All the Things

Well, Friends...My annual bout of New Year's Startitis is still in high pitch.  I've been trying to tame the Beast by sticking to a certain routine - Making My Bed, as it were -- and so far, I'm Getting Things Done and Holding the Fort -- to use a variety of time-worn cliches! 😉

So here's the gist of it, with my loosey-goosey "goals-that-aren't-carved-in-stone":

Hooked Art

As I mentioned in my last post, I've applied for a spot at the local art show/sale again this year (won't know for about a month), and I've been working toward that a bit with a new hooked landscape or two.  

I finished the first -- 12" square -- which is the one I think I'll donate to the silent auction fundraiser at the local performing arts centre:

"Under a January Moon" (c)
Finished Feb. 2026

I have to thank my cyber-friend, artist Holly Maclean of New Brunswick, for permission to use her painting of a deciduous tree as inspiration for mine. 😊

On the same piece of burlap, I drew out another 12" square piece, modelled after a long-finished art quilt from 2012.  This hooked piece will be the third iteration of this idea.  The first was "Trio" -- the art quilt I made as my final exam piece for my London City & Guilds Level 2 Certificate in 'Creative Techniques: Quilting' (with everlasting thanks to my tutor, the great Linda Kemshall):

Trio - (c) 2012

The second iteration: in June 2019 a long-time friend commissioned me to turn this piece into a bed-sized quilt -- she wanted to buy it for herself for her 99th birthday in October!  I agreed, gave her a price, and proceeded to get to work, creating this, with the help of Katie Pasquini Masopust's book, "Artful Log Cabins":

"Prairie Quintet" (c) 2019

I had to add 2 trees to make it the right size!  I finished it in time, and can still here her voice mail message of thanks.  She used it for several months -- never sleeping under it.  She put it on her bed only when it was made up, and took it off each night!  Alas, she died of heart failure in May 2020, a few months shy of her centenary. I miss her still.  I only hope someone in her family has kept that quilt.

So now...a third iteration: as a hooked piece!  I'm now working on the last bit of it -- that blue sky:

"Duo" in progress - Feb. 6, 2026

It's only 12" x 12", so I've put in only 2 trees, and gave them a slightly different look.  I'll show you the finish in the next post.

Quilting

I'm still moving right along on the 2026 Bonnie Hunter mystery, "Lupines and Laughter".  It's so darned pretty!  

In my last post, I'd just started Clue 6.  Now I've only a few units left to make for that clue, before I move on to Clue 7 (more units!!)  Here's a progress photo:

Stacks and stacks!

And of course I couldn't miss the BOM for February, from "A Quilting Life" -- which I'm doing in "Canadiana" colours:

Something tells me I'm going to be very good at making those stars when this is finished! 😉

As a sort of "leaders and enders" project at the moment, I've returned to making crumb "sections" and scrappy, wonky log cabin blocks, which will end up going to those in need -- eventually.

Knitting

This is where starts and finishes line up for me at the moment.  I've finished a hat, and started a pair of socks, and am nearing a finish on a blanket.

First, the hat -- the "Melt the ICE" hat -- from Needle and Skein via Ravelry.  YES, I paid for it in CAD, even at the 30% exchange rate. It's a worthy cause!

I used an unlabelled stash yarn, which the 'match test' revealed was mostly -- if not 100% -- wool. I enjoyed the knit, but could have done without the tassel. Full disclosure: I don't like tassels, pom-poms or bobbles on the things I knit!  I used only 100 sts, but it fit my small-medium (22") head just fine.  However, if I make it again, I'll go up to 108 sts, and leave off the tassel.  This one -- and future ones -- will end up in my Warm Things box, for indeed they would be Warm Things.

As for socks, I'm trying again to revive my sock mojo.  This month it's with a pair of textured socks from a vintage pattern (1947), which satisfies the criterion for the February 2026 challenge in the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry -- something they're calling "Ultra-unappreciated patterns".  In other words, patterns with very few projects recorded on Ravelry.  Mine is #3! 

Yes...this is the source -- and I have the book. It was my mother's -- or maybe her mother's! -- and it's in a page protector in my collection of knitting patterns.  I've made other socks from it, but not recently.

Anyway, the one I selected is called "Fancy Rib Socks", and I've been thankful for another Ravelry member -- a Canuck living in B.C., to boot! -- for the notes she made when she knit these.  It's not every day you try a pattern that someone else has knit, and you become cyber-friends with that person! 

