Bags and Blocks

I made a few bag/pouch gifts over the holidays. They were a little late getting out, but I can finally say they're with their recipients. The first is a great little lunch bag - pattern from Sew the Perfect Gift. It had some nice details and was fun to make!

 I also made 4 zippered pouches (Gina, I forgot to get a picture of yours!) from Elizabeth Hartman's Perfect Zip Bags pattern. I can't say enough good things about this pattern! I'm really not very skilled at these kind of projects, but this one is fun, easy and turns out perfectly every time - even with a zipper to install!

 My to-do list this week also included making Rene's block for our Redbird Bee. I love this block!! She used Elizabeth's Patchwork Wheel block tutorial but changed it to a whopping 20 inches. It's just gorgeous and I'm ready to go out and stock up on some more Cameo!

And finally, I'm on target with my Lucky Stars BOM. This was our practice block for December. I'm really happy with it, but realized when it was finished that I'm in a color rut. So I'll be redoing this one in my new palette...

I'm sticking with the navy, but switched to a brighter aqua and changed the orange to cerise (a purply, pinky, red). These were so much fun and I'm ready to do the next one!

I'm looking forward to our St Louis MQG meeting this weekend. It's always an inspiration and a few laughs! Hope your weekend is creative! . . . Cindy

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Balmy.

NOT.
I heard this morning that it was -17F below zero locally.
I didn't need to know that.  Altogether TOO much information.
It's cold.  Really cold.  Putting a number to it just adds insult to injury, if you ask me.

Next and Nuff have a big box in the loft of the barn, which L has surrounded with bales of hay.  It has a blanket, and a heated cat pad, to bring their body temp up when they lay on it.  They scoot under the door and up the stairs, where hopefully, they are safe from predators, and reasonably comfy.

They also have the heated water bowl, food all day, canned and dry.
They have their solar house, in front of the barn.

When the sun comes out, they are in it.  Well, they have issues.  If Nuff is in in first, he lets Next in and they lay together, but if Next is in first, even though he is the runt of the two, he will not allow Nuff to come in.  So Nuff sits outside the solar house, looking in.

 

Think we need one more.

And they have a ratty old box on the porch, that they have  claimed as theirs.  We put a blanket in it, and covered it with some old rugs. Even though the sensible thing in weather like this would be to stay upstairs in the loft, on the heated pad, that's not where they want to be in the daytime.
Have you ever tried to reason with a cat???
I tried this morning, and succeeded, in getting them into the inside porch, where it was cold, but not nearly as cold as outside.  I fed them there.  They didn't like it.
When L came a while later, and opened the door, they bolted.
Unbelievable to me, but they do not want to come inside.

So, a trip to the pet store was in order, unless I wanted to keep worrying about it.  And I didn't.

 So.........they're spoiled.
It could be worse.

Here's the box.

 After we put the heating pad in it, we put the sides and the top down the way they were, and plugged it in.

They seem fat and happy.  Their fur is thick and shiny.
I think I am doing all I can do for them, and what's right for them.  I really hope I am.


Sydney says:  (oblivious to anyone else's concerns)

Does this rug make my legs look short????

No, Sydney, your legs ARE short.
But you're a beauty, nonetheless.

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Catching Up...

You may remember I was trying to finish up some projects and start the new year with a clean slate. Well, the slate is still a little dirty, but I do have a few more projects that actually were bound at the very end of 2012.

My Ruby Strings quilt is done!

The back has some leftover "strings" and a nice red and gray fabric found on sale!

My Chevron quilt was nicely quilted by Annie, a friend from our St Louis MQG. You've seen this before, but it's nice to have it done. She quilted lovely, various designs in all the chevrons!

The back is again some leftover strips and I thought this zig zag fabric was a perfect choice.

And finally, this block made from Summersville got a border and some quilting to finish it off.

