Friday, April 1, 2016

- No foolin'

Patch #92: Blue skies over hailstones


We awoke to the sound of thunder close at hand, but within minutes there were clear patches in the pre-dawn sky.

By the time breakfast was over, the wind had picked up and Don got the new car in the garage just minutes ahead of the next storm.

Hail the size of small marbles rattled off the roof, bouncing like popcorn off the rocks before coating the ground. Then minutes later, the sun came out. I'm not kidding.

One of the sotols became a snow cone writ large ...


holding ample evidence of the storm ...



while a single hailstone floated in the rain gauge ...

0.2"

And look at this, from yesterday evening's picture walk ...


tiny white flowers strewn like hail over the floodplain ...


This spring there are more flowers on the floodplain than we have ever seen before ...


relics of last year's floods ...


cloaking the fields in gold ...


I'm taking this all as a good omen for a renewed commitment: every day a patch of memory ...

January Patches #1-31
February Patches #32-60
March Patches #61-91
April Patch #92

Thursday, March 31, 2016

- Use your words

I remember the first time I heard a Kindergarten teacher tell an out-of-control child to "use your words."

My reaction was something along the lines of "well of course, what a great idea."

Which still holds true today, as I managed to pull off an 11th hour finish to the March patches ...

Patches 87-91

including a green calendar (for spring or St. Pat's, take your pick)  ...

Patch #91

I looked back on the rest of the month and realized the blank patches meant nothing to me. So I scrolled back to the original posts and thought, "You know, I could use some words."

And really, it didn't take all that long to do. Soon the completed month was flying in the breezeway ...


Rather than show you all the additions here, I'm going to re-visit the original posts and add updated images. With thanks to Dee Mallon for this post about back-filling journals that inspired my turnaround today.

For now, I'll leave you with these brave cactus flowers (twice the diameter of the arms that support them) ...


and the hackberry that we had given up for lost only a week ago ...


Hope springs eternal ... and yes, I'm going back to daily patches and posts.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

- Vintage composting

Retrospective (4/29/2016)

Patch #90: vintage embroidered handkerchief ...


Original Post 

I haven't disappeared exactly, but I find myself in need of some fallow time. So, the daily posts have been put aside for now. And while I still intend to make a patch for each day, the idea of presenting them as series rather than individual pieces is forming in my mind.

So, I'm reading ...


and considering how I might repurpose my small collection of vintage handkerchiefs among other things.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

- Holding patch

Retrospective (4/29/2016)

Patch #89: a small patch to mark a simple day of play with G ...


Monday, March 28, 2016

- Revival

Retrospective (4/29/2016)

We were sure the tree was a goner, since the other hackberry was already in full leaf. The branches were bare, barren ... no swelling of leaf buds could be seen.

Looking online, we discovered hackberries to be only somewhat tolerant of flooding. This poor thing had gotten its feet wet not once, but twice in 2015. Time to call in the arborist, we decided.

But we were wrong. Literally overnight the tree pushed out a few hopeful leaves. And then more and more, until it was clear it not only survived, but was thriving.

In full leaf (4/29/2016)

And so this is Patch #88: a tree stitch study that never got used from the Kitchen Towel series ...


Sunday, March 27, 2016

- Easter remembered

Retrospective (written 4/29/2016)

When I was growing up, solid color Easter eggs were frowned upon. Rather, we were taught by my father to hold eggs partially submerged in dye, our fingers trembling at the effort to keep a purchase whilst avoiding contact with the solution of Chick Chick powder (my mom always bought two packages to make the colors darker), vinegar and boiling water.

Layers of color were added one over the other, taking care not to mix orange and purple or green and pink lest we end up with muddy eggs. Plaids and stripes, rainbows and spots, were objects of praise. Blurred lines and inadvertent fingerprints were subject to disapproving looks. Is it any wonder I bit my nails until I was almost 40?

My mom polished the finished eggs with paper towels and a thin coating of Crisco to make them glossy, then they were left out on the dining room table to be hidden overnight by the Easter rabbit. Only then were the eggs put in the fridge to be eaten over the course of the following week. I don't recall any of us getting food poisoning as a result, but then again, if ever we did have tummy trouble it was most likely blamed on too much chocolate rather than improperly stored eggs.

