2020 wasn't all bad

 

Despite Covid-19 turning our lives upside down and taking far too many lives in 2020, I have found some bright spots in the year. I went after my dream of living in the desert and moved to Tucson, where I've embraced the sunshine, hiking, Mexican food, and new friends.

Today I went for my last hike of the year, in the Santa Catalina foothills. It was peaceful and beautiful, sunny and 50-some degrees.

I'm gradually exploring the trails in Catalina State Park, which is less than 10 minutes from my house. I'm even starting to get to know the individual saguaros!

After a blistering hot summer spent sheltering inside my house, I finally was able to start hiking in the fall and got to know these two wonderful women on a Meetup hike. We clicked and have started hiking together every week.

Besides desert hiking, this year also has brought me hundreds of spectacular sunsets and some pretty amazing full moons.

Above is a full moon hike in the desert and a sunset from my front courtyard. Below is the sunset from my sewing room.

Speaking of sewing, I got a LOT of sewing done during the summer when it was just too hot to do anything outside except at 6 a.m. I embroidered little bowl stuffers for friends ...

... and tea towels for friends and family.

I started painting fabric again!

I sewed Southwest decor for my new home.

And I opened an Etsy shop in November to sell what I sewed, including this batch of masks.

Yes, I got lonely being away from my old friends. Yes, I desperately wanted to visit my parents, who are almost 90 and who I haven't seen in more than a year. 

Yes, I missed visiting my kids, but I'm so happy that they each have a special someone to hunker down with during the pandemic. Here's my son and his wife ...

... and my daughter and her boyfriend:

I'm learning to love my own company after finalizing the divorce this year. I embrace snuggling in my pajamas in front of the fire on chilly evenings with a good book or movie.

And I'm going to carry these "lessons from a Christmas tree" into the new year. Happy New Year to all of you, and thanks for following my blog!

Have a colorful new year

New quilt started

With the Christmas bustle over and a new year almost upon us, I decided I needed a new quilt project to keep me busy when I'm not hiking. A few days ago I pulled out this pattern that I bought ages ago and never used. It's a stack, cut, shuffle technique that appeals to me because of the abstract design, curves, and surprise juxtaposition of fabrics after they're shuffled.

I started with colors that remind me of the desert in spring: turquoise sky, beige sand, greens from trees and cacti, pink and yellow cactus flowers, and fiery orange sunsets.

I stacked six fabrics in each pile with a square of freezer paper ironed onto the top fabric. Then I drew five gently curving lines on each stack and cut through the lines. As per pattern instructions, I shuffled the pieces of fabric ...

... and then sewed the new layers together. I've done five so far and plan to stop at a dozen.

There are countless ways of arranging the blocks, which will be a lot of fun. I'll take pictures of each arrangement to help decide which I like best. Here are some arrangements with the same two blocks.

I also hiked again in Catalina State Park with my  new hiking friends. Our hike this week was windy with unusual clouds. Here's a shot of the sky that day with more of my cherished saguaros.

Here's a plaque on a bench in the park. I think that's a really nice way to be remembered, as a place to rest and enjoy the view. (If my kids are reading this, remember it when I kick the bucket! My plaque can say, "Have a colorful day.")

Linking to Nina-Marie and other fabric artists: happy-new-year-off-wall-friday.html

Have a colorful day

Wool applique Christmas book cover

I just finished a wool applique cover for the big binder that's stuffed with my annual Christmas letters and photos going back to 1999. (I have another one going back to 1985, but that one already has a nice cover.) I embroidered "Our Christmas Story" on the spine, and I thought I'd show how I transferred the letters in case it might help someone.

First I printed the words out in a font and size that I liked. Then I traced them onto the non-sticky side of a piece of Glad Press 'n' Seal.

The Press 'n' Seal is sticky on one side, so press that side against the fabric where you want to embroider.

Embroider through the Press 'n' Seal and then peel it off. You may need tweezers or the tip of sharp scissors to pick out the small pieces. Voila!

Here's the front of the cover. I used a black cotton background and wool scraps. The trees and Santa are from a table topper pattern.

Every year I pull out the books and read through my old letters, which each have a picture of our family. It's like going back through a time capsule. Here's the latest:

And some of the older ones ...

And it wouldn't be a blog post without a desert picture, so here's a shot of a majestic saguaro cactus from yesterday's hike on the Linda Vista Trail near my house.

(I'm linking to Nina-Marie's Off-the-Wall-Fridays, where other quilt artists show what they've been working on this week: merry-christmasoff-wall-friday.html)

Have a colorful day

Winter Solstice

The sunsets that I watch from my front courtyard have been coming earlier each evening, but tonight they will begin coming later with the Winter Solstice.

I love the sky and clouds at sunset, sunrise, daytime, anytime. This quote from The Cloud Appreciation Society's December newsletter is perfect for solstice thoughts:

"The winter evening often comes robed

in purple and gold,

and in the westering sun

the iced groves glitter

as beneath a shower of diamonds --

and through the twilight heaven

innumerable stars shine with a

purer light than summer ever knows."

-- From "Essay on American Scenery" (1836)

by landscape artist Thomas Cole

This next quote was in a blog that I follow (princessbubblescreates.blogspot.com). It seems appropriate for this time of the solstice and of our weariness with Covid and the isolation it has brought. It has reminded me that, "We have only this moment ..."

 "Begin doing what you want to do now. 

We are not living in eternity.

We have only this moment,

sparkling like a star in our hand --

melting like a snowflake.

Let us use it before it is too late."

-- Marie Beynon Lyons Ray

Many years ago I made a very large quilt titled "Winter Solstice Spirits." Here is a detail. I was living in northern Illinois then, where the winter solstice is a time of frigid cold, icy landscapes, and bonfires, unlike the fair weather here in Tucson in December.

In addition to the solstice, tonight is also a rare event in our solar system from Earth's perspective, called the "great conjunction." Our two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, will appear closer together in the night sky than they have since March 4, 1226, and some are calling it the Christmas Star because it will look like a very bright star. 

To see it, look for a bright light above the southwestern horizon at twilight tonight. I've been watching them get closer together over the last few nights, but they're too far away to show up in a photo.

So, wherever you are

on this planet of ours,

 

I hope you have a

COZY SOLSTICE!

Majestic saguaros

I'm really developing a love affair with the majestic giant saguaro cactuses here in Arizona. Every time I hike (or just drive around town) I'm in awe of them.

These saguaros are all in Catalina State Park, which is just 10 minutes up the road from me and is becoming my regular walking spot instead of walking in my neighborhood.

The picture above shows the ribs that are inside a saguaro. I don't know what happened to this one.

You do have to be careful not to brush up against them, because those needles are nasty. When my daughter was little and we were vacationing in Tucson, she leaned up against a saguaro with her hand and a needle went almost all the way through her little palm. Luckily we were able to get it out without going to the hospital.

I put my foot in this picture for perspective so you can see how big they are. They can grow up to 60 feet tall, although there have been reports of some taller ones.

It's sad to see how the big fire last summer burned some of them in Catalina State Park. They look okay above the burned bottoms (picture above and below are the same plant), but a ranger told me today that they might not all make it because they could be badly burned inside where we can't see. 

Have a colorful day