A choice

From the life-changing magic of tidying up: "Does this spark joy?"

For the new Land of Flood and Drought the answer was "no."

But five grandkid quilts?

Yes!

Addendum: This never happened ... at least not yet (noted 3/30/2018)

Reverie

Family first. Showing up. These things matter.

And so this, taken at Christopher House hospice ...

a butterfly with a broken wing climbed into G's hands and up his arm ...

Nature's lesson that some things can't be fixed, but that gentleness can suffice for a golden moment.

We grieve the loss of a gentle man, my son-in-law's dad.

Cloth is a consolation. 

Simple repairs to protect four-year old knees ...

A gossamer crib quilt ...

in the process of becoming ...

for a grandchild soon to be born.

This is how life goes.

Unfurled

The cloth I have been calling Remember 2016 took some sun today ...

It's hard to believe how far it has come from the first strip posted at the end of last January

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/01/slip-sliding-away.html

and then again last February ...

It's now 25 inches high and 58 inches wide across the top, and ummm, 61 inches across the bottom. Mission creep? 

But there's something else that's new in the persimmon. Just over the middle ...

A nest ...

A little messy, but it obviously served its purpose. A metaphor perhaps, for cloth that came together in spite of a less-than-tidy plan.

And then there was this today ...

Hanging Land of Flood and Drought - 2016 in the window to take one last look ...

at the light shining through ...

Surveying the back one last time, the result of using Jude's paperless piecing ...

Tomorrow I will quilt its 7 x 53 inches using perle cotton for the first time. More to learn ... always!

Ending the year with JOY

I've actually finished the patching of Remember 2016 ...

All that remains is to hang it out on the next sunny day to celebrate it in its wholeness. But for now, there's some catching up to do on the final patches.

December 24 Star of wonder

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_24_archive.html

December 28 Centerpiece (I know, I skipped December 25-27, but those were the last patches I made, so I'm saving them for last)

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_28_archive.html

December 29 Wylie words

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_29_archive.html

December 30 What 39 years together looks like

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_30_archive.html

December 31 I did it!

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_31_archive.html

And finally, ending the year with ...

using the last of the pre-made patches which, of course, fit perfectly into the last remaining space.

December 25 The beginning of JOY

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_25_archive.html

December 26 In the midst of JOY

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_26_archive.html

and December 27 Complete JOY

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_27_archive.html

It's been an amazing journey, one filled with laughter and tears, almost 10,000 miles in the air and countless more spent on the road. I learned much and was grateful for the presence of the Kindred Spirits who came by and cheered me on.

There is still backing and stitching to do, but for now I'm calling Remember 2016 done and moving on to Enjoy 2017.

The end of November

The last three patches of November ...

November 25 Love, peace, hope

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/11/small-steps.html

in recognition of how torn I felt and how making tiny peace pins helped ...

November 26 Finding a way

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/11/baffled.html

for the path leading out to the floodplain ...

and November 27 Reinhorn

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/11/rudolph-texas.html

Don's remix of Rudolph (the rednose reindeer) and the UT mascot (Beevo the longhorn) ...

December patches for Remember 2016 are nearly done (4 out of 7 completed) and should be appearing here sooner rather than later.

Passing time

I've been playing with a new format for Land of Flood and Drought - 2017 ...

Each patch is 1" x 1 3/4" so I'll be able to use the linen strips from Remember 2016. And I'm using  Jude's paperless patching, along with split back stitch for the lettering and numbering. When working light floss on dark linen, I also wrap the back stitches for a more solid line.

Since I wanted to record temperature as well as rain this year, I cribbed off the newspaper weather map and came up with a range of colors for each ten degrees:

100+ ... Reds

90s ... Dark oranges

80s ... Light oranges

70s ... Yellows

60s ... Greens

50s ... Blue greens

40s ... Blues

30s ... Purples

20s ... Pinks

<20 ... White

Lucky me ... the first two weeks in January ranged from the teens to the 80s, so I got to use eight of the ten color groups!

So, the top block of each day is the high temperature and the bottom block is the low. Likewise, the top represents the noon to midnight hours for moonrise depictions (since highs normally occur in the afternoon and evening), and the lower block represents midnight to noon (when lows normally occur).

I'll use variations within each color, as with the yellows and blues on the 2nd and the 9th ...

and I'm continuing to record daily rainfall ...

Obviously this piece will be much larger than the 7" x 53" Land of Flood and Drought - 2016. I'm envisioning four blocks of thirteen weeks, each 13.25" x 30" once the black and white edging strips are added. Or not ... I have a habit of changing course as I go.

I'll probably stitch a week's worth at a time and then post the results each Sunday or Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing how the colors warm up as the year progresses while wondering just how many red patches will be needed this summer!

Addendum: This piece was abandoned, but later became a part of the bagstories project (3/30/2018)

How it went

The placket cloth is growing ...

and stitch is being added randomly as the spirit moves me ...

We also did some more picture hanging (Don made the small bead board backings) ...

And the view over my ironing board has improved immensely ...

although we really do need to replace those switch plates (which were all labeled by a previous owner).

Company coming is such a great project motivator!

Addendum for Grace:

Enjoying myself

We're back from our Christmas road trip to St Louis, about which there will be more in future posts. But in the spirit of Enjoy 2017, I decided to play with a new idea before finishing up Remember 2016 ...

It's a cloth-in-progress made from linen shirt plackets and a repurposed linen table cloth hem. I had the idea as we drove the 750 miles from St Louis to San Marcos, and my fingers fairly itched to try it once we got home.

I'm hoping it will ultimately serve as a base for a new handbag/tote, but it has a long way to go. Meantime, we're getting ready for guests, so posts on progress will take a while to appear.

But fear not, fun will be had!  

Be it resolved

First and foremost, best wishes to all for a peaceful new year. After taking a week off from blogging and commenting, I'm ready to begin anew.

In the past, I've used this time to do a "Year in Review"

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Year%20In%20Review

and acknowledge the blog community

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2015/12/beginning-to-remember-2016.html

However, since this year has been a daily exercise in remembering, I'm ready to look forward for a change.

So I'll continue to honor New Year's resolutions past ...

2013 - Create

2014 - Blog

2015 - Stitch

2016 - Remember 

by adding a new one-word resolution:

2017 - Enjoy!

To that end, I plan to be:

Finishing Remember 2016 ...

Quilting the Land of Flood and Drought - 2016 ...

Creating a new book for our grandkids entitled Moondance ...

Honoring our roots and branches with a new patch project ...

Telling the stories behind the people and places and objects that have filled our lives with such happiness while welcoming a new granddaughter into our midst.

Being open to whatever might come our way ... because my life is a true collaboration that wouldn't be complete without Don. We are beginning our 40th year of married life and there isn't another time or place that we'd rather be than here and now.

In short, the plan is to thoroughly enjoy life and all it has to offer. 

I hope you'll join us from time to time along the way.