Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year to you!  I wish you a wealth of blessings in 2016 -- health, happiness, and a contented heart. 

And good riddance to 2015.  I'm so glad it's over.  It was a train wreck of a year for my family and me with one hardship, challenge, and/or catastrophe after another.  Don't get me wrong.  There have been some good things along the way and I'm grateful for many blessings.  But I'm ready for a fresh start!

On to 2016!

Again, Happy New Year to you.
--Nancy.
.

I Wish You a Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a Christmas filled with joy and a wealth of blessings
both large and small.

--Nancy.
.

Is "Can't Find" the Same as "Lost?"

Years ago I made my daughter a flat, cloth baby doll.  Primitive, soft, cuddly.  Play-worthy.  I created the pattern for the doll, giving her bent baby legs and arms, a round belly, wide-set baby eyes, and little knots for hair.  About six or eight years ago I sewed two more of the dolls for my nieces.  And now I can't find the pattern.  I've been searching for two weeks.  I'm trying to decide whether it's lost or whether I just can't find it.  (Are they the same thing?)  I've looked high and low and it's nowhere to be found.

After searching for baby dolls at several stores -- soft ones with movable arms and legs -- that are quiet (because what mother with a newborn needs another crying baby that's a doll her two-year-old plays with?) and not finding one, I decided to make my granddaughter a cloth doll.  And now here I am at this crunch time before Christmas and no pattern.  I was pleased that my daughter still had her "Lizzie," as she called her, and I was able to use her to make a similar pattern.

It was harder to create this pattern because I was more aware of body proportions of infants.  I consoled myself with any inaccuracies saying that babies grow and this doll could be a toddler, right?  And little children have great imaginations that can change the age of a doll from one minute to the next.

The doll's arms and legs are attached, she has eyes, part of her hair is stitched, and she has one diaper with another in progress.  I'll finish the hair and add her mouth tomorrow.  Then my next challenge will be to make a dress pattern and sew it.  At two, my granddaughter doesn't need lots of clothes for this doll (and it's always by guess and by gosh whether a child will like a toy or not, so maybe she won't want more clothes for the doll).

I'm having fun but I would have enjoyed it even more if I weren't pushed for time.  All in all, having surgery in November is a very bad idea.  I'll have gifts under the tree but our only decorations are lights in the windows, a wreath on the door, and a Christmas tree in the family room.  I'll get out the Nativity tomorrow and that will have to do for Christmas this year.

I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season, rich with blessings.

I'm linking this post to WOW at Esther's Blog.

--Nancy.

P.S.  "Can't find" is not the same as "lost."  I just found the pattern for the original doll and her clothes and it looks like the clothes will fit!  Hooray!

P. P. S.  Quilting has been set aside momentarily....

Music on Glass Harp and Glass Armonica

Wasn't that beautiful?  There's another instrument, called a glass armonica, that creates a sound like this.  Our family learned about glass armonicas when we visited Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, a dozen or so years ago.  We were surprised to learn that such beautiful music could be created from glass and moist fingers.  It was ethereal. 

Benjamin Franklin created the glass armonica by arranging glasses of graduated sizes on a horizontal spindle.  Using foot-power to spin the armonica and moist fingertips to touch the rims of the glasses as they spun, he was able to play music.  Genius!  Below is, again, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" played by William Zeitler, this time on the armonica.



Enjoy!

I hope you have a restful Sunday.

--Nancy.
.

Quilty Inspiration #11

When you're itching to start a new quilt how do you decide what quilt to make?  How do you decide on fabrics, block pattern, colors?

Maybe you're a person who, when partway finished with a quilt, already has an idea for the next quilt -- and starts it?  Or maybe you have a stockpile of ideas for quilts you want to create?  Did the idea for the next quilt evolve from the one you were working on?  Or maybe you saw a photo in a magazine, a book, a blog, or pinterest?

How did you decide the quilting pattern for your quilt?  Was it based on the pattern of the quilt -- in the ditch, outline, or something else?

Are you inspired to begin a quilt because of free patterns like Cheri's, Lori's, or Jeni's; or a link-up like Audrey's?  Or maybe you follow one of Barbara's blogs in which she offers year-long suggestions?  Maybe you love vintage and/or antique quilts and they inspire you.  Or modern quilts.  For any of those you choose your own fabrics, colors, and make decisions along the way because of what I think of as inspiration.

There are probably as many ways to be inspired while we're quilting as there are quilters.  I hope you'll link your post that mentions your decisions as you begin and continue to work on a quilt.

My inspiration for the week comes from a stack of yellow fabric (because I must get it out of my house - least favorite color!) and this quilt (love those red and white stripes), which was inspired by this quilt.  I'm looking forward to seeing how (and when) it progresses.

Now it's your turn to share your quilty inspiration.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Scrappiest Background So Far

I don't often stitch on Sundays but when I have simple applique I'm more likely to pull out needle and thread while talking to my husband or other family members, or while watching an old movie. 

I grew up in a home where sewing on Sunday was discouraged.  One childhood Christmas fell on a Sunday.  I received a doll but nothing to wrap her in so I headed to the sewing machine and sewed her a little cover.  My aunt told me that every stitch I sewed on Sunday I would have to pull out with my nose after I died, so she'd been told as a child. 

These days I cherish my Sundays.  They are days when I refresh and refuel, days when I attend church and come home re-energized and refocused on the priorities of life.  I spend the rest of the day doing quiet activities.  Sometimes I stitch, but usually not.

I still have plenty of neutral scraps for more background blocks.  I don't know why these star shapes is so appealing to me but I like them a lot.  I'm looking forward to laying out a group of them then auditioning layers of circles in the centers.  And I love the color of the one above.  It's not quite gold, not quite brown, maybe more like bronze or copper.  In person it's a rich, interesting color.

I've never gotten the hang of needle-turned applique.  I still pin the edges, at least to begin with, then as I stitch the pins come out and I use my needle to more carefully place the edges.

I hope you've had a quiet, restful Sabbath.

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thanks for creating the link-up, Kathy.

--Nancy.
.

Hand Quilting Is Not Like Bicycling

I haven't had my fingers on a quilting needle for nearly a month.  When I picked up the needle the other day I realized that hand quilting is not like bicycling -- at least not for me. 

I never forget how to balance and pedal on a bicycle.  But it will take me a block or two before I find a hand quilting rhythm, and perhaps longer before I can stitch the quarter-inch seam evenly around a block.  Right now those quilting lines are a little wobbly and uneven.

The photo below shows colors that truer to real life.

I'm linking this post to
WOW = WIPS on Wednesdays at Esther's Blog
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
Let's Bee Social #101 at Sew Fresh Quilts
Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
Thank you, ladies, for hosting.

Remember you can still link to Quilty Inspiration #10 with your posts about the origins of a quilt or quilted project.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope life is good for you.

--Nancy.
.