Lost and Found

 Have you ever put something somewhere, can see exactly in your mind's eye where but when you went for it, there was no sign of it anywhere?  Did that then mean you took apart your whole stash while looking for it?  And did you find it then?  I thought not, but at least my stash is more organized now.  That was a project a couple of weeks ago.  I was looking for these three embroidered pieces and knew exactly how I stored them, where I put them, even had my hands on them a few months ago.  But no, I couldn't find them.

 I kept my mom busy for a long time embroidering for me.  She loved embroidering, I took advantage of her eyesight while she had it, and she liked the projects.  She had gone through the whole family with tablecloths, pillow cases, table runners, so this was different for her.

I stored them thinking they would be a center medallion for a couple of quilts so stored them on a roll for many years.  Then I decided I didn't need to make them a centerpiece for a whole quilt.  A small hanging piece would be just fine.  And the small piece wouldn't get the wear and tear of a quilt.  So, I went looking for them.  And they were hiding well.  But I found them, bordered them and am now getting them ready to hand quilt.

It's a very dark day here today, rainy, and yucky so finding a good window for the brightness isn't good but the lack of sunshine makes the colors here true. I love that the colors are reflected from the basket center.

I loved the fabric I used for this border and over time used it very sparingly and now it's almost all gone but for a very small piece. I thought it worked well with the pumpkin theme.  My mom embroidered the pumpkin and basket for Friend Marilyn, too.

This one hasn't been done yet but these are the colors I'll use.  I'm going to TRY a Friend Sally-ish very small checked border. I like the idea of that and hope I can pull it off.  

On this dark and dreary and rainy and cold day I think this is my task for the day.
 

The Ballad of Laurel Springs

 

   The Ballad of Laurel Springs by Janet Beard

Old folk songs are more than just songs of entertainment.  Old folk songs are poetry, stories, documents passed on through voice when sometimes the written word couldn't be read.  Old folk songs, if you were so inclined, can be mined for the story behind the story.  You can enjoy them for the music or you can learn something about yourself.

Grace was assigned a family history project in fifth grade.  She was told by an aunt that her great-great-great-great grandfather stabbed his lover to death and well, if you know a fifth grader, learning something like that in your family's history can only make you very determined to find out what happened.

Through YouTube Grace is introduced to the song Pretty Polly, the ballad tells the story of her ancestor Willy Reid and his killing of Polly.  Now, country bands just add the song to their list and perform it but Grace wants to know the story behind the story and she traces each generation through the women in the family all the way back to Polly and thus giving Polly her life back.

Lucky us. 

 

Something New

   Yesterday I did something new to me.  Daughter and family went on their annual chestnut foraging trip and I went along. Chestnut hulls are very spiky and sharp and pokey for your fingers. I don't know how the squirrels do it, unless they just wait till the nuts drop.  

  They go picking them because they roast and eat them all winter long.  Roasted chestnuts smell divine and I think they taste a little like a baked potato.  Adelaide says if you put a little butter and salt on them they taste even more like a baked potato.  They are a cozy, yummy winter treat.

  This is what they look like as they get ready to fall.  The husk opens and will either drop completely or just drop the nuts. 

                                       I thought this empty hull looked like a muppet mouth.

  Either way, the ground is covered.  I saw no squirrels.  Years ago we lived across from a park with one lone chestnut tree and you truly had to be there as they dropped to catch even one before the squirrels ran off with them.  In this grove there were thousands.

  On the way there Adelaide said to open them with our feet.  Wear old shoes and open them with our feet.  Then when we got there I was shown how to step on the sides of the spiky pointy sharp part, spread them a little and reach carefully in for the nuts.  Of course there were thousands on the ground that had fallen out of the husks that you just bent and picked up. 

It's hard to stop.  Kind of like picking strawberries and you just can't leave that one in the field.

                                                      Twenty eight pounds of yummy

                                             There's always time to stop and pick a flower. 

The Company I Keep

 This past weekend was our quilt retreat at a place just short of heaven for me. Our group was much smaller this time but we managed to soldier on just the five of us.

The weather was picture perfect in every way so we spent about 75% of each day on the porch with hand stitching.  Thank goodness we all do some of that.

My spot on the porch.  I've found over the years there are few photos of me because I'm the one holding the camera.  My great grandchildren will ask "what did Grandma Denice look like?" and no one will remember. 

We decided to hold show and tell on the porch.  No one wanted to go in and waste the gorgeousness of the days we had.  We did just everything but eat our meals and sleep out there this weekend.    This beauty is Barb's own design. It's a Christmas quilt and it's stunning.

She was on a tote bag spree and recently made several.  This one is big enough to hold a few quilts. 

                                                             Joyce is a phenomenal knitter.

Sally loves the itsy bitsy piecing.  This was her basket quilt we all made over covid winter.  She showed it when we were together in July but decided she wanted the baskets to have the little diamond cut out in the middle.  She did those cut outs AFTER the quilt was finished. 

This was a kit that sat waiting for attention and she finally had it quilted. 

Jan and Sally are working on the same quilt pattern but their colors are different.  Jan is doing exactly what the designer did and Sally is using her own fabrics.  Both are going to make a beautiful appliqued quilt.  Hand appliqued, buy the way.

Sunday it rained so we were inside. As I said, Sally works in itsy bitsy piecing.  She loves it and it makes me go cross eyed.

