Thursday, August 19, 2021

I Like Thursday # 258

 

Welcome! It's Thursday and these are some of my small likes this week, come on in....

I love this cookie jar, and recently unpacked it... the movers hid a lot of our stuff!

would you like to share in the bean harvest? I picked 8 pods, pulled two beans from each, quick steamed them in the microwave and the three of us shared them. That's about it, no new blooms so no more beans... sadly it's been so hot vege don't want to grow

Missing the olympics? 

and weight lifting  at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R74eJFUUPnk

 


 

I watched a video about how to dress my body shape and they suggested a lightweight kimono jacket. I found one at amazon. Although they sent a gray instead of blue one, it wasn't worth trying to return, and when I put it on after washing it, dang if the video wasn't right!!! I think it adds style   even if I am only  wearing shorts and a t shirt! It is light weight and didn't fall off shoulders or need adjusting all day, and I felt more special as I went around the house.    that's a lot to like for a little money  link: https://www.amazon.com/Womens

I finished up a course this week  on creativity... it was fairly good and here is my sketchbook  to prove I did it... heh heh




I am also in the middle of a writer's workshop that includes meditation and it is wonderful... so much has come to me this week just from this free class with Kelly Blaser. If someone offers a free course I usually try to take it. One less personal exercise today was to choose 10 words from the chat list and in 3 minutes write a poem. 

Words to use: all, able,quiet, quest, absolutely, tender time tree truth fluid

"The quest is quiet
absolutely she believed in all of the truth that flowed fluidly
grew like a tree
able to shine light on all around
she felt the tender heart at her core " 
which kind of surprised me when I was able to write a poem in 3 minutes... never know what you can do til you try.

I liked baking the sweet potatoes a new way to me... trying to concoct candied ones

waiting for oven time

wedges, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon salt... bake stirring every 15 min til done. Very good but next time less sugar. 

sewing  


My post is on Saturdays but I finished this intricate block for the bats and boos quilt. I wanted to show my way of dealing with the pattern. I'm old school so I print it out because I HATE SCROLLING back and forth. I punched holes in and put it in a little notebook so I could flip back and forth! Teaser

the very center is now done!

watching

I saw the return of The Hustler, a game show where people try to decide who is the liar after hearing a set of clues... Craig Ferguson is moderator and funny. Our success rate is about 50/50 picking the one.

bachelor in paradise... junk food viewing for summer... yea!

movie: (netflix) Love Happens with Jennifer Anniston and Martin Sheen  entertaining view of a man who is grieving his wife's death writes a book and in fame finds more truth within

  Milo's Moments

Hi Y'all,,, this smoke is bothering my ears and Mama is hurting me by trying to clear them out. 

She says the word "ear" and being a smart poodle,  I learn the impawtant words like : 

ear (means run for your life!) bath (see first definition) French Toast, (come quick and get ahead of Daddy in line) out back (grab a ring toy and get ready to play keep away) treat ( a whimzee is coming at 8 pm which I know exactly when that is) 

please visit these people with lists of likes too! Join us just let mama know to add in your link

forgive mama if she doesn't leave a comment... it's been a hard month on her... 

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/2021/08/orange.html

Kim at  http://inmywords.kimdeister.com/

 grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
 

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/   

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/

 https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/  

LINKING WITH

Sunday, August 15, 2021

sunday questions

 


1. What subjects lead you down a Wikipedia rabbit hole? maybe historical info? none really.

2. How do you like to spend your birthdays?

in the old days, before I found illness and danger at every turn, I always wanted to go some place new for a birthday weekend. I want to feel pampered, eat good food, see new places, shop, wander

3. Something you might take a little too seriously?
 can you take climate changes too seriously? or Americans who think it's patriotic to tear down the government while begging for help from the government? Can you take a trend to greed and entitlement too seriously?

4. Describe a time you made a good decision for yourself

I have a hard time making decisions. I think of all the alternatives, do research, etc. I guess the best decision I've made is to marry my husband. I was older than most brides, and had said no to at least 5 proposals, and yet when I met him, it made sense and felt right. I asked him what marriage meant to him, and thought about it for just a day before letting myself say yes and knowing it was right!


