I Like Thursday #184

I like seeing a moon during the daylight!

Welcome to this week's list of likes.

I like the birdsong from this natural area in the 'hood

I love a sticky roller. I use it all over the house... for instance
after grooming the poodle, little hairs are all over our clothes, so a quick roll before laundry saves the washer drain and dryer lint filter
clearing stray threads from batting or a quilt top before basting is easier
picking up tiny things like sequins or beads from the studio floor (or any items on any floor)

During the great sort of 2020, I found UFO's and organized them into tidy bins, keeping a roster of what each bin held so I can find things again. I also went thru some random purchases and bags of stuff from the move, and found this hat and scarf I was knitting when we  came to this house from the rental.

Hat? done! Scarf? on it's way!

I finished the hat and now have a mindless scarf to knit while watching shows
I've already worn the hat and it is very stretchy but snug, perfect for the constant winds here

 I also came across this wild fleece

hahaha who's that for?!

  and made Milo another sweater, and an outdoor coat with it!

sure it's warm but will my dog friends laugh at me?

The breakfast (or snack) of champions

... a black bean quesadilla. Place a dab of butter in a pan, then whole wheat tortilla, some shredded cheese over that, then some refried black beans, some chopped tomatoes, some avocado, and a spoon of salsa. Let crisp up, fold over, slide onto a plate and microwave for 30 seconds. Cut into four pieces.

Ahhhh blue skies

I liked meeting new neighbors last weekend. The warmer temps and sunshine brought people out of their houses, and we met three couples last weekend. It's my opinion that knowing and being known by neighbors creates a better living environment. Now I am not guaranteeing I remember their names but I remember, Matt and Debbie, Donna, Ginger. Four out of six ain't bad.

Another neighbor rode by on her bike and said "I like your hair... did you do something to it?"
(like not brush it, sure..)
then she added, "did you frost it?"
LOL
Nature frosted it with gray! I replied
she said, "well that's the best kind"
(all righty then!)

I think my nails are growing stronger with this:

they haven't broken to the nubs yet anyway

I LOVED this video, it's from the recent SAQA exhibit inspired by our views of nature. I am aware that some people are not concerned with our environment, but I believe this view to be shortsighted.

The video I share this time is of an innovative piece of art. The most important part to me was the artist's words.... her care and connection to the whole world, her belief that one person makes a difference. Ahhhh, my kind of thinking

It's a vimeo and I don't know how to embed that here but the link is
 https://vimeopro.com/saqa/naturalworlds/video/377402782

the link to see the whole exhibit and other artists explaining their work is here

Tomorrow I have some cool links for Paint Party Friday and more on Sewing Saturday

 
on a scary note: this was on the Writer's Almanac yesterday

It was on this day in 1918 that the first cases of what would become the influenza pandemic were reported in the U.S. when 107 soldiers got sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. It was the worst pandemic in world history. The flu that year killed only 2.5 percent of its victims, but more than a fifth of the world's entire population caught it — it's estimated that between 50 million and 100 million people died in just a few months. Historians believe at least 500,000 people died in the United States alone.

 be careful out there

Other friends keeping lists of likes too... join us in trying to see the good things around us
craftscaviescontras 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts 
http://homesewnbyus 
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/

maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
  http://www.piecefulthoughts.com
spiralj2
https://www.su-sieeemac.com/2020/03/the-abc-creatures-revisted-part-2.html
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/    
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/     

LINKING TO

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

sewing saturday teal tumbling blocks

see the little sets I make clipped together?

welcome to sewing saturday round-up !
Those are hand pieced, EPP tumbling blocks made with 1 1/2" diamonds.
The color of the month at RSC is teal, so out came the teal scrap box

 While listening to TV, I sorted through and found sets of light, medium and dark turquoise to teal fabrics to trim into diamond shapes and made sets to work on (see top picture for a little set. Three diamond fabrics, three papers to baste around clipped together)

I don't baste through the paper, just along the back so it's easy to pull papers out later

These are about 3" and so cute!
speaking of teal/turquoise.... here's my favorite small tote bag, made years ago after I finished an ocean quilt full of sea creatures. Of course I saved random blocks and little pieces, and look how cute it turned out. I love the aqua striped binding! I use this a lot

Linking to
wendysquiltsandmore peacock party (quilts)
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays  
Midweek makers wednesdays
http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss 
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays

 scrap happy Saturdays

I Like Thursday #183

I LOVE purple roses with a nice scent!

Welcome to this week's list of likes.

It's been a week of recovery, first the sty is much improved, not gone but the meds are.
Then I got tripped by a corgi puppy at Wash Park on Sunday so my back is tweaked. Oy vey.

I liked how this condolence card quilt came out. My back yard neighbor's dog Bandit passed away and we know how hard that is, so I dug around in my dog fabric til I found ONE corgi like Bandit, and made this collage for the family.

the back of the card

These lovely people gave me this beautiful card as a thank you, and it joins others sent by friends.

the bejeweled butterfly card

I love this pepper jelly, with slices of turkey sausage, apples, brie and crackers

I like pretty blood oranges!

free magazines at a shop!

