a day taken out of time

 Yesterday was a strange day. I never got dressed or left the house. I cleared off the stitching chair in the studio and sat with the cloth for  a while, but it was absent-headed fiddling with no intent and the results showed. An hour of stitching equalled another fifteen minutes of picking out. No surprise. The film "Giant" was a colossal bore and complete waste of James Dean.

Some stitching, some boring TV, some napping, and for me,  some dreaming.

A breaker failed last week and I have not been able to figure out which one. There was no power to the bathroom, closet or bedroom TV, so, no great loss at all.  Jake came by, fiddled with everything and still no power. I will call a pro eventually.

Last night when I was done with work,  I went into the bathroom and, out of habit,  flipped the switch and the light came on. It took me a minute to realize that somehow the electricity had righted itself, as if it was sulking and now happy I needed it again.

I turned on the TV on the same circuit just to check and it worked. "Gladiator" was on - gift from my Goodman on a day when I needed it. I left it on and we dreamed together.

A year gone by

"Hollow Places"



How little I knew back then. 

Winter sets in.

My house may be cold, but this room is warm and we are cozy. The only problem with this scene is that they object when I put the wireless keyboard on their heads.

Tough titty, kitties.  I had a major writing breakthrough this morning. Notes are now down, paths and further questions ironed out. It was a great day, even before the coffee was ready.

Time for Art to Work

I've decided to take this one and few others  out of the gallery and put them to use.


What better use that a playground or a cuddle for my grandson?



All of my art quilts were built with the same materials and techniques that I use for utility quilts and bedding. Except for the latter ones that used vintage damask, they can all stand up to machine wash and dry. All I have to do is remove the sleeve.





I'm thinking this one needs at least one backup.

The light of our lives

I have always been a picture taking fool when it comes to the babies in my care. Really, I could just watch them for hours. They are so amorphous at this age, changing right before your eyes. Look at those hands!


Unfortunately, Charlie  is already expecting to see his own face when I point my cell phone at him. The "Selfie" mode works wonders when he fusses.

You can see by his expression below, that he is wondering where the damn baby went!

I get pretty much the same expression when I read aloud to him.

We are working our way through "Gone Girl" right now.

Repercussions? Who knows.

These are dark days if I dwell in the past. Charlie helps keep me in the here and now.

Badges flying

"True Love Ways" should be arriving at its new home tomorrow or the next day.

The proceeds took me for a much needed day away from the ranch. However prosy you might think squatting in IKEAs cafeteria from breakfast though lunch might be, it was just the ticket for me and my friend.

The food is just meh, but the time and space with no one hurrying you away from your table is a luxury. And then there's the store. I'm not much of a shopper, but this place does it for both of us and that in itself is amazing because our tastes are so divergent.

Janice pointed out that I have been squeezing this same pillow every time we got there since the place opened. I finally threw it in the basket.

And for the first time in forever, I was paying attention in the toy department and it's a wonderland.  Charlie likes faces.

Fall on us

Progress on this piece has been slow but hands free/brain free time is scarce. I take it when I can.


It's been an emotionally and physically exhausting week. The other day I took Jim's wheelchair and left it just inside the vestibule of the Catholic church that's so close we can hear the bell. The door was open, no one was around. I just wheeled it in and left it.


I submitted a short story to a literary journal and have since found out that I have a better chance of getting into Harvard! Hilarious.

And there's nothing like being greeted in the early morning hours by a smiling face who knows you and challenges you to bring your A game to his day.

This too will be changing. Jake has changed jobs and will soon get home in time to have some Charlie time all to himself. A good thing for both of them.

Thanks Kit!

A great package on the doorstep has been the buttercream frosting on a great day (so far).

My sister Kitty has a knack for knowing what manner of outrageous appeals to me. (She's the one who supplied me with the purple stuff for my hair)

I've been craving anything with this VeraBradly design forever - I even stalked a lady in the airport to ask about her bag once! This is the Grand Duffle in "Suzani"  and if I ever run away from home, everything I could possibly need would fit in this only I would not be able to lift and so there will be no running OFT.

