together tuesdays

1. Milo here: I had a nice connection this week! Mama and I were having another uneventful walk, and I was sniffing every bush and trunk for my "pee mail" when I heard Mama say, look!
That always means something interesting is somewhere nearby.
I turned and there was the growly little white car I bark at! (mail truck) and...
the guy got out and walked by and put something at another house, then smiled at me on his way to the growly car. He stopped and I looked up up up (he's tall) and he smiled at me and reached out his hand. I looked and looked, then danced around, hopping from one place to another, laughing and touching his hand, then darting away. Game was on! Don't let the guy touch you while you touch him with your nose! He was fun but had to go too soon.

2. When we moved into this house, another family 4 houses down moved in their house the same day. They invited us over for 4th of July party, and we really liked them. When we ran into her over the holidays she said a couple of neighbors next to her were meeting up at the Tavern and would we like to come? I said yes! She texted us the time and day.
when the evening came, dark and very cold, we questioned going. I said, lets go for a while at least.
There were four couples and all very nice and fun, well traveled and kind. It felt very nice to be included and we all decided the next outing of our little group should be comedy  night.
We long to be part of a group like this, so fingers crossed it will continue.

3. This weekend we took it easy, starting with a garden lecture on xeriscaping. Milo loves going here, so he was highly disappointed when we just sat and stared at a man talking.
Milo: what the fizzy happened to my peeps? Usually they don't just sit and stare except at night at the "talky-talk" (TV) I entertained myself with a little boy, then chewed the lid off the water bottle, then had to actually jump up on Mama to walk around and sniff stuff. I wanted to look through the dog stuff, and found a great ball with the loudest speaker ever! Funny though, when I started squeaking it, all the people turned to see me which was great as Mama rushed me out of the area and we walked around which was much more fun than staring.

LeeAnna here, Milo was a magnet for people that day. One little boy who looked like he much preferred running around with Milo, reached for him, smiling a tentative smile, turning into a grin as Milo leaned on him. I could tell the boy really wanted a dog, but his dad said, "be still" He longingly looked at Milo the rest of the time, petting him when Milo came close. I was reminded that people will open up to dogs even when other people frighten them. Another woman came up with a very old teensy poodle, and said her 5 year old standard would have caused a scene so he was left home. but she loved him.

at the music store with Dad where I petted a lot of people

4. the last meeting really affected me....we were having lunch at Panera and Milo ignored his food in favor of getting a plate of sandwiches like ours. A couple walked by and stopped,  staring at him. I am training Milo to reach out to nice people by sitting and shaking paws. He went over and leaned on the woman, who melted into smiles.
Turns out, they lost their very old lasso apso a year ago and they were just emerging from mourning. We all related the loss and the need to love again. She and I were so sympatico, and conversation flowed like honey between the four of us, punctuated by Milo's antics. She is at that stage where you begin opening to the possibility of  risking loving again. I can't explain all the important topics we covered, from training a dog to the state of the world today, but it was like we knew each other.
Ever met someone who felt like that?
When they reluctantly decided to go on and let us finish lunch, she asked to hug me.
Oh!
Yes, yes of course.
When they thanked me for talking with them, I said "of course! That's what life is, these connections. The rest is just spackle" and both husband and wife grinned and agreed.
Of course I didn't have my cards on me, so I told her of my blog, as a way of continuing the contact. I hope she does contact me sometime. If not, she and her husband enriched our lives by just this meeting with them.

sewing saturday

at least I'm sewing again. It was really hard to find my sewing mojo after the holidays and being sick.

I decided to try Bonnie Hunter's lozenges pattern for the rainbow scrap challenge this year. Free on her blog, I printed it out.

decided to make them bigger at 3.5" X 6.5"  scrap color, and 2" squares.

