Thursday, February 28, 2019

I Like Thursday #130

Welcome to this week's list of likes. I've been watching, then researching Queen Victoria to learn more. Something about Milo's stance last night made me think of her Royal Highness.

I liked meeting the owner of the Vet practice yesterday when we had to go back for yet another ear infection. Milo even relaxed in his presence. We may have to start allergy shots.

I like that I woke to Milo's wagging tail this morning, meaning he's feeling better.

I liked that we went to the library on the way back, and that we can order books to be reserved for us, from other counties... and they show up on the shelf waiting for us...
I have lots of exciting books on art and beading to look through now! And the latest Rhys Bowen book!

I liked that even near the end of the day, Panera had some sweeties for us... bagels, mini scones and pecan twists!
The weather people said it was to be 60 F with no snow yesterday but it was 32 with snow twice.
I would have liked a job where you don't ever have to be right.
They are saying it's going to 0 F Friday with 6" of new snow.

Our downspouts drain became clogged, froze and cracked this week. Joys of home ownership.

I really liked this week's episode of the good doctor... it made me think "great thoughts" The doctor on this show is a surgeon, but has a form of autism to cope with. Talent on one hand, a major challenge to use that talent on the other hand. The person in charge decided this doctor would not do well as a surgeon despite talent, because he couldn't do the necessary person to person interactions.

My initial thought was, I'd rather have a brilliant surgeon who had no interpersonal skills. The episode where the doctor was put in the lab, made me think about skills vs drive. One can be really good at something but does that define them? Do they have to do what they are good at? I was very good at social work, but it exhausted me. I was good at knowing what the problems were, but worry about the kids wore me out. And dealing with administration frustrated me.

I had a friend in Tampa who went all the way through medical school, through his internship and residency and became aware that he was very good at it, but hated it. He had the fortitude to change careers, after all that training.

I just love this post from the blog BeatriceEuphemie... so pretty, books, recipes, crafts, home style... this post was so full of goodness I had to share https://beatriceeuphemievintagecottagestyle.blogspot.com

I'm not into cooking but I ran across this blog and just adore the way they  approach food. One of the categories is different countries... I love Greek food, so checked out this recipe for stuffed tomatoes.
Greek Gemista brings big juicy tomatoes together with a healthy, vegetarian mixture of rice and summer produce, creating a perfect summer dish. | Curious Cuisiniere
Like my niece said to me once, if you haven't made enough for leftovers, you've wasted your time! I plan to try these and make enough for leftovers as the cooks say they are better second day.

https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/greek-stuffed-tomatoes/

I liked going through the studio boxes this week, and now I actually see floor in the guest room.
Not long ago this was floor to ceiling, wall to wall boxes. I'm wondering if I need to keep ALL my materials... and if a person can stash their stash of sewing stuff then remember where it is in the next life.

Milo's Moment
Hi Ya'll  I've been thinking... I sure am happy to have that vet appt behind me. My ear kept me itching all night, and I liked the vet tech... small fingers and gentle. And she tasted good. I'm not one to go to a doctor til it's really bad but it turned out okay this time. 
I've been liking sleeping these days, it's cold and the bed is comfy. I feel pretty secure sleeping between Mama and Daddy too. I've been playing with my new toys a lot, the ones Auntie Diane sent. 

I am the official bottle lid remover/inspector around here, and there is a bottle inside one of those toys. I know it because I'm "smart as a whip" so Mama says, although how smart can a piece of leather be? But I get the lid off while it's INSIDE the toy! 

