Today I sorted the collection of drawstring bags I’ve made and now I finally working on listing them on my Textiles & Smiles Etsy Shop!
Hope to have a bunch of listings up by the end of the weekend.
Bags, Bags, Bags, Bags, Bags and More Bags…
Author: tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles
Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".
What’s on the “Design Carpet”
I am continuing on my challenge to post to my blog every day in celebration of October 2023 being my 10th anniversary of blogging month. And if you all can’t keep up no worries, this is WAY too much posting – ha! I think once October is over I will go to a once a week posting schedule (or perhaps a little more frequent than that…we’ll see…).
For today’s post, here is an update on this post from July 2023 – What’s On the “Design Carpet” – Road Trip Granny Squares.
I continue to crochet granny squares for a distraction while traveling as a passenger in a car or while traveling in general. I am currently working on an 80 square blanket (8 by 10) and I’ve progressed from this in July 2023:
To this (only 7 more granny squares to complete to make 80):
I don’t have them in their final order before they are joined together, I just semi randomly put them together for this update photo.
I store them in this bucket bag I made a couple years ago, as I complete them:
I have mixed feelings of getting near the end as it will be 1) time to work on joining them (a sort of pain in the booty) and 2) I’ll have to start work on a new one (and I am sort of attached to this one, ha) when I am a passenger in a car/traveling.
Luckily I have a couple blocks of this one already started (see post Plastic Yarn?) so this will be my next “road trip blanket” to work on!
Agriculture Report
What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well I was inspired by @quiteayarnblog‘s ongoing series of posts titled “Agriculture Report” (and this title always cracks me up) that are actually updates of what is going on in her garden. I just had to adopt this same title for updates on what is going on in my garden/my “garden report“…
I know it is late in the season to be reporting on my garden but better late than never. My part of Colorado seems to have a short growing season and we’ve already had a freeze at night so my garden is done for the season but here is the story of what happened during the 2023 growing season.
THE PATIO GARDEN
In August I shared some photos from my patio garden where I was growing tomatoes, peppers, and herbs (I use Marigolds as natural pest control):
Well I ended up having a sort of decent harvest of tomatoes and for the first time I was able to grow FULL SIZE tomatoes instead of just cherry tomatoes. I also grew a couple Anaheim peppers. John even roasted one. I also grew a lot of basil and made pesto.
I felt like a FARMER (ha!) with my imaginarily large harvest (yes it was a little bit more than in the photo above, but not that much more). And as I mentioned John actually roasted the first large pepper I grew and added it to a salsa.
GIANT SUNFLOWER (YUP ONLY ONE)
In 2022 I grew bunch of sunflowers including a GIANT SUNFLOWER. I harvested the seeds from the giant sunflower with plans to plant as many as I could to have a mini field of giant sunflowers in 2023 (see post The Sunflowers!)
I felt so “rich” in giant sunflower seeds from this harvest I even shared some with friends.
So I planted a lot of these seeds (probably 1/2 the jar that was left from sharing with friends) and guess what:
I GOT ONE GIANT SUNFLOWER from all the seeds I planted:
And then when I went to harvest the seeds, I pull the head off the sunflower too soon and the seeds did not appear to be mature. I ended up putting the sunflower head in a paper bag upside after googling what to do when you screw up like I did, to let them mature more and dry out.
I don’t think it helped but I did go ahead and harvest what I had a couple weeks later:
So next year I’ll try and plant them and see what happens. I suspect nothing as the seeds are pretty thin and I do not think they will germinate. But I will try.
I might have to just start over again with some store bought giant sunflower seeds…
Recent Audiobook Listens
Now that I am going on walks regularly, I am regularly listening to audiobooks. Here are some of my recent enjoyable listens. I consider a book an “enjoyable listen” if the writing is good and the narrator is awesome! I’ve provided a star rating with 5 stars being the highest rating. (All book images are from amazon.com)
City of Endless Night by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (fiction)
I’ve been reading/listening to the Agent Pendergast series of murder mystery thrillers by Preston and Child for many years. This is book #17 in the series (there are now 21 or 22 books in the series) and I’ve fallen behind in the series so it was time to start catching up. I enjoyed this book and as usual there was quite the twist at the end! I give the book 4.0 stars for the story and narration.
The Steal Like An Artist Trilogy by Austin Kleon (non fiction)
The author was the audiobook narrator, which I love, and this audiobook was three books in one. It was very inspirational and I really appreciated a three books within the book. I rate this book 4.5 stars.
Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life by Chase Jarvis (non-fiction)
Quite the inspirational book and one of the tips from this book that has stuck with me is dea of having a “session plan” which I write on my whiteboard in my studio what I am going to accomplish that day. Since I’ve implemented that tip I’ve not left my studio for the day until I accomplish what I wrote down! I rate this book 4.5 stars.
It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond by Julia Cameron, Emma Lively, et al. (non-fiction)
This book was inspirational and had some great ideas but I never got inspired to do one of the main activities the author recommends: write daily morning pages and work on your autobiography. It was a good listen while walking and I enjoyed the narration. Overall I rate it 4.0 stars.