I've only recently cast them on, and adapted the pattern (with the above-mentioned help) to 64 sts (from 80 as called for) -- so this is what they look like as of this morning:

Yarn: Estelle Highland Alpaca Fine
Colour: "Lagoon"

I think I'm going to enjoy knitting these, but whether or not they'll be enough to restore my lack-lustre sock mojo remains to be seen!

While the Sylph Cowl is still in the queue, it's become my 'train knitting' -- carried with me in the car in the event I'm stopped at the local train crossing, which is not just for trains passing through. It's a switch-point for CN Rail, which means I can sit there for 15-20 minutes, depending on the day and my timing!

However, I'm working hard on my January Blanket, started in 2024...and closing in on a finish. This was a photo taken a month ago; it's now longer -- I've finished 24 of a called-for 35 pattern repeats, and am on the 8th of 10 balls of yarn.  I thought I might try to use up all 10, but that would make it far longer than called for, so I'm just going to stick with the pattern as written!

I've done nothing more on my red-and-white cowl, or on my Bernie sweater -- just focusing on the above-mentioned projects for now.

And then there's Cross-stitch

I'm pleased to say that I finished the (recommended by Jacob) January section of the "Little Acorns" SAL from Modern Folk Embroidery -- at 8:30 p.m. on January 31! 

I then took a few days "off" but yesterday evening I started the February section (again, recommended by Jacob in his pattern notes).  Here's how it looked at the end of the evening:

NOTE: the border on the left isn't really skewed; it's just that the linen in the hoop has been pulled off grain!! It's really a straight line, and would look that way if I took it out of the hoop!!

Of course, I've been distracted by other things, as one is.  I've not done any more on the Elsa Williams "Winter" piece, or on "Disagree" by Rebel Stitcher, but I did have a new start.

Being February -- the month in which I was engaged in 1975 -- I've returned to "A Quilter's Dream" (also Modern Folk Embroidery) and have made a bit more progress on that:

Yes, it's only one teen motif, but each one is a mini-accomplishment, eh?! 😁

As for my "squirrel" moment? Well...again, given what's still going on in the world, I downloaded this new free pattern from Ellen Reid of Maximum Cross Stitch, and made a start:

It's entitled "Go Show Love", and is available in both Canadian and American versions re: the -- ahem! -- spelling of "neighboUr". 😉 

I found a large piece of 22-count white evenweave in my stash (I believe I inherited it from a dear friend who died in 2020 -- heart, not Covid) and I'm using the called-for DMC, 2 strands over 2 fabric threads.  Because I messed up on the colour instructions, I'm using black for both the 1st and 2nd inner borders, but I'm okay with that.  It's the perfect counter-part to stitching 1 strand over 2 on 40-count as I'm doing with "Little Acorns" and "A Quilter's Dream".

That's really all the news that's fit to print for this post, Gentle Readers.  My heart goes out to those in Eastern Canada, the Maritimes and all down the east coast of the US into places not as used to snow as we are, as they experience really overwhelming dumps of the stuff.  We out here on the Canadian prairies could use some more, as without it we're likely to remain in drought territory this spring and summer...not good.  Sigh...

And I continue to hope and pray for better days for all my US readers...

So I leave you with those wishes, and my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week, she has the Great Reveal of her Studio Reset -- it's a WOW!  

And until next time...a bientot!

Happy New Year and All the Things...

 Happy New Year, Gentle Readers!  (I'm trusting that at only slightly less than 1/3 of the way through January, it's okay to greet you that way -- still.  😊)  

It's been a busy almost-month since my last post.  I began that post with the weather report -- a favourite topic of conversation everywhere up here in Canada...as it is (most likely) wherever you all live too.

Today?  January 10, 2025?  In central Alberta?  RAIN!  Say what?!  Not enough to melt much of the snow, but definitely enough to cause traffic problems when the temps drop over the course of the evening and through the night.  Sanders are out in force to keep even good drivers from killing themselves on the highways!  

Me?  Today, I stayed home and stuck to making, which is what I do best. 😊

I won't bore you with a Holiday recap, but I had a lovely Xmas Eve and Xmas Day with my family.  Got a gift card to Indigo/Chapters (Canada's version of Barnes & Noble), and put in a pre-order for the paper-back version of Deanne Fitzpatrick's memoir, Making a Life, which is due out in May.  (You can do that HERE if you want to; no, I'm not paid to say that!)

Deanne's outlook on life is similar to mine -- but, I confess, I'm not as able as she is at incorporating some of her behaviours with which I agree, even if I do so whole-heartedly!

