Baby it's cold outside

It's a good day for wearing warm socks whilst mending ...

I do love patching jeans, especially those with holes worn into the knees by our grandkids, imagining the stitches inside absorbing future falls, like a hand slipped out just in the nick of time ...

Fortunately, padding shouldn't be needed today as everyone's safe inside ...

while everything outside is being slowly encased in ice ...

Don said he saw a local news report last night on how to use an ice scraper (if you had one) and cautioning against pouring hot water on car windshields. Good advice under the circumstances ...

Addendum:

No hole yet, so (sew) a bit of preventive maintenance ...

How I (don't/can't/won't/never) follow recipes

I've mentioned many times before how I am seemingly incapable of following recipes, to which the following links attest:

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search?q=Follow+recipes

Nonetheless, I love having recipes as a jumping off point. This morning, it was this from Austin Kleon ...

I walked around the house with this in mind, thinking how I've been "stuck" recently ... with so many projects that I can't choose which to work on, so I do nothing.

Which brought to mind Remember 2016

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Remember%202016

where one small patch a day added up to something worthwhile.

And the Peace Pin Project

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Peace%20Pin%20Project

which likewise became more than the sum of its parts.

So I sat down, tore off a bit of cloth, and wrote "each day one small thing" ...

which is what Austin Kleon's quote had become in my mind.

But as I started to stitch I realized that my days, the good ones anyway, add up to far more than one thing. By the time I started stitching this I had already made myself breakfast, read the paper, started a load of wash, called (and called and called and called) my senators ...

through ten minutes of busy signals and voice mail boxes before getting through to live staffers and lodging my opposition to the insanity they call tax reform.

And so the cloth got edited and became "each day many small things."

I'll probably have more to say about that, hopefully soon. For now, I'm going to go do some small things ...

Getting back to "The Land ... "

Working on the pennant for Mo's project put The Land as the Crow Flies on a back burner, as you can see from the date ...

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2017/07/homesteading.html

Now that I'm back to it, trees are beginning to crop up ...

And the cloth has been trimmed down ...

to fit within the space where it will eventually reside ...

The plan, for now at least, is to leave it hanging except when I am actively working on it. We'll see how that goes.

I also popped off a couple of simple projects to get back up to speed. Jeans mended with vintage cloth from Glennis Dolce ...

along with a little darning on the side ...

And a patched shell woven with Deb Lacativa's dyed floss ...

requested by G for his birthday ...

bringing back memories of Jude Hill's Considering Weave class in 2014 when I first met many of the Kindred Spirits who reside in the right sidebar. 

Last things first

I still need to write a post about our return from St Louis, but more recent happenings call out to be written first.

Like these wonderful wee quilts ...

that were gifted by Sue McQuade ...

whose blog Blessings of Thread is among the Kindred Spirits 

https://blessingsofthread.blogspot.com/

I spent some time gathering addresses for the peace pin giveaway (finding there are still some missing). Oddly, I feel a strange sense of inertia about stitching, so I'm limbering up with some mending of socks ...

and worn upholstery ...

and a repurposing of denim shirt sleeves into pockets for the knees of my jeans ...

into which I insert washcloths as padding to provide a cushion whilst weeding ...

And after weeding, I made time to ramble about, making note of spring's progress.

The arrival of golden eye phlox ...

bitterweed ...

Blackfoot daisies ...

blue-eyed grass (which oddly has golden eyes, but I guess that name was already taken) ...

prairie verbena ...

crow poison (sorry Mo) ...

and dewberry blossoms strewn like snowflakes ...

with their promise of sweet berries to come.

Likewise, the promise of more flowers in the graceful arch of nascent mealy blue sage ... 

the star-like leaves of bluebonnets ...

and buds of antelope horn milkweed ...

Then last, but best, a heart of flint within a heart of stone ...

with thoughts of Dee at Pattern and Outrage

https://deemallon.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/blood-and-money/

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.

- That's a wrap 2

Retrospective (11/6)

Patch #286 Don's boat 

with thanks to Hazel for the inspiration.

Original Post 

I've always loved extra long jeans. You know, the kind that drag on the ground. It used to drive my mother nuts, especially when I was an adult. But I have persisted to this day. Fortunately, my chair wrapping episode last week

https://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/10/wrapped.html

led to an "Aha!" moment as I contemplated yet another pair with ragged hems.

Here's a before and after shot ...

along with a close-up of the front ...

and a b-side shot of the 6-stranded floss that I used to blanket stitch while rolling under the frayed ends ...

You (and I) will have to wait for some time to pass before I can report on such mundane matters as how the mending stands up to laundering and future wear.

Meanwhile, here's Don's latest contribution to our eclectic decor ...

And since I don't have a "before" shot, here's a similar piece that I found on the internet that gives a sense of how it started out ...

It's amazing what a little bit of milk paint and embellishment can do ...

I especially like the cloth-wrapped sail ...

and can't wait until we're once again strolling on the Manteo waterfront.

P.S. Here's what is keeping the assemblage company on the wall ...