The color this month is light or bright green... most of my numerous green scraps are dark or muddly. Hmmmm... it occurs to me I have not been replenishing the scraps for a while.
To transfer the bits to the sewing machine, I made a felt board with a piece of cardboard that came under cans of green beans (appropos no? ) and leftover gray felt taped to the back.
this is going to work fine.

they look odd because I'm not going to sew them together now, I want to totally mix colors. The light and dark squares are not just black and white, I used really light, or really dark colors. I think it might look fun when done, hopefully like Bonnie Hunter's picture!

I got a surprise New Year's gift from my friend Diane in Texas... lookie at the fun Christmas fat quarters! Thanks so very much Diane!

 Linking to

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

oh Scrap Sundays 

scrap happy Saturdays

The Monet Exhibit

meeting a bigger than life Monet as we entered

it's not easy getting timed tickets to the Monet exhibit in Denver. Then driving there, finding parking, walking distances to the actual door, etc. We did it, and on our appointed time were handed devises to listen to curators discuss the work. It took over two hours to see it all!

ahhhhh

the show was so large, organized by places he lived and worked, and styles. I loved one of these early paintings done from a high vantage point in Paris. Most painters of the time used a lower viewing point.  Aren't the frames magnificent? Note all the people, and mood, and pale colors.

I noticed he chose to almost always center his horizon line, to mute colors, to manage to add details while being abstract, and to mix pure color on the brush so that each dab of paint blended but not totally the colors.

I'm including detail shots, and was lucky enough to get very close to see brushstrokes. The guards were not like the ones at the National Gallery of Art in DC.
Monet was fascinated by nature, and frustrated by working outside painting in real time as the light is constantly changing his view of subjects.

He went out in all weather, always observant, blurring the lines between object and reflection, using almost the same intensity of color for reflection as object, so that the sky was often seen under the horizon only in the reflections.

forcing the viewer to choose where the object is and where the reflection is

The detail in each leaf, the composition was entrancing in this one to me

I admit I loved the ones painted in Italy.
I stopped a long time to absorb the gentle field scene with these children

this one fascinated me for the sun, painted with a strong spiral of thickened paint

The last galleries were of his time in Giverny, water lilies and bridges. He began to paint for an hour, then take breaks. He obsessively designed and redesigned his garden, even rerouting a river despite the objections of his neighbors.
He was a man driven to paint. He shared a love of light with his contemporaries, learned from them, respected them. He spent a lifetime exploring his unique vision and style, persisting in art despite his father demanding that he go into business.

He so inspired me that I bought a small set of acrylics to try his dab technique. I watched painters on youtube as they explained how to paint like he did. I like more intense color but I want to learn from someone who recognized the subtlety of color and light, and how the human eye mixes colors on a canvas.
this was one of two videos I watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpmdlAi0IUY

LINKING TO
https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

I Like Thursday #175

does this weather make you want to curl up in a cozy chair with a soft blankie?
Welcome to this week's list of likes

I liked coming up with my word/s of the year, see post here.

I liked starting the latest season of the Great British Baking show on netflix and finishing the great american bake off holiday edition. I agreed with the winner and all the special bakes were fun to watch.

I liked the Bachelor coming back, here we goooooooooo

snowy mantel for January

I liked putting away some Christmasy decorations but leaving up lights to get me thru January

I liked finally getting this massive comforter washed finally. Wrestled into the washer, dried best we could, then air dry.

because of the writer's almanac this week, I continued researching further some articles. That led me to some interesting youtube historical accounts: a woman and her baby survive Auschwitz,  a book by Zora neale Hurston interviewing the oldest surviving slave about his life, and a family vacationing by luxury boat/plane attacked by bedoins and living to tell the story to Look magazine. I liked the article and cool to see the ads from 1960 too.

I liked sorting some bright and light green scraps to start this year's rainbow scrap challenge:

are you ever leaving this room?

 and listening to a new book on disc

set in MD and VA

I'm loving the newest Rhys Bowen book in Her Royal Spyness mysteries! Love and death among the cheetahs   I even watched a documentary on Wallis Simpson because she is a character this time.

