Dartmouth Natural Resource Trust

...and a visit to the daffodil field. Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful flowers growing in a magical setting. Worth the 4 hour trip to southeastern Mass, but then of course that wasn't the main reason for my weekend trip. Visiting with a lifelong best friend is worth driving any distance.

Happy Easter!

Family time. Lovely.

New pillows

After 2 years and 2 months our house is finally under contract. (Loud cheering and jumping up and down here). And since then, our agent happened to mention she's had several more calls from interested parties. Go figure...where were they 2 years ago? Probably hiding under a rock waiting to see if they were going to have any money to spend in the future...

We are planning on building a new house, so of course this new development has set in motion lots of things for the last minute. Like find a place to live for the next 6 to 9 months. Packing 40 years of accumulated living. What goes into storage and what comes to temporary digs. Of course, I've tried to think what might I REALLY need from my studio, and ended up deciding I couldn't live without most of it. Thank goodness the house we found to rent has 4 bedrooms and a huge finished loft area. So, in the meantime, I really am cleaning out things and making trips to the dump (sorry, landfill)(sorry, transfer station). Like the other day when I took a whole car full of stuff, and as I was leaving I passed our 'recycle area' and my eye caught at least a dozen fabric swatch books someone had left. For about one second my mind said NO but only for a second. There were satins in lovely shades, silks, sheers, you name it. Of course I had to take them home. I did have this little talk with myself though as I left. It went something like this: "Okay, you're going to take these books apart and take ONLY WHAT YOU REALLY THINK YOU'LL USE. Then you're going to take the torn apart books back to the dump. THEN, you're going to sit down and actually MAKE something with some of these, right away, before you forget why you took them in the first place." And I did.

It was a good distraction from decision making.

Spring Tulips

Here is a piece I finished a month or so ago. I say finished, but after a critique from my Frayed Edges friends, there's one more thing I need to do. Bring this line of white seed stitches down about another inch or so.

I'm really loving using grays for a ground (as I did in Tilly). It makes any other colors used 'pop'. The flowers are pieced with hand dyes and then enhanced with some fabric paints. I'm waiting patiently for my tulips outside to pop...but Mother Nature has given us back the liquid lake so it won't be long before the spots of snow in the woods will disappear too.

Frayed Edges

My small quilting group got together yesterday at Kate's house for sharing and for food. Some day's there are a lot of quilts to share, new books to look at (not so many since Hannah left us :) and always food.

Yesterday was food and catching up with each others lives. We started out with sticky buns, Nana's roll recipe dressed up in brown sugar and pecans. I'll do that again. I've never met a sticky bun I haven't loved. I showed off my Tillie quilt which I posted earlier, and one other I had made of pink tulips on my windowsill...sorry, no picture yet. I left it behind by accident. Memory is a fickle thing when you hit...older. But there was the beautiful spring green tablecloth Kate had dyed from an old white linen one. Not to mention the spanakopita and green salad.

And this is the real color of the cloth, not washed out by my camera.


Talking, eating, catching up. All good.

Really???

I mean REALLY?? i don't often stick my neck out to comment on the latest fashions that appear in my inbox, but, come on. WHO would look good running (or doing anything) in these? Am I just too old to appreciate 'designer?' As my friend Betsy would say, "I wouldn't wear these to the barn."

Making Nana's rolls

My grandmother made the best rolls. As she got well into her 80's, some forward thinking daughter of hers asked her how to make them, and by doing so, preserving the recipe (and memories) for future generations. Like me. It takes all day, but they are so worth it. I remember watching them rise and she would always let me taste the warm, yeasty dough. I've had several flops, once when I killed the yeast and they never rose. Once I forgot the salt.

My favorite days to make them are the overcast and cold ones, when I can get the cookstove going and let them rise in it's heat. Those rolls are the best, always soft, with that delicious yeasty taste. And the bowl; I've used the same one since I've been making them...it's part of the ritual. I bought it for $16 at the home of Shard Pottery when they were still in business, not far from here. On the second's porch. I still haven't found anything wrong with it that would make it a second, though.
So, if anyone wants to try these here's the recipe, word for word. Here's to family recipes!

Nana Flanagan's Rolls

In saucepan heat to just below boiling-

1 cup sugar
1 stick oleo
2 cups milk
level soup spoon salt (1 TBSP)

Cool.
Crumble yeast cake in warm water- (I use 2 pkg. dry yeast and about 1/4 cup warm water)
When milk mixture is lukewarm add to it one beaten egg and yeast mixture- then add sifted flour until right consistency- I think it's about 6 to 8 cups- get it so you can knead it without it sticking to your fingers. Cover with plate-wrap it up and put in a warm place to rise- cut down after 2 hours- let rise again. Roll out and put in pan. Let rise again.
Bake about 20-25 minutes at 350 or 375 degrees.

Tillie Lays an Egg

A while back I posted an in-progress picture of Tillie and a link to my granddaughter's favorite book. Well, she has many favorites, but WE (she and I) like this one. By Terry Golson, who generously gave me permission to use the name. Now it's done and I will cross it off my list. Hope you like it.