I really like Wash Park in Denver, and wrote about two interactions we had while there on Sunday
Here 
but look at these pics taken that day... how fun!

 I liked the old dog lying next to the security system's sign!
I liked this doggie security system too

 and that he ignored my poodle when we walked by

and this dog cart... never seen one outside of old pictures of manor homes

I like the pop of color these yellow chairs give

cute tiny awning

I liked finding this dog training site. I found it because Sandra at mmmquilts mentioned using a towel instead of a cone on a recovering dog. There is a lot of training advice here with videos.
https://www.dogtrainingnation.com/category/how-to-train-a-dog/page/2/

Milo's Moments

I like to play with my toys at night, but not by myself, on Daddy's legs. That way I get to chew, and tear stuff up and keep Daddy right where I want him!

Now sit! Stay! and visit mama's friends to see their lists this week!

https://www.su-sieeemac.com/2020/03/the-abc-creatures-revisted-part-1.html

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


maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
  http://www.piecefulthoughts.com
spiralj2

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/    
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/     
https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/  

LINKING TO 

https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays
rosie and the boys nature pics  
http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/ 
http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
http://www.rainfrances.com/ 
Thursday Thirteen

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

together Tuesdays

We actually left our neighborhood last weekend.

cool sculpture and outdoor chandelier

Around here, the snow turns quickly to ice, and creates danger zones on roads, so I prefer to stay home rather than join 100-car pile-ups.
that said, last weekend brought a thaw, and we three got in the car and drove to our favorite place to walk... Washington Park in Denver.

Milo and Daddy walking around

160 acres of pretty, plus a neighborhood of stunning homes all around it. Peace and interesting sites, quiet and families playing, dogs and children and old buildings, water, croquet courts, basketball and volleyball and small lakes.

when did you ever see a dog cart???

two encounters made an impression on me
1. a 70 year old woman came out her front door as we were looking at her house's architecture. I asked if it was built in the 20's as the surrounding homes looked like that time period more than the 1910's we left a block away. She said, "it's old"

that started a roller coaster of conversation, and led to a short tour of her front rooms inside. I learned:

her mom loved old houses and garage sales long before they were trendy. Her mom gave her Dad an ultimatum, buy me an old house or get a divorce. I don't know if she was joking or not but soon after the purchase they divorced anyway.
This older woman inheireted the old house (which couldn't have been too old when they moved in, possibly starting the divorce proceedings)  with her brother when their mother died. It had one owner before them, and it was now in a dismal state of disrepair.

She was told by an agent she could likely sell it for $900,000. People were buying in her area and tearing homes down.
NO!!!!!
so she basically grew up in this house, and was doing no repairs. She said she was sad to think of someone changing it, but she'd be gone so that was fine. As only someone who is in the winter of life who has survived two strokes can be, she was resigned and almost cheerful to it.
She insisted I come in and see the front room. Heavenly for me! Just standing on the curved porch and looking out allowed me to imagine how it once looked and how it would feel to belong in this nice neighborhood of gracious homes.
It so reminded me of the home I grew up in, built a decade before this one was. Ahhhh I stood and looked past the piles of boxes and dusty stuff, a hoarder's home, to the chandelier, the elaborate woodwork, the built in window seats and layout.
Suddenly she became quiet and whispered that we should not let her brother know she brought someone else in.... so we crept out the old wooden door with the glass in the top, to the delapidated wood porch and looked out across the tree lined street.
yes I could imagine living here.
She was a right chatterbox and jumped from topic to topic, and I was gleefully along for the ride!
What a window into someone's life after walking up and down the streets looking at homes from the sidewalk.
She abruptly had to go, as her neighbor drove up with a little boy this older woman just HAD to talk to.

2. walking into the park, we saw the lovely space filled with happy people biking, walking dogs, playing ball, chasing their kids, or sitting quietly. We joined them for a walk around the perimeter and Milo got to interact with several dogs.

A woman approached with what I mistook for a Viszla and I asked. No it's a mix, but our two dogs began to do the dog meeting ritual, the dance end to end with noses twitching and shy glances toward each other. Then as one, they broke apart and visited each other's persons (us).
As happens in the doggie world, the people began to chat.
This young woman is a transplant from Texas, living with her sister renting here in the neighborhood I love.
As only young people can, she knew everything and had every answer. She hasn't lived long enough to realize there is a need for compromise, adjustment in expectation, and accomodation of others.
It was fun for me to talk to her, and hear a point of view so different from mine.

She shared her strong opinions, as if they were truths. She does not like people who are quirky or living lives other than hers. She longs to leave the "weirdness" of Denver, the really weirdness of  Boulder and Ft Collins (all places I'm drawn to as I like people being themselves and a bit different) and move to WY.

Go on, I say! Find your place where everyone is just like you! Wherever that is!
We found common ground in dog love. She told me all about dogs she grew up with. She told me about this dog that wakes her in the night, jumping into her bed to spoon.
"he likes to be the big spoon against my back, wrapping his legs over me. But he stinks"
He sure did, and just after this comment, he tried to, ahem, "hug" Milo who said, knock that off!

