First Day of My Birthday Month

Yesterday was the first day of my birthday month and what did I do? Nothin' much! Dougie made an adorable little wooden toy and we had a spat because I wanted to photograph it before he took it to his intended recipient. The man can be very impatient and he loves to give people little gifts, so don't stand in his way! However, I think it is time for him to properly photograph a piece before letting it go. I'm pretty sure all of you would agree. So, I insisted and I prevailed and now he has a very nice photo of his little elephant with copper ears! And he is appropriately apologetic.

Little wooden elephant with copper ears made by Doug Crites-Moore

The only other remotely creative thing I did today was to edit a photo of Puddle. Adeline took it with her iPhone and it just needed a bit of touching up. I was bundling some old New Yorker magazines for the recycling bin, a job I resist because I LOVE The New Yorker and it doesn't matter how old an issue is, it's still interesting to read. My family, on the other hand, especially Adeline, lets it be known that I don't really need to keep them for years. They also seem to think piles and piles of magazines do not represent a particularly glamorous approach to home decor. Hmph.

Puddle and The New Yorker :: Photo by Adeline Jessica Crites-Moore

I think it's quite clear that Puddle agrees with me. She appears to be protecting this particular little bundle of magazines from 2010 ... not nearly old enough to be tossed. But I told her I ripped out dozens of articles before I tied up the magazines and she relented. I wonder if Adeline and Doug will like the look of piles and piles of magazine articles, with raggedy ripped edges.

Change in Direction

  

I have stitched and pulled out stitches through three iterations now. I was not at all happy with those diagonal stitches. I worried that I'd lost my mojo. I snipped and pulled all those stitches (that was iteration three) and then I tried crosses. I like them!

    

I also cut it down, to make it a nine-patch. Actually, I can get TWO nine-patch pieces from the original work.

I'm feeling much happier with the piece now.

Next step: choosing a border. I'm thinking something unexpected ... velvet? lace? Any suggestions?

What is the meaning of life? (Kidding!)

An iconic dress from my 1950s childhood.

When I see a doctor, s/he will sometimes end the meeting with "Do you have any other questions?" And sometimes I tease them with the ultimate question: "What is the meaning of life?"   It's an old joke, right?

When I was much younger, I wondered ... why didn't my parents tell me the answers to the really important questions? Now I understand ... It simply is not possible.

Now I'm the parent. I would love to give some particularly meaningful  wisdom to my daughter. But, what can I do? I can share my thoughts, my experiences, my feelings, my beliefs, my everlasting love ... all those things help, one way or another. But I can't give her

the answer

.

What does it matter? Adeline is wiser than her mother, in many ways. Plus, I don't think

the answer

really matters. It's the search that gives life meaning.

33 & 44

     It was 1980 - 33 years ago - that Crites and Moore were wed.

And we're still together.
Who'd a thunk it?

And this is also the week that Doug celebrated 44 years with IBM.
Yikes!

Hmm ... 33 years with me, 44 with IBM ...
I think this means he can put up with anything.

Slow Progress

Progress on this is slow ... and not in a good way ... not in a slow cloth way.  I have spent too much time ripping out stitches. Still, I am enjoying the process.

 

I don't know about these stitches on top of stitches.  What do you think? Is it interesting or just confusing? Is it too busy? Does it look messy?

This dill was in my New Pond Farm harvest share, which I picked up last Thursday ... so it is in its seventh day since harvest. I am delighted, to say the least. All I've done is keep it in this tiny pitcher with water. No refrigeration. It still looks as good as new. Imagine doing that with supermarket dill ... even a high end grocer.  Seriously ... I usually come home with one of those big bundles and it smells delicious but it doesn't even stay fresh for one day.

Shared Harvest - The Beginning

This is the first week of picking up my veggies from the Shared Harvest CSA at New Pond Farm.  I am very happy that there are ton of arugula leaves ... one of my favorite salad items (along with avocado, but I'll get that from the store). 

What I took home today: broccoli, Pac Choi (Chinese cabbage), buttercrunch lettuce, White Russian kale, curly kale, lacinato kale, multi-colored "bright lights" chard, radishes, spinach, dill, and kohlrabi. The radishes are huge ... in fact, I thought they were very small beets! I also didn't recognize the spinach at first ... I knew it looked familiar, but it took me a while to recognize that it was spinach. Funny. 

This is my other new thing for this week. Not at all sure where it's going. But it's nice to have something to sew. I like the different blues and the thread which I dipped into the indigo vat, all crumpled up so it came out variegated.

The indigo vat, last year ... learning from Glennis Dolce - Shibori Girl. I did so little, maybe this summer I will pay more atention.