5. Something you’ve improved/gotten better at

slightly better at not letting what people say hurt me... as much. I still care but with each passing year I care less. I always did what I believed in despite people's reactions but it kind of bothered me if they misjudged me. I always felt the way I did even if family members ran me down for it, but now I just don't listen to them.


6. What dish would you bring to a summer potluck?

thank you for a simpler question!!  I do not enjoy mass potlucks since I worry people aren't as clean with their food as they should be... I've gotten intestinal distress from these parties before. And I have food allergies to common items that could be included. I'd take something easy to eat, like finger sandwiches. Or something that won't spoil in heat. Fruit salad, or watermelon chunks maybe. Relish tray with interesting cheeses and pickles. 


7. What do you miss about Winter?

I love winter. I love being cool and hate being hot. I hate being hot (so much I said it twice) after all one can put on more clothes if they are cold.

8. Share a summer memory

growing up I would spend a month with my married sister's family each summer. It was always like a party, she lived up North (from Florida) and it was cooler, we ate grilled dinners, we played cards and games. I loved when she lived in Washington Indiana, so different from florida with cute homes and soft grass and bike riding.

9. Words you misspell or misuse the most

Mostly I've lost my southern accent but I remember someone once asking what a "fang-er" was (finger) and being trotted out like a party favor when I lived in Canada... "LeeAnna... (listen to this) say Argo!" or whatever. Mispronouncing isn't usually my problem, these days it's recall of just the right word!

When I started working in social work my unit had a secretary and when I handwrote court reports she would often come to my desk and say, Miss X, did you MEAN to spell this word like that? Oy! No ! please correct it!

10. Things you love to do, that can only happen in summer

growing vegetables in the back yard, watching flowers grow, sitting on the back porch in evenings with fairy lights along the roofline, drinking a glass of wine. I can do this in spring and fall too although we now live in harsh Colorado weather that is too hot or too cold


11. How would you describe your sense of humor?

the unexpected makes me laugh, irreverance to something in a lighthearted way, sarcastic, everyday. Kind of Jerry Seinfeld ish . DH and I make each other laugh filling in the dog's thought bubble. Going to comedy shops used to bring me joy.


12. Have you ever quit a job or career?

I have done work for a season many times. It was a happy day indeed to marry, move and have to quit social work for good. I worked as a nanny as an adult in order to live in Canada with a boyfriend for a couple years then quit to return to the states to recover from meningitis. I worked for a time at Berlitz language school teaching english to businessmen and their families but for some reason stopped. I tried working at a travel agency but never got the hang of computerized airline reservations! Then it all went do it yourself anyway.

13. What are your favorite features of your cell phone?

I am the only one on earth who isn't tied to a little tyrant of a computer/cell phone. I guess the thing I like about mine is speakers so I don't have to hold it to my ear that rings all the time. I also like the portable nature of it although it's old and the battery runs out so quickly now that I am often tethered to the cord anyway.

I'm old enough to remember house phones, sitting down to chat, playing with the spiral phone chord absentmindedly while I talked to friends. I remember not having answering machines, so if I was avoiding someone I told friends to call let it ring twice hang up and call again so I knew it was safe to answer!!

14. What scents always make you hungry?

frying onions, baked garlic bread, simmering chicken soup, freshly baked cinnamon buns

 


15. What are you working on right now?

not being in a pure panic about  the increasing effects from our pollution to the water and air supplies and weather heating up so much, the way some Americans ignore crime against the country, covid not ever being under control making me vulnerable as someone with severe reactions to the vaccine. 


Oh you mean productively?

 I am a writer and an artist now... I am working on creative pursuits. I paint and draw, I make art quilts, I write stories. I am working on learning to live in isolation for physical safety. I am working on making non boring food to eat since we don't eat out nowadays. I am trying to grow tomatoes but it's too hot for them here in our area. I'm working on sorting through possessions I've dragged around through 5 moves so the next move will be easier. I'm working on finding a way to clean wood floors... can't use the hard water here as it binds with detergents and leaves a film on them, and bona doesn't clean well enough.

working on how to exercise when the people around us are so angry that we wear masks in public. I gave up my lovely daily walks as it's too dangerous feeling to be on the sidewalks. I'm working on coping with changing technology that seems beyond my ken.