I haven't dyed eggs for many years now, although I'll never say "never again." Anything can happen. But this is all by way of explaining why: in my mind Easter is pastel stripes and plaids.

Patch #87: thrift store shirting


Saturday, March 26, 2016

- Four or more

Retrospective (4/29/2016)

The original post for this patch was a confusing mash-up of days, now sorted into a more comprehensible chronological order on the actual dates for which they were made. However, the original post has been retained below as many of the comments on this date relate to it.

Patch #86
, reflected my reconnection with Dee Mallon's Hearts for Charleston project for which I agreed to make some labels for the back of the quilt.

Note the nine lines running across the middle

If you haven't read about it, or if it's been a while, I commend it to your attention.

Original post

Today I have a four-fer for ya ...

Patches 83-86

Wednesday's partially orange patch was made for G with the addition of railroad tracks ...


Trains are among his favorite toys, and I love that he sings I've been workin' on the railroad as often as The eyes of Texas ... except when he's belting out The star spangled banner.

Sadly, one short week after learning of our friend's cancer diagnosis, she was gone ...

Her obituary and picture are here

Liz was Don's other half at work, where they served the Stonehouse Elementary family as principal (Liz) and assistant principal (Don) for several years (not to mention many other professional collaborations over twenty-some years). They were a perfect team and Liz's passing shook us both deeply.

But even as we tried to make sense of it all, spring continued to come to Texas.  Wildflowers multiplied overnight, and if they were bothered by the frosty mornings (very unusual for this time of year), it didn't show. So this time around, it was the four-nerve daisies that caught my eye ...


and recalling Mo's pointers on evening primrose, I tried to pay a bit more attention to details. I even traced a flower directly onto cloth ...


leaving a perfect ring of pollen to mark the center. Then I tried my best to replicate the four veins in each petal, the central Fibonacci spiral and the disk flowers surrounding it ...


But capturing the reality of the color, even using my brightest floss, was beyond my reach.

Today's patch reflects my reconnection with Dee Mallon's Hearts for Charleston project ...

Note the nine lines running across the middle

which is nearing completion. If you haven't read about it, or if it's been a while, I commend it to your attention.

And then I went back to add stitches here ...

Patches 65 and 66

putting folds into the pink "napkin" as a reminder of our after-dinner play with G where we challenge each other to make squares and rectangles, plus the addition of the word "spring" to remind me of why I chose to use green one week before the official beginning of the season.

I also decided to answer Grace's question in stitches ...

Patch #80

Then, as the sun slipped slowly into the clouded west, I stitched on a cloudy gray patch for today, even though the sun did manage to break through every so often. So ends the last full week of March weather patches ...


Hard to believe that April is only 5 days away.

Friday, March 25, 2016

- Bitterweed by another name

Retrospective (4/29/2016, originally posted on 3/26/2016)

Wildflowers multiplied overnight, and if they were bothered by the frosty mornings (very unusual for late March), it didn't show. So this time around, it was the four-nerve daisies that caught my eye ...


and recalling Mo's pointers on evening primrose, I tried to pay a bit more attention to details. I even traced a flower directly onto cloth ...



leaving a perfect ring of pollen to mark the center. Then I tried my best to replicate the four veins in each petal, the central Fibonacci spiral and the disk flowers surrounding it ...

Patch #85

But capturing the reality of the color, even using my brightest floss, was beyond my reach.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

- RIP redux

Retrospective (4/29/2016, originally posted 3/26/2016)

We lost a dear friend on March 24, but I wasn't able to bring myself to post about it until two days later. In the end, I removed the first patch and replaced it with a simpler one:

Patch #84


Nonetheless, the original post on the 26th generated some very thoughtful condolences, so it remains there.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

- Laying new tracks

Retrospective (4/29/2016 originally posted 3/26/2016)

My first attempt at stitching train tracks left me less than wildly enthusiastic, so the patch pictured in the original post on March 26 has been replaced by this ...

Patch #83

I even managed to take a process shot the second time around ...


What hasn't changed is G's ongoing enthusiasm for playing with his train sets, so this is probably not the last time trains will make an appearance here ...