Hello -from the snowy north…….

I think the snow has stopped  falling and sense I took this shot yesterday I know there is lots more snow out there- but this does give one the idea.    If I was still teaching- I would have used the fall to teach tree branch  forms  by giving the students gray paper and only black and white crayons.   They kids always did wonderful work when they were directed to slow down and look  at their world with a careful eye.    The slow down part is so important when it comes to snow- It quiets the world a bit too.

I went down to the Turquoise Moon studio and spent as day playing with collage this week.  I seem to collect lots of cool images and do not take the time to work on them when I am home.  It takes a play day like this one to remind me of the joy that I get from doing “paper work”.

Ginny wanted help making a bag for her Grand Daughter for Christmas.  So she came with her goods and we did the job yesterday afternoon.  The bag is for all the Fairy stuff Ginny had collected to give her for dress up.  It was fun.

Progress Report:   Scrap Bag     I  still do not have my big sewing machine and I continue to use Garma Butterworth’s old Feather Weight.     I  have finally finished assembling the scraps from the scarp bag however.  So I started cutting them into 2.5″ strips.   I made the mistake of working on that step too long – 2 hours and my arm and index finger really paid the price for that excess.     That happened last Friday and I still feel a twinge of pain when I press too hard with the finger.   I am limiting myself to cutting only ten sections into the strips before I stop now.    I never really knew my habit of only doing one thing/ project  for about an hour was a good plan- I just thought of it as an extension of my teaching where I only had did one class  for 45min before I had a new bunch of students and usually a new grade level to deal with.  Now I see the benefit of not working too long at any one thing.   I will still get the  cutting and assembly job done- it will just be a bit more slowly.     That is OK too as I am building these quilts to give away and there is no deadline.     I did decide to purchase a new sewing machine however as I do have a deadline for the wedding quilt.  The machine – a Berna B 350 will  come tomorrow or Sat.  I am excited about getting back into free motion work.

 Sounds like the Blues   I am still doing hand work on this piece.  I also started  a knitting  project too  so progress on this hand work  is slow. 

Minion    The other thing I just started was this Minion.   I think they are so silly and they always make me laugh- so here goes me attempt.  I am sure there are patterns out there- but I will muddle along.    I am sure I would not go this route if I had a free motion machine- so I will count  this as one of the unexpected blessings of only being able to sew strait stitches with a machine.

My holiday wish for all of you is- may you find joy in the challenges you face.

Keep Creating

Carol