Crazy Quilt - Making Progress

I've recently decided to pick up the crazy quilt and work on it.  A great project for wintry days.  A nice hot cup of tea, a slice of banana bread and my threads and fabrics.  

For several summers, several years ago, I would paint fabrics all summer long.  I would paint it with a special photo sensitive paint, lay grasses, cedar fronds, flowers, etc on the painted color and put the fabric in the sun to print.  Where ever there was something on the fabric, the color would not set and I would get a white image on the colored fabric.

Sometimes Ben would "help" Grammy paint the fabric - mostly by running up and down the painting boards when the paint was dry.

Ben is now 14, taller than me and starts high school next Autumn.

Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?  Such a good helper.
When I was painting the fabric I cut the pieces into fat quarters (18x22" for you non-quilters) and there were often small pieces left at the end of a bolt of fabric so I would paint those to use myself.   One day, while looking at a nice pile of the pieces I painted for myself I came up with the idea of a crazy quilt made with the hand painted fabrics.  Since the fabric is 100% cotton I chose to use only cotton embroidery floss for the stitching.

Do you know why it is called Crazy Quilting?  Not because the pieces are crazy shaped, but because it resembles the crazing on old dishes - those little crackly lines that sometimes appear as dishes age.

It is traditional for every Crazy Quilt to have a spiderweb . . .

A butterfly - flying above some pretty flowers . . .

I really enjoy the hand embroidery and like to try out new stitches.  After working on it for a while I usually put it aside when it begins to feel like I'm repeating stitches too often - and then when I pick it up again it feels fresh.  I am making the quilt in sections and when sections are complete I join them together, and eventually it will be big enough to use on our bed.
This is the way a new section begins

The hand painted fabrics are hand stitched to the backing - and now I can have the fun of embellishing with embroidery.

 My tools and supplies.  The little bunny scissors were a gift from my dear friend Franni in Florida - I sure do miss her.

 I made the Hedgehog pincushion not long after we got back from visiting our son and his family  in West Virginia a few years ago.  They have Hedgehogs there (we don't have any here in NW Washington state, as least as far as I've seen) and we got to briefly see one on our trip to West Virginia.  The Hedgehog pincushion looks more Hedgehoggy with pins stuck all over him - but I just have my needles there for now.

 The beehive pincushion was another gift - I have such sweet friends.

I keep my floss wound on flat plastic bobbins, sorted by color.  I have three more boxes full of floss, these divided plastic boxes are perfect for this.

 Woolley sheep

 I like doing Lazy Daisy stitch too - so many possibilities.

 I really enjoy stitching these trees, they appear often in my crazy quilt.

 I work on the crazy quilt in sections that are approximately 4x4 feet, and then will join them when all is finished.

 I adore making French Knots - as you can probably tell.  I tell the story of how I learned to make them when I was seven, in my book "Are We Walking To Alaska?"

Snowy days of wintry stitching inspired me to do these stitches.

 Busy Bee on top of the pincushion.

 This is a section of dreams of spring and all the new blossoms.

Back to work.  Several of my friends do embroidery, are you one of them, and what do you like to embroider?

Almost Didn't Have Christmas

What a time we had this year - storms with winds over 60 mph - heavy rains beating down, and then the power went out.  About a week before christmas!  But wait - the neighbors behind us have power - we can see from our vantage point on the top of a hill that almost everyone around us has power - except for the four newest houses - all in a row - us and our three neighbors.

We wait - and wait - get updates from PSE - then the bad news - we are a small outage - a total of 59 people affected (our four houses and some houses across the street and up in the woods) and we are LAST on the list to be repaired - expect power by Christmas Eve, 6 p.m.

We braved a day and a half, but with an all electric house - we soon became so cold we couldn't stop shivering even with layers of clothes and lots of quilts.  The temperature in the house got down below 40 degrees.  We borrowed camping coolers, bought ice and stuffed our food from the fridge into the coolers. But what about our freezer and the huge purchase of meat from the butcher that we had just made.  Fortunately our neighbor just behind us had power and let us run a heavy extension cord to his porch outlet and up into our back window - the freezer was saved!!!!

But we are almost icicles by now - so to the internet on my phone to find lodging.  A nearby Air BnB on Lake Whatcom is available - so we stuff some things into a suitcase and off we go - in the dark of the night - warmth - a soft bed - hot shower - at last we warm up.  So much nicer than a motel.

A very sweet room, with a large shower - and  breakfast items waiting for us in the fridge

The view was amazing - even though it poured rain the entire time.  This would be a wonderful place to come in the summer to enjoy the lovely yard, patio and Lake Whatcom across the street.

PSE kept us informed and kept moving the time up for our return to full power and after three nights and four days in the BnB the power was back on 19 1/2 hours earlier than they originally predicted - Dec. 23 at 1 p.m - we packed up and got home fast as we could.  

We still had gifts to wrap - and Christmas Eve to prepare for - and all sorts of chores to get the fridge and house back in order.  But we made it.

 Our grandson Ben loves Christmas Eve and came up to help us do the table and prepare the food for the festivities.

 We loaded treats on platters, made dips and got out the Lefton Holly dishes that we have had now for well over 40 years - adding pieces along the way.

 Lori made a chocolate house - that baby is solid chocolate!!!!!  And she and I had made the snow candles the day before the power went out - good timing on our part.

 Ready for the crowd - would you like a cookie or a candy - the cheeses, meats, dips and crackers are on the other end of the table - along with plenty of eggnog.

 Snow candles with the lights off and small candles burning bright inside.

 Our family in WV sent each family ornaments and we opened them on Christmas Eve.  Don got a baseball glove with ball - of course, and he loved it.

 Mine was the sweetest Grandmas's Cookie jar ornament.

 One family got a Darth Vader for their tree - to go with other Star Wars ornaments that they already have.

And last was a Silver Stream ornament, just like their very own, real-life Silver Stream

Our Son-in-Law Jason is a magician with the laser cutter and made a Washington State ornament with the Alaska Flag cut out - perfect for the state I grew up in (and where our oldest daughter was born) and our home state now, Washington.  Marvelous.

It was a glorious Christmas Eve - and early the next day everyone was back for Christmas gifts and a delightful brunch - which I didn't get any photos of - but be assured - it was wonderful, beautiful and so much fun.  The Christmas that almost wasn't.

What Are They Eating

It is always a good day when we find large flocks of Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese on Fir Island.

 Two weeks ago we came upon this gigantic flock of Swans - usually they are spread out over the fields, while the Snow Geese tend to swarm in tighter groups.

 There were hundreds, maybe thousands of the Trumpeter Swans across a large field, in much tighter groups than usual.

 They spread out - and mingled with large flocks of the Snow Geese.  All intent on finding something to eat.

 And look what they found.

 The farmer had dumped large mounds of red and yellow potatoes in piles all along the field.

 The Swans were especially interested in the potatoes. 

 The farmer made big mounds and long piles of potatoes.  The farmers are having trouble selling their potatoes in other countries this year, and many crops are going to waste.

 We stayed and watched for well over 45 minutes - and only one other car drove by, and they didn't stop to watch.  No one else seemed to know that all those birds were there, eating potatoes.

 The Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese are certainly having a feast.

 Here come more birds, flying in. 

 They want some of the plentiful potatoes.