DrEAMi! #41

This DrEAMi! is out a bit later than usual because I had a DrEAMi! yesterday, and I didn't write up my post until this morning, then had to stop to go practise yoga on Zoom... Did you have a squirrel moment or a Drop Everything And Make it moment this month?

Helen of Word Weaver Art sent me the link to this photo. Tom writes a blog called Piks of the Day, and Stuff. As she said to me, he must be the most patient man to capture some of the photos he does. Check out that link for photos before and after this one. Mesmerizing.

Image by: Piks of the Day and Stuff: Squirrel!

Isn't that really quite beautiful? Squirrels are, both of the furry and of the fabric kind!

I Like/Love #42

It seems surreal (how often have we all thought/said that this year) that in five days half of 2020 will be gone. It's been a decade in six months in a lot of ways. However, we plod on. So here is my list of things for which I am grateful this month. I link up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color where you can find several other grateful peeps' posts. It can be such a lift reading each others' likes.

1. I like the programme 'After Dark' that starts at 8 pm on CBC Radio 2 hosted by Odario Williams; I love Odario's smooth voice. He plays an eclectic mix of music for the evening. I like that CBC hosts are all accomplished and talented musicians in their own rights. For example, Odario is the lead vocalist for the hip-hop band Grand Analog. Julie Nesrallah, who hosts another favourite programme, Tempo, on weekday mornings, is an acclaimed mezzo-soprano, who sang for Prince William and Kate when they were here in Canada a few years ago.

2. I love this photo of my little cat, Bella.

She's a lovebug, but only with me. She absolutely loves when I sit in padmasana, cross-legged, especially for meditation, snuggling right in. Often she sort of pads my leg, or will kiss my fingers, before getting herself arranged and settledin my lap. Those of you who join me for yin yoga on Instagram on Tuesday and Thursday mornings have seen her do this!

Cat Mats Installment 2 of 3, Centred Winners and a Coupon Code!

Another item on my Q2FAL list is to make a (ahem) rather long overdue cat mat for Harper, my grand-cat. I am happy to report it is now done.

This fabric was given to me a few years ago, so it's high time to get it off the shelf and into use. It was a panel, Cat-I-Tude by Ann Lauer for Benartex. I debated on putting two of the cats on the front but it would have been rather large then, so I decided to have a reversible mat, and use one cat on the front and one on the back. Harper is a girl, and Dayna likes pink, so pink is the 'right' side. I simply added some pink strips to the sides and purple strips, left over from Dayna's graduation from university quilt, Shoot for the Moon, to the top and bottom to make a rectangle approximately 13" x 19".

June OMG: Pink Scraps Sorting Box

After spending hours upon hours on the computer yesterday putting the finishing touches on my upcoming pattern release, which Yvonne will have a look at this coming week, (yep, another, and it's a stars quilt!) I had to work on something mindless, fun, and pink. So I started quilting the panels for my next scraps sorting box, and finished it up today.

I love it. I guess I have loved pink forever, since I used to have a pink wall-papered living room in the 90s, and the lining, which you may recall is also featured in my Bear Paw Baby quilt, was what I used to make cushions that sat on my oak chairs in my dining room... So pink is right up there next to blue. Making this box gave me a lot of joy, on a day that is special: June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day here in Canada and it coincides with the Summer Solistce, though that actually did happen here yesterday about 5:20 pm. Rather fitting for the announcement that is forthcoming in this post, a post that is also my OMG fulfillment post.

Bear Paw Baby

Wow, two finishes in one week! This one was still in the blocks stage, with only four of the five bear paw blocks finished, and no sure plan as to how it would become a flimsy. Well, clearly things need to percolate on the back burner of my brain, and this is a great example of how letting them do just that, works!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for the month of June is pink, so it is fitting that this little quilt get finished in a pink month. It started as a test block for using the Bear Paw Block on Board die I got last year from AccuQuilt. I liked the colour combination so much that I decided I needed to make a baby quilt to sell in my Etsy shop. I used every last piece but for a 2.5" by a few inches piece of the Anna Maria Horner burgundy. The pink is a vintage piece of cotton, used to make quilted chair cushions for my oak chairs I had in Alberta, and Kona bone is the background.

Thoughtful Thursday

I write Thankful Thursday posts on the last Thursday of each month; sometimes I write two. From now on, for the next while, I plan to write a Thoughtful Thursday post on the mid-point Thursday of the month.

This isn't for any accolades or attention. Rather, it's for recording my own thoughts and personal journey, and in so doing, share things I've discovered. This, after all, is how I've found some of the following kernels, is through others sharing their kernels. You bet, I feel a bit uncomfortable, but that's a part of change. I think change within oneself starts with self-reflection, education, and small acts to promote consideration, kindness and care. @holisticallygrace put out this graphic a few days ago, and it really spoke to me. It is used with her permission. She has an excellent feed, and I encourage you to follow her.

Grace Once Again

For the month of June, we have a 'free' challenge, meaning we can make whatever we want. I knew I'd work with the Faded Blue Jeans line by Kathy Engle, and make a quilt. I wasn't sure what, exactly. You can read the background about the quilt and see the flimsy in this post, so I won't repeat myself.

I got the quilt quilted on the weekend and bound on Monday. I took it to Seacliff Beach after supper for some evening light on it against Lake Erie.

I love how it turned out.