A Little Project

A 4x5 inch birthday book. Why are circles so appealing?

Spring is coming....right?

On my afternoon walk the other day I was treated to the sound of glassy wind chimes as the wind blew these ice covered branches. And today more snow, but I just know we're headed into something good. First step on Sunday morning: turn the clocks forward!

Little Birds...

...that have nothing to do with math.

Today It's Gnomons

Gnomons seem to have a lot of different definitions which makes it difficult for someone like me (one that needs clarity) to explain what it means. 'The part of a sundial that casts a shadow?' Or, how about this one: 'that which, when added to an entity (number or shape), makes a new entity similar to the starting entity.' And I really like this one because I can see it: Gnomon is the name given to an aesthetic process utilized by James Joyce, in his set of short stories, Dubliners, whereby the whole of the character is revealed by a single part. I only know I thought of circles when we discussed them in our class. And complimentary colors.

Next, we move onto symmetry and rigid motion...does that sound like an oxymoron to anyone besides me? You know, rigid (unmoving) and motion (moving)? We shall see. It's all about keeping an open mind, I guess.

Happy Valentine's Day

Oh, yes. Sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. Have a happy one!

Math and Nature

So, here we are, nearly to the middle of my least favorite month. With the biggest piles of snow in a long while. And today, wind chills below 0. Spring is just around the corner, but the corner seems a bit far away about now. Thank goodness I'm keeping my mind busy with my math class. It is very stimulating and I find I'm putting a lot of time and energy into learning, or relearning something very interesting. When I'm not doing problems, I'm working on my journal...



This is the famous Fibonacci Spiral in fabric. The sequence of numbers comes up in nature often. The structure is very similar to the traditional log cabin construction, spiraling around a center block. The difference, though, is this spiral grows exponentially with each addition. Like the numbers: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, 34,55,89,144...adding the last number with the previous to get the next.

And then there's the rabbits. Fibonacci figured out that if a pair of rabbits, under ideal conditions, reproduced regularly, they would have 144 (a fibonacci number) rabbits at the end of the year..and every month up to that point will follow the sequence as well.

The center of many flowers grow in a spiral pattern. One set of spirals goes in one direction and one in the other...(I think I need to add a few more beads here). On a pineapple, there are 8 spirals in one direction and 13 in the other (fibonacci numbers). News you can't use, but interesting nonetheless.

Another Snow Day

Expanding

True to my last post about growing younger in 2011 I've decided to start with "expansion." I'm auditing a math class at our local college. Math and me have always been like oil and water, we both don't like each other much. But this opportunity came along and the class sounded interesting: Ferns and Fractals, Math in Nature. And because I'm doing it for fun, there's no pressure to participate or pass tests, but I can if I want. It also happened about the same time I discovered Deborah's post on the Crochet Coral Reef. The math is challenging since I had to go back and relearn basic algebra before any of this made sense, but despite how terrible I am at it, I remember how much I loved the 'sense' of it, the thrill of coming to the right answer. There have been many 'oh my goodness' moments. Fibonacci spirals, phyllotaxis, gnomons. Symmetry is next as well as M.C. Escher...great fodder for quilt designs. I will do a project due at the end of class which is April. Spring. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Sketchbook Project, a book with a page for each new thing I'm learning. Mixed media: fabric, paper, stitch and glue.

Everyone is looking for something new to get them through the coming year. A word or a phrase, something to guide their movements or actions. Sarah has chosen a word for the year: breathe. And if you've read her blog over the last few months she's had a lot of stress thrown her way and is probably looking forward to a little clean air and deep breaths. I came across this blog, new to me but now on my list, and was inspired enough to adopt her thoughts for the coming year, I mean who wouldn't be after reading the title of the post: "Growing younger in 2011." Carolina says there are 3 keys to the process, Expansion, Contraction, and Completion. Without knowing it, I've been working on the first two (sort of) and will try harder on the third. Expand your mind, contract your body and finish your projects. But read it for yourself and see what you think.
And the tulips? A glimpse of color in the black and white of a snowstorm.

Where do I start....any recommendations? Of course it would make more sense for me to 'start' finishing other projects left to loose ends, like the bookcases and trim I'm painting (paint drying =reading time), or the two full size quilts that need a bit of work, or the 2 small sewing projects, or removing the greens from the windowsill and the list goes on. Then after reading Joanne's blog this morning I realized I should give my geraniums some attention too. And dust MY lampshades. And go for a 3 mile walk. But January is a very long month followed by an even longer February, so it's good to have things to keep my mind off how far away spring is. Very good to be so busy.

Bright Stars and a Clear Sky

A quiet night here, some of us made it till midnight and one was happily tucked under the down comforter dreaming about all the wonderful possibilities 2011 may bring. Hoping your new year is whatever you need it to be.

Happy Holidays

Our Christmas card...postcard size with a painted full moon and printed words. Have a lovely holiday.