My kids can take hints, though, and this year they took one of mine and bought the 3 of us tickets to an Edmonton Symphony production on April 1st -- "The Music of Simon & Garfunkel".  They did something similar several years ago for my birthday, and it was wonderful. This one features different guest artists than we saw before, but no matter.  It will be the perfect combination of music, my children, memories of their father and me, and all that we hold dear.  What's not to like?

But you didn't stop here to read about all that, did you?  You're probably more interested in the MAKING of...whatever.

There was, indeed, making for Christmas -- most of which I showed you earlier.  My daughter's vest was finished on time.  It fits her like a dream and she is very happy!

I know; I need to get a photo of her wearing it!  But I've seen her in it, and it's lovely!  (And NO, I won't make another.  You can't make me! 😉)

My son and his family appreciated their neckwarmers and -- BONUS! -- discovered they could also wear them as wide headbands -- over their ears.  Who knew?!  Perfect!

Xmas knitting over, of course, this means I've moved back into Other Knitting for 2025.

First: more charity knits.  I've finished another pair of "The World's Simplest Mittens" (Tin Can Knits -- free on Ravelry):

Unlabelled yarn - probably wool (match test)
Pattern: Tin Can Knits - child size - 36 sts

Next: another charity hat cast-on -- another "Mash It Up" using fingering-weight scraps. Sorry, no photo yet, but it will resemble this one I made a while back, as I've begun it with similar colours:

"Mash It Up 1" (finished 2024)
Designer: Babs Ausherman

And...I'm getting back to socks.  I'm on the second sock of an "Advent" mystery project -- no longer a mystery as it's no longer Advent -- from Becky Greene: the Christmas Smorgasbord Socks.  I chose to make mine textural in a self-striping/tonal yarn: Patons Kroy FX in the "Clay" colour-way.  I finished the first sock in a timely manner and then let the 2nd one languish, but I'm on it again and am approaching the separation for the heel flap.

Sock #1 on my right foot!

I've now joined another Ravelry sock group: "Sox-along-2025" -- with two Canadian YouTube podcasters: "SoxyNana Alice" and "MyPinkBathtub" (Diane), in hopes of finishing this pair and 2 other languishing sock WIPs...and maybe recovering my Sock Knitting Mojo this year.

As for larger knitting projects, I've resumed work on my January Blanket (started a year ago) and try to knit at least 4 rows a day on it.  It's all-of-a-piece, which is great, because I have an aversion to sewing large squares together to make a blanket. That's it for the moment!

What about quilting? (I can hear you quilters asking!)...Well, now...

Why have one project on the go when you can have...four or five?! 😉

My neighbours were delighted with the quilt I gave them for Xmas, made with the 2024 Block of the Month (BOM) from A Quilting Life and using stash Thimbleberries fabric:

I enjoyed the process so much that I've joined up for the 2025 BOM.  It's quite different from last year's project.  This year, it features a 6" (finished) centre block that can be turned into a log cabin setting for an 18" (yes: 18 inch) block for a quilt top OR can be used in a smaller setting for a table runner.

I've no need of a table runner, so today I finished the first 18" (finished) block for the year - once again digging into all of those Thimbleberries fabrics that I've had for 20 years.  (Yes. I checked.  The selvedge of one of them reads "Thimbleberries Club 2005".)

And here's a close-up of the centre of the block:

Please note: the log cabin and other fabrics are far more golden than seen in the photos -- and the walls of the house are *green* with gold stars, not blue.  My camera and my laptop aren't communitcating well as to colour!!

No matter what the camera reads, I enjoyed the process -- even though that's one large block!  I'm not sure I've enough of my Thimbleberries fabrics to get through all 12 blocks, but time will tell.

Meanwhile, work continues on Bonnie Hunter's "Old Town" Mystery 2024/2025.  I've finishe Parts One through Three...and am pondering fabrics for Part Four, as I may be running out of my chosen neutral!  Ack!  Stay tuned!  (Sorry; no photos to share at the moment! 😩)

I am also continuing on the "Easy Breezy" blocks (tiny things, leaders and enders).  As of December 31st, I had 125 blocks done -- at 4 1/2" each -- but I'ver more than that now, and 4 prepped for assembly.

In addition (because, why not?!), I've dug out a long-ago project.

Yes, friends, decades ago I began a quilt using Japanese-influenced fabrics and black fabric.  I lost the magazine with the pattern -- it was in the days of Dying Hubby and All is Chaos, so you can probably understand why.