Oh and I'm big now... I will be two on Friday, and I weighed 60 lbs at the vets yesterday! Finally I'm fully grown and ready to pull Mama down any sidewalk now! Mama got a tear in her eyes and said I'm the same size as Cole now... it just took me longer to get so big and tall. 
(ed. note: My baby is all grown up! I suspected as much as his jim-jams are tight and he can't walk between my legs any longer when playing chris-cross) 

Now please visit these people keeping it paw-sitive this week too!
new this week!! Welcome to https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/  
http://sandysnowden.blogspot.com/
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
 maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
.http://littlepenguinquilts

craftscaviescontras
  Minou's Minute 

https://www.su-sieeemac.com/2019/02/pedal-to-metal.html 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
https://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/


linking to these parties...
sundays in the city
 http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/ 

Monday, February 25, 2019

The week ahead

https://www.teepublic.com/
Welcome to my Happy Homemaker post!
It's February 25,2019. Sounds like the future doesn't it? The future is just a string of todays tho...

When I was a young girl I went to Disney World a lot, and loved the carousel of Progress, with it's peek into the future. As time went by it looked like a crazy look because we passed their vision. I fondly remember going to the NY World's Fair when I was about 8 too... that carousel was there and there were so many magical things to see!

Now I live in Colorado, and right now I am just barely coping with the weather

Weather in Aurora Colorado
Friday the forecasters said 1-3" of snow... but we got a blizzard. About 9" where we are, and what a mess. They don't plow except for major roads, people drive on 8" and pack it down, the sun turns it into ice that stays around for a month at least. Fun fun fun. This time our neighbor ran his snowblower all the way down the sidewalk and it was a wonderful gift to us all! Way to do something nice with a big effect!

I like cold weather... I do not like uncleared roads and sidewalks that cause us all to slip and get hurt.
I liked the abstract design the shovel left!

Breakfast
Strong coffee with milk, whole grain cereal with yogurt, p-butter, and cinnamon.

Wearing
I seem to be using up twice the clothes these days, always cuddle duds long underwear, plus outer layers of something soft, wool socks. Makes for twice the laundry each week. Socks require special consideration, because I see them all day. We don't wear shoes in the house. Love to peek down and catch some stripes!
Wearing boots to walk instead of supportive sneakers when I do leave the house. Makes going for a walk a bit harder.
it's always messy til you're finished orgainzing
To Do
I've been trying to do laundry on Sundays so DH can start the week with clothes for work. We have a lot of clothes for some reason, but don't you notice you use the same ones most of the time?
This week I want to do some sorting and box culling. I've put it off long enough.
I absolutely must make time to go to the PO and mail things to friends I've been holding a long time!
Must go pick up on hold books at library
Do my online quilt challenge. More later

Reading and Listening to books on disc
I am so enjoying this librarian series (by Vicki Delaney) at night!!! And finally, a great book on tape!
Gotcha! by Fern Michels.
The sisterhood/vigilantes ride again. I have discarded three books on disc recently as boring, but this one is lots of fun! I read many of the others in this series where older women take on cases that seem to be  impossible to handle in court. It's rogue but really intriguing. And strong women... the way is is folks!

Watching
Survivor is back. I just checked out the DVD set of latest Outlander available finally at our library.
Series I like, This is Us, New Amsterdam, Good Doctor, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Million little Things. I watched When calls the Heart last night, and realized I missed all of last season from the moving confusion, and that her Mountie had died... took some fun out of the series for me.

Going Places
Well the weather has messed up plans for us for months. We seem to get storms here every weekend. The last one was such a mess. The city park in our neighborhood got one sidewalk plowed, yea! but the wind that dang Prairie wind that blows non stop here, blew the top two inches back onto the sidewalk so even that's ice now. We wanted to go to the Dior Exhibit in Denver, so hopefully next weekend.

Making
I finished quilting the little winter scene, from scraps off the cattail piece. I learned a lot stitching on it, how the threads will look and how I want the cattail piece to be quilted with swirls and lines creating hills. I free motion quilted in snow flakes falling, and air swirls.
I like the little triangle pieced in became an improv shadow next to the tree

I was challenged by my online group QuiltArt and one member in particular who gave the prompt open any magazine to page 20 and use that as inspiration.

I opened the home magazine on the table and found paint colors of teal, forest green, terracotta.
Yea! Perfect for an abstract flamingo piece! I was happy that one person on the list particularly mentioned me by name, encouraging me to enter the challenge! She said maybe a poodle could inspire me, lol!