I also wanted to share my new cabinet with you. As you can probably guess, quilt storage is badly needed around here! I'm so thrilled with this cabinet, from Crate and Barrel. I've already put 7 quilts in it and there's easily room for 5 more. I just love a stack of quilts!

And you know one thing leads to another when you add something to a room. I decided to sew up some new pillows and used one of my absolute favorite Amy Butler fabrics of all time!

We're almost caught up! Next I have a few bag/pouch projects that were gifted. Then we'll be all caught up!  . . . Cindy

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Day 1

Yes, it's cold out this New Year's Day, but Roy and I took a long walk anyway.  I love the new hat I made for myself.  It's actually the second one I made, but youngest daughter really, really coveted the first one I made from the handspun that blogging buddy Shiralyn sent me.
And you know I couldn't refuse her.
It is a  really easy hat to knit, and quick.  It looks somewhat like a helmet.  It is long in the back, which covers my neck, and my ears.  I really love it.  I am going to make more.

 And yes, my nose is red.  IT'S COLD.

We are 9 followers away from a giveaway.  But what to give away?  What kind of a giveaway should it be?

Don't you love "Day ONE"?  Doesn't it make you hopeful?  doesn't it make you feel that anything is possible.

I've been asking myself some questions.  Here are my questions, and answers, and you can comment with your own answers, if you want.

1. What am I going to do for myself this year?  JUST FOR ME.

 I'm going to make a date with ME every single week, to spend in the great outdoors, kayaking, hiking, just sitting on a rock somewhere with a book.  Because when I was a kid, I knew then something that I have tended to forget as an adult........being out in the serenity of nature makes me happy.
 Here is an old picture I found.  This is a place where I spent a lot of time growing up.....see the X?  That's where I used to lay on my back and look at the clouds.
One time, in the winter, I rode a toboggan down that hill.......and looked up too soon.  It is hard to see, but there was a barbed wire fence close to the top, and I have the scar on my temple to prove it.

2.  What do I feel the urge to get done this year?

I want to be more minimalist.  I have started already, down sizing clothes, and books, and cleaning closets.  I want to extend this throughout my home, and my life.  I want to live simpler.   It isn't a resolution, I've already started to do it, I just want to do more.  I want it be become part of who I am.
For instance, yes, all the coats drastically reduced in the Land's End flyer are marvelous, but I don't need a coat.  Not really.  Need vs want.   I am going to pay more attention to that.

3. What would I like to learn this year??

I want to weave more complicated patterns this year, and be a better weaver.  I want to spend less time "producing", and more time "creating".

4. What is the ONE thing I want to do this year, NO MATTER WHAT.

Spend some time on a pond in Maine.  Listening to loons, being still.

5. What was the smartest decision I made last year?

The smartest decision I made last year was to trust my gut feeling, and also to trust my doctors,  and have the surgery that gave me hope for the future.


And don't forget, I need giveaway ideas.

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Day 366.

 2012.
  The last day of the year.  I keep thinking about it, and I am dead sure that I could not have ever guessed what my life would be like this past year, and I don't even think I could have made it up if I tried.
The terms.....Chiari, basilar invagination, cervical fusion.......they swirl around in my head sometimes.

Still hard to believe.

The good news is that I made it through all of it.  You know because you were right here with me.  And believe me, I felt that.  It was good, knowing that this whole host of friends had your back.  You worried, and you prayed, and you sent me good energy.
That's unbelievable to me, that you did that.  But I know you did.

And the people who took care of me in person, those dear friends, my family............well, I can't begin to tell you how lucky I am.  I often think about how everyone put themselves out for me, to be there for me, to do the things I could not do, to buoy me up and keep me safe, to give of themselves freely because I needed it.  
And the good news, I am better.   I am 16 weeks post op, and guess what...... I am not going to count those weeks anymore.
Tomorrow is 2013, and a brand new start.  With my brand new, redesigned HEAD, and my wonderful new PERSPECTIVE.
What matters, what counts, what is genuine.
Good soup.  Good wine.  Good friends.
Simple everyday things.
Being here, in the moment, now.  I think I could have read Eckhart Tolle a dozen times, and not have the understanding that I got from my personal experience with my own life this year.

