Gratitude and Glimmers #105

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of March. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

Peace and joy happen, neither in the quietness of the forest, nor out of the accomplishments of the marketplace, but only from within.

--Sadhguru

1. One of the (many) things I love about living in Canada's southernmost town is being in the Carolinian forest, where winters are mild (though this one slapped us hard with more cold and more snow than usual) spring is early. Snowdrops and winter aconite are out as early as the end of February/early March. Snowdrops especially amaze me that their blooms can withstand frosts without so much as a shiver. Here is a lovely little clump of wild crocus that are blooming everywhere down the greenway paths between subdivisions where I walk.

The force of nature is astounding: these little beings push up against a fairly heavy leaf cover; the blooms close during cool grey weather and open, literally blossom, in the sunshine. They make me smile every year on every walk.

Project Quilting 17.6 A Happy Handful

What a fun way to end this year’s challenge: with a small joy-inducing project. This week Trish asked us to make something that we could hold in one hand, "small in stature, but full of joy." I've had this image in my head for the past several weeks, wanting to work it somehow into a quilt.

I made a mug rug with the symbol for female on it.

SAHRR Finish: You're Golden

Because I'm planning on donating this, and hopefully as a comfort quilt to someone in need, I wanted a sunshine-y, upbeat, pretty flowers type of name and after pondering for a bit on the yellow that shines all the way through the quilt, 'golden' came to me, and then the expression, "You're golden," meaning you're good, you're not at all wrong, you're fine.

It was extremely windy today, and incredibly foggy all morning. I feel at times as if I live by the sea when the fog comes rolling up the street and over and around the trees and houses. I guess a Great Lake is an inland sea, and it does create its own weather. The sun came out in the afternoon, so I was able to get some good outdoor shots.

Project Quilting 17.5 Circadian Rhythm

This week's PQ challenge was 'My Complements' where we were asked to make a project using two complementary colours. Here is my quilt, which I named Circadian Rhythm.

I just love it! Read on for the story of how it came to be.

SAHRR Round 6 Quilter's Choice

At first I was not liking this prompt from Anja at Anja Quilts because I like the challenge of having a specific direction in which to go. However, knowing that I wanted to end with the floral trellis border print that brought the original four blocks together, made me think to just get over myself and do that! So today was the day to measure and cut and make borders.

I had to quick take the shot as it was fairly windy all day today, even at supper when I zipped outside to take a photo while we still had daylight.

With An Open Heart

Well, I don’t make my plan A in time for the Project Quilting deadline but plan B did get done. However I was not going to let plan A sit idle! I’m so very happy I pulled this too-long-on-the-shelf bundle out and went for it, despite knowing it was a bit of a reach. I am even more happy that I finished it!

The warm sunshine made for a beautiful outdoor shot today.

Gratitude and Glimmers #104

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of February. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. 

1. I love this house for its brightness. Despite it being small, with no closets to speak of, and having painted-over panelling from the late 1940s (it was built in 1947), the brightness due to lots of windows, and something about the lot upon which it sat, told me it was a good place. Slowly over the years, we well mostly MacGyver, have renovated this house to the point where there isn't a room or wall that he hasn't touched/redone. When we did the major renovation in 2019, converting the half story to a full useable second level, we moved my sewing room to where we'd originally thought our bedroom would be, because of the light, which our wise builder had noticed. I love how it streams in through the entire day, thanks to windows on three sides that face east, south and west. Yes, it can wreak havoc on fabric and quilts, but I am careful to move them or shield them if in direct sunlight. This gave me a glimmer of joy early one morning when I walked by.

I made this cover for my longarm in 2019 when I was an Island Batik ambassador. filling it with all kinds of quilting motifs.

Gorgeous fabric and a gorgeous if I do say so myself, double ribbon candy motif.