It's just that personal invitation that spurs us sometimes to keep going, to try something. A small gesture or word. We never know how our words will effect someone... I talked to the receptionist out the chiropractor's office about a word of the year, in passing. Well she thought about my passing comment, chose a word for the first time, and is excited about her experiences so far. I had no idea she would take my comment to heart!

I also am enjoying being in my small studio these days. I didn't expect the smaller space to feel as good as the MD larger space but it's becoming my nest. It needs some serious lighting changes tho.

Lessons learned
We met a yellow lab playing in the park last week. It's a big boy, and his person said he was very friendly. For the first time ever, Milo snapped at his nose. It took us all by surprise! Milo the happy playful one? Growling, then snap! The lab backed right up so no problems. We thought, what the fizzy? Well we needed to trust Milo's judgement, and you can't judge a lab by the cover. Milo was nicer to him when we met again this weekend but I noticed the lab still was intact.. The owner said he's always nice, but sometimes tries to hump males at the dog park.
Ah ha! Milo knew and was sending out a warning shot over the bow.
The lesson for me was, danger isn't always obvious, and trust the dog without blaming him in these situations. I was slightly embarrassed with his reaction instead of trusting it.

Also, when the latest blizzard started, Milo and I had just come downstairs to the kitchen. He laid down to look out
and suddenly jumped up and woofed! He noticed the snow. I opened the slider, he bolted out to bark at someone I figured, but no, he ran to his favorite toy in the yard, picked it up, ran back inside and placed it on the carpet before taking up his place again.  So smart.

Eating
my friend said fresh ginger helps the digestive tract fight bad bugs, so I hope to make some soup with ginger today. There is apparently a strain of antibiotic resistent bacteria causing UTI's out there.

Well, that's the report on chez LeeAnna for this week... here's to a happy week to all!
Free art print of Inspirational words "Live life like someone left the gate open" with an adorable toy poodle enjoying life to the fullest, happily ripping around in the summer.
Linking to
https://comedy-plus.wordless wednesday
pet parade 
 Free motion by the River Tuesdays    
https://stitchallthethings.com/ to do Tuesday  
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
happy homemaker monday
http://chedcurtain.blogspot.com/
https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays 

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Topaz, amber and canary diamonds...

The color of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow. Warm, golden, glowing yellow.
This week it was time to make the Gemstones

First pull out strips, shades and patterns that look like gems...
... no pattern, just improv. stitching.
start with some basic shapes, then log cabin around them
This time I started with a slight marquise/oval shape to try too.
baguette
Brilliant cut, diamond shape, square cut
this is more saturated than it looks in this pic. You can see the mitered strips are different widths
they all looked so pretty on the design wall...
for scale, the V-quilt is about 32" X 35" so the large baguette is about 10"
I've done chandelier blocks, gemstones, and blooming snowballs all in yellow. Wonder what the color will be next month?
For now I am practicing quilting designs and thread colors on the little scraps- from- scraps, winter scene, before tackling the cattail piece.
about 12" X 18" right now
linking to
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays  
myquiltinfatuation Thursdays
Esther's blog Wednesdays 
Midweek makers wednesdays
 Free motion by the River Tuesdays    
https://stitchallthethings.com/ to do Tuesday  
lovelaughquilt.mondays
oh Scrap Sundays
 scrap happy Saturdays
sewcanshe Saturdays




Thursday, February 21, 2019

I Like #129

 Welcome to this week's list of likes! I like Valentine Flowers, and husbands who come home with them, and honestly I like flowers anytime! Don't you? We are short on bright colors around here at the moment.

I like how the tiny Valentine painting came out, the heart flowers are quilted in...
I loved talking to my friends this week on the phone, and in my art quilt meeting.
this quilt is pretty big... about 32" X 36"

I loved finishing the Valentine quilt, and believe me it was a big push at the end.
I made it with thin strips/strings and had to match background strip size to red strip size, then decide where to position them. There are many Valentine fabrics in the piece, plus some dogs of course!