But I never got rid of all those swaths of fabric -- prints cut up and sewn together with narrow black sashing.  What to do with them now?

I decided to make four-patches...and once I get them all made, they'll become a quilt top...and maybe a quilt to be given away for someone who needs one for comfort and warmth.

First two types of blocks

Second two types of blocks

More to come on that front later.

Now then...Stitching?

I have sorted my stitching and am currently working on a "Blessing Sampler", which is supposed to be started and finished in the first month of the year.  I doubt that will happen with this one, as it appears I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew.  So...what else is new?! 😉

But first...I decided I wanted to do a "Christmas Day Start" and took supplies up to Edmonton, where I was staying with my daughter for the holiday.  I started it on time, and...finished it here at home on New Year's Eve:

"Gather Memories"
Designer: Hands On Design

I stitched it on 32-count Platinum Belfast linen from Zweigart, using 2 threads of floss (DMC) over 2 fabric threads.

I have the companion piece, -- "Gather Blessings" -- to do on the same piece of fabric before I decide how to fully finish them.

For my "Blessing Sampler" I chose the Swan Sampler from The Wishing Thorn.  I bought the pattern last year, and kitted it up on my own.  I love its sentiments: Faith, Hope and Love -- with Joy added -- as essential for Life.

Little did I realize how ornate the outer border is -- and how stitch-intensive!  A piece not need be 'full coverage' for the stitching to be dense and detailed -- so be forewarned!  😉  Still, I am quite smitten with it and whether or not I finish it by month-end, as a "proper" Blessing Sampler, it will have blessed my by its presence this month!  I'm just coming up to the upper right-hand corner, as you can see in the photo below:

"The Swan Sampler"
Progress Jan, 10-2025
Called-for threads; 2 over 2
30-count pale green unlabelled linen

And here's a close up of the upper left corner:

In my last post, I also shared my last two (of three) finished-but-not-fully-finished stitchy Xmas gifts.  I was able to finish them and put them in the mail earlier this week.  I'll show them here...hoping that the recipients will have already received them, or will have, by the time they read this!

Designer: Lizzie Kate
Mostly called-for threads (DMC)
?35-count Royal Icing from
Access Commodities?
(sorry...how soon we forget!)

Designer: The Sweetheart Tree
A "Knob Knocker Collection" kit
Included 28-count "Ray of Light" Cashel Linen,
Thread pack (WDW and DMC), and embellishments

Here's a close-up of the embellishments:

I finished both of these by quilting, and attached a hanging sleeve.  I find this is an easier way to ship little things like this rather than using framing etc.  I hope they are enjoyed by the recipients!

And what about art?  As in 'original work'?

Well...I'm now working on the hooked piece I was pondering in my last post.The working title is "Peaceful Sky" and thus far it looks like this:

It will measure about 17" wide by 10" long (deep).  I had darker grey around the central words and took that out; now to ponder how to fill that in as I do the rest of the sky.

I've started no other original work BUT I've answered a call for entry for a fund-raising art auction in aid of the Lacombe Centre for the Performing Arts and today the Call for Artists for the 2025 Encore! Lacombe Art Show & Sale has come out, so there are plans...

Again, my friends, stay tuned!

As I close, once again I wish you all a happy, healthy, safe, creative year now that we are in 2025.  I am posting a "daily word" on my personal Facebook page; thus far, it is keeping me on a calmer, more even keel -- and I hope it's doing so for my FB connections too.

In this blustery January weather, when time outdoors is at a premium, our making, our creative hands-on work, is able to fill our souls, ease our minds, and keep us sane and sensible.  Create beauty every day, my friends -- no matter how you do so.  Use your hands to clear your head.  Celebrate whatever creative gifts you have been given -- and look at the creative gifts left to you and all of us by those who have gone before.  Listen to their music; read their words...

And be blessed.  

A bientot!

**Linking as ususal to dear Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's sharing American art.  Enjoy!

Trying to...

I don't know how the FB 'quizzes' and 'name tests' are created, but this is one I decided to try tonight...it used my photos...and presented me with a "Motto for 2018". 

The odd thing is, this particular practice -- keeping 'it' simple, not over-thinking, over-analyzing, not getting lost in details, seeing every tree in the forest instead of the forest as a single entity -- this practice has plagued me most of my 65 years.

And most years, right around this time, I return to it.  "Always [I] begin again," in the way of Benedict.  

This year is no exception.  For weeks now, even as I finished gifts and readied the house for Christmas, I've been wondering how to go forward in this new year, with all I'd like to do.