I am taking a creativity workshop online that is daily for 10 days, and am starting a writing/meditation workshop online tomorrow. Thank you to zoom and the leaders for this outreach and generous sharing.

We are working on how to find a better place to live after dh takes early retirement. This may include learning a new language which neither of us is very good at.

thanks for visiting me, it makes me feel less isolated to know I have a connection with others. 

the prompt came from SundayStealing and I am linking to them at https://sundaystealing.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Sewing Saturday from bottles to bats

 

would you like some wine? This pattern is free from Hoffman Fabrics, and I used that turquoise in the upper right corner this month for the RSC color of the month. All from the scrap bin too.

Senor Flamingo Rose and Moonbeam Winery gewurztraminer

I have made them in all the RSC colors of the month since January and will eventually make them into a table runner

I looked at my Kaleidoscope this week and finally chose this fabric as my favorite border

However I only have a half yard and it's directional. So. Sew... it will be pieced into other fabrics I think but didn't feel like rushing it. No pics of that til it's a finished top. 

My friend Diane got me into this free mystery quilt from FatQuarterShop

and I chose to make the bats with fun black and white backgrounds and cool mostly black fabrics

see the little ants on the one on right?

I gave myself permission to use special fabrics for these, as long as I squealed in delight seeing them going together so well! Metallic gold on the ones above. 

this one has golden stars and metallic silver on black body

When the four bats were done I did the four pumpkins.  I had to look at the finished block to do the star my way, without tiny triangles cut, and planning to use sparkly white fabric for the inner star

and using fun orange prints

so when you look at their cutting instructions it is for use of ONE orange fabric, and ONE white fabric background and star. It took some effort to parse it into how many of each piece to cut when one uses a different orange each time, and a sparkly fabric for the star different from background. I also know how to make a quarter square triangle at the top, with two 4" squares instead of piecing tiny little triangles.

Anyway, the pattern is good especially if you are limiting your palette and is really cute however in taking this shot...

after all the little pieces were in and pressed I realized I got some wrong... see??? on the right pumpkin the bottom is pieced wrong which will take a lot of unpicking and moving the black triangles around. 

Oh well, keeps me off the streets

I love seeing the prints used, and am content to be using my collections in this. It might end up fairly small even though these blocks are about 10.5" square, but when they are all released and made I can decide whether to set them in the mystery directions or make a lap quilt with more halloween prints. 

I'm taking a good creativity course, free from Elizabeth Foley, each day this week. It's focus is on painting but it's informing my fabric work as well. For instance she asked Thursday, what's in your special tool kit? what supplies do you love working with, why do you love them, and what do you find yourself reaching for over and over. For instance she asked about 25 questions, which led us to realize who we were and what we need to create. One question was what makes your artwork special to you, or a signature to you.

coloring page in my calendar
My first reaction was a shrug? but once asked a question usually gets answered... For my style, I think it's

 use of many colors that are often saturated, use of light, medium and dark colors for shading, and sparkles. On paintings that means use of white ink often. In fabric that means use of different contrasting shades or use of pencils to add depth. And whimsy is good for me. I love complimentary colors to add drama to a wall hanging too. 

It was interesting to think about. Another question this week was how do you view time in relation to creativity? How do you use your time, do you allow other things to interfere in your creativity? What can you do with a small window of time? What can you do with a large block of time? What makes you more comfortable?

paint anything in 5 minutes
She has brought to our consciousness what kind of things become roadblocks to creating... fears, procrastination, priorities. Will you let everything come before even 5 minutes of creating is allowed? The questions and activities have been enlightening despite her obvious bent to the 20 somethings taking the course. 

I will try to write out some of the questions later, and we can all compare notes on our favorite tools, favorite fabric lines, go to color combinations. I noticed in the comment section when we talked of go to color choices, that we are all VERY different. One person hates orange, I happen to love the exuberance of orange, when asked our favorite pencil one woman said, sharp. 

I laughed and said, yep, me too, me too... 

Happy sewing y'all... and enjoy the other creative outlets in your life too.

LINKING WITH

 

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

https://chrisknits.wordpress.com/ 

patchwork Sunday                    
oh Scrap Sundays