The Sun Came Out

 The sun came out this week.  Real live blue sky sun for a whole couple of days!  Go ahead and laugh but in winter in Michigan that is RARE.  And it was just enough to get my juices flowing and start moving again.  I'm glad for so many reasons including my temperature tree leaves cross stitch will now have a different color because this week they are saying we will see the 40's!!  Open the windows!!! Wash them!!

Everyone is sick but not us and we want to keep it that way so we self imposed semi-isolation. So far so good. But the sun was shining and it seemed like such a waste.  So I cleaned out kitchen cupboards, taking everything out, tossing things that were embarrassingly well past their Best By dates, put down new, clean oil cloth and now I open them to just stare and smile. 

I also got some mojo back and started putting things out on the Thinking Bed.

There is a company called Elizabeth Wade Studio that makes dish towels with images of books and some universities on them.  I love the water color wash look of the images and bought the Little Women one because Little Women was the book that launched my reading life when I was ten years old. Washed it's ready to be the center medallion on a quilt project of some sort.  Not sure what yet but I started to audition pieces.  My habit is to leave things out on the bed for awhile while I walk past and think.  I am not nice to dish towels and they have a better chance of a good life if I don't use them in the kitchen.  

While cleaning out closets and drawers I came across some images I traced from something...don't know what or when.  But I'm in peasant mode right now and these ladies spoke peasant more than Matryoshka.  I started tracing out each of the women, going through fabrics that don't match and putting together packets for each of them.  I like that green for the background.  I'm thinking of getting them ready for retreat the end of March. I always have a hand quilting project I spend most of my time on at retreat but need something applique when my needle pushing finger gets sore.  That's the time I'm aiming for.  This is where Jo's project bags would come in handy!!  Have you seen her project bags?  She's having fun making them and they're beautiful.  I have some vinyl things I'll use for these ladies. 

These were the cut offs from the scallop border on Elizabeth's quilt.  They are the perfect shape of a funky tulip so I kept them-too nice and too big to toss.  Might find themselves on a border for the peasant ladies but I don't know. They sit on the Thinking Bed for now.

OK, here are the pillows I said I made a mistake in.  The basket pillows.  Do you see it?  Just nod your head when you do.  Like I said, if you have eyes you'll see it.  It isn't the first time I did a mistake and only saw it after the project was completely finished and in one case professionally framed!!  But I also decided after seeing it, I was not going to take it apart down to the studs to fix it.  It won't take long to fill this chaise lounge with pillows again!  I'm finding them a good and useful way to use orphans and scraps. 

Kids didn't have school Tuesday so I didn't go read so no books to show.