The challenge?  To prioritize and fit it into weeks that seem to grow shorter every year.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are set aside for work in The Shop, music practice at church and Knit Night. 

Sunday I've managed to keep as a 'Sabbath' day most of the time, with church in the morning, followed by a walk, and a quiet afternoon of reading, stitching and/or napping, ending with a visit, every couple of weeks, with an elderly friend.

Yes, there is knitting as stitching as part of those days, as every day...but not for long, concentrated periods of time.

Then there's the periodic online work that I do as a volunteer...which has to be fit in somewhere as it is not yet time to give it up for others to do.  In some cases there are no others, so it wouldn't get done.  Perhaps it wouldn't be missed; I really have no way of knowing.  Clearly I need to give it more thought before the end of this year...if I am to simplify as I mean to.

So...how do I intend to fill the remainder of my week-days in this new year?

For one thing, I want to enable simpler living by finishing old projects, and using up fabric and yarn for things that can be given away to others who need them more than I do.   I've begun by designating Wednesdays, as much as possible, as days to focus on this work.  I started last week, and have managed to knit up a toque and finish a scarf that's been languishing in my UFO basket(s) since the fall of 2015.

Pattern: Chevron Leaf Shawl - by Patons
Yarn: Patons North America
Country Garden DK (discontinued)
- donated to the church some years ago

Today, I took up a prayer shawl begun in March 2014 and last touched in September of that year -- with only one 20-row pattern set and the edging to do!  It's one of those that starts small, and increases steadily, so when I left it there were almost 300 stitches on the needle, so each row takes more time than the last.  Still, it's a lovely, meditative design and not particularly difficult, so I've made progress, confident that it will be finished next Wednesday.

On the quilting front, I've decided to participate in The Quilt Show's 2018 Block of the Month -- using not the kit but my stash.  The quilt is made with a series of 24 small (6" finished) blocks, as well as three applique sections and a large central motif, which I may or may not do.  Three patterns for pieced blocks will be given out each month, and ideally one makes three of each of the blocks, or nine blocks per month.  Monday, I made three blocks from the first pattern.  My aim is to make the other six blocks this month in similar colours -- as far as my stash allows, knowing full well that in February I will have to hunt down different colours for the next nine.  This will make it fun -- and use up that stash as I go!

On the side, I hope to get that treadle machine I bought last year up and running with a simple 'squares' quilt, so I can practice plain, straight sewing with it as I get into the rhythm.  Maybe treadling my spinning wheel would help with that...as well as using up some of my roving...

Then there's my artwork -- and three projects under consideration this year: the Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale (April 20 - 21); a "Scotland collaboration" with my friend and colleague, Mary Wilton, for entry into the Annual Camrose Art Walk in August; and an entry into a SAQA juried show, with an online entry deadline of May 31 (more about that later).

Design: Carol Leather

Finally, this year there's embroidery in the mix, also in an attempt to use materials stashed for far too long -- so there's a hope I will make up some small pieces from kits I've collected, as well as studying various stitches through the year as part of "Beyond TAST" (Take A Stitch Tuesday), a project under the auspices of the talented Sharon Boggon of Australia.  We begin by playing with the Running Stitch; Sharon recommended doing so by way of 'Pattern Darning' or Kogin, a Japanese embroidery technique.  I've dug out some 14- and 18-count Aida cloth, a tapestry needle, a simple pattern (courtesy of stitcher Carol Leather), and will begin a sampler in two colours.

"Keep It Simple"?  I'm not sure it's going to happen...at least not this year...but I'll put one foot in front of the other, "begin again" each day in earnest, and with God's grace, well...who knows?

Wishing you all a Happy -- and Simple! -- New Year, Gentle Readers, and linking up with WIP Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network.

And so to bed.

Tomorrow's another day.  😊

Walking the Line

I've been a bit slow off the mark with the EB Master Class this month.  You guessed it: the topic is "Line".  When EB announced it, I knew exactly which of my finished pieces I wanted to use as a starting point...but then stalled at how to work on it without copying myself!

The work was based on this photo:

By a road near Northbow Lodge
December 2008

Here's the piece I made:

Sentinels (C) 2013

And here's how I began to manipulate it for each of three possible design ideas:

First, I turned the photo of the piece into a 'contour drawing' with my photo editing program:

I traced this onto a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 tracing paper -- just the main lines I could see -- using a Sharpie (R) marker.  I copied this tracing paper image onto plain paper, and enlarged it slightly.  From the enlarged drawing I isolated a section and enlarged that:

"Idea 1"

Second, I found a detail photo of the original piece:

I converted it to 8-bit grey-scale.  I know...not much difference!  ;-)   It was the snow, after all!