I finished hand sewing the binding on, turned it over in triumph, and then saw the loose weave muslin at the bottom edge had pulled out! Panic! No problem...
 I just fixed it by un sewing the binding, front and back, then piecing in another strip of white to cover the frays,

 and reapplying the binding... front and back. Not hard, just tricky and unexpected.
Machine embroidery stitches here and there


the quilting came out just as I'd like it to... whimsical, balanced but not symetrical, flowers for beauty, vines for growth, horizontal lines for peace and groundedness. It's our 25th Valentine quilt so far.

I loved the shadows cast by our family room table when the sun came back after two days of snow

I am really liking the current mystery novel, recommended by Diann at little penguins.

Love that the BBC show Delicious is back. Dawn French who was Vicar of Dibley is in it. The drawback is there are only 4 episodes in a season. That's simply NOT ENOUGH.

I like Survivor is back, and Doc Martin, and Housewives of Beverly Hills.

I liked stumbling upon this mandolin group on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdP8S0uKP5U


I liked this denim vest for dogs
Denim Dog Vest with Wild Breed biker patch and studs. Even if your sidekick doesnt ride on the back, this mutt can strut his wild breed heritage. All DenimDawgs vests are made from recycled blue jeans with the best fashion labels. Nice and soft and just the right faded indigo color. A
I like this pet bed (link: https://glamshelf.com/57-diy-pet-bed/) and there are lots of them to make yourself... heh heh don't mention that to Milo




















I thought Wed's horrible-scope was inspirational:" Look for ways to free yourself from unnecessary worry or attachments to the past that are holding you back."
How do they know me?

Milo's Moments
Hi y'all! I like nearly everything except being told to "staywithmama" which is all I seem to hear on walks anymore. How can I read pee mail and look for bunnies tied to Mama's apron strings? Just kidding, as if Mama wore an apron since there is little cooking going on around here unless it's the half hearted attempt to warm my kibble with hot water. Sheesh. But back to likes... I liked the ball I found in my toy box when Mama tipped it over
And I liked the tribute Mama wrote for me, since I can't type, and am busy watching for intruders, you can( read here.).. love you!!!

Now be sure to see what these people have on their lists this week! Join us sometime... if you write a post let Mama know and you're in!

http://homesewnbyus
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com/ 
http://sonotorganized.com/    

 https://www.su-sieeemac.com/
 https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/2019/02/wednesdays-word-i-like.html

https://grammasquiltingroom.blogspot.com/ 
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/  
http://sandysnowden.blogspot.com/
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
 maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
.http://littlepenguinquilts

craftscaviescontras

  Minou's Minute 


(part of our group but not posting today)

  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
https://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/



Linking to:
Esther's blog Wednesdays 
Midweek makers wednesdays
sundays in the city
shadow sunday
http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/
off the wall Fridays 
  http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays 
tgiffriday
https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/
myquiltinfatuation Thursdays




Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The informer


I've decided Milo's role is that of

"The Informer"

Cole-buddy was the policeman. He hated conflict, he maintained order in every situation. If his playmate ran through my flower garden and I yelled get out of the garden, he turned to look at me, saw the source of the conflict, and ran over to nip at heels til the offender had left the area.

Milo is the Informer. He would loudly bark to alert us to the garden trampler but would not go over to enforce the law. He's a communicator. Like the commercial on TV he just lets you know there's a problem, he doesn't solve the problem.

If you're an informer, then living around other people is a non stop job.
He must be constantly on the alert to a neighbor leaving their house to get in their car, or a cat in the yard, a dog walking by the fence. If he can see it, he's letting us know he can see it. It's up to us what to do about it, that's not his job.

He's the informer.

He is also not conflicted about his announcements. He does not defer to our corrections to use an inside voice or be quiet. He knows best. It's his job, and if our puny human ears can't handle the truth then it's on us. He informs. The informer.

