Be*mused

Bowled over

 

How could it possibly be Halloween weekend already?!!  I need to run out today and stock up on some goodies.  This has been such a tumultuous fall that many things have fallen through the cracks.  No mums on the front steps, no carved pumpkin glowing in the window.  I still have the weekend but after all that wind this week, I can see that having lost my yardman (M) this fall, I'll be putting in serious time on the raking front over the next few days.

Speaking of bowled over, last week a friend happened to have this book with her while sharing some pieces she had brought to share from her time at Gwen Marston's retreat last month. (Doubly bowled over!)  The book, Accidentally on Purpose by Eli Leon, was published in 2006 in conjunction with an exhibit of improvisational African American quilts at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. 

Nearly 200 pages long, its interesting text explores the connection between historic African textile design and African-American quilts, profiling numerous Southern quilters and showcasing page after page of their over-the-top improvisational quilts.

  

I'm not sure how this book managed to evade my radar so long, but it will have a prominent place in my quilt book library as soon as I finish reading it.  Highly recommend!

And for all of you BtCT quilt aficionados, a new Beyond the Cherry Tree blog has been started by Sharon for those of us who are making the quilt...and those who aspire to.  It's a wonderful place to see how different quilters are interpreting the blocks as they are rolled out each month.  I haven't had the chance to contribute yet, but that's on the weekend list, too!   

Thinking outside the box

 

It was the polka dots.  That's what grabbed my attention first.  At the beginning of my trip east a few weeks ago, I stayed in Cleveland for the first couple of days and spent a wonderful afternoon with my dear friend, Mary, one the most clever and productive *fiber people* I have ever known.  We were in her studio where she was sharing projects & ideas inspired by a day with Sue Spargo when my eyes locked like a laser onto one of these small cases on the table. 

"Oh, aren't these great?!" she exclaimed, unsnapping one to reveal all sorts of flosses, threads and trims.   "They're cosmetic cases...I got them at Drug Mart!"  Well.  Can I tell you how fabulous these are?  Not only do they hold lots, but the clear plastic pouch sections allow everything to be seen without any digging around.   

And look at how they roll up, forming a nice square shape which easily stacks on a shelf or...better!...can neatly carry all of those fiber odds & ends to a retreat or workshop.  I was in love even before I heard they were under $10.00 each.  Lesson: Think outside the box when it comes to notion storage! 

I think that Drug Mart might be an exclusively Ohio chain, but I'm guessing that similar storage solutions can be found in other discount store cosmetics departments.  Luckily, I snagged a couple before I pushed on to Pennsylvania. 
 
 

This is Victor, grooving to his iPod and removing my dated kitchen wallpaper while I'm writing this upstairs.  Tomorrow (with luck) he'll be painting the walls to match the cabinets & woodwork, a warm linen color...a wonderful backdrop for my colorful bowls, graphic dishtowels & table runners and many pieces of folk art carried home from my travels which have been packed away since Indy.  Buh-bye Waverly border design!  Hello clean, bright kitchen!

Back in the groove

 

Things are starting to settle down a bit here.  And so am I.  I've been checking things off of my long to-do list and eking out some time for handwork.

 

This piece is coming together just as I had envisioned.  Is that a good or a bad thing?  Considering my inclination to put things aside when faced with a design decision, I think it's good.

 

It's so difficult to photograph quilts with a black background.  Impossible to capture sharp edges without a tripod.  And to get the black to read as dark as it is, other colors (the red!) sometimes look neon-ish.  It's really a lovely rich red...Kona Chinese red, I think.  An old piece from the stash, from before the reduced thread count era.  But you get the idea.

After days of *taking care of things* around here, I'm claiming the rest of today to simply putter around in my sewing room.  Happy, happy.

If it's not one thing...

 
October 9, 2010

I spent 12 hours in the car last Saturday, a full week after I had expected to drive home from a few days in Pennsylvania, helping my parents downsize & pack in preparation for their move from their longtime home to an apartment next month.  I had planned to return to Chicago on the 2nd, but got a call early that morning from my son, K, at the hospital being prepped for emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix.  Thinking he just had the flu, my DIL had left the day before on a long-scheduled trip with her parents, so I headed down to DC to keep him company for the expected several days before his release. 

Being 2010, our year of one-thing-after-another**, K's situation didn't resolve as smoothly as hoped. It was a day-to-day thing and we didn't want H's trip to be interrupted, so I stayed at their apartment for the week.  Despite his discomfort, my wardrobe (I had packed for a few days of crawling around in eaves and under cabinets, wrapping things in newspaper and hauling boxes to the garage) and an uneasy truce with their cat (who gave me her fang-face and a paw swipe each night as I tried to coax her off the bed...until I found the kitty treats), it was a nice week.  Each morning, I'd head in with coffee for him & a Pumpkin Spice Latte for me and a bag of his mail, the Washington Post & the NYTimes.  We devoured the papers during the day, exchanging sections and opinions, visiting between medical checks and family calls.  I was happy I was able to be there, despite the circumstances.

I've been home for a few days, trying to catch up after being away for two weeks.  M is still working out of town (see **) and now it's fall and I'm scrambling to take care of things that were (are) meant to be done before the weather turns wintery.  I've scheduled the driveway resealing and need to choose the carpeting for the final finishing of the basement restoration (after the summer floods...see **).  I hope to get the kitchen done (by someone else!...wallpaper removal/paint job) before I head back to PA for my parents' move in 3 weeks (see **)  Today I'm sorting through clothes, very late in switching things out for the season.  Busy work while I wait for news from K.  It breaks my heart to tell you he is still in the hospital...12 days now...complications. 

As you can imagine, I'm a little distracted right now so I although I'm not planning to step away from the blog, my posts may be sporadic for a time.  Once again, my in-box is full and I'm clicking around a bit each day to catch up on what you've all been up to.  It's good to be back.