Soon It will be a new year..

Our Christmas Moose. He sings Jingle Bell Rock when you squeeze his hoof.
Sorry I posted the picture then got distracted. This is the shawl I made for Jenny for Christmas. It was a double stranded yarn-part wool- part rayon, called Fiesta. It would have been very quickly knit on size 17 circular needles except that I did not know to double strand it-so I had to start over and when I was done, I realized that I had dropped a stitch right smack dab in the middle so I had to un knit and reknit. But the end of the story is that she was very happy with her gift and I am glad that my kids like home made gifts because I like to give them:)
I am in the process of mentally organizing myself for the next few months and i fell like my project load is managable if if if I do not add to it.
I am keeping on working on the sampler blocks-picture to follow...
and I am going to begin the 12 by 12 by 12 challenge which is to make one 12 by 12 inch block, per each of the next 12 months, which theme has been chosen, by each participant, and announced on the Quilt Studio blog ring. I have chosen 'faces' which will be fun-for me at least. I started some sketches last night and maybe it was my mood or something but they were pretty eerie. O well whatever they are what they are. I am looking forward to doing them.
Also A continuation of The Queen Anne doll class which was on haitus till January, whilste teacher Gail Wilson has been taking care of other business.
Finally I am going to do something with my Women of the Bible quilt blocks, involving combining them with some Bear paw blocks and some Inklingo half square tris that I have printed...not sure how this will work out but we will be reporting in.
As for resolutions well I will say I have been on weightwatchers since October and I have lost about eight pounds, a couple of them more than once! But I will continue to do this in the coming months.
I will not drink or smoke which is easy since I already do not do either so I am confident that I will not begin at this late date. I will not cheat on my husband-which he will reciprocate. And I may gamble a little but I will not spend the mortgage or the grocery money, All of these resolutions I think I can keep. And I will make no more.I will take some more pictures now that I have found my camera cable and I will post them later. cheers!
A word about the stupid spam messages that get planted int my comments. I like that anyone can leave a message without having to type in those stupid random letters. I hope no one minds the idiot heads that leave their spam in the comments. Just think of it as dog poop, left by inconsidrate owners on the walk, and step around it:)

The countdown

I have some festive moments....I like the lights and the tree in our living room. This year I wanted to forgo all of the decorating but my DH is just a big ole kid, so I let him do it. Working in a busy shopping mall has give me enough distraction to make the holiday fun. I have done NO STITCHING though and I need to get at least two felted bags lined and bedecked with handles. One lining is in and the second bag remains nekkid. I have begun on sleeve on my sweater project, being knit with double stranded wool, it may get done in time but then again.....we are in the final days before Christmas.
When people talk about not feeling festive, I think that maybe it is because we in the US are in a war! We hear horrible news every day and we fear for the world and our loved ones. For me -this is what comes to mind. Having been born into a military family and losing my brother while he was in active service( his birthday was last Sunday, he would have been forty nine) I can never forget that while the egg nog is being passed around, our loved ones are in the line of fire. Across the street from me there is a woman who has three sons serving in Iraq. There is a flag in her window with three stars. One of her sons looked out for Katy when she was in trouble. Now he is in the Army.
So I will not feel all that merry, but I will hold them up to God as I understand Him, or Her, or Them!!!
And all of the others who have lost loved ones in all of the wars, the military actions, the war of drug addiction, domestic abuse, racism, hunger, poverty and ignorance. We have all been blighted. I will hold them in my heart as well. For my belief is that is is only love and light that will make a positive difference, and it is my honor to be among the ones who carry love in my heart for all of us.
And that is how I celebrate the birth of the Prince of Light, the Prince of Peace. In My heart.

Little Thinkers-Unemployed Philosophers Guild

I could not resist these little dolls, Queen Elizabeth I and Jane Austen, found in the Union Square Holiday market.
There were many many others, like Ghandi, Beethoven, Freida Khalo, Edgar Allen Poe--on and on-fun presents for my teen girls who are too old for doll playing but will appreciate the personae.
I made the ornaments a few years ago and they have held up rather well for the odd bit of ribbon and scraps. I also stopped into the City Quilter fabric store and left with some fat eighths of rich purple and blue hued wool and a couple yards of quilting cotton. O lucky me!
Today we go to Riverhead-another fabric store to see,some cigars for the dad- and to dine with the mil and visit the neicies and their parent units.

