons because a small skein of yarn I'd left on the line outside overnight went missing.
This morning at 3 AM...question answered.
Raccoons, two younger ones.
This morning, looking out the window I found some of the yarn.
Hmm.
When it stops raining I'll cut down the tree that they are using as their steps. It might discourage them.
Unlike one of my grandfathers, who liked unusual pets, I want them to move on.
Today's project:
Making copies of old photos to add to the book I am making for one of my brothers.
Playing with Widget and Lola.
And a nap.
Yesterday's 15 was a mask because the mask supply didn't make it into the last load of laundry.
Masks...worn as protection they also create some kind of exhaustion. And are, of course, a point of conflict.
They can seem surreal and make visible the strangeness of the world we live in right now.
This morning at dawn the sky is dark, although it is supposed to clear.
The hazelnut that grows along the back porch has really become bigger than I want it to be and I keep thinking I need to trim it back.
Each time I go to do so I hesitate. The hummingbirds that live in the area like to perch on tip of the branches that lean to the right.
The male's throat when he turns just right shines like the silk I've chosen to bind quilt squares together.
This morning's 15 was to work on one of the corners where two blocks join.
I laid the blocks across the bed, imagining what it might look like block after block.
Comfort, shelter, and as much color as a trip to the nursery in the spring with row upon row of flowers to choose from.
I look closer at one of the few things that will be consistent in the quilt, the center block.
I like to think of them as sky blocks.
A little blue sky, a few clouds.
A reminder to step outside and take a deep breath.