 And don't send me any spoilers about the book. I might watch the movie if it comes to Netflix, maybe.  I've already heard that Ben's junk appearance is practically a magic trick. If that's the film's strongest draw I feel bad for his wife. I'll get my jollies from between the pages, thanks

Indian Summer

This is the upper deck that overlooks the pool. Looks like a party going on and me still in bed.  The park in Lilburn was glorious this morning. Someone put up a Little Free Library at the start of the main trail since Sunday. The trouble is there's a little bench right there and the temptation to pick a book, sit and read a while is strong and my point in being there is to get some exercise.

I have a bunch of books to put in it. Maybe seeding it with things from my library will encourage some other like minded folks (there were a lot of kids books and beach reads, but hey, they just put the thing in the ground!)

I brought a little stitching along for trail's end. Another walker stopped to see what I was working on and couldn't get over that there were no little printed blue lines on the cloth, that I was designing on the fly.  I told him it was like Paint by Numbers with no lines or numbers.

Collaboration

These are the wooden hoops my grandmother gave me when I was five.

There is no Try.

It was good light for stitching. The Winter Chair has been cleared of clean laundry so when I have time to sit there and stitch, I will. 

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement. There will be no more whining.  Nothing is impossible.  I gave the chaos of the studio fifteen minutes and put these four pieces back in storage, for now. Looking at them closely, handling them - I can say without a shred of embarrassment, they are fucking fabulous. Getting them exposure is on me.

 Top to bottom these are  Los Dados Encantada,  Consolation , Jazz Takes Over,  and Karma I . I am not going to let all this passion evaporate.

The first direction I got today, and I can't tell you where I heard it or read it, was "Do what you love". I must have repeated that ten times and decided I sounded senile.

It's a lovely sentiment when it's not set in a framework of  reality, like available hours. Still, there are minutes to be claimed and I'll claim them.

I love what I am doing except for the paying job. How hilarious is that? I found out the other day that my boss and my immediate supervisor have both "moved on". All I have to do is figure out how to replace about 1200.00 a month from some other source and I can catch the same train they did.

We are having a bit of Indian summer here in Georgia so I took the time to tend the temple this morning and got in  a mile in at the park, my knee feeling better for it rather than worse is a good sign. And while I was out there on the trail, a major rough patch in the writing resolved itself.  All of this bounty and tonight, the final game of the world series. Since I have no horse in this race, I'll be watching with one eye and doing something creative with the other.

And for those of you who stop by for the eye candy, here's a treat. Yoda stopped by. He said
                              "Do. Or do not. There is no try."

the saturday stitch

I'm going to be optimistic and take this with me today. There might be a little time for stitching and I'm loving my own hand dyed floss.

I gave half a thought to shutting this blog down last night, but, then I thought, just because the things that are going on in my life now won't interest people, and the last thing I have to do is write about tedium, this doesn't mean that there is no longer room in my life for beautiful things. No matter who made them.

So, from time to time, I'll make the time.  Seasons change, So will circumstances.


PS...there are still some damn fine people in this world. Thank you all.

the Creatives

Nothing yak or picture worthy from me here, but I know some talented folks.

I know a lot of my readers are into the Day of the Dead or they have grandchildren, either way,

 this design from Pug- Mother Bamboota is time sensitive and will sell like hotcakes!

(That price was only good for one day...still it's a nice design)

And now for your ears and your brain, the latest from #1 son Colin.

 "Starlight Abyss"  promises a different kind of meditation. There is another movie score in the works as well!

And one more maker for today - a smile maker! This little Hambone has been perfecting his charms.

Was he laughing at Nana's jokes? Nope. He was laughing at the baby in the phone!