I liked going to the Monet exhibit at the Denver Museum of art and then purchasing some paints to try his techniques. Again, painters put that history and art lesson on youtube for my pleasure. Maybe I'll write that up for paint party friday

I got a paper watch (tyvek) and a pencil/brush there.

look at this great metallic hand bag

a paper necklace at the art museum

I liked visiting the Rocky mountain quilt museum again, this time alone in order to visit with a group of women doing EPP. There were lots of people there, all different levels, and most seemed very friendly so I hope I make the hard drive there and back again next month.

I'll leave you with two favorites... elephants and piano version of clare de lune. Paul Barton plays classical music and the elephants love to listen. He has a whole lot of videos. Plus I saw one where a woman sings a lullaby to one elephant who always falls asleep as she sings. Love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qQOGCyRbY

Milo's moments

I am getting sleepy just thinking about it!

I love to sleep on the big bed! Every night, I go up with Daddy, get on my pj's, and he lifts me into the big bed where I find the absolute best place to sleep!

I'm sleeping on just my turf now!

Mama: yes... usually right where we want to sleep. I have a hard time getting in the bed when you get there first. You act like you can't hear me!
Milo: awe heck mama I just want to be where you are! How do I relax unless I know right were you are all night?

Mama: when I come in, you're on your back, legs all directions, and I have to shove you over to squeeze my legs in, have you considered lying longwise on the bed?
Milo: why?
please visit these people keeping lists of likes, and join us anytime!

craftscaviescontras 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts 
http://homesewnbyus
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/     
http://www.piecefulthoughts.com
spiralj2
https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/  
maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com 
in the group but not posting this week
https://www.justletmequilt.com/ 

LINKING TO

https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays

 http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
Thursday Thirteen

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

Open the door

 "words of the year", take deux

I was still seeking my word for the year, and when I was pulling on my pants for the day it came to me.

"Open the door"

This has a lot of significance for me.
Just a bit of back story,.
I grew up in fear.
If I'd been the social worker on my case I'd have removed me from the house. As it was however, I was trapped and powerless to the constant abuse and fear.
I learned not to tell, since telling didn't save me and indeed the repercussions from telling one time were reminders that I was powerless. I learned to "close the door" when I could, and to disappear into my head when I couldn't.
As a teen, I closed my bedroom door, locked it, went into the bathroom locked that door, went into the closet and hid under the hanging clothes with my fists balled up, hiding.

I am older, even maybe old now. I still keep the door locked. I look out windows and reach past chain locks figuratively to others. (note to people who don't believe women are mistreated: there may be no physical evidence or witnesses, and perps know to hide their misdeeds, but that doesn't mean the woman isn't telling the truth. And hoping against hope to be believed)

So this year, it came in a flash, which means it's probably a result of prayer, that I could explore the process of opening the door.
 Oh, make no mistake, I am an extrovert and talk to lots of people but inside is the girl who hid. Even lovely conversations are a bit like jumping out of an airplane to me sometimes. It's what I crave, the real connections between others, the connections that last and grow, that make me laugh and think.

 I imagine I will learn when to open a door, and when to shut and lock it again, as not all people are trustworthy. I imagine I will learn when I want to open the door and how to put in place safety measures. I will learn that meaningful interactions will come from trusting the open door.
I will open it to new friendships, and to new experiences, to new business ventures, to new ways of seeing the world, to opportunities. I want to finally do the ancestry test to maybe finally find family.

I hope to learn how to trust myself to handle life with less fear.
I expect to learn aspects of it both positive and negative. There is nothing in this world all one sided, every "entitlement" comes with a responsibility or a payment.

I was scared when this thought of "open the door" came to me. My first response was fear. A legacy of abuse that never quite goes away. The thought of this tugged at emotional scars that still inhibit me.
yet
like the year I chose forgiveness... and learned the ins and outs of that concept, I knew this to be important.
 Open the door to life
I hope on the plus side, to be open to new art expression, to self belief, to friendships, to going to new places, to trying new activities.  I long to be connected to people and to approach life with excitement not dread, and when I told a friend of these words, she called me brave.

