giving comfort

My brother's new addition enjoying one of my first quilts, c. 2001. Made during my graveyard shifts at AT&T. 

Conference tables made great workspaces.

I had a thing for gaudy commercial cotton prints.

see below.











This post from April, 2005!  

4.27.2005

the Run for the Border

...the North Carolina border, that is.Today Jan Thompson and I made our annual pilgrimage to MaryJo's in Gastonia, NC like a team of Sumo wrestlers descending upon the local Chinese buffet! Disturbed to find that MJs no longer provided grocery store style shopping carts to it's patrons, we shanghaied an empty one from one of the folks reshelving the bolts we were pillaging wildly. Jan's Corvette made the ride a joy and the envy of every trucker through three states and I think she only broke a few laws. Something about low-flying aircraft maybe...This is Estelle, our ever-patient cutting Wizardess at MJ's - "ALWAYS worth the ride!" should be their motto. See the luscious batiks over Estelle's right shoulder. They are even tastier tucked into my stash but they will have to wait until I get back from a dash up to NY. The plane leaves at 6:30 tomorrow and I am not yet packed. Back next week with new stuff in the works and NY adventures to report.

FLASH! MARYJO'S HAS A "HELP WANTED" SIGN POSTED IN THE WINDOW!I had to stop and consider the ramifications of a 6 hour daily commute.

milestones

Jake and Missy married five years ago today.

This is how they are.

Outside in

Not waiting for a surprise cold snap. Mr. & Mrs. Wilson, the swedish ivys were totally out of control. Bits of them have taken hold in the outside window boxes and can't be brought in. They look burly enough to stand a mild winter, but the cactus and tropicals come in.

There's another geranium and a huge purslane still outside that I need to find pots for soon.  Of course, I picked a gray tree frog off the carpet the next morning. He was dry and covered with dust fuzz so I washed him and put him outside so he could go about his business of hibernating, or whatever it is that they do. I'm sure I'll find a lizard or two soon. They can stay in. I have spiders galore.

That's Louie, the Diff. A wedding gift from our friend Donald in 1977. Life persists if you give it half a chance.

Read something good!

A good friend and crit partner has her debut novel out  and
If you're on Kobo (or know someone who is) and you'd like a copy of Free Falling, here's the link. Grab it while the promo is still live

: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/free-falling-15

taking a cloth breath

.

There's too much good stuff in the river basket to just dive in. I am quite overwhelmed, but gravitating to the stuff that looks like mayhem. I feel like swinging a machete at a nazi picnic but, the cloth will have to suffice, I guess. It's probably a good thing that I'm not twenty.

I actually ironed some of this before I got started. I find that huck and linen have to be whacked back into 2D before you can compose.

 At least my "THAT SUCKS" radar is still working.

I already see the big problem, lack of contrast. Fixing that with stitch never works.

Back to the drawing board, a little at a time. I won't even ask myself why.

It feels good. The section on the right, with the blue background, has promise on its own.

This section of the design wall is just to the left of where I sit for the day job. If the clients are quiet tonight, I may make some progress with this, but I'm going to give it time before I thread a needle.