Centred Quilt Along Parade of Finishes

It's here! Although I miss my dad still, almost 12 years after he died, his birthday, which is today, has become a fun occasion again, since my QALs seem to end on his birthday. For those who don't know, he used to write on our new wall calendar each year, (and no one ever actually saw him do it, but it would be there) 'The Birthday of a Famous Canadian' on June 15. Well, he may not have been exactly famous, but he sure was a proud Canadian.

💖😍😁💕

Works In Progress and Yoga Poses for Quilters

This is one of those posts that's been mostly written but has just sat unfinished for a few days. I haven't felt like finishing it for whatever reason, can't exactly say why. I've spent a fair amount of this past week on the computer, (hmm, so maybe subconsciously I'm sick of being on it!) figuring (good brainpower work) for a couple of upcoming quilts that I can't talk about right now, 😉, and I did write another post since my last one. It is a post on yoga poses to help loosen tired and cramped muscles after long hours sewing. You can read it on my friend Leanne's blog, Devoted Quilter. She asked me a few weeks ago if I would do a guest post on her blog with some yoga poses to help quilters. I used to do a series on Sundays, called Sunday Stretch for Quilters, which you can find under the tab, Yoga Posts and Recipe Links. I hope you'll head over there after reading this, or go now, and come back! There are wrist, arm, shoulder and low back poses accessible for most, if not all, of us. Thus, I didn't get one of my weekly goals completed, but as of Friday it was. Here is my Grace pattern done in Island Batik's Faded Blue Jeans line, which I just love.

The June challenge for Island Batik is a free one, make whatever you like. I had planned to use this line for a quilt, but wasn't sure exactly what to make. Then when such a senseless, evil tragedy occurred in Nova Scotia in April, I knew I'd make a quilt for the #QuiltsforNS drive hosted by the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild.

Centred Pattern Release and You Got This!

I am so pleased to release the quilt pattern for Centred, available as of today in my Etsy shop, Sandra Jane Quilts. I am doubly pleased to present the second version of my pattern, which I have named "You Got This".

This is the quilt I made during my Centred QAL.

It is hard to let this one go, as I love this multi-coloured version so much! However, thanks to a recent story on our local CBC Windsor News, I became aware of Launch Pad Recovery Center and its work with recovering addicts. I am so in awe of people who have chosen to beat their addiction problems which are often, but not always, caused by mental health issues. I love this part of their mandate: "Our holistic approach allows healing of the Mind, Body and Spirit."

Thoughtful Thursday

"What are white people willing to give up in a system that benefits and privileges them?"

-Desmond Cole, activist, journalist and author

I usually write my I Like/Love aka Thankful Thursday at the end of the month, and link up with LeeAnna and other like-minded peeps at Not Afraid of Color. This week is not going to be one of those. When I first started this blog, I used to muse regularly about life stuff, and I don't do that very much anymore, except for within my gratitude posts. We had a discussion amongst our group as to what/how to handle this week in view of all the unrest, shock, and horror going on wrt the murder of yet another person of colour, this time, George Floyd, by one police officer, aided by three others. Some of us are choosing to write our thoughts about it; others are choosing to write an uplifting post in these deeply troubling times.

As a white woman, I have no idea, truly, what people of colour face, have faced, every single day of their lives. I do not consider myself a racist, yet if I am totally honest, which I tend to be, I have some inherent preconceived notions that I didn't really realize were in me, until I noticed them.

It is possible to change our thoughts, but to do so we first have to pay attention to them.

Bernie Clark, The Complet Guide to Yin Yoga p. 271

I often say that when I'm teaching yoga. I invite you over the next day or two, for the rest of your life, hopefully, to pay attention to your thoughts. As Bernie says, changing our thoughts is not easy. But it is possible.

Here are some of my thoughts, with some things to watch/read.

To Do Tuesday and OMG

This post was written on the weekend. I thought I'd see how I did with the heart blocks before scheduling it for Tuesday (yesterday)... then thought I'd add my OMG, but I just didn't get my act together to post and link yesterday so here I am today.

I have a day planner; I was a teacher for 30 years where a planner was essential, and a diary and journal keeper since I was 11 years old so keeping records is an essential part of my being. One of the main reasons I started this blog is to record my projects and my life. I do a weekly list, and a daily one to keep me on track. (How do I still go off the rails you, and I myself, am asking... no clue really.) MacGyver thinks I'm a nut for being mostly retired and still doing this but I love routine and organization so planners I will continue to buy. And, write each week in a different coloured pretty pen. 😇 I'm finding that writing a blog post and linking up with Roseanne at Home Sewn by Us is kind of fun, and actually helped me STAY focused this week, when I really really wanted, and even started, to make a summer dress with some Island Batik rayon... but I read the pattern, found a zipper that will do, and made myself turn to the Island Batik June quilt instead because I have to confess here right?!

First up on the list was Sheila's kaleidoscope cushion and it is done and was mailed out on Friday.

I thought it looked so good in our willow chair, the miniature lilac from my friend Liz in memory of my mum in the background.

Cat Mats Installment 1 of 3

So that will get people coming back for more right?!
One of the year goals is making at least two cat mats for either the Windsor Humane Society or the Leamington Kittenaide Program per quarter. I am happy to report that my two are done for this quarter, and it's another item checked off my Q2 list!

I like to call these 'A Cushy for a Tushy' and I think two cat bums will love to curl up on these as they wait for their forever homes.