Once he's let us know there is something suspect within view or earshot, then he comes back to stand by our chairs, to touch base and let us know he's here. In case we need back up in handling the issue of a dog walker, or a squirrel. Yep, he's right there to help, mostly by emotional support.

He's more of a bark and run type of fellow.

He takes his job very seriously and is on alert all waking moments. Ready with a ruff! or a Bark... BARK... BARKBARKBARKBARK!
Are they DEAF?
It must be exhausting, since there is no police-type here now to follow up his alerts. He has to rely on our feeble efforts to protect the home. He's on full throttle all the live-long day and at night, falls asleep hard. When he goes out, he's out. There's no waking him.
"off duty" "leave a message" "let sleeping dogs lie"
 He sleeps as hard as he runs during the day. You can shove him over in the bed, but it's a slow inch by inch of ground. After you wedge him over, and slide your own legs in bed, a dog arm reaches over your leg to pin you in place. Until he rolls over onto his own back, 4 legs akimbo, in complete trust that his work is done for that day.

Linking to:
Thankful Thursdays pet parade
https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

https://comedy-plus.com/

Monday, February 18, 2019

The week ahead...

Every time I write these posts I think of the Carol King lyrics,
Looking out on the morning rays...
Welcome to this week's Happy Homemaker post.

The Weather
First the good news, it's sunny. Clear skies. This weekend we woke to heavy gray skies, and the wind nearly blew us sideways on our morning walk. I asked DH who has his mental finger on the weather at all times, is snow predicted. Nope he said! It was bitterly cold and serious winds, and here on the high desert you could see far in the distance that someone was getting snow storms. Milo had no sooner returned from his playdate with Gracie, but big fat flakes made for near white out conditions.

A pop-up storm! We got about 2" from all afternoon of heavy snow so we just stayed in the rest of the day. It snowed again overnight.  It's been in single digits with strong winds, 10F as I write this, a 6 boot walk is happening at this moment, and I'm still drinking my first cup of coffee.
But it's sunny.

Wearing
If I ever get dressed I'll put on snuggly cuddle duds fleece leggings, long 'wears and a long cuddly sweater. The plan, or hope is to do some house chores and then work in the studio today. My cuddle duds have been the star this winter.

View from my perch
well, I wanted a bigger house, but now there's a lot of real estate to clean. I love the house though.

To Do
I still need to go over the table tops with a duster, and to mop again.
Water all the house plants
organize the library books, I've gotten a lot of them lately
make more vege soup as we both loved being able to have some as a starter every day
Try to contact a puppy owner to set up a play date as Milo and the spaniel seem to love each other at the fence
Wonder if this could be the week the Christmas boxes get moved back to the basement???

Reading
finished the tea house mystery and requested the next in series already. Was listening to the Aviator's Wife... but stopped. It was fascinating til the baby was abducted, and I remembered it's a true story. I just can't take any extreme sadness at the moment, and the writer pulled me into the lives of the Lindbergs so much it's like it's happening right now.

I felt the pull of Ann Morrow Lindberg's struggle to do what was socially accepted of a woman in 1920's... be quiet and good, support your man and deny your needs, but what do you do with the strong need to be yourself, to achieve your own goals, to write your books, to think your thoughts?
It was challenging for women, may still be, to be seen as people by a lot of men.
There is a resurgence in that kind of thinking again... it's not good.

Lessons learned
I watched an Oprah interview of Melinda Gates. It was wonderful, just wonderful to hear how she and her husband are trying to give back to the world. Oprah asked, "how do you limit spending for your children? You can't say you can't afford something" and Ms Gates answered thoughtfully, "just because you can doesn't mean you should" They are trying to figure out the best way to share their wealth and decided health care helps the most people. She said, every life matters, and we are all responsible to take care of each other. It's a nice respite from the profit driven people in power at the moment... line your own pockets and let people grab what they can if there is anything left.