Before we parted ways she said something I kind of related to, that being middle class was so hard as the poorest might have support and the richest have their money, but it's hard to be in the middle. I suggested since she is young, she find some answers for all, as we are only as safe and happy as our weakest citizens.

She looked a bit perplexed but smiled and said goodbye

Linking to

cheesy photos at ched curtain

sunday stories

the words for this week's story prompt come from The Sunday Whirl
There are emotional jails too...





she was the storyteller, the keeper of secrets and the author of what -might -be.


It was a role she liked, unlike "dutiful wife" or "quiet woman" or even "nicest friend"


She was known by her roles but she slyly wondered if people who thought they knew her, would be shocked to know who she really was.


probably.


oh my but it was cold today. Yesterday the heat and humidity of the farm curled the little tendrils of hair that escaped her ponytail, and made her imagine she was an ancient healer, living in prehistoric times. As she bent over a fire, steeping a tincture of herbs in a stone pot, she worried about the future for her people.

poof!

 Back in today's world, she fingered the chain around her neck that held a heart pendant. She was given it by an old boyfriend, long gone but not forgotten, back east where she grew up. He gave it to her and said he wanted to always see it hanging around her neck, then he was drafted and never returned to see her still wearing it. She told herself he would come back, that he was  a POW but even she didn't believe her own story, so she eventually agreed to dance with another boy who gave her a ring instead.


she was the storyteller, courageous in her imagination, and brave in her tales of strong women.

She felt tiny though, and kept her gifts to herself mostly. She played her roles daily, and everyone was happy around her, but inside the  spirit of her heart yearned to savor more.


She saw herself as a wee colorful bird, in the jail of a pretty cage, but still with a song to sing. She would call out to other birds who answered her but couldn't come closer than the cage. The wee bird was a storyteller in it's heart, weaving and blending stories that only other birds understood. Stories of great flights, to far away places, places that took the wee birdie away....

poof
she was back again to this life, and heard the rumble of her man's truck coming on the dirt road. He would be hot and tired and hungry, but he would pull her up to his heart and hug her off her feet, and make her giggle as he nuzzled her neck. He would say, you are the prettiest little thing I ever did see, and my life would be empty without you in it...

poof.

she'd better get up and have dinner ready

linking to

https://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/ 

sewing Saturday... last of the orange blocks

the cut away bits

Welcome to sewing round up for the week. I've had an eye condition but was able to sew the last of the orange blocks for RSC. I've been doing lozenges (by Bonnie Hunter) using  color rectangles with dark and light corner triangles

see the pretty fabrics?

see them with the green ones from last month?

and then mixed up

cool!

When I sew the squares to the corners, I sew another seam inside the cutaway part, cut the extra tiny block out, and use them in some mini project

I wasn't crazy about them facing the same way...

or as geese

one 16 block unit sewn, and look how small it comes out!

so I looked at blocks online and found a cool star burst design, and started sewing them, and here's what I discovered
1. these are tiny, trimmed down to 1.25", so you can't do them in this pattern as improv... you must trim them down
2. tiny pieces in pattern are easily mispositioned.
3. 64 little half square triangles are messy with seams and bulky to sew unless you're really really careful, and that's not that much fun

after I sewed it, I sprayed it thoroughly with water and pressed with my fingers first to line up the seams

and carefully followed the picture to do the next quadrant.
did I mention there are 64 tiny 1 1/4" unfinished blocks in this thing?

see the block image ?

you can see my guiding picture from google images... and how the quadrants look with opposite background layout.... I think it's too busy, maybe better like this

what do you think?
Last month with the tiny green HST blocks, I made the coolest little quilt by doing it improv. So much more fun but I wanted to try something else this time. Oy vey.
(I suspect I forgot to trim a few of those maverick blocks before sewing, hence the slight variance)
(I will make it work, not take any stitching out)

Note to self, that black and white block is truly nice, but not with these crazy color combinations... and make it larger next time!

Linking to
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays   
wendysquiltsandmore peacock party (quilts)
http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss
Midweek makers wednesdays
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
oh Scrap Sundays 
http://www.inquiringquilter.com/  

 scrap happy Saturdays

I Like Thursday# 182

welcome to this week's list of likes.... sorely lacking as I have a sty that is extremely painful and my eyes are blurry. The picture is of our red berry twig wreath, bringing in a bit of color.

flamingo of the day  Find your balance

I finished up last season's outlander dvd's and woohooooo how good it was. I will have to wait for the library to get the current season's. Mainly I listen to tv, try to do things, but don't feel like doing a list.
Here are some adorable baby animal videos and a youtube channel to take my place this week

This is a very heartwarming story of a little alpaca
this one is just adorable... a rescue mini horse and goose team find a new home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmZtoWLX3JE 

keeping their own lists are

https://www.su-sieeemac.com/2020/02/happy-notes-13-of-them.html

craftscaviescontras 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts 
http://homesewnbyus 
www.mmmquilts.com
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    
maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/     
http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

spiralj2
https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/   

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