Being mindful.
Maybe my old brain wasn't capable.
My new brain is, though.

 

Listening.  Breathing. Being quiet in my heart.

Say goodbye.  2012 is soon but a memory.  And that's fine with me.

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In a reclining position.

Ah, the couch.   I love my couch.  You've seen it a dozen times, usually with Roy lounging on it.
He has an old bedspread there, that he loves.   If we leave him home alone, he tries to get under it, and when we return, all the pillows are on the floor, and the quilt is in a bunch.  That's the only bad thing he does when left alone, besides maybe put one of our shoes on the couch, to show us how disgusted he is with us.

DH and I searched for the right sofa for a while, and as soon as I saw this one, I knew it was the one.  We bought the sofa, a chair, and a chaise lounge. Roy has claimed all three, but he shares.

You're wondering what my point is by now.

 

 Usually, the only time you would ever find me on the couch, is after dinner, with a book, or my laptop, while DH watches awful TV.
That was before my flip through the air and crack to the skull event. The infamous 8/11/11.

The past year has found me becoming intimately acquainted with my sofa.
If you look up "couch" or "sofa", it says that it is a long, stuffed seat for reclining.
And recline, I have.

Usually with company.

 

Yesterday, when I woke up with the cold firmly planted in my chest, and coughing like a crazy woman, I retreated to "the couch".  Every cough made decompressed skull feel like an impending explosion.  So I stayed put.  I watched episodes of "Parenthood" on my Mac.

I have become a Parenthood groupie.  It makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me totally annoyed with the bad choices they make, and sometimes, it makes me squirm.

Like last night, when Sarah took in her ex husband/abusive alcoholic, and then ran around insanely trying to get him into rehab, instead of letting the loser figure it out for himself.

Pfffft, I said to myself.   Dope.  Who would do that?  Codependent BS.  

 (this is just part of my tirade while trying desperately to steam my lungs out in the hot tub at midnight)

And suddenly, it occurred to me, with the snow swirling around my head, a total contrast to the heat infusing my body.....................I did that.

I did exactly that very same thing.  THE SAME THING. O.M.G.

No wonder it made me squirmy.   Nofreakingwonder.

I threatened my ex.  I held him captive, in a sense, and drove him to rehab, after I had made all the arrangements myself.  I orchestrated the entire intervention.  And I, good codependent little girl that I was, I was the only one who intervened.  

I tell myself sometimes, that it was wonderful.  After all, that was 1987, and he has been clean and sober, remarried, with more children, and happy I think, ever since.

But even so, watching Sarah dispense with her own life, jeopardize her own happiness, to save a drunk who had made her life MISERABLE, well, it just rankled.  Pure. And. Simple.

It's snowing, again.  DH has gone to the store to get me cough medicine.  While I am a firm believer that men just annoy women by nature, he is a good man who thinks of my best interest all the time.

He has been by my side and stuck with me through it all.

A tough year.

Soon to be LAST YEAR.

I am not going to define myself by who I was in 1987, and I am going to leave 2012 behind, as well.

2012, with its never ending headache, the not knowing, the worry, the depression, the surgery, the tough recovery.

I will, however, take with me the love and support of my family and friends,  the sweetness of being held up and encouraged and even carried sometimes, when it seemed like I was nearly lost.

2013 is about to begin.  It's going to be good, friends.  It's going to be really GOOD. 

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Some 2012 quilts

I love seeing end of the year quilt-making wrap ups. Thought you might too!

I wasn't nearly as good as last year at keeping records, so I've gone through some of my photos and shared my favorites. Enjoy!

Wishing each and every one of you a Happy New Year! Thank you so much for visiting my little space and chiming in occasionally! I have lots planned for 2013 - including the pleasure of making a quilt for a new grandson! Hope you have lots of great plans too!  . . . Cindy

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