Reading
Anyway, so I stopped listening to Aviator. I got a view of the American icon Charles Lindberg that reminded me I don't like men like that, who demand their way first, who are ego driven. I moved on to the Orchard. There are about 4 actors reading the book to me as I sew, a story about pioneers in Ohio, making a living in swampy land and raising lots of kids. The wife is very very unlikable, and although the husband seems to try to do the right things, he beats her and whips the kids that survived (lost 5, had 5 more) because that's what you did then. I think I'll be looking around for another book on disc.
At night I'm reading a mystery series Diann at littlepenguins told us about on the I Like Thursday posts. It is well written and engaging or was til I fell asleep holding it!

Watching
Doc Martin is back! Victoria continues, and the BBC show Delicious with it's cast of quirky characters and intriguing plot lines has a new season available now on ACORN. Yea! Survivor and When calls the heart and Project Runway start this week I think!

did you see the adopted dog show on Hallmark??? It's on again tonight, with categories like best tummy rub, best smile, best senior dog adoption. Love. It's funny too!

Tips and tricks
I have a lovely red tablecloth of damask. My pen leaked turquoise ink all over a section!!! I noticed when I spilled morning coffee all over it this weekend! I put a paper towel under the ink stains, and poured rubbing alcohol on it and the color started to bleed out... yea! I did that many times but the ink was so saturated and stain so big, I got heady from the alcohol. I took it outside and dipped it in a bucket of water to soak.
Now I was worried the coffee would dry while the ink soaked. We noticed the water was turning blue... oh... so we changed it out, and soaked a while longer, then put the whole kit and caboodle into the wash and both stains disappeared!

Eating
trying to be healthy but losing the battle. We seem to need comfort food. At least we eat fresh vegetables, salads, and fruit too. We're just both tired of the whole survival struggle and want food to be easy. The tangerines are good right now, and we had some terrific brussel sprouts the other night. We live in a time when you can get produce from other places not coated in snow, so that's nice.
I've noticed if I get really into an art project I eat less, and that's the case right now.


Making
woohoo! I finished the Valentine quilt and will do a post on Wed sharing what I learned making it, showing pics of the flowers, feathers, and vines I quilted into in with golden thread. I went ahead and quilted the tiny painted woman above, from January, too.

I'm doing three sets of blocks using my yellow scraps for Rainbow Scrap challenge online. The flowering snowballs are just challenging enough and easy enough to make me want to make lots of them! Currently I am making yellow gemstones though, so the studio is full of topaz, amber and yellow diamonds.. stay tuned for that post on Saturday!
I bead, knit, paint and write, but sewing has been a life long passion of mine.
Writing is it's equal, and I did fictional stories the last two Sundays, if you're interested.

Appreciation
speaking of writing, I love those of you who read my words... it's refreshing to know I have a group who want to keep up with what other women are doing around the world this week... and thankful for the link party so we could find each other at https://familycorner.blogspot.com/

Inspiration
I couldn't find the whole interview of Oprah and Melinda Gates but it's worth seeking out ondemand. I did find this one little bit of it... please enjoy
https://www.facebook.com/melindagates/videos/249321682681105/

I am not on FB, by choice, but this is available to even me, worth a look and again, please seek out the show (Supersoul Sunday) on your streaming devices as each person was very interesting and worth hearing! this is a review
http://www.tvweeklynow.com/news-blogs/news-blogs-RicksPicks/oprahs-supersoul-converation-opens-with-michael-b-jordan-bradley-cooper-beto-orourke-melinda-gates-and-lisa-borders.htm

Milo's week ahead
When Mama tipped out my toybox this weekend, in a futile effort to keep me occupied, I realized I have to go through this and decide if there are any I'm done with. They get pretty chewed up in play time.

I'll leave you with a little beauty provided by DH for V-day
I loved all of them especially the purple shimmery fabric around them! Good choice my darling!

Linking to these parties
ruby tuesdays

Sunday, February 17, 2019

sunday stories



THIS WEEK'S WORDS come from the first stanza of the book-length poem "The Prodigal" by Derek Walcott: train, move, factories, turning, book, blocks, wild, dusk, sent, framed, blue, brickwork


                             When Life Changes
The train was keeping rhythm in her body as she watched the country side go by. Susan let her book fall to her lap so she could close her eyes a moment, feel the rhythm of clackety clack lull her into peace.


