Yoga wisdom: Still point

“At the still point of the turning world.

Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; 

at the still point,

there the dance is.

But neither arrest nor movement.

And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered.

Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascent nor decline.

Except for the point, 

the still point,

There would be no dance,

and there is only the dance.”

                                                                                                   ― T.S. Eliot

Joy's yoga wisdom from today's class: "At the still point of the turning world." A simple line from T.S. Elliot. Our yoga practice is the still point. The breath is the still point. A contented gathering of soft rabbits is the still point.

And tomorrow I'm on my way to Sedona, with these napkins that I made for my visitors!

Have a colorful day

STITCH: Carol's antique quilts

Our STITCH meeting had to be rescheduled to this week because of last week's snow, and the only people who made it this week were Carol and me. But since Carol was hosting, I got treated to a showing of some of her antique quilts, and she served freshly made banana bread and we managed to talk for the usual two hours!

The colors on the quilts are vibrant and full of life. The hand quilting stitches are so tiny, but it also didn't feel like there was batting. That would make it easier to take tiny stitches. They must have been summer quilts.

This log cabin is one of my favorites because of the exuberant colors and mix of prints.

But the most special quilts were these next two, which Carol's mother and grandmother made for her. Some of the fabric is from her old clothing.

Carol's current project is this wavy arc quilt, which I also love for the colors and movement.

And what would a special day be without silver sequined slippers? That's Carol, not me.

QUESTION: I'm experimenting with using larger text to make it easier to read. Comments? Is this helpful?

 Have a colorful day

Sew Day and other stuff

Let's start this post with some bright, cheery colors from Sew Day! Linda J. made the bowl, and I absolutely love it. Instead of stitching the coil that ended the basket, she used white tacky glue. I haven't made a bowl in a long time, but this has inspired me to make one in these colors.

Carolynn made this project bag for me for Christmas. She sewed one for each of us in our favorite colors. She knows I love hot pink, orange, warm yellow and turquoise, and this wonderful bag has it all -- and holds it all!

Carolynn also hosted, and she had this beautifully beaded table runner that she just got in Mexico, although it looks like it was made in India.

Can you think of anything more comforting for lunch on a chilly, grey February day than grilled cheese and tomato soup? Mmmm, mmmm.

But wait, there's still dessert! Chocolate dipped shortbread heart cookies and dark, rich brownies.

The table was set with this warm, red and cream table runner and matching napkins that Carolynn made, and her beautiful Valentine's Day roses.

Back home, I slumped in my chair at the kitchen counter because this is the stack of reading on my placemat. I mentioned earlier the heavy emotional burden I've been carrying since Christmas Eve, and now it's getting down to the scary legal part which makes it seem so final and which I never in a million years could have foreseen and I still don't want to go through with it.

My daughter sent me this next item for Valentine's Day along with some fun socks and chocolate scented soaps. Besides being incredibly thoughtful, she also has a wicked sense of humor and she's always there for me even though she lives hundreds of miles away.

In between the divorce books, I'm reading these ones on hiking in Sedona because before this "stuff" happened we had reserved the house in Sedona that we have gone to for years in March. I'm still going down and I hope the sunshine boosts my spirits.

 Have a colorful day

Back to our routine after being snowed in

From left: Pam, Julie, Lynn and Salli

After a week of being mostly snowed in, we made it back to yoga today for the first time in a week. Here are some of us afterward at javasana -- "coffee pose," or hanging out at Starbucks after class. We've been doing that at least three times a week for years.

This first sign was inside the lobby at the Y. Every day they have two different inspirational quotes.

The quote below by Mother Teresa is our teacher Jillian's yoga wisdom for the day. She prints out a copy for me each Friday so I can put it on the blog. Look at how it matches my shirt!

"We cannot all do great things,

but we can do small things

with great love."

If this forecast is accurate, we may have snow again in a week! This is not right for Gig Harbor.

