A "Nonny" fix

I spent most of the weekend with Jonathan. At just over 2 1/2, he has become a very interesting little person.  His mom and dad gave him a haircut last month, so the baby curls are gone (much to my dismay at first!), and a little boy has suddenly appeared. 


When you tell him to smile he says "Cheese!" and you get a happy smiling face.

But since he's a little boy, it quickly becomes this face.









Isn't it odd how children have innate characteristics?  He likes to smash things, no matter what we're playing with.  When it's play-doh, as soon as I show him what I made, he asks if he can squish it.  I get out the blocks and he can barely wait until I declare my construction to be finished before he knocks it down.


He also likes to play with my camera.  He tries to look through the viewfinder for some reason, although I never use it that way.  He tells me to say cheese, but is usually pointing at the floor.  Once in a while, I make my way into the picture.


 Sometimes you can even see my face.

 I finished one of my January UFOs the other day.  This is from a kit of the month I bought years ago (more than ten, I think)  I'll have to find the book they came from.  This one is an anniversary quilt in the book, but I think it will work just fine for a valentine's day decoration. 
 

So, apparently the "president" thinks the ice is not melting, and polar bears are doing just fine.  There are people who believe what he says.  They think anything contrary to his words is fake news.  We can't be complacent.  We cannot say that he isn't hurting me personally and the next guy will just undo it all.  We have to speak up, make our voices heard.  There is one and only one issue that matters if we want our grandchildren to have any kind of life.  So we have to make sure those who put their own interests over that of the health of this planet don't shape the future!

I am grateful for:
Yummy cinnamon rolls!
My grandchildren, who bring joy to my life.
A bit of creative time here and there.
The ability to choose what to watch when I want to watch it (even without the ability to stream stuff on demand)
Sleep, when I can get it.

I'm still here

Obviously I was wrong when I said in my last post that I was adapting.  Maybe I was, but then the holidays came along and threw everything out of whack for weeks.  I had good intentions of getting an end of year post made- my usual reconciling of my accomplishments for the year.    My production was down last year, but I did finish  7 items off my UFO list!  Here is the whole list:
Quilted items: 18. This includes two sets of place mats*, a couple of pillows made from small sample quilts, and the purse I made from that challenge quilt I detested.
Knitted items: 14 This includes the 7 little birdies I made.
Garments: 6
Opulent ornaments: 5
Misc: 9 (I can't think of what these are off the top of my head!)
And, if I counted right, I fostered 20 kittens - also down from the average year.  I don't know why, other than getting the last litter when they were 3 days old meant I wasn't available for another batch until kitten season was over.

After the holidays, it was time to get my entries ready for the Guild's challenge. So that's where I'll start 2018.  This year's theme is "Naughty or Nice".  Anyone who knows me knew right away which way I would go!

First, I had been wanting to make this pattern, called Bad Hare Day, by Java House Quilts, for a very long time. (when I went to get the link, I see they have updated the pattern) It was meant to be a baby quilt, so I had to leave off a couple of borders.  I also cheated by using striped fabric. I made it extra naughty by making my log cabin blocks intuitively. 



The block Bunny has in his mouth was part of the quilt until after the quilting was done.  So there is chewed up batting where that block was.  (bunny was appliquéd afterward)
 I called my quilt "Wascally Wabbit"





















 My second entry uses a picture I took in my garden last spring.  I had it printed on Cotton sateen at Red Dog Enterprises.  Then I thread painted it to enhance the colors and add some texture.  This is the actual color of the flower.  Fans of Monty Python may remember the term  "naughty bits" .  I call this "The Naughty Bits of a Tulip".
 

 Other than those, I have been working on my embellishment projects from the ArtCGirlz.  One didn't get much more after the last time I showed it   my progress a while back.   I decided it didn't need more than a few beads. 

 
 The second one  got more beads and some couched eyelash yarn. 

 

 And I finished the socks it felt like I had worked on all year!  The tiny bit of yarn is all that was left of three different sock leftovers when I finished!
 

 The first UFO I am working on this year is the "Paisley Zentangle" project I started in class with Laura Cunningham last fall.  Mine is bigger than she recommended because I didn't want to cut the piece of fabric I painted. I spent hours and hours on this, stopping often to ponder what to do next.  For now, it will get a binding (possibly purple?) and hang on the wall.  If I get sick of it, I may cut it up later and make a bag or something.  Zentangles aren't supposed to have a right side up, but I like it this way.

So that's some of what I'm working on.
I'll try to stop in more often.  I don't know how many people stop in here anymore, but I still want to try and do this an incentive for myself to finish things!

We are facing a huge opportunity this year to make changes to the balance of power in our government.  Pay attention, learn about the candidates in your area. Vote!  Resist!

I am grateful for:
My winter sewing time.
When Jonathan comes over to play.
My husband, for so many reasons.
Friends who laugh with me.
Letting go of things I never really needed.

*Is place mat one word or two???