Projects of the Pandemic

 

 

We're all in our lifeboats now, realizing just in time or maybe too late that the ship has hit the iceberg. We need to stay alive and to do that we need to stay in. I have spent time  - maybe like you - in worry, in planning, in prayer. Today I turn to resolve. Resolve to spend this time well. 

Looking around, I have a lot of projects that are at the 95% finished stage. I'll start by finishing those. Then I'll get some of these quilts out of the way and some of the bigger projects. 

Today, I've got a small piece I did for St. Patrick's day. I asked Hestia to model it for me and she got very distracted by it, even when I gave her a toy duck to bat around instead.

Stay well my friend. Make art. Love your pet. We'll get through this.

2019 Temperature Blanket Complete

Last night as I waited for midnight I put the final stitches into my 2019 temperature blanket. When I woke up under it this morning, I already started to miss working on it every day. It had become a form of daily meditation as I spent about a half hour every morning recording the previous day.

The colors symbolize the high temperature each day in 2019 in my town. I used 14 colors, each one representing a four degree range of temperature. The yarns ranged from dark pink (the coldest) to the lightest pink, and then light purple to dark purple (the hottest).

The pattern can be found around the internet with various racist titles. I will point you to the Ravelry page with the free pattern that calls it "Retro Remake" here.

I have made temperature blankets two years in a row now, so I'm taking a break this year. I hope to put all those hours into other projects!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year! I would love it if you leave a comment.

Caturday Helper

 Hestia has been particularly "helpful" this week. Here she is sharing my lap with my Autumn Sampler cross stitch project.

 Here she is inspecting my sewing machine. You can see the shaved spot on her leg.  Poor thing had to go under anesthesia to get a tooth pulled last week.

I set my embroidery down for a minute and this happened.

Hard to decide who is cuter in this picture. This is the Boo! quilt sewalong I'm participating in.

Finished for Friday: Autumn Afghan

Whenever I binge a tv show, I create a crochet blanket. I can't just sit and stare at the television without doing something with my hands. This Autumn afghan was a lot of fun to make and used some specialty stitches and some fall-ish variegated yarn. It was a perfect project that didn't take a lot of time or attention. I love these colors and it goes on my stack of blankets that somehow gets smaller every time the kids come to visit. 

If you're wondering which show - it was Lucifer. Not very deep plots but plenty of eye candy!

Thanks for stopping by.

Drama Girl's First Day of School

I love the day after Labor Day on social media. All of my mom friends are posting beautiful pictures of their kids starting school. I have a few of my own.

Here's Drama Girl on her first day of kindergarten.

And here she is on her first day teaching a college class. I love that she sent me a first day of school picture. I love that she apologized for the unpacked boxes. As if I would care! She just moved into her new apartment a few days ago.

I am so proud I could burst. There is nothing like knowing your kids are going to make it, that they're doing what they love, that their future is so bright they've gotta wear shades.

Congratulations Drama Girl. I love you so much.

What Makes You Feel Alive

I played a great gig on Saturday. A distant cousin got married at this beautiful spot in Washington. If you look carefully at the photo you can see Mt. Hood in the distance.

I don't play gigs very often, but this was a special family occasion. The bride was gorgeous and she looked like a princess. The bed and breakfast was in a remote location but it was utterly charming and worth the drive over the mountains and through the woods.

I worried when I left home that morning because it had been in the 90s the day before. Saturday morning started with rain at my house. I held my breath the whole drive as I watched the clouds move across the sky. The rain never got close to the wedding site though. But you know what did? Wind. Amazing wind whipping over the hilltop. It was a challenge with my pages of music fluttering around.

The officiant talked about a Howard Thurman quote:

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” 

It's such a simple thought, and probably overused in motivational posters and pinterest graphics, but in the moment I realized that I really loved performing for other people.

So let's see what the future holds as far as harp gigs. It's a lot of work, but ultimately so satisfying.

Finished for Friday: May weather

This is my current temperature blanket project, complete up through yesterday. I crochet a row each morning while I drink my coffee. January 1, 2019 is the first dark pink row on the left. May 30 is on the far right.

I have a different color for each 4 degree increment, for a total of 16 possible colors. White rows are snow days, and you can't see it well in this picture but I've added a silver thread for rainy days.

I thought it would be longer at this point. When it's done it's going to be a little bigger than a square I think. I'll trim up the fringe so it's even.

I did a temperature blanket last year and had a lot of fun. It's nice to remember that winter doesn't actually last forever, even if it seems it does at the time.