Gardens come in

I got quite carried away with the houseplant rescue thing this year. I buy the "nearly dead" at the local nurseries for pennies, bring them home and give them a dose of TLC and a sunny place to rest.

Now I have more healthy patients than I know what to do with. Two pots of lavender that need wheels, several tropical plants of unknown species that are now over four feet tall.  This little Swedish Ivy was a gift from my sister Kitty. It's a descendant of a plant at Bill W's place in Katonah.

It's getting nippy at night so I'll have to move some furniture around to  accommodate everyone.

And you can be sure that no matter how carefully I inspect everything, there will be at least one lizard or tree frog coming along for the ride. Never fails.

Wishful thinking

I brought this with me today and remembered to find my spare sewing glasses. Notice there's almost no stitching on this, just some hasty basting.

That's how it is and I remember it well.

Thankfully for Jake and Missy, Charlie is figuring out that sleeping through the night, or at least a good chunk of it, is the civilized way to go.

Of course, this means that while the sun is shining he's looking to interact with his world and me. Today we read aloud from John Sandford's latest crime novel, listened to a bunch of good music. No stitching.


Charlie flung a bunch of bodily fluids around, tried to eat a stuffed frog and worked hard at turning over. He  likes Ben Webster and Frank Sinatra. He's almost eleven weeks old and he is planning on stealing my earrings any day now. I better switch these hoops for posts.

These thoughts founded the day.

the odd day

Anyone taking selfies will tell you that you have to take more to get a good one as you get older. Looks like my phone camera has some kind of built in sensor to pop on a lovely filter when the person using it turns sixty-five. Or maybe I need to clean the lens.

We've been having monsoon like rain all day and it was somber inside and out today, but lightened by a visit from Jake,  and Colin returned home from being in NY for a week.

I spent the morning focusing on a dreaded editing/rewriting task - you may have heard the writing expression "kill your darlings"? Well, there was figurative blood all over the place this morning, but it was needful.

I did go over  and look in the river basket was too distracted to sit with the stitch today. restless. Having lost something.  Someone.

I just remembered. The very first birthday gift Jimmy every gave me was a sewing machine. Sear Kenmore Free-Arm. Innovative in its day and a workhorse for over twenty-five years. The man knew what I was all about.

sleeper

A cloth sketch, not even a work in progress yet, just a little something to hang on to.

Charlie doesn't sleep all day anymore, but he is starting to nap pretty predictably.

Hands free time..maybe.

Course correction

Today was shaping up to be a rocky one, emotionally. They still come, unannounced. I have chosen to surrender from time to time, but nothing is accomplished, no purpose seems to be served. I prefer to be the architect of my own emotional state, thanks, so today I thought I'd try some cloth and stitch, put up my own sails. But you can't always get what you want.

Dumping out and restocking the river basket had to come first, fresh palette and all. I sat in the late day light in my winter stitching chair and started a new vigil cloth.  

Looks like it's been a year since I've started something that was non-functional. This is just a sketch for the moment, but that's where I always start. 

Congratulations to all the stalwarts who have been called to Quilt National...a hard row to hoe.

Will work for smiles

I had the  amazing blessing of seeing Charlie's first smile today.  A real smile, not that gas nonsense.

 He was propped up in his little doughnut, calmly surveying his realm when I  came around to  the opposite side of the crib.

He looked at me,  made eye contact and smiled.  I laughed and said
"Are you smiling at me?"

To reward me for being so smart, he gave me another one, broader this time.
I did not capture the moment electronically..I soaked it into my very soul. This picture was taken a moment later and I think a good caption would be. "Well, that worked just the way I planned it. She's mine now."


Back in July of 1980 I scored another first smile from Colin (Jake saved his for his Dad) ...this time Jimmy grabbed the moment.

feels like Sunday

It's amazing just how vulnerable I am to external influences like the weather and the new big one - baby love.