 Recently Barb made a Minick and Simpson quilt entirely in blues and used her blue leftovers to make these circles for a quilt.  She made almost 400 circles and found as she laid them on the wall that 234 was big enough. 

                      Jan's machine project, machine piecing the border pieces for her quilt.

Joyce was making table runners for her church bazaar that she covid cancelled while we were retreating.

So she was free to make one of those bags that slip over the handles of your suitcase.  Except the kit shorted her on fabric and substituted something that worked well but while you're reading and trying to make it work and they didn't TELL you of the substitution...well, it took some conferring.

                         And here they go, eleven turkeys out for a morning stroll. 

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

     I wish I was smart enough to truly critique this book for you but I’m not. All I can tell you is this was a story about a story. A story that follows four children through time who are searching for a way to cope. The story is theirs for the time it is theirs. At the time they discover the story, they are hungry for it. It guides them, it protects them, they protect it with their lives. They are holding as theirs a story called Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antonius Diogenes, an ancient codex, a story that transforms all of their lives.
     There is Seymour, Anna, Omeir and Konstance. And Zeno. So, five. We travel from ancient times to the far, far future. We travel with them through libraries and meet librarians that keep us alive. We cheer them on and cringe in fear. But always we hope with them and for them.
     I know I’m being cryptic but what can I tell you? I’m not good enough for this book. I can simply tell you I immediately wanted to read the advance copy because of Anthony Doerr. I can tell you I’ve waited for a book like this for a long time. A book that has depth, imagination, a book that is thought provoking, a book that I would think about when I wasn’t reading it and couldn’t wait to get back to. A book that, with every page, gave me an “ah HA!” moment. This was a story I was hungry for and knew as I was reading it I wasn’t up to the job of reviewing it because this is a book that both can be enjoyed for the story but also discussed at length in a classroom for months. Such digging you could do with this! And if I was in one of those classrooms I’d realize so much more and see so much more!
      All I can say is what’s said in the book: Stranger, whoever you are, open this to learn what will amaze you. Yes, that’s all I can say. I can only promise you won’t be sorry. But take your time and savor it.

Books and quilts, quilts and books

 I went to a quilt exhibit this morning.  It was tailor made for me: books and quilts.  Each quilt in the exhibit was inspired by a book, mostly a children's book if you consider most but certainly not all of the quilts were in the children's room of the Georgetown Public Library.  There were seventy-four quilts in all, scattered all through the library and it was really, really fun to wander around.  You could vote if you had a real favorite or thought a technique was exceptional.  

I took a photo of some,  the ones I liked the best.  Have a look:

This Santa quilt greeted you as you walked in the door and truly, you couldn't help but smile.  I smiled and said aloud, "of course!"  It was a perfect Night Before Christmas!

I first heard of Schrodinger's Cat from Sheldon and I still don't understand it but I loved that the quilter was inspired by this.

What better way to honor sacred spaces than a cathedral windows quilt?

The snowy day was always one of my favorite books for images so this one made me smile big.

Circle houses again but this time, Harry Potter inspired.  Notice the Quidditch circles.

This was another perfect interpretation of a story.  Can you see Laura's dolly in this?

No book for this one, just a quilt representing us.

This one was my third favorite behind the Santa houses and Little House on the Prairie. I like Thanksgiving most of all the holidays.

Such  a fun exhibit, books and quilts, quilts and books.  Cudos to the group that thought of this.
 

Montana

 I'm done.  Finished.  Moving on.  I would like to say it's been fun but it's only been tolerable.  I've decided I don't need nor want another child, pet or hobby. We'd been gone for a week and I thought for sure if left to her own devices Montana would just quietly die in the refrigerator, starved, ignored, unstirred.  But oh, no.  

I opened the fridge and told PH I thought she was dead.  I was free of her. I took her out and stirred her and fed her, just to make sure and dang if she didn't start bubbling away. So I kept feeding her for a few days, and sure enough, she grew and grew and grew. 

I had decided I was done with this Pompeii thing.  It was fun while it lasted but I wasn't going to make it a career.  I thought Sunday I'd make a straight loaf of  sourdough bread.   And some rolls! How about some rolls for Wednesday's company dinner?  Sure!  Well, the rolls turned out good and to know that I had to eat one but that meant there weren't six left for dinner Wednesday so PH and I just ate the rest.  The loaf though?  Squirrel food.  

I told PH at the end of the day I'm done. I've wasted a lot of flour, time and too many brain cells on this sourdough thing. I have to find a new home for Montana.  After giving it a few hours thought I realized my neighbor likes too cook and she would be a real possibility for adopting Montana.  I asked, she said yes!

I really thought I was going to have to wrap her in a receiving blanket, put her in a cardboard box and leave her on church steps. 

As I was putting her in a jar this morning I told PH there was a lot of her and would Friend Cheryl really want this much?  He said, "just pour it down the drain."  I looked at him horrified, "that would be like putting a pillow over your grandma's head!  Montana is over 100 years old and obviously still breathing!"  I couldn't just KILL her.

She has a good home now with  someone who knows how to handle sour dough starter and I don't have to worry about her anymore.  I will be just fine with the instant active dry yeast from the grocery store if and when I venture back into the world of bread.  But don't hold your breath.  Just be happy for Montana.  And Friend Cheryl said Montana would come back to me someday reincarnated as blueberry muffins.