She needed to block the monkey brain jumping from idea to idea.


Just feel it she thought. Just let your body sway in your seat, hear the faint sounds of other people talking, breathe and relax.


Opening her eyes, she saw factories in the distance, wondered if people were working today. It was a work day for most, and there was a bit of steam or smoke rising from the roofs. Did they mind their work? Did they zone out like she was trying to do now? As they came alongside the buildings, she noted the intricate brickwork along the roofline and wished they still built them that way now. No, nowadays it's all about profit, and no one seemed to care about beauty as much. She did but then she was not like most people.


It had been a wild whirlwind of a week for her. (clakety clack, woo woo, look out coming through)

She glanced down at her blue phone and thought how much beauty in the everyday meant to her. She never expected to be an artist. She dutifully went though university on a scholarship to become a teacher, but her heart was always into the arts. She imagined her name up in lights over a Broadway theater, or on a poster for an art opening, but it was a good thing to know her name would be on the cover of her first novel too.


She was taking the train to the city, NYC, the BIG city. She had never expected the call from the editor, informing her they wanted to publish her book and asking for a meeting. Turning her from a high school English teacher into a published author. She sent a request for time off to the school immediately, then turned her attention to what to wear.


Why is it so important to women, what to wear? Men put on their suit. A suit, requiring no more than a trip to the cleaners, and choice of tie color. Susan hoped this would not necessitate a move, she liked her little house and the town. This book would hold her story, but also her hopes and dream of becoming successful. She thought of the framed picture of her dog, that she kept on her desk at work. She thought of the students, then thought of the mindless demands of administration. Demands that she do bus duty, and meet on her own time for planning. If this worked out she might just quit, or she might just not be as resentful about the stupid demands  as she was now, just enjoy teaching knowing she was really an artist underneath.


What a shift that would be. She liked the students, and liked writing at night. One day she could make a really big change, but for now she needed to quiet her soul and prepare herself for good things to come.              (c)LAPaylor

linking to
https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

Saturday, February 16, 2019

exploring the color yellow


The color of the month for Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow. Sunny yellow, happy energetic, glowing yellow.

I went back with the flowering snowball templates, and made last month's red to go with this month's yellow blocks and whee! what fun!

I sorted through my yellow squares to make the chandelier blocks (from Stitch Therapy) and something about going from raggedy scraps to tidy blocks piled up soothes me.


My chandelier blocks  don't look outstanding in yellow but I know blended in with all the colors, they will make the quilt sing and glow.
The fabrics are cute. The top left is a Dr. Seuss from my MD friend Cheryl.
Love the florals and the sheep. Larger center squares lend themselves to focus prints.
that pic is skewed a bit! But they are now safely tucked in next to the red blocks, all the RSC blocks are in the same box, so I can find them again each month. Soon there will be too many of each block for that. I am doing Chandelier blocks, Snowball blocks, and abstract gemstone logcabin blocks. On the other week I do some little abstract.

I finished the Valentine quilt, and love it again. Mid way I usually feel I've wasted all that fabric and time, but something about tidying up the edges, binding, and blocking makes it all worth while! I'll do another post on that and the wee little painting I turned into a 3" X 4" masterpiece (lol)

Milo is tired of me sewing so much lately
 I heard a humph flop! and he laid down next to his bed. I patted the little bed and he scooched, does your dog do that? move without getting up? He scooched his head over to touch it. Died of boredom.

linking to these parties:
Let's be social Wednesdays 
Midweek makers wednesdays
 Free motion by the River Tuesdays    

Esther's blog Wednesdays 
https://stitchallthethings.com/ to do Tuesday 
lovelaughquilt.mondays
https://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/
oh Scrap Sundays 
 scrap happy Saturdays
sewcanshe Saturdays