I am not brave, but I push through the fears. I just want to be more relaxed and self assured that I can handle things. I want to find the delicate balance between safety and risk.
I want to experience the good that comes from opening the door to life.

Well, I started by being open about my life here today. Risky, but worth it if I put words to how anyone else feels too. I wonder who else out there has hidden fears that hinder them from feeling free.

together tuesdays

Welcome to this week's stories of  connections made with others.

won't you come play with us?

1.I posted a list of likes last Thursday, and shared a picture of some petrified wood saying it would be a great quilt inspiration. Well a reader took me up on that, and started pulling fabrics and designing methods for an art quilt! I see it as a challenge to us both. It felt good to inspire someone else with ideas for making art. When you design your own interpretive works it expresses who you are.

We can be inspired by other people and their connection stories. I was inspired by the following posts:

2. Nancy ( at http://pugmomquilts) told how she asked for birthday cards for her Dad and he received cards from all over the world, connection many people to her life through good wishes for her Dad. She is requesting cards again... read about it here: ...90-years-young
Nancy is smart, funny, kind and artistic.

3. Shannon (at imworkingonaproject) wrote this week, about her recent holiday trip to her family's home.


Everyone in her family loves dogs, and all bring them to gatherings so that the dogs have a fun time, the adults share games and art, the kids play together. In this post she tells the poignant story of a mother dog who is trying to care for her pups but is starving herself. Shannon was ready to adopt the mama dog until her minister beat her to the punch, naming the Mama Noel. (read it here)
It was a testament to caring for others weaker than oneself, that each cookie given to Noel was then taken to her pups to keep them alive. I cried!
Are humans and other species that different? We all care for our own, but it's a sign of God's love in us when we care for others who are weaker than ourselves, like our own.
Shannon is another artistic soul, who has varied interests, is intelligent, kind, funny and thoughtful.

She and Nancy are my soul sisters and I love them. They make my life feel more connected despite the physical distance.

I've been recovering from my illness, left with little energy to go out, so do not have many contacts this week. I did run into a neighbor while walking with Milo...

4. I met and chatted with a woman who walks Chloe a rescue westie. I like her, and we enjoy each other's company when we run into each other. We do not plan visits for some reason. She asked me if I still went to the neighborhood coffee meet ups. I told her no, and why. She said, she wanted to go and seemed to be asking me to go with her.
I guess it feels more secure to go with someone you've exchanged names with than totally alone.
I would like to get to know her and her husband better anyway, as they enjoy cards and are pleasant to talk with. Chloe was distrusting of Milo for months, til on walks with her Dad, she kept meeting Milo walking with his Dad and now she runs up to him and says Hi.

Whether you're a dog or a human, it takes time to trust and get to know one another.

V-day quilt for 2018

If you have connection stories let me know and I'll link to you or tell your story if you like.
do you enjoy reading these stories?

sewing saturday

Sewing Saturday is here, but it's been a slow week here at chez LeeAnna
I quilted some hand made hexi mug rugs.
Felt on the back

I saw that I had tried some hand embroidery on my felt, so I positioned it on the back of one. The blue rug has light gray felt. One more to quilt and I need to get these little Christmas gifties in the mail.
After all, only 11 months and change til Christmas!

File this under better late than never.

I sewed a few more hexi stars while in the car...

they are fresh off the presses so kind of distorted with some papers still in place.

these are quite slow, all along the way.

I saw on a video that people are doing not only the whip stitch to join paper segments, but two other stitches. I sat down one evening and tried both stitches. I'd say maybe I could use them in certain circumstances but they are quite awkward and slow so I'll stick to whip stitch.

I mailed off several pet rugs, some are still in the works. I'd like to show you how I made them later.
for now, I had fun watching this video
...... and loved her approach to tiny shards and strips and cut off edges to make fabric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2-q80xBLk

linking with
Midweek makers wednesdays
What I Made Monday
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays