After the election

The day after the election I walked, and walked, and walked in the desert, trying to make sense of the senseless and seeking solace in Nature.

For now, I'll look to Juniper for some joy.

Have a colorful day

Election Day plan

 "It feels like the whole country 

is waiting to get the results 

of a biopsy."

    -- Jimmy Kimmel

"Tomorrow is Election Day 

and 'Late Night' is officially endorsing

 Xanax 0.5 milligrams, 

twice a day as needed."

     -- Seth Myers

It's not just me. I think the whole country -- or at least those paying attention to the election -- is on edge today. But I have a plan!

I have my favorite frozen pizza ready to help get me through the coverage after the returns start coming in. If I could drink I would have chocolate martinis and white Russians, but I've developed an allergy to alcohol so I'll have iced tea. If things start looking grim I'll bake brownies.

I'm going to get some exercise! The weather is beautiful outside my window, so I'll go for a nice, brisk walk soon.

I'll sew. Here is an apron I just made from a tea towel to give as a Christmas gift. I saw the idea about 30 years ago at the International Quilt Festival-Houston, and I'm finally getting around to doing it.

And if the election stress makes someone behave badly, I'll heed this advice that just popped up on Facebook today.

I voted weeks ago when the staffed ballot drop box opened at our library, but my son and daughter-in-law in Madison, WI, voted first thing this morning at the polls dressed in blue and sent this picture.

And now we wait.

Have a colorful day

Christmas finishes

I finished Juniper's stocking! I was going to stitch sparkly beads to the cuff, then I realized that she might pull them off and put them in her mouth. Instead, I stitched little snowflakes (or stars) in a silver thread.

I also made a few of these paper-pieced ornaments from a pattern in an old magazine. Every year I make a different type of ornament to give to family.

If you've never paper pieced, this is what you're looking at as you sew, above, and the bottom photo shows the right side before the extra fabric is trimmed off. You have to think upside down, which is a little confusing at first.

And yes, this triple chocolate cake IS connected to quilting. Nancy and I went on a little shop hop yesterday and had the cake for dessert after lunch. It was delicious!

Have a colorful day

Happy Halloween, Happy "Book" Club

 

And my Halloween candy is also running out, even though the trick-or-treaters haven't arrived yet. I've been eating it. I'd forgotten how much I love Butterfingers!

And speaking of eating, "Book" Club was last night and Beth showed us how she made linguine from scratch.

It was absolutely delicious, but we all agreed we probably wouldn't be making it ourselves.

Our potluck followed an Italian theme, so there was the pasta with Bolognese sauce, focaccia that Beth also made, a Caprese salad, antipasto salad, antipasto skewers, fruit, cannoli and plenty of red wine. The book, which had nothing to do with Italy, was a delightful thriller titled "First Lie Wins" by Ashley Elston.

Have a colorful day

The poetry of trees

 

"Trees are poems

that the Earth writes

upon the sky."

-- Kahlil Gibran

I'll let the trees, from the places I've lived and visited, speak for themselves.

My daughter, Julia, 

behind our Illinois home

Have a colorful day

Christmas projects under way

My mini charm packs of cheery Christmas fabric arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop, so now I'm ready to make Juniper's Christmas stocking. I got some ideas on Pinterest and think I'll go for the diagonal look of the one at middle right. 

I'm making it pretty big so Santa can stuff it with lots of goodies. It'll look something like this, except I have to organize the color runs into reds, greens, pinks, and cream. Then I'll give it a white cuff and embroider her name on it in sparkly green (because Juniper trees are green).

I also started my wool appliqué blocks from the "Tinsel" Sue Spargo pattern. That's her picture on the left and my in-progress one on the right. I'm doing my own thing for the embellishment, so my next step will be adding colorful beads instead of her embroidered ornaments.

I made the red ribbons with the whipped chainstitch. I did the chainstitch with red pearl cotton and then whipped it with a sparkly red thread. I think I'll use that stitch for Juniper's name in a fun font.

I have my bowl of stitching supplies ready to take out to the patio. Then I pulled out a selection of trims that I might use in the other eight "Tinsel" blocks.

Before I started the Christmas projects, I gave my worktable a good cleaning. I threw out the paint-stained plastic and replaced it with a clean piece where I paint fabric.

All the sheer scraps from my collage projects went in a basket and the painted scraps went in color coordinated piles on the cutting table. Now it's not such a mess in there.

Here's one more project idea, posted on Facebook during a discussion of art quilters about how nervous we are about the election!

Have a colorful day