No apologies, just "write"

So you might have noticed I've been gone for a while ... having fun with our grandkids mostly. They range in age from 13 to 5 to 3 years old, down to Little P who has somehow managed reach 9 months already. We put way more than 2000 miles on the car in the past 3 weeks. And yes, it was all worth absolutely every minute of the beautiful racket (with credit to Mary Chapin Carpenter for the phrase, which captures the wild joy of kids at play).

Now it's finally time to be just me again, which includes looking back on last year and looking forward to the year ahead. The first post of 2017 included a list of past resolutions and an overly optimistic new resolution (at the end of this post):

2013 - Create

2014 - Blog

2015 - Stitch

2016 - Remember 

2017 - Enjoy 

In hindsight, I would rename my resolution for 2017 "Imagine Peace" for the project that ultimately reached over 70 individuals in six countries and twenty states ...

There was also the completion of two projects from the previous year: Land of Flood and Drought 2016 ...

and Remember 2016 ...

Followed by new grandchild projects like this pillow ...

and these nursery wall hangings ...

for the arrival of Sweet P in April ...

I surprised myself by actually finishing a new bag made from linen shirt plackets ...

while only making a start on The Land as the Crow Flies ...

and the Pojagi-inspired Peace Pin Project Shawl ...

Fortunately, I can also report the actual completion of the pennon for Mo's Dream, seen here in a picture from her blog It's Crow Time ...

And in spite of the two projects-pending above, I started yet another in December to commemorate our 40th wedding anniversary (which has since passed, but the project is yet to be completed) ...

Which brings me to here and now: the year 2018 and my resolve to "Write" ... which will include sending "real" mail to kindred spirits in recognition of how much I appreciated the "real" mail that arrived in my mailbox last year ... a continuation of the Peace Pin Project Shawl, which will most likely be renamed the Commonplace Shawl as I intend to stitch words and phrases that I wish to recall in the coming year ... a book for our grandkids tentatively titled Moon Myth ... and last, but far from least, continued posting here on the blog.

So belated best wishes to all for the new year ahead ... may it prove memorable in all the best ways possible. However it turns out in the end, though, I am grateful for your presence along the way.

Retro-active

First, I promised (and then forgot) to post a picture of Land of Flood and Drought once it was hanging. I ended up hanging the 2015 LoFaD on the left and the 2016 LoFaD on the right ...

I also have a belated response to Deb Sposa's "How did you do that?" comment on this post

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2017/02/showing-up.html

where I made the beginnings of a flower out of repurposed vintage handkerchiefs ...

I started with directions I found on how to make flower petals in one of the many books and Internet sites I perused. Sadly, I neglected to note which one. Anyway, I started with a 5 1/2" square of cloth ...

folded it in half ...

then folded the top right corner down ...

and the top left corner down ...

This resulted in all raw edges being on the bottom (an important consideration as this will end up on a baby quilt, so loose threads need to be avoided as they are potential choking hazards). 

A running stitch along the bottom edge (done in a contrasting color for the purposes of demonstration here) ... 

was then gathered ...

and secured by running the needle back through the gathers in the opposite direction ...

At which point the "petal" was ready to be used with the opening visible (above), or not (below) ...

It wasn't too far a leap to see the resemblance between the folded triangle of cloth and the corner of a vintage handkerchief. So I made a cover stock template with a 2 1/2" altitude and marked it onto the corner of a handkerchief ...

then cut the corner off, leaving a 1/4" margin ...

I discovered that the petals worked best when I used two handkerchief corners stitched together with perle cotton ...

after which all that remained to do was a light spritzing to remove the erasable marker lines ...

The flower pictured above has 14 pairs of petals, but I've also experimented with some alternate petal shapes and sizes ... which I'll save for another day.

Backing it up

Land of Flood and Drought 2016 is done ...

Hard to capture because it's 53" long and 7" wide ...

But these slightly closer views of the front ...

and the back are a little bit clearer ...

So here's what came to me in the middle of the night that pushed me to get this done: I realized the total annual rainfall of 50.8" was close to the length of the cloth. So I drew a line with water erasable marker showing each month's cumulated rainfall using the 1" patches as a grid from the beginning of the year at the bottom ...

through the end of the year at the top ...

and everything in between, with the seams between the patches standing in for the fractured limestone that is such a critical part of our local aquifers ...

The cloth was quilted using no.12 and no.8 perle cotton (thank you Judy Martin), a middle layer of harem cloth (thank you Jude Hill), and a backing of linen. Which is to say, it's more sturdy than drape-y.

After it was completely quilted, I trimmed back the harem cloth ...

folded the backing cloth away from the front edge and ladder stitched the two together ...

Resulting in this, front ...

and back ...

The final step was trimming the excess backing to a rough 1/4" from the seam, then snipping and fraying to achieve a stable raw edge ...

Now all that remains is creating sleeves at the top and bottom for the wooden supports Don cut for me. I'll be sure to post a picture once it's hanging.

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!

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.