Have a colorful day

Snowing, sewing and eating

I'm still snowed in, but I'm okay because I had the ingredients for a Texas chocolate sheet cake.

I dusted it with powdered sugar instead of icing it -- that makes it low-calorie, right?

I also baked a frozen party-size pan of lasagne yesterday morning so that it would be ready to eat if the power goes out again. We have a gas stove, so I can at least light that to reheat food.

I'm also working on three sewing projects. First is cutting out these colorful pieces for a tiny house quilt for my daughter, which I'll sew when I go to Sedona next month.

The blocks go together so quickly that I decided to cut out pieces for another tiny house quilt for my son and his wife. They like rich, warm fall colors, so this is what I pulled out for them. I'll cut them over the next couple of days while I'm still snowed in.

And I'm also putting together packages of applique blocks to take to Sedona for hand stitching. This is for the Sue Spargo Fresh Cut quilt that I've been working on for awhile.

We got about nine inches of snow Friday-Saturday, then a few more inches yesterday, and now it's coming down very hard and is supposed to continue for the next day. After that it may change to rain -- or sleet or still snow. At any rate, it's going to be a mess all week.

I'm having to miss my Woolies meeting today and STITCH tomorrow, and yoga classes have been cancelled. 

I'm not going anywhere on this driveway. You can get a glimpse of how steep it is.

But it IS beautiful! 

It's like a winter wonderland out there.

I'm embracing the peacefulness and am thankful that I have the luxury of being able to stay home.

 Have a colorful day

Snow storm of the decade

The snow storm of the decade, according to the news, has hit the Northwest, specifically the Puget Sound area where I live. We had about nine inches here since yesterday afternoon and more is predicted for most of next week.

It was supposed to start at 1 p.m. yesterday, so I went to yoga, which is over at noon. It wasn't snowing when we closed our eyes at 11:55 for final relaxation. When we opened them a few minutes later, it looked like a snow globe world outside!

Big, fluffy flakes fell steadily outside of the windows in the yoga studio at the Y. We decided to make a quick stop at Starbucks for our usual javasana ("coffee pose"), but we were not prepared for the roads there to be like parking lots. I think everyone was either going home early or hitting the grocery stores. But we made it and had our usual catchup chat and drinks before heading home to hunker down.

At the end of yoga class.

 Shortly after I got home, my Buddha statue looked like this:

 When I got up this morning, it looked like this!

"I am grateful for winter.

It reminds us that everyone and

everything needs some quiet time."

      -- Jillian's yoga wisdom at the end of yesterday's class.

So today I'm having quiet time -- sewing, sipping coffee, gazing out the window. As long as the power doesn't go out, I'll be a happy camper.

p.s. The power went out from 4-9:30 p.m. I turned on the fireplace and fake candles and had dinner that I had just finished cooking in the Instapot before it went out. Perfect timing!

 Have a colorful day

Snow day and Kahlua cake!

Monday was a snow day here in western Washington. A few inches closed everything down and I was forced to stay home and bake a chocolate Kahlua bundt cake. It was rough, but I did it. 

The cake batter had 3/4 cup of Kahlua, espresso, chocolate, sour cream ... As soon as it came out of the oven I poked holes all over with a skewer and drenched it in a syrup made with another 3/4 cup of Kahlua, sugar and a whole stick of butter. OMG!

It didn't come out of the pan too well, but it tasted great.

Well that didn't go well.

The snow was pretty and it was so peaceful looking out the windows. We're in for more snow starting tomorrow. 

I also used my snow day to cut out more wool for my Fresh Cut applique project. 

My friend Sherry, who helped eat the cake, gave me some beautiful locally dyed wool that she bought at the Sleepy Valley Quilt store in Port Angeles. Don't these pieces play well with the other colors?

 I also can't get this song out of my head. It's the snow day announcement sung to the tune of "Hallelujah" that's been making the rounds on social media. These guys are really good!

watch

Have a colorful day