Silent Night Quilt ~ Yes or No: Update

 

Hi! Last Friday of April! Yay!

Sad but true, quilters fall out of love easily, discarding once inspiring projects, moving on to the next and the next. I fell in love with Silent Night  via Pinterest, years ago.

I was so enchanted with the juxtaposition of the classic blue and white Stars quilt and the adorable wintery scene appliqued on the base. It was unattributed and it took me ages to find the pattern, I shouldn't have been surprised--it is by my favorite designer Jan Patek.

I began the project I think in 2020---and it shows, all the stress and confusion of the early Covid years and my sudden vision problems. [lest you think, Oh Covid, what's her problem?--remember I am immune suppressed and was told by my doctors that if I got covid, I would die , forced onto a ventilator,  left isolated and alone in a small room, with no one to visit me or care for me. I Would Die. It was sudden and shocking, then soon followed by vision distortion and some vision loss. This was my world but I carried on with my planned winter projects anyway, in this case Silent Night, aka Midnight Clear. ]

I was thrilled to find a snowman fabric group from Primitive Gatherings, not a designer I usually choose. Snowmen and stars and snowflakes--light and dark twin prints to form the stars. The tiny snowmen looked, to me, just like the big snowman of the applique.

There's a Primitive Snowman Gatherings each year, the newest, out in July  is HERE  Scroll down for the fabrics.

Adorable, right?

The bad[-ish] news--it is HUGE. And the bottom applique scene was hard to hand sew on the partial border, so confusing. I did all the hand applique except the children that first summer. Whyever did I think all those stupid stars would be a cakewalk. Nope! I've worked on it every winter since. This time it has taken me ages---month!--just to figure out where the heck I was going with it, when set aside last June 1st, '23. Chaos.

For example: Why is this section removed?

(I was going to make it narrower].

What are these precut squares of all sizes, none of them what is needed. (Attributed to stress and poor cutting technique.)

I've worked on it since setting aside BB1 late March. I need 24 white Stars, of which I have made 11, or maybe 14---see how easy I forget!

Time is running out. If I don't get the Stars done and top center pieced by mid May/ June 1, I will again set it aside. I think this time for good.

Because yes, I no longer love it. The workmanship is mediocre. The indigo blues are too dark. I hate the Lancaster blue stop border; I had meant it to be red but forgot, obviously. The lighter blues mixed in are according to pattern photo, to add interest and depth, I assume.

I look at the Stars, recut the mistakes, trying for one or two Stars per day. Realistically, will anyone ever look at it, or notice how the stars are mostly made up of twinning positive negative prints? 

or care? Wonder why some are not twinned? [out of blue snowflake print/ miscut.]

Notice I snuck in the sandpail stars "Nantucket" from Penny, to make myself smile.

Will anyone notice that the children in their pompom beanies? Or realise these are my children, who adored snow days and sledding and starry night walks when the skies cleared?

Poor Silent Night, in Ennui limbo.....it's uglier in person, by the way.

Today is too cold and windy to garden, despite the sunshine. But soon my hour of daily sewing will be spent on the deck, hand sewing with my now ''senior'' pug. We both deserve these hours together, he no longer sits with me in my sewing room. Mo is afraid, though I don't know why. He has a bed outside the door so he can be with me as best he can.

And if Silent Night isn't done by then, into the dumpster I think.

...........

We wennt over the bridges yesterday, mostly to Trader Joe's but also to enjoy the much more advanced spring on the mainland. So many pink and white trees in bloom, even on the marshes. And delicate green grasses, baby leaves on trees.

Trader Joe's had so many wonderful flowers I couldn't choose.

Even this delicate shade of lavender, in tulips and roses both. New to me. And note the peonies, tho I didn't want white.

I got my favorite cheese.

And a new one to try:

And a potted daffy or two.

A gifted azalea from last Easter, below.  I snuck it into the common planter with the ugly locust tree and some tulips. Tiny but so sweet, a little bit of joy.

Have a great weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

big choppy waves, south wind-gale.

A few of you asked if the sidewalk found twigs sprout or grow: They do not grow or root but many unfurl tiny leaves or blooms even. I enjoy watching them. First is the ugly locus tree, below is something with interesting knobby buds.

Last weekend's full moon glaring in my window. It rose so far to the south! The "Pink Moon".

Mo perfecting his Puggy Smalls sit. Many pugs sit like humans instead of on their haunches like a dog.