It's a super perfect late summer day.  I got to put in a hot mile at the park and came back with some very strong revisions for the novel and a better wrap up. Oh! the Violence!

There was food shopping, housework, time  for a nap even !! There is still an eight hour shift coming up for the day job, but now that my commitment to watching Charlie has doubled (due to another family member's inability to participate) days like this one become even more precious.
Tomorrow Charlie and I will be discovering Miles Davis and I wouldn't have it any other way. The job is too important!

details, details

A slew of details and one still cannot perceive the whole.

The plan was a couple of quick and dirty macro shots of Karma I.

Well, you get what you pay for. If the light permits tomorrow, I'm going to work at getting some better pictures of these.

Life has been upended and my "free" time has been cut in half.  I've always done my best work under the gun, so what the hell. Bring it on.

more changes

No matter which way the Wheel of Fortune throws you, it's impossible to try and change it, so you might as well try to live with it. If a crisis seems inevitable, recall that in every crisis lies opportunity. When you've been swept in a new direction, know that every path leads somewhere, even if you don't know where it is. 

When times are bad, or when times are good, always keep in mind that they won't last forever. Such events are just out of your control, and if you can accept that then the ride gets a lot easier. If you struggle against the Wheel it will crush you. So roll along with it!  (James Rioux)

No kidding!  



Look. The angels are all reading a book!                              

spoiled (not him, me)

Yep. This it how it went today and I can expect there will be many more days like this  when nothing else will do but loving arms.

He zonked out because we spent the morning finding out what kind of music he likes and he has great taste.
He likes everything from  Springsteen to Chopin with a lot of 50's era jazz.



This one got looped..Ashokan Farewell, by Jay Ungar performed by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra

A sea change

I should probably bite my tongue for saying so, but my grandson looks like he's going to be an easy keeper.

It's my own time management that's going to need some re-adjustment. For some time now I've been luxuriating in having all the time I needed to do most of the things I wanted to. That time has just been cut in half, but I'll just find a different way of getting things done. I've always done better under the gun.

I'm going to stock the river basket with this and hang a few more stars in the sky.

Charlie,  gives a master class in power-napping and I was right there with him and still got a few pages of notes typed up and read for a while.

I know this easy-to-please and portable phase of babyhood is brief so I'm going to take full advantage.

It was cloudy here so I missed the last supermoon. Here's my version. The moon flower bloom lasts about twenty hours. I stood inches from this one and stoned my self breathing in it's fragrance until I was dizzy.

day one

Feels like the first day of school! It was still dark out when I started the car and the sun was only just thinking about rising as I parked at Jake & Missy's house. Charlie has grown and changed since I saw him last.  It feels good to be needed for this important job.

Shhh..he's sleeping. I have studying to do.

ps . I didn't think to do it last night, but as soon as I get the chance, I'm going to inventory and repack the river basket.  Stitching seems right again.

Boro & Lavender

Sounds like a song writing team.

I just can't bear to let this old nightie go to the rag bin so I took it outside to the deck this afternoon and cobbled it back together with scraps of this and that while listening to the ball game on the radio. It was hard to tell it was September.

I'm starting to bring the plants inside,  but I think I'll have to get wheels for this pot of lavender; it's gone shrub on me over the summer.

hand magic

Since my website had its issues last week, I decided to migrate it over here to Blogger.  Let's hope the old name "Like Hotcakes" is prophetic.

That was the easy part. The hard part will be updating the gallery with work newer than 2008. You read right. 2008. So, I have to go back in the archives and find out what I was doing when and hope that I documented stuff properly. It feels like a rainy day task. Like a week of rainy days.

About the magic hand - there have been questions. Once upon a time I had a job that involved spending eight hours a night staring at unchanging data flowing through several monitors.. A sort of "fire watch in Antartica " kind of job.
 I brought in some unauthorized software and taught myself a lot of things in those long hours. Animated GIFS seemed like magic until you learned the tricks.