The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People by Judith Orloff (non-fiction)
What a book! I read it at the right time when I needed it. The author states: “Though there is a spectrum of sensitivity that exists in human beings, empaths are emotional sponges who absorb both the stress and joy of the world. We feel everything, often to an extreme, and have little guard up between others and ourselves. As a result, we are often overwhelmed by excessive stimulation and are prone to exhaustion and sensory overload.” I learned a lot of tips to protect myself when I get overwhelmed by others energies; and it reinforced I need to stay far away from “energy vampires” and people with “narcissistic personality disorder”. Narcissists feed on Empaths. I give the book 5.0 stars.
Feature Photo by Distingué CiDDiQi on Unsplash
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Reception
This afternoon I attended a reception at Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum hosted by eQuilter and Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum for those featured in the Colorado issue of Quiltfolk Magazine.
It was wonderful to meet the other quilters and groups (such a local guild) that are features in Issue 28 of Quiltfolk Magazine; as well as wander around the museum and look at the latest exhibits.
Here is a selfie I took at the reception:
Greetings!
Here is the beginning of the photographer trying to “herd cats” for the group photo of quilters featured in the magazine:
I had John take photos with my camera as the photographer attempted to get us into place…
Here is one of the attendees who had a beautiful quilted jacket she made:
We did some “yearbook signing” (remember that from high school if you went to high school in the US?) and some of us signed each other’s magazine copies.
I’ll share in another post some of the awesome quilts currently on display at the museum, include an all scrap quilt exhibit.
Good Mail: Kimono Fabrics
When I returned from our trip to Asheville, NC I had a package from my sister.
She surprised me with an early Christmas gift – a box full of kimono fabrics from Japan!
My sister has a friend who imports kimonos from Japan and she had had a collection of kimono obi sashes that were no longer needed. She thought I would be able to recycle the fabric into something else.
Challenge accepted!
Greetings from Asheville – Blue Ridge Parkway
Greetings from Asheville, North Carolina. John and I have been visiting his friends in Asheville, North Carolina and we went for an amazing drive on the Asheville section of the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the Fall Colors.
Thought I would share this short post to share some photos from our drive and I’ll share more of our adventures in future posts.
Magazine in Hand, Addendum…
Just a little addendum to yesterday’s post Magazine in Hand.
I recently got permission from the Editor in Chief of Quiitfolk Magazine to share the image of a page from Issue 28: Colorado that really surprised me (see blog category Quiltfolk Issue 28 for the whole story/all the related posts,if you are just joining us) when I opened the issue for the first time.
My quilt, that I made earlier this year (see post Scrappy Autumnal Splendor Back from Professional Quilting) is the background for the Table of Contents/Index page for Quiltfolk Magazine Issue 28: Colorado!
I had no clue they had selected my quilt for the Table of Contents/Index page. I gasped when I saw it!
In the second image you can see the credits on the Title of Contents page for myself and the longarm quilter Cara of Sew Colorado Quilting! She was so awesome to do quick turnaround when I finished this quilt in early June to turn it around like a week later so I could put on the binding and have it ready for the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot!
Magazine in Hand
Yesterday Quiltfolk Issue 28: Colorado arrived to my home and I got to open it up and read the profile on me and see the photo spread. It was quite eerie to see myself in a magazine, especially one I’ve read/collected since the first issue in October 2016: Oregon. (The irony is that I was living in Oregon at the time the first issue came out!)
This is the magazine on my lap as I prepare to open it for the first time!
I wish I could share photos of what I saw but I don’t want to violate any copyright laws.
I can tell you that I was blown away that my quilt, Scrappy Autumnal Splendor was used as the background of the Table of Contents! I can also tell you the article about me is on page 56 and it is called “Tierney Davis Hogan: Pieced with Purpose”.
I get a couple copies for participating in the issue and I ordered additional copies on line at 20% using the code they gave me to share:
Quiltfolk did provided me with most of the photos from the photoshoot by the photographer Melanie Zacek (Instagram: @melanie.zacek) and stylist Kimberlee Zacek (Instagram: @kimberleezacek) created; but did not make it into the magazine.
Here is a sampling of some of the photos that are not in the magazine article:
Updated Tour of the tierneycreates Studio
Recently I mentioned in the post New Use for the “Big Closet” , that I moved my fabric storage out of a closet and into my studio (so I could easily see what I have in my fabric stash and “shop at home”!). I thought I’d share the latest set up of my tierneycreates studio which is our former Master Bedroom that we turned into my studio in 2022 (see post A “New” Studio).
Here is the view when you first walk into the studio:
Here you can see my obsession with color and Aurifil thread (the color chart mounted on the wall is the Aurifil palette/catalogue):
If you are new to this blog and curious about that color wheel quilt I made, here is a blog post on it – The Colour Wheel Quilt is Done.
Here is my fat quarter and fabric scrap storage area:
Ironing station, cutting table and pegboard storage area:
Here is where I am storing my fabric, sorted by either designer or type (including solid colors, batik, etc.):
Here is my sewing table:
I probably should have turned on the light above for better lighting of the image but you get the general idea.
And here is the design wall:
Right now the room is carpeted, because it used to be a bedroom, and the plan in 2024 is to remove the carpet and install hardwood floors. I am also thinking of painting it a white or cream to brighten/improve light reflection.
So that’s the current tour of my studio!
Bins, bins, bins
John and I are going in the near future to visit his childhood friend and his wife. We are staying their home and I never show up as a guest as someone’s home without a gift (nor does John); and with some Instagram snooping I discovered they love craft beers and so I made them a set of Lagom Storage Bins, pattern Sotak Handmade.
These are the same bins I made a couple months ago for some friends (see post Lagom Storage Bins). After I made them the first time I was not sure I was going to make them again as they use two different types of interfacing (SF 101 and Fusible Fleece) and they seemed sort of tedious to make (but the pattern is well written).
But on second round of making these bins they are growing on me. I did discover that with the larger sizes you would be better off making them with a cotton canvas/linen canvas for more strength. I used quilting weight fabric and the largest one I made seems slightly “floppy”.
The first time I made them I only made the smallest size “X-small”). Here are the sizes they come in per the pattern designer’s Etsy shop:
This time I made them in three sizes – X-Small, Small, and Medium.
I found some cool craft beer themed fabric that my late husband Terry had selected (he loved craft beer, dogs, and flannel fabric; and a lot of his fabric stash as a quilter was in these themes):
Here are photos of the bins (and I love how nicely they stack together!):
I hope they like them! I have no idea how their home is decorated as I am visiting them for the first time; but I thought using the theme of something that interests them might be safe…
John also made a host gift – a cutting board for them:
Rounded corners is a new thing he is trying on his cutting boards.
We are feeling pretty proud of ourselves as we didn’t wait until the last minute to make these gifts!
ScrapHappy October 2023 – Recycled Jeans and Home Decor Fabric Scraps
It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.
This post is a follow up to my October 9th post – What’s on the Design Wall: An “Upcycled” Work .
I’ve completed 51 blocks piecing recycled denim/jeans and home decor fabric scraps; and I put 49 of them in a 7 by 7 square so you could see a sample of a layout:
Yes I couldn’t decide which photo to use so I included all three!
I want the piece to be sort of large, and definitely square and I’ve decided to make a total of 81 blocks for a 9 by 9 square piece. I might hand quilt it, I haven’t decided but I am going to try some sample designs with scrap denim to see how the stitching would look.
There is going to be lot texture in this quilt, primarily from the recycled home decorating fabric samples I used:
Here is a collection of close up blocks to show you the textures:
There are more fabrics I haven’t cut yet that I will be adding/using for the additional 30 blocks I need to make.
The layout you see on my design wall is not the final layout, just a sample layout. When I finish all the blocks and go to layout the quilt, I realized I need to pay attention to secondary patterns that I might want in the piece.
For example I noticed this secondary pattern, from how the blocks lay together, in one of the sections on the design wall and I like it:
I want to make sure the final layout has a lot of “movement” in it.
My tentative name for this piece is What Direction Do I Go?
It is a deeply personal piece, inspired by my first recycled fabric random triangle piece Flying Triangles (2012); but about my struggles for the past 5 years since becoming a widow, selling my beloved house, moving to Colorado (leaving all I knew there), starting the 2nd relationship in my life, quitting my job, trying to focus on textile art, etc. (Yes I like to lump a lot of life changes and drama into one time period, ha!).
It should prove to be an interesting Artist Statement on the piece when I am ready to write it (not until the piece is done of course).
And you thought it was just some recycled denim and home decor fabric sewn together (wink).
As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:
Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia , Gun @Rutigt – G Adrian, Eva @bambisyr-evaj, Sue @From the Magpie’s Nest, Lynda @Life on the Farmlet, Birthe @Birthes rom, Turid @Den syende himmel, Susan @DesertSky Quilting, Cathy @nanacathydotcom, Tracy @It’s a T-Sweets Day!, Jan @The Snail of Happiness, Moira @The Quilted Snail, Sandra @Wild Daffodil, Chris @chrisknitsews, Alys @Gardening Nirvana, Claire @Claire93’s Blog, Jean @onesmallstitch, Dawn @DawnGillDesigns, Gwen @Deep in the Heart of Textiles/Textile Ranger, Sunny @The Adventures of Team Wil-Sun, Kjerstin @Quimper Hittys, Sue @Going Batty in Wales, Vera @lifebyacompassnotaclock, Ann @Ann F Stonehouse Quiltmaker, Dawn @myquiltprojects, Carol @Quilt Schmilt, Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts, Nóilin @Paper, Pen and Mug, Viv @Where the Journey Takes Me 2, Karrin @Karrin’s Crazy World, Amo @View From Our Hill, Alissa @ Snakes & Cranes, Lynn @Tialys, Tierney @tierneycreates, Hannah @quietwatercraft
All Aboard the Georgetown Loop
At the end of September, John and I went on a road trip to Idaho Springs, CO and Georgetown, CO. We had lunch in Idaho Springs and then headed to Georgetown so I could experience the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
I love trains and I am especially fond of old locomotives!
The day started with an hour road trip to Idaho Springs and a road trip is a great excuse to stop for snacks at a roadside convenience shop in the mountains:
Those were poor nutritional choices but they were delicious!
Snacks in hand, I enjoyed the mountainous scenery and tunnels along the way:
We had lunch in the darling town of Idaho Springs at BeauJo’s Pizza known for it’s “Mountain Pie” a pizza with a tall/large crust with accompanying honey to dip it in.
After that tasty experience, we wandered around downtown Idaho Springs, a former mining town, window shopping and stopping at one of my favorite charity thrift shops that I always visit when I am in the area.
And there was a 50% off sale, but I was good as I didn’t really need anything, I just like to browse!
Georgetown isn’t far from Idaho Springs, so a short drive and we were there:
From the parking lot you can see the train:
Waiting at the station for it to arrive:
We sat right behind the locomotive engine so we had a great view. Here are photos from the train ride:
We stopped at another station for a gift shop and bathroom break and I realized just how high above sea level were were!
My favorite part of the train ride was listing to this – so awesome!
And here is video I found on YouTube by a self proclaimed “train nerd” that provides a nice overview of the experience with history (we didn’t do the optional mine tour this time):
Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland! (Re-post)
What? Two tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posts in a row? No actually I am sort of cheating – this is a re-post from October 2022. Since it is the tierneycreates blog’s 10th anniversary in October 2023, I’ve challenged myself to post everyday (or shall I say “torture you all everyday to another post”) and I thought I would pepper in some re-postings during this anniversary month of some favorite posts (yep, that’s my excuse for not doing new posts everyday, ha!).
This post is a very special memory from my first trip to Ireland with John, our friends K and M, and our Beasties! Plus we got to meet M’s new Beastie – “Matty” Beastie; and of course meet Helen of Crawcrafts Beasties who made all the Beasties happen!
Please see the “Postscript” section of this post for a special dedication.
Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland! (October 11, 2022 re-post)
This is tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posting (if you are new to this blog, my story is on this post – I’m A Monster!!! and you can see all my posts at this link: Beastie Adventures).
You haven’t heard from Tierney or myself in a while as we’ve been in Ireland!
Tierney, John, John Beastie and I recently returned from Ireland and I got to see my maker Helen of Crawcraft Beasties & Knit with Helen; and Tierney got to meet Helen in person for the first time!
We had lots of adventures in Ireland visiting cities such as Dublin, Galway, Doolin, etc. I told Tierney I would get the blog posts on our trip started as she is still rather jet lagged.
Here I am trying to write this blog post (sitting at my desk that John built me, see post Guest Blogger: A Desk for Me!) while my dog Mikelet is trying to get attention from me as he missed me on my long trip (we did not take him for fear he might get misplaced during the trip).
We visited Ireland with Tierney and John’s friends K and M who visit Ireland a couple times a year. K’s family is from Ireland and she still has family there and M who is part Irish, is well versed in Irish culture and history.
K also knows Helen as she has been working with Helen to get her husband M his very own Beastie!
John Beastie, Tierney, K and I met up with Helen and visited a pub for a Beastie reunion with Helen. Here are a couple photos of our initial reunion, I could not decide which one I like best of my awesome maker so I included them all!
She was pretty pleased to see us again as she sends her Beasties out all over the world and rarely gets to see them in person again once they’ve traveled across the ocean!
After the pub, we all headed to Helen’s studio for a little tour of her studio, to meet the new Beastie for K’s husband M, and to take a little knitting class (Helen is a professional knitting instructor) to learn how to knit cables (which scare K and Tierney).
This is Helen’s new studio and although John Beastie and I were not “born” here but it was awesome to be in a place where our fellow Beasties are now “born”:
Here is a little photo tour of Helen’s bright and cheery studio:
After a little studio tour, it was time to meet “Matty Beastie” (and his dog Riley) the new Beastie Helen made for K’s husband M:
Matty Beastie comes with his dog Riley the Chocolate Lab (to see the Canine Riley check out the post Loved (or mugged) by a Lab, Tierney is Riley’s “Dog Godmother”), a pint of Guinness, as well as his PJs (if he gets tired of wearing his jeans) and his famous slippers.
Helen brilliantly added a magnet to Matty Beastie’s chest so he could hold up his pint of Guinness:
John Beastie and I took a group photo with our new friend Matty Beastie who we would now be touring Ireland with:
As you can see I was not sure where to look during the photo as Helen was also taking a photo of our group at the same time.
We got distracted during the photoshoot and Riley ended up sampling some of Matty Beastie’s Guinness!
I did take Matty Beastie aside and give him some tips on managing humans and how to get away with things right under their noses…
While John Beastie and I visited with our new friend, the humans Helen, K and Tierney) had a cable knitting class. Below is a photo of the class sample and a photo of Tierney clumsily trying to knit her first cable (she won’t be whipping out a new Aran sweater for me anytime soon…).
I am sure Tierney will do a post about it whenever she finishes that headband.
After the knitting class, we headed back out to a pub (the humans visited a lot of pubs while in Ireland) to meet up with human John and human M so he could be surprised with his new Beastie!
John Beastie and I watched with anticipation while M excitedly unboxed his new Beastie:
Matty Beastie was a hit with M and John Beastie had raise a pint to toast the newest member of our US based Beastie family!
Sláinte!
More stories to come on our Ireland adventures. Tierney asked me to include this photo as proof that she and human John really did come on the trip:
I am also including this photo – Tierney captured in a moment of pure joy hanging out with my maker Helen in person for the first time:
POSTSCRIPT
This post is dedicated to Riley (2019 – 2023). The pup that “Matty Beastie” had with him was based on the real life Riley, see post Loved (or mugged) by a Lab. Riley suddenly passed in the summer of 2023 from an unknown illness.
Many hearts were broken including of course K and M who were absolutely devastated.
They do have a new lab puppy which I featured in this post Bag to Celebrate a New Lab!, and their hearts are slowly healing.
John got to meet Riley in 2021 when we visited K and M in California:
I met Riley in 2019.
Riley was my “dog goddaughter” and I first met her as a puppy a couple days after they adopted her and a couple months after my husband Terry had just died, when visiting K and M in California. Snuggling with their new puppy very comforting and healing:
Riley was not my dog but she and I had a special connection. I miss you Riley.
Guest Blogger Post: Ball with the “Mikes”
Hello! This is the tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posting (if you are new to this blog, my story is on this post – I’m A Monster!!! and you can see all my posts at this link: Beastie Adventures).
As October 2023 is Tierney’s 10th blog-anniversary month, I thought I’d better make an appearance with one of my fabulous guest posts (Beasties are full of ourselves, it is our nature).
Before I talk about the title/subject of this blog post, I should show you my latest accommodations in Tierney’s studio – I now have my own little apartment now in a wooden box John made:
It’s very cozy and filled with my favorite items.
Oh and you might notice a red ball next to my dog Mikelet (named after Tierney’s dog Mike) – like Tierney’s dog Mike, my dog Mikelet loves his ball!
Today I took him to the backyard to play ball:
And big Mike joined us, asking me to also throw his ball (which was too big for me to maneuver):
Mike was disappointed but he did agree to pose for a photo with Mikelet:
The two “Mikes” with their balls!
(Oh Tierney asked me to tell you all that big Mike is out of his cone/scoop and his boo-boo healed!)
Daily Walks – Neighborhood vs. Nature
I mentioned in my October 6th post The House That Won Halloween, I am so happy that I can return to my daily walks and walk the distances I used to walk before my awful left ankle break in January.
I go either for a long walk through the surrounding neighborhoods, like the one I did when I discovered the extensive Halloween decorations I shared in the post The House That Won Halloween; or I go on a “Nature Walk” on the extensive trails behind the neighborhoods in the area I live.
The “Nature Walk” is a much longer walk and it is quite the different experience than walking through neighborhoods. Most of the time it is just me on the trail and all I hear is the rustling of leaves, birds, insects chirping, or the rustle of an occasional rabbit or squirrel rummaging around the foliage.
The deciduous trees are now changing color on my “nature walk” and I took some recent photos:
I really like this photo I recently took on my “nature walk”, it came out very “stylized” but I did nothing but snap the photo:
There are also lovely evergreen trees on my “nature walk”, here are is of one I edited with some filter I randomly discovered on my iPhone:
And finally, you know I couldn’t pass on an opportunity for some Black & White photography on my walk:
I do enjoy the “neighborhood walk” (faster) but it pales in comparison to the beauty and peace of the “nature walk” (longer). I appreciate having both options!
Tao of Quilting (Re-post from Oct 2016)
October 2023 marks the 10th anniversary month of the tierneycreates blog and in addition to attempting to do a daily post each day of October 2023, I’ve been peeking through my archives and seeing if there is anything I would like to re-post. Here is a post from October 2016 I thought I would re-post.
The Tao of Quilting (re-post)
Are you familiar with the Tao Te Ching?
This ancient Chinese text, was according to legend, was written by Lao Tzu in the 6th century BC. It it a philosophical text which provides instructions on the way to live a virtuous life of harmony. There have been many versions of this text written and reinterpreted over the years to include The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff which shares practical life lessons from the perspective of Winnie the Pooh.
Many years ago, in a special publication quilting magazine Quilts with Style, I came across “The Tao of Quilting” by Stephen Seifert – a one page take on the Tao Te Ching. I have kept this page in the front of my binder of patterns-clipped-from-quilting-magazines to continually inspire me.
THE TAO OF QUILTING by Stephen Seifert
Our lives are full of obstacles causing stress and discontent.
But a quilt can be a bridge to overcome diversions and chaos.
Water ripples in the wind, never considering who is in control.
Yet its fluid nature gives it strength to serve as a foundation to life.
Soft fabric stitched together in a quilt fills the hardest heart with love and beauty.
The simplicity of love can penetrate all, including the the most cynical mind.
Rigid stone shores appear impenetrable, but their yielding surface gives rise to life.
Evergreens soar triumphantly above the lake shore, reflecting the paradox of life.
Problems emerge and seem pressing
But over time our thoughts evolve into understanding.
Nature’s silent teachings are taught without words
Instilling integrity into every quilt.
Feature photo credit – Pixabay
What’s on the Design Wall: An “Upcycled” Work
I’ve been itching to work with recycled textiles again and the other day I put together a collection of pieces to work with from my recycled textiles stash (recycled clothing, jeans, home decor fabrics):
I wanted to make a piece that is primarily recycled denim but also includes home decor fabrics in warm colors with lots of textures. I decided to revisit a piece I made in my early days of improvisational/art quilting (circa 2012/2013) where I was working with recycled silk and linen couture fabric samples – Flying Triangles:
Here is my design wall with the piecing I’ve been playing with this evening. Note it is late at night and I did not bring out the “ring light” I use for photographing pieces so the image is dark:
I am going to keep playing, I started out setting recycled fabrics in oranges in denim; and next I will use some browns and golds, and I’ll see what else feels right.
I’ll share more images in the future as the piece progresses and I’ll even take the photos with better lighting!
Upcycling: The act of taking something no longer in use and giving it a second life and new function. In doing so, the finished product often becomes more practical, valuable and beautiful than what it previously was.
UpcycleThat.com/Habitat for Humanity
New Use for the “Big Closet”
In Spring 2022 we did something crazy and changed our “Master Bedroom” into my studio and moved into one of the considerable smaller bedrooms in the home. Here is the link to the post on that story if you are new to this blog – A “New” Studio.
I’ve made a lot of changes since, and will someday share an update on it’s current configuration, but here is how the master bedroom was transformed in May 2022:
The master bathroom is off my studio (the curtains you see in the image above lead into the master bathroom) and the master bedroom closet is inside the master bathroom. The master bedroom closet is the biggest closet in the house; and I call it the “Big Closet”. (Actually it is about the size of the room I rented when I first went to college.)
It seemed silly to walk through my studio, and then through the bathroom to get our clothes, especially to John who like quick access to his clothes to dress for work in the morning. So a couple weeks ago we moved my studio storage from the two small closets in the other two upstairs bedrooms (one being the one we sleep in) into the master bedroom closet!
Here is my new studio storage in the Big Closet (and yes I have to walk through the master bathroom to get to it, but it is totally worth it to me):
I like that I had enough room in it to even put a table.
I’ve been working on getting my Etsy shop restocked (I even have 4 listings now up on my Textiles & Smiles Etsy Shop) and this closet gives me plenty of room to organize my items for sale as well as my crafting materials.
As far as my fabric stash, I’ve organized my entire stash to be on display in my studio so I can see exactly what I have and actually use it! No more fabric tucked away in a closet. I also did a HUGE fabric purge again and I am down to just what I am really going to use. I’ll do a post in the future about my new fabric storage and updated arrangement of my studio.
Oh and John removed the shelves (which stored my crafting supplies and my fabric) he built in the two smaller closets upstairs in the two other bedrooms, and installed closet organization systems for our clothes in those closets. So we each have our own small closet for our clothes but they are nicely organized. I also ended up purging a bunch of clothes when I moved from the large master bedroom closet to a small bedroom closet.
Bonjour Montréal (Part III)
Time to finish up my three part series of posts about the trip my sister and I took a couple weeks ago to Montréal, Québec, Canada. Please see posts for Bonjour Montréal! (Part I) and Bonjour Montréal (Part II) for the rest of the story.
THE VEGAN SUSHI EXPERIMENT
I love sushi but I rarely eat raw fish sushi, just the sushi rolls with smoked or cooked fish; or vegetarian rolls. Well while in Montréal we discovered VEGAN SUSHI! One night we had dinner at Bloom Sushi and it was the best sushi I’ve ever eaten!
We sort of gorged ourselves on vegan sushi – the flavors were so amazing. (When I returned to Denver I found a vegan sushi place and John and I have since eaten there in downtown Denver twice. Who knew vegan sushi could be so delicious?)
If you are ever in Montréal I highly recommend Bloom Sushi even if you think it sounds weird to eat vegan sushi. In addition to the exquisite food the service was impeccable and the atmosphere was very zen, warm and inviting. My sister and I did not want to leave the place but it was eventually closing for the evening, ha!
NOTRE-DAME BASILICA
One morning we toured the breathtaking Notre-Dame Basilica and here are some of crazy amount of photos I took while we were inside:
Photos do not do it justice, so here is a video walk through I found on YouTube if you’d like to see more. I would say it is a mandatory tourist stop if you visit Montréal, even if you do not care for “churches”.
If you wonder what the massive pipe organ sounds like I found a video of it being played:
The outside was pretty awesome too, here are some photos from when we were on line waiting to get in (with all the other tourists!):
OTHER SIGHTS/ADVENTURES
We wandered the neighborhoods of Old Montréal, Downtown Montréal, Petite Italy, and a little of the Latin Quarter.
We had fun visiting many little shops, neighborhood eateries and bars. Below is an example of some tasty martinis we had.
The people of Montréal were so friendly and helpful. I brought along my terrible high school French and tortured the French-Canadians with it. Nearly everyone also spoke English so we got by just fine. I did get some giggles from my attempt at communicating in French and they quickly redirected me into an English conversation, ha! I did smile when I got mistaken a couple times for a local and the shopkeepers began speaking French to me.
This reminds me of years ago when my late husband Terry and I went to Denmark (to visit a friend); and then onto Amsterdam, Brussels, and Antwerp for a little Belgium beer holiday (we were really into Belgium beers at the time). While in Belgium, Terry a Napoleonic Era history buff, really wanted to visit Waterloo (Napoleon’s last stand). From Brussels we had to take a bus and then a train to Waterloo and NO ONE along the way spoke English, it was an all French speaking region of Belgium. I had to definitely pull out the very rusty high school French.
When we got on the bus first to get to the train, Terry and I could not sit together on the bus as there were only single seats available and so he sat in back. The gentleman sitting next to him spoke to him in French (Terry knew like little to no French) nearly the entire bus ride and Terry just kept eye contact and nodded. I kept looking back and saw that the guy seemed to think Terry was his new best friend and had no clue that he was not understanding a word he said! When we got off at our stop the guy wished him well in French and Terry nodded goodbye!
I teasingly asked Terry what they were talking about and he said he did not know but the guy was very chatty and seem to think they were having a very engaging conversation!
Okay so back to my Montréal trip. Bringing out my rusty high school French (which wasn’t even French-Canadian French) brought back that memory!
The best part of the trip was just hanging out with my sister and I look forward to our next sister adventure.
I’ll close this post (and this three part series of posts) with a sign that was out in front of Le Beau Marché where we’d by our groceries, that made me smile:
The House That Won Halloween
I know we are still a couple weeks out from Halloween but I was walking Mike this morning (more on that later) and discovered a house in my neighborhood that is winning Halloween in my opinion! Here are the photos which of course do not do their whole spooky vibe justice:
Can you imagine being a 6-year old kid on Halloween and your parents are trying to convince you to go up to that front door and ask for candy!?!? I would be like “H*ll to the No” (why yes, I would be swearing as a 6-year old kid if asked to go up to that front door – ha!).
Image credit: Avera Health
The family that owns this house has likely spent thousands of dollars on Halloween and clearly loves this holiday! The decorations are HUGE and very high quality, nearly (low budget) movie set quality on some pieces (like I said, the photos do not do it justice).
So earlier in this post I mentioned I was walking Mike. Some of you might remember in January 2023 I had a terrible twist/fall on ice and broke my left ankle in two places requiring surgery for my complex fracture. It’s been a long road to recovery but I am now regularly walking Mike again and able to go on long-ish walks. I am so grateful as it was the first time in my adult life (January to April 2023) that I could not go on daily walks. It was a rough time mentally, physically and even “spiritually” for me – going on daily walks is everything to me.
I’ll write more about Halloween later in this month, I’ve been thinking about some sweet memories from life in Oregon related to Halloween and will share in another post.
Mike in Macy’s
Mike the Miniature Schnauzer was going to do a guest blog post (like he’s done in these other posts in this category – Miniature Schnauzer Adventures) but this is his current situation which doesn’t lend itself to typing 😉 :
He’s of course playing ball even though he is in a cone (which we have renamed “the scoop” instead of “the cone of shame” as he uses it to scoop up the ball from the ground, ha!). Mike had a “hot spot” on his leg he was bothering, it opened up and now he is on antibiotics after a veterninary appointment and has to wear “the scoop” for a week while it heals.
A week ago we took Mike to the mall and he spent time in Macy’s department store.
Mike’s life has really evolved from when my late husband Terry’s and I adopted him from a rescue organization out of Portland, Oregon in September 2014. When we first got him he was suffering with anxiety and behavioral issues (you can read more of Mike’s story on this old post – Taking Chances: The Mike Hogan Chronicles).
Back in 2014 when we first adopted him I would have never imagined a time when he would go in a backpack to a department store. We were just trying to train him to walk on a leash and not be so incredibly aggressive when another dog (or human) walked by when he was on leash!
And now he goes to home improvement stores all the time in his box and gets pets from other customers and the staff at the store while being pushed in the shopping cart.
And he gets to go to department stores like Macy’s (okay now I am back to connecting this post into the title of this post, ha!) in his backpack!
A lot of this evolution is thanks to John from early on in our relationship encouraged me to give Mike a chance to have new experiences. I also have to thank my sister who encouraged me to take Mike to the Nordstrom’s Rack when she first visited me in May 2019 when I had just moved to Denver.
Previously the only store experiences Mike had were at quilt shops when Terry and I went quilt shop hopping. He was in the backpack on Terry’s back and no one could come near him!
So here is Mike at Macy’s last week:
People would come up behind John and pet Mike no problem.
Mike was pretty mellow and didn’t mind going up and down the department store escalators:
Mike even got to hang out in the mall Foodcourt after all that shopping at Macy’s:
Yes we let him have a little taste of our french fries, he’d been a good boy!
I just realized I adopted Mike nearly a year after starting my blog. Wow how time flies!
Buttons (repost from October 2016)
Do you love buttons as much as I do? I thought it would be fun to re-post this post from October 2016 on my button collection (smile)
BUTTONS (Repost post from October 26, 2016)
I just wanted to randomly post about one of my guilty pleasures in life – buttons!
I did not to intend to collect buttons, my button collection just sort of crept up on me…
I am not sure how it began but I remember as a little girl playing with my grandmother’s button jar and being fascinated.
Then, many years later, my love of buttons was rekindled when I started making miniature kimono wallhangings and wanted to embellish them with interesting buttons.
I began picking up interesting buttons here and there – from craft shows, from shift shops, antique shops, and from a bookstore.
I was even lucky enough to have a friend who let me raid her old button collection in search of cool buttons for miniature kimonos.
This past May, my friend Dana, who was my “secret quilt sister” at our annual quilting retreat, surprised me with an “Vintage Button Jar” as part of my gift.
The jar contained lots of fun buttons such as the ones below:
Upon returning home from the retreat I attempted to cram my entire button collection into my new “Vintage Button Jar” but my collection was overflowing from the jar.
So now I keep the jar in my sewing studio to hold small packages and cards of special buttons.
Anyone else have an issue with buttons? Any secret (or not so secret) collectors?
Revenge of The Library Stack
It’s been a while since I’ve written any posts for my blogging topic category – The Library Stack where I share my latest stack of local library books I’ve borrowed; and this might be my last “library stack” post for a very long time.
Why? Because I overdid it this time…
A couple weeks (or a month ago), I went for a wander in our local Barnes & Noble bookstore and spent way too long in the Interior Decorating/Home Improvement section with lots of new and yummy design books.
Above is a small sampling of the two bookcases in Barnes & Nobles filled with new interior design books.
I noted many of the new book titles, went home and reserved them at the library. Little did I know they would all come in so fast…and continuously.
This was the first library stack:
I didn’t take any more photos but the books kept coming in until my stack was over 20+ books before I left for my trip to Montréal a couple weeks ago. While I was in Montréal books I had on hold kept coming available and John had to keep going to the library to pick them up each time I got a new e-mail until I returned to the US. It was getting ridiculous.
When I got back from my trip I tried to flip through as many books (drinking a lot of tea!) as I could knowing some I had to return in 21 days AND that more books kept coming in.
How did this happen? I don’t remember reserving that many Interior Design books but I think I made a mistake when I was putting books on hold and accidentally checked a whole screen page listing of books instead of just the one (or several books) I wanted on that page of the library listing.
I ended up with over 35+ library books which I had to make into 3 stacks!
After a while I became fatigued with Interior Design books and realized I’d really overdone it this time. I ended up returning all the books before their 21 day loan was up including 10+ books I didn’t even flip through.
Of all those library books, in the TRIPLE STACK, my two favorites were these two, I really enjoyed looking through these gorgeous books:
I enjoyed them on the front porch during a lovely day with milder weather.
But I think my “library stack” era has ended (or at least on hiatus for some time) and I am just going to focus on reading the books and magazines in my home library for now. I am currently quite disinterested in any home design suggestions – ha!
It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
– Aesop
Another Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat (Sort of)
In honor of the 10th anniversary month of my blog, I am going to attempt blog everyday for the month of October. I’ll be catching up on adventures I’ve not yet shared. Perhaps eventually I’ll share my latest textile project(s) when I get back to working on them…
ANOTHER QUILT RETREAT IN MY HOME (SORT OF)
Back in May I had a “Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat” at my home for my friends D and K, who are both quilters – see series of posts in this blog category Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat, if you’d like to read about our “fabric-scrap-wrangling adventures.
My friends MJ and J got interested in “retreating” at my house – J is a quilter and MJ is not. I met J through MJ and MJ is a long time very dear friend of mine that I met when I lived in Bend, Oregon 2005 – 2018. We planned the retreat for late August 2023.
I thought it would work – MJ and J would come for 5 days and J and I would working on scrappy freeform log cabin quilts while MJ did some other craft and just hang out with us. MJ joked that we were going to give her macaroni, non-toxic glue, popsicle sticks and fingers paints (like in Kindergarten) to work with – ha!
I’ll share what MJ actually ended up doing later in this post (she creatively made her own retreat!) when our retreat in August happened.
But first I will share the huge fabric scrap pile J and I had to work with during the 5 days in August we had the retreat: it was a combination of my scrap pile and scraps that J brought:
I helped J find some type of inspiration fabric scrap in the pile that had a color palette (as how else to you start sifting through that “hot mess” to design a scrap quilt?). Once she found an inspirational scrap, she started pulling from the scrap pile fabric scraps that coordinated with the scrap to create a palette.
J took off and ran with the concept and before I knew it she was covering my design wall with her improvisational combinations:
Which evolved into these blocks:
I’ll share her pieced quilt top someday in a follow up post when she completes it (if she doesn’t mind me sharing the photo).
What did I work on? I started a new freeform scrappy log cabin but I didn’t like the direction it was going; and after a couple days working on it I recycled it into the scrap pile (and didn’t take any photos of it).
So what did MJ work on? Well not any crafts, ha! She abandoned us in my studio and ended up having a cooking retreat with my husband John.
Like the retreat I had in May with my friends D and K, John did all the cooking. MJ helped John do all the cooking and got cooking lessons from him on some of his specialities. Here they are in a lesson:
She also enjoyed hanging out with Mike our dog (MJ is a “dog person”) and binge watching Netflix shows. Here life is very busy back in Central Oregon and she enjoyed just relaxing and helping cook as her “retreat”, while J and I were upstairs in the “quilters sweatshop” working on our scrappy projects!
MJ also ran errands to the home improvement store with John and Mike, and she got trained on how to push Mike around in his box in the shopping cart as John does!
We had a “make/top your own pizza night” for dinner one night, it was so fun. John and MJ pre-baked the pizza crusts and we got to add our own toppings and hang around the oven waiting for our delicious combinations!
We got out of the house and spent a couple hours or a 1/2 day on various adventures.
One day we went to Castle Rock, CO and visited The Barn, a consignment/antique venue (sort of like a nicely curated flea market), that I love and is so fun to wander.
Here are some boots at The Barn I just could not live without (just kidding, definitely not my style):
It is such a fun wander to meandering around The Barn; and as mentioned on their website: “When you walk into The Barn you may feel many things. Among these feelings could be a sense of comfort…..like you have come home. Many customers express these sentiments…it has come to be known as ‘Barn Therapy’.”
After The Barn we had cocktails and delicious appetizers at the Ecclasia Market across the street, sitting in the Sinners & Saints/Gluttony & Graze area of the market on the comfy sofas.
We also stopped at my favorite indie bookstore in Castle Rock – Sudden Fiction Books.
All of us brought books and J bought so many books we wondered how she’d get them all in her suitcase (she did ship them home), especially some amazing Children’s books for her grandkids. This little bookshop has an amazing curated collection.
They also had this adorable little miniature room display (that lit up) inside one of their bookcases!
One day I did take J to a quilt shop – we visited Holly’s Cabin quilt shop and J was amazing by their extensive collection of curated Kaffe