@thepuggysmalls  https://www.instagram.com/thepuggysmalls/

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Mid-April Miscellaneous

 

Happy Friday! Yes! Half of cold windy April has gone, two months til summer. See! I am being positive, are you proud of me? Lately we seem to inundated by forced positivity and anti-Debbie Downer posts. A blog I follow called pessimists ''lemon suckers"! --all I could picture were the lemon lollipops we had as kids. Lemon and cherry were ok, lime and grape were disgusting. Did you call lollypops ''suckers'' too?

So anyway I am focusing on warm days ahead and not mentioning, shhh, that it is 45* here with a gale blowing off the frigid 40* ocean, windchill in the thirties. Grey clouds now, rain starts in 54 minutes.

This week started oddly. An even bigger gale wind [55 mph] knocked out the internet on Sunday. I don't know why this often happens, the cables or whatever are underground. By Monday wifi was back but my modem was not working. I went to do the Try This First option--unplug, wait, replug. The plug was so hot I burned my hand! Omigosh I am glad I discovered this before my house caught fire. Computer friend replaced the cord and plug later that night and all is well. 

I've been working on Silent Night for an hour each day. More on that in a  later post.

We had one beautiful day, Monday? My friend L and I went to the Dollar Store for the really good summer flower seeds, but No. Only a few packets of root veg--turnips, beets.

But outside the store was their big annual summer display of happy colorful tropical sundresses, two big racks. They flutter and beckon, and promise the world will be happy by July. L did not allow me time to look for a dress, though. Prob just as well. I haven't worn a dress in 20 years.

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Books: Usually I love John Sandford/ Lucas Davenport thrillers and was so looking forward to the newest, published last week. Unreadable! Tedious daughter Letty---hardboiled, mean, but smart, is the lead protagonist. I do not enjoy her stories. But the worst part, it's all about thwarting a crazy person who is creating a pandemic 80 times [lol] worse than Covid. 8 1/2 billion dead in 8 days. Logistcally, where would they put the bodies? How could this possibly save the Earth? Demented. 

Flashbacks and anxiety, anyone? I tried to get my money back, must return when I have a few moments to battle Amazon for a digital item refund. I can't read that crap. 

Old Navy had a great sale, I stocked up on summer clothes. Tee-shirts and shorts 10.oo each. I spent $100.oo to get free shipping, 8 tees, two shorts. All for a hundred bucks. Plus TAX, sigh. Still only 12.99, 12 colors! OLD NAVY tees 

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In the pursuit of positive thinking and positivity, I treated myself to these odd Sea Oracle fortune telling cards. Modernist Tarot? 

I sort of fibbed---actually bought them [Home Goods but available on Amazon], because I thought they'd be interesting in collages or in my journals. But---I am tempted, what does each shuffle reveal! I pick two or three cards each morning.

Oddly I get forgive fairly often. [''no second chances" is my motto''], Why does Forgive's image look like a dead whale or a potato, btw?

but more telling I get Gratitude All. The. Time. What does it mean?  Am I lacking, a failure at blessings counting, must do better? Or is gratitude one of my good points? One of the mantras is about taking note of how others show gratitude, are  my efforts recognized and valued. [shrug]

The cards don't answer but they do make me think, as they nod smugly next to Mo's mid-morning snackeroo. Oddly two or three cards give me the heebie jeebies. I am repulsed by things like honeycomb formations or rows of dots. [I forget what the condition is called. *Trypophobia] I feel compelled to remove the cards from the deck---but will that render the deck impotent? We'll see, so far they have never been up in my shuffle. But I know they're there , @@?, eeew.

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Since my hand got scorched and was hurting I couldn't do much fabric cutting or knit so I've been working on my nature journals. Watercolors take time and patience. I give the project supplies a corner of the dining room table sometimes.

Because my work desk looks like this.

Not finished, but recent in-work pages:

 

Internet photo/ Google, for detail

 This pretty weed is winter aconite, not celandine.

an interesting rock, but not a fossil? Perhaps sandstone and white quartz?

 

When I walk Mo I take pics of the first tiny weeds that bloom hopefully in the gravel and sand.

These foldout nature guides are so useful.

I also collect windblown twigs and bring them home in my pocket. Given water and a place to thrive, some unfurl tiny leaves or even bloom, though the white flowers here are silk, blown off someone's wreath or planter.

No cooking planned this weekend, maybe a casserole? I was supposed to make matzoball soup for a friend but lack carrots, celery, dill for the broth. Instead I began potato leek soup, my mom's handwritten recipe. BIG note, ''be careful, the cream scorches",  an admonition from the long ago past. Yes. It does, it did. I had to throw it out.

hen cress in a beach-tossed old bottle.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach....

''moooo-om!? WTH?''