From there I converted it into a "contour drawing", isolated a section of that and enlarged it:

"Idea 2"

And then another:

"Idea 3"

I think all three have potential for recreation in fabric and thread, to differing degrees.  I've sent the three 'Ideas' off to EB and await her feedback.

On other fronts, I've been hand-stitching a piece intended for the Spotlight Silent Auction fund-raiser at the SAQA conference in Portland (I have to have it sent off within 10 days), and finished the March block for the "Zen" Block-of-the Month.  The latter was once again an experience that was not particularly relaxing...the flimsy background fabric (provided with the pattern) argued with the less flimsy dark and medium prints, and only a good spritz with "Best Press" made the block lie nicely when it was finished.

Silent auction piece - WIP
Auditioning stitch placement

March "Zen" BOM: "Coxey's Camp"

On the knitting front, my entry for the March challenge in the "Socks From Stash" Ravelry group is going well...I am nearing the toe on the first sock...and the wedding prayer shawl is proceeding apace: by the end of today I'll have finished 7.5 of 25 pattern repeats (each is 24 rows), keeping me on track for the end of May...

Now I think I'll link this up with Nina Marie's Friday post (because I still can!) and take a nap...!

Get a Move On!

The topic for February's EBMC is "Movement"...

We began by visiting several websites to see examples that EB provided of artists creating movement in their pieces.  An example?  Hokusai's famous painting, The Great Wave.

Katsushika Hokusai - The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
first published between 1826 and 1833 (public domain)

As this piece is now in the public domain, it has been used to inspire other artists...such as my C&G tutor, Linda Kemshall, who combined it -- in paint and stitch -- with a traditional quilting pattern -- "Storm at Sea" to create something wonderful that she titled "The Big Wave" (scroll down).

In the examples (including the one above), I found that the idea of movement was clearest to me when curved lines -- whether in fabric or in stitch -- were involved.  Another quilter who incorporates movement in her pieces and does so beautifully with both shading and stitch is Maria Elkins.

People & Portraits

When EB mentioned wind-blown hair in her class notes, I immediately remembered Ms. Elkins' piece featured on the cover of  SAQA's publication, People & Portraits.  You can see the piece in the header for Ms. Elkins' website; it's well worth taking a closer look to see her stitching of the hair.

Pam RuBert's "Tango with a Technopus" is another example of an artist's using the shape of the fabric -- curves and swirls -- to express movement.

Following the research, of course, came the sketchbook work...TREMBLE!  I have never consciously attempted to express movement in my work.  Still....there are the birds that visit my property...and my feeder... I've never been successful photographing them.  They move too darned fast!  And I'm a point-and-click photographer.  Even if my camera could capture them, the instructions put me to sleep.  I'd never figure it out!

I turned to the internet for images, and found this one from backyardbirdshop.com:

5 birds at feeder

The feeder resembles mine -- and the birds resemble the chickadees that show up regularly.

Using this as an inspiration, I tried my hand at sketching:

First, I ran out of room for a third bird, which made it seem 'unbalanced'.  Second, it struck me as rather formal and stilted.  Darn.

Solution?  Go out for a jog (this was yesterday afternoon, when we weren't having a snow storm.)  Now, Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way fame, espouses walks, which I find are helpful...but somehow, I seem to resolve even more things in my mind when I am jogging (I'm no longer fast enough to call it 'running').

Sure enough: while I was out there trucking along the highway and off through the snowy side-streets, it occurred to me that I didn't have to get so caught up in rendering a precise (precious?) image of birds-at-feeder.  What I was aiming at was the MOTION involved.  When I got back to the house I came up with this:

I've submitted to EB the progression you see here; we'll see what she has to say.

Meanwhile, as I'm waiting, I'm working on some more hand-quilting.  I have only borders -- 1 wide side border, all the narrow borders, and the wide outer border -- to do...and then I can bind this piece and give it to J&E, my wonderful neighbours, as their belated Christmas 2014 gift.  They are SO good to me -- you have no idea!

And this afternoon, home early from The Shop because of the weather, I assembled the February block in this year's use-it-up Block of the Month, "Zen".  Four squares-in-a-square, it was a surprisingly UN-Zen-like experience.  A bit of 'reverse sewing' and then -- Oh-what-the-heck! kicked in...but I do like the fabrics I chose to go with the background:

All for now...