Promoting Prosperity through loans-KIVA

I think this is a great idea. I am going to make a loan to one of the people on this website. Take a look and see if you agree that this is a great opportunity to help someone prosper. http://www.kiva.org
I read about them in the NewYork Times Magazine.
I have finished my cards and they are posted. I am still knitting Katy's present, a shrug from the book 'Loop-d-Loop'.I am using soft, hand dyed black wool, double stranded and it is going quickly.I may actually finish it before Christmas.
I have the next couple of days off from work so I plan on finishing up a couple of my December commmitments, namely two sampler blocks which are almost finished and a couple of felted bags that are needing handles and lining, That is all of the sewing room stuff I am going to "Name and Claim" for this month.
Pictures is of Katy and Bailey, circa 1995

"Angels we have heard on high..."

Played with water colors and photoshop today. My plan is to make these into cards but I don't know if I will have enough time to do it. One of the backrounds is a photo and one is starfruit stamp. Well if I don't go to sleep, I will never get up in time and then I will feel like I have wasted the whole morning!

Sundry notes

I have resolved to overcome my cowardly queasiness and do some journaling in my exqusite new handbound journal. Part of me wants to preserve it, keep it new and unsullied.Save it for the perfect insight, the wry observation, the poignant profile. I want to make a journal to awe and inspire and if I can't then I don't want to bother. pout pout
The better part of me says -
"Oh get over yourself! just write one or two sentences and make stick figures and play with pens and inks and paints and pencils and stop trying to be so important all the time."
There is a that grounded, sensibly shod, part of me, after all. It is her that I shall listen to and I shall fill my pages, even if I am only writing about the bathroom lines at Bryant Park
for who among us does not tinkle?

Process

I thought I would make this picture into my little art card offering for the respondees of the October Art Giving post. It is kind of a tautological, visual comment on process, if you don't mind the philospohical analogy. The picture is of dolls as I was making them, printed onto muslin and fused onto a backround made from the trimmings of my Daughter Jen's curtains. Already you can see there are many processes at play: photography, printing onto fabric, curtain making, stashing the remnants and fusing just to get started. Then I couched some thread around the edges to frame and secure the edges. I printed some letters onto freezer paper to use as a stencil, which I ironed on, and used acrylic paint and gold pigment ink to make the words. I added some grommets and signed with a rapidiograph. Plenty of process. I hope they are enjoyed as the final part of the process-being received.

Abundant Harvest

We will be dining with Jen and Jason and our combined families. I bring this apple crisp to the table and three of my four children will be amongst us. Katy is spending the day with her dad so we will be missing her.
I will not be dieting:) o happy day, nor driving as that is Mike's job. Nor even cooking more than this here crisp. I am recording two cds from the Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells about growing up in a dysfunctional family, to listen to on the ride to Brooklyn and thinking about what to wear. Hmmmm do I even have tights to wear with a skirt or will it be jeans as usual? probably the latter and since one of my lovely daughters has absconded with my red lipstick I shall pass on that as well.
As fo growing up in a df, well, I have my own book. I am interested to see how the book ends-if there was resolution of any kind. I do not know either what my own resolution is. I guess that is my biographers problem. Hahah In my mind I have a biographer....I crack my self up.
I hope whomever reads this has a lot to be grateful for on this day of gratitude. Today and every day. and so it is and so it ever shall be, amen.

Things to do list

If life is cyclical, then mine is at the full end of the 'accumulating things to do' cycle. I want to finish my journal quilts for November. I want to finish the Moondance quilt before Christmas. I want to re arrange my sewing room, paint it, shelve it, add a cot, a chair and new lights--well I can dream. There is no room for any more furniture. maybe if I move the fabric shelves into the closet-which is mildew-y-so maybe not. To get rid of the mildew I have to tear out bathroom on the other side of the wall and there you have a whole new to do list. Probably the floor and sub floor too, and why don't I just put in a real foundation for the house while I am at it and who is going to pay for all this?
I want to make a Charlotte doll for which I have cut out the pattern and will probably not realistically get to before next year. Next year already. Hardly seems possible.
I want to finish the two sets of sampler blocks that I have begun and think about a setting. I have four or six postcards to finish, and some knitting to begin as well. I am thinking a mobeus scarf for someone, black with a white i-cord edge. Well I have the yarn but I have not yet put it on the needle.
I want to do the Bailey portrait. Note: I said 'do' not 'finish' because I think I am going to comepletely revamp it- that is start over on an entirely new canvas, possibly smaller, or maybe not. I don't know, and I have heard it said that if you don't know what to do, don't do anything.
And I spend alot of time on the computer, which I need to abbreviate if I am actually going to get any of this stuff done.
Next year I need to also do some more glass. Maybe new windows for the front porch. What the hell there are only twelve windows...
and I need to go back to work full time and make alot of money.

Caption : I told Bailey that my generation invented the computer and she said no it did not and I said well then my generation invented food. And she cracked up. Bailey laughing.

on leaving

notes on leaving the body

I was thinking about this yesterday
about how survivors say they leave their bodies
and how some people some
professionals
pedants
say that this is a false representation

exactly
I think
they have hit the nail on the head
and they don’t even know it,
I was thinking

when boundaries are defiled
and everything
every means of resistance withdrawn
every covenant and trust is broken

then you scatter
you leave\your body becomes
an oto
a shrine

a shadow vessel
your faint trajectory traced in a memory

...

I shall try to master slowness
I wrote this in a journal of quilt notes

for where does a body gain its rest
lose its corporal tether
join the dream body with itself
if it is all removed

I wrote this in my food journal
chronicling my passage through this life of invisibility
leaving only these small testimonials
of my
return

Today in Long Beach...

What a morning! Mike ran-that is him in the picture, next to the lady on the bike. I rode my bike and took pictures, trying not to run over the walkers who drift into the bike lane. Yes we have a bike lane:) So nice to have a place to ride and not worry about cars. The boardwalk is 2.2 miles long, a nice length to ride and walk or run.
The stained glass window I made for a guy who did work in our house. He lives a couple of blocks down from us and he is a fireman in the city. I love seeing a piece actually installed! Thanks Duffy. Today when I took the picture, I went to ask permission, since his wife doesn't know me and I didn't want to startle anyone, walking down the driveway with my camera, I got to meet his wife and kids(and the dog) and she likes the glass too. Made me feel good. I like to think I am doing some good in the world with my little creations.

Bailey painting-I finally put some paint on it, in the dim light of the porch at night. i will probably change the colors-a little lighter perhaps? I stood on the porch for hours, painting, listening to my ipod-probably causing my future deafness, but it is heavenly, standing there in front of the easel, the music chasing away the negative chatter in my head, and I am in "the zone". Later I was so stiff I could hardly make it up stairs, but I was happy. And Bailey likes the painting. To me there is no greater compliment than if the subject says," it is like looking in the mirror." I am, as I said, happy.

Long time no blog & Moondance

It has been a while since I wrote, or thought about writing. I guess that can be good if it means I am doing other things.
I did turn fifty and have a party, and gain a half a pound. I have been home a lot because Mike has been home on vacation and we have been feeling lazy. It was one of those vacations where you plan not to have a plan.
Picture is of Moondance by Beth Ferrier, which I have had in a box since a couple of years back. I have revived interest in it, and have been attaching the flowers, a couple or three a day. I hope to have it done and assembled in November. I am trying to keep it on the table until I do work on it-maybe I will use Hanne's
hour a day on it and see what I can get finished.
I have also been job hunting which does take up time and energy, and does threaten to encroach upon my daylight creative time. But it is one of those necessary evils. Money and all that.
I have not been entirely a hermit, in my life, but mostly. I am more of a contemplative than an interactive type of being. But I do know how to observe and facilitate useful conversaion in a corporate environment and it it there that I point my interest. I do have a job, come January, if I want it, in the kitchen design business. I cast my seeds widely.

Happy Birthday Alex

We love you!!!

Happy Halloween

Beware!!!

Art Giving

Inspired by Calico Cat, blog of Amy, I am offering a small piece of fiber art to the first five people who ask in the comments. I think this is a wonderful way to build community and have fun creating too!
Here is where Amy got the idea.
http://debraspincicdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2006/10/arty-meme.html
I don't know what I will do yet. But I have an idea that it will look like a postcard!
In return, you have to give away five pieces through your blog too....
My fear is that no one will ask!!
*****Hi all I have five takers but only one snail mail address from Emmy! So yes to all of you please go to the profile page and send me your addresses>>>oxox

denim beast

Begun in the eighties , from a pattern in an old Georgia Bonesteel book, made from old jeans and flannel-a beast to stitch through. It has at least three kinds of quilting including big stitch, in the ditch, and machine quilting-which messed up the timing on my machine.
It is now bound and given to Katy since it is the only one of my creations she has ever liked.Now that it is finished I really like it alot.
I am thinking my next project will be my Moondance quilt froma bom a couple of years back...Beth Ferrier is the designer. I have the top almost sewn together, awaiting applique embellishment which may or may not happen. Alas my camera is out of juice so there are no photos till tomorrow.

Finished and ready to go

I am as pleased as punch with this quilt and I am happy to be done and finished. A turkey is done, I have heard, and I am not turkey so I guess I am finished.
Dined on sushi from a new sushi spot in the west end-----way way good. The sushi was excellent and the tiny restaurant was lit only with candles, no more than six or so tables and at the bar at the end of the room was the behatted chef deftly making delectables if you cared to watch. I alway like eating in places where I can watch the action. Alas Mike is not a sushi fan, so we picked up a slice of pizza for him in the pizza place next store, and drove home to eat by the light of the tv.
The winds are gusting outside. ("Gusty" is a word used in the seventies, in the Northeast, by cool teenagers, a shortened version of 'disgusting'. Specifically used by Dana Good, now dead some years, of cancer. Hi Dana. I am remembering you. People deserve to be remembered. Dana had a couple of false teeth in set in a bridge in his mouth and he used to take them in an out as he conversed with you. It could be somewhat disconcerting if you did not know him. And he wore converse high tops even in the bitter Vermont winter. I last saw him in 1978, when he came to visit me in Hartford. We were not lovers . Good friends. I wept when I heard he died. As you age you realize how few of us there are. Survivors, creatives, friends.)
Ramble ramble ...one of those memory manholes that I fall into every so often.

Sampler Swap blocks and Pumpkins

Pumpkins by Bailey, KateLynn and Kali

I am enjoying doing these wonderful blocks for my self and a friend. They are, so far, a selection of Dear Jane, Dear Hannah, and a Heart and Hand Applique pattern. I love the fabrics. I love making them and I love getting hers too! It is a win win situation. It is a magical math when you do one for you and one for a friend. It seems like you get two for one and then you get some in the mail. And who doesn't love getting mail? Very gratifying. And the amount of blocks -one for you and one for her-is very managable and pleasant. I recommend this peaceful way of swapping.

untitled

we are being pulled along this worried frantic manic current
navigating with all the other bobbing heads
through the streaming headlights

in a becalmed sea I could have been marooned by silence

I have been the emotional mainland I say and I hear my voice as though I am not the one who speaks

the shoreline
is subject to change
the weather
the bloody endless changing tides
i am always

giving
always giving and conforming to the changes
losing parts of my self in the process
uninventoried
i believe I will come back later to recollect myself
but the current never, ever reverses

maybe what we get to keep is the stuff of dreams that
elude
these things which we thought we were lucky to have escaped
that stuff which has imprinted the pillow lines on the face
visible
even after coffee and subways have been
played through
left in the backwash

maybe that is all we get to keep
everything else is swept away in the bustling current

there are things that make you want to stop and look and and touch and examine each one
and carress the soft cheek, inhaling and memorizing it
to incorporate into your own version

but there is no time for that
your attention is diverted
wrenched away

and damn i have hit a snag like
seaweed that is caught in the rocks
or does it originate there

and there is always another storm at sea

whadya want for dinner and
I need some money to replace the book I lost

it wasn’t mine

it wasn’t ever even mine
it wasn't a part of that dream

Friday happenings

Got a cool post card from Sue In Washington. Love the little ghostie and the bat, o and the castle too.
Passed a buffalo herd in Riverhead which I had to share. These guys were younger but there was a huge bull in the back who looks twice the sizze of the others. Is he the daddy? Don't know much about buffalo.
The girlies got their dollies and duly appreciated the toostie roll pops! Go figure. I am glad they were happy:)

Ready to roll

We are off to points east, to visit and enjoy the spectacular autumn day. This is what I am taking with me. My Janome, in the cooler, is going in for a lube job. Meg Swansen knitting book from the library, Martha Grimes novel , also from library and my knitting, in the bag I bought it in. O and my huge straw bag, made in Madagascar and bought from a jewelery shop in Southampton, whose name escapes me. He had a beautiful dog with the most amazing blue eyes, who was friendly. In the bag I carry a journal, chapstick, camera and wallet, case for my glasses, phone, hat, and sometimes a snack and or a water bottle. O and I should make sure to bring a head lamp in case we come back in the dark and I want to read or knit in the car.
So lets get started. Vroom vroom

Dolls with quilts

Here are the raggedies for our nieces, with their faux quilts.

And one more wedding picture with all of us.

weighty matters

Today my son told me that he has hypertension. He is twenty three. In our family he have a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. Not a good combination... so I have committed myself to lose weight with him. And so has his dad and his sister and even my lanky husband who has put on that middle aged twenty pounds since we first met.
For me it is back to weight watcher to lose thirty five pounds. I have been so unhappy with my weight lately.More from vanity than from health reasons. There was not on ephoto from my daughter's wedding ,of me, that I liked. (Worse even) I was always one of those young skinny types and now that fifty looms I am not skinny nor young. And while I have no desire to turn back time, I can lose weight.
My plan:
1.Go to weight watchers tonight. I have put it on my calendar as a weekly event and I have put a two hour reminder on it so I don't "forget".
2.Buy good walking shoes. Because of my weight and possible arthritis in my feet and knees and back, it is so important for me to have good shoes, not, alas, sexy ones, but sturdy and comfortable ones, because if my feet hurt, I won't walk and if I don't walk I will stay fat and if I stay fat my knees will hurt and so it goes. So I have ordered myself a pair of hikers from a catalog called Title9 For those who may not know, title nine is the law in the USA that entitles girls equal access in school to fitness and sports programs. When I was a girl this was not the case.
So, I will be counting steps and points and I hope I will not be too cranky, but don't count on it.

loop-d-loop

we took a ride to Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island and visited my favorite yarn and fiber art store Now and Zen Fiber Arts
and I bought some Cascade 220 to make some flowers to put on a felted bag and I bought one little skein of silk mohair yarn with sparkly nylon things in it to make a lace ascot And And And I bought this book, Loop-d-Loop,
because I love the patterns and have the yarn to make a couple and this was a Good Day.
On the way back east we stopped at Wickhams
Farm stand and bought Stilton cheese and apples and apple cider and a loaf of wonderful artisian bread baked with rosemary and olives ( and other stuff I am sure but it is long since eaten), and we bought some cheddar for Mike , who will not go near Stilton, and we went back to Else's and feasted upon our purchase. And this was also Good.
This morning I re ironed the freezer paper bits to the right side of my fabric, the correct side since it is not actually the right side, as it were, and hope to do some wonderful calming hand stitching today.
Daughter Jen is coming over with the wedding pictures!!!I get my own DVD and I will post some later. Happy day!

Ogres, Wips and Innovation!

Things on my design wall. The Dear Jane blocks will be scanned and altered (for fit) and printed onto a sheet of fabric for the Raggedy dolls. That way, the dolls have a quilt and no one has to worry about them being too precious. There was a lady on my Dear Jane list, Linda H, who said she was doing this for each block to make a whole quilt. This was the seed for this idea. If you can do it block by block-why not a mini quilt for a doll? then you can resize it in Photoshop and make it like a journal quilt and you are done in time for Halloween. Thanks Linda!
The Ogre is the 30's nine patch variation. It is an ogre. Nuff said. I am using the idea from Quilter's Newletter magazine.
The Turkey Red blocks are for a one to one swap with a Freind. This is my Wip for October.
I am so sick today with sinus infection, chills headache nausea.....and the news of the shootings of children is making me so heartsick.
Just so very sad

Little Raggedies without dresses

Aren't they too cute? This is a Gail Wilson pattern for eight inch dolls. I did them yesterday and sometime before the end of the month, I will make their clothes and send them to my nieces for Halloween. I may make them witch hats to make them Halloweenie. I also made some postcards for a swap but I can't show them yet but I can tell you I made a collage/painting and decorated it with stuff I bought at Michael's. Then I photographed it and printed it on to fabric and added some beads and a binding and Viola! a postcard is born.
I listened to "Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion. Very moving and so sad , a memoir about the death of her husband. She is an amazing writer.

Home of FDR

We took a ride up to Hyde Park and had a tour of the Roosevelt family farm. We also visited the library which was the first presidential library to be opened by a sitting president. It was filled with artifacts from his life and those of his parents and of his wife Eleanor. Included in the pictures are Eleanor's sewing kit which she used when traveling. She was also a knitter and there were of pictures of her knitting. This pleased me as I am a great admirer and would like to think we have a common bond.
The building is the stable and the tiles were in the stable. And the beautiful clock face was in the mail hall. The house was not the grandest I have seen but it was fun to walk through and the tour guide was amusing- and the grounds are beautiful. Must have been a nice place to grow up-on a thousand or so acres overlooking the mighty Hudson river.

getting ready to paint

Almost ready. First I have to figure out how the pirate gets in.