Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween- Post Script


Flora did way better than me. Please check out Mamma Bears Crazy Quilted Witches Hat. Her extra embellishing is over the top and her blog is full of imaginatative stitching.

I saw the hat last year at a quilt store, bought the pattern this summer but just wasn't able to find the time to get it done. Since I had the fabric all picked out I at least got it pieced up... put some flosses away with it so there is no excuse next fall..

This pic came in an email so I can't credit it's origin but it looked like my kind of roadside pumkin stand... I can smell the hay and taste the cider, can't you??
PPS.... Best of all?? The latest issue of CQ Magazine Online. is out.
Happy Halloween and don't forget to set those clocks back tonight.

Friday, October 30, 2009

All Hallows Eve


My CQ'd table runner (I think I captured the "purple" pretty well via my camera)

Welcome November!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Chickadee Season... I Con-Seed



No... I CONCEDE... to coloring my hair... painting my toes...feeling my hot flashes... being overtaken by awe...yelling when I want...blushing at a sunrise... picking at my cuticles.... humming an old song...not trusting my self .... showing my feathers... holding back.... letting go....giving myself to worry...there's always something pulling good or bad...

even in the woods where I think no one can see... where no one can hear...


where I think no one notices...


in the quiet...



in the fray...

in the shadows...


in the solitude...


in the sun....



even in my sharing .... I know His Eye Is On The Sparrow ..... and His eye is on us too!!! Please listen !!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Outhouse Hunting 10/17



My friend Roxanne has a hobby of photographing and documenting the outhouses around Skanee. Hunting camps, old farmhouses, vacation cottages and wayside parks all have them. We've spent many hours entertaining ourselves with treks through the woods .

The weather was a mix of anything you want... it's like that in Michigan, hour to hour, you never know what you're gonna get. The colors are past peak but there were still lots of splashes in sheltered spots.

Rox

Me
We ended up out at the St Cyr cliffs on Lake Superior, this is where the Huron Bay begins off the big water.


This is looking out to the Keweenaw Peninsula. The mountains on the horizon are 50 miles away.

The southern shore of Lake Superior hosts many areas of rock cliffs and outcroppings created during the Glacier Age. Trees grow horizontal out over the water defying natures gravity and in spots its quite dangerous.



On the way home we took a detour down a logging road. The farther we went the softer it got until it turned into "quick mud". There was no good place to turn around, but because I picked the place to do it, I was the fall guy, Rox ( THE DRIVER, LOL) ended up alittle far to the right and we sunk to the undercarriage. We were able to walk out to a farm across the road and get a pull out of our mess. The guy who helped us had his arm in a sling so I was the one who had to climb under the front and hook up the tow rope. We were covered in mud from hair to shoes but hadn't laughed that hard in awhile. We officially called "Outhouse Hunting Seaon" over for the year.
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Last week Dan and I drove over to the Aura side of the bay exploring.


We found a little hidden pond

The stream to the pond was flowing with little falls and pools formed in mossy recesses


Up the road we found this little cabin



Though small, it had a sleeping loft, full kitchen, bar and living area. What an awesome little studio it would make.


The view of the bay so tranquil.
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So despite yesterdays shitty little dilemna, all is well!
Till the next time...
(PS.... I won't tell about backing over the big log in the ditch, whose fault was that, hee-hee!)



Friday, October 16, 2009

Summers 2009 Pictogragh

I need to capture the fragments of summer that wove themselves in and out of the time I spent down in Detroit. My thoughts were somewhere above all of it... half here... on this place called earth and half trying to invision what the real heavens beyond would be like. Something tells me that heaven is what you love...magnified beyond all comprehension... IMAGINE THAT !!! I think I'm ready for the next stage of my life...




















Sunday, October 11, 2009

Thread Painting by Deb

It's been too wet and grey to get any good color pictures. Took this on a whim through raindrops... glad I did because snow covered the area this morn. Yellow and orange predominates this year... red is a treat.

It's been several months since Deb Hardman of Cold Feet Quilter sent this awesome notebook my way. I turned up the lucky one in a giveaway she had.. Thanks again, Deb...it's a well used notepad.

PS. I was remiss in noting the quilt pattern in last post. Disappearing 9 Patch, pdf. instructions found here... provided by Quilts For Kids.org Do check out this worthwhile organization.
Cold, snowy, woodstove burning and football on.... my kind of day !!!

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Stitching Department

Here's my sitting spot...
2 left over pennants from last year sewn on diag for a table topper??? Now we're on to something.... Time to move on with all of it.. .moot point being this is all about fun... purveying or finishing, wiping off my glasses for anew take... fresher ideas.

The last weeks, I sat and made up some small pages with felt... cathartic because Dad was walking on both sides then.. ... I put alot of stitches into the block shown in previous post ... little prayers as time went on..

Sis had scraps she let me peruse... back in March ?... I sewed these up...


The obligatory cell pouch was made when I had to keep connected with the world.. Arrggghhh..... That damn "phone call" seemed to live constantly in my pocket and I hated it.

and another "postcard square" found it's way into a box . Not much..... but I wasn't a total dud in keeping the needle going, small stitches were good for my soul.


perusing old notes and quilt books again .....contemplating a patterned quilt and one I've done before...Leafy Rosey by Kaffe Fassett is in the running. It uses lots of scraps and variety. Checking out this pattern by Exhuberant Color.... too, how it's so simply cut to make such an easy whole...maybe? .. This fabric has to start getting used up... If I've learned nothing at all recently, its "Use it up, wear it out or give it away"... I'm working on that now.... Nothing here at the house is above ending up at St Vincents or being repurposed for something else. I love being ruthless, it cements "the promise" that I'll always have what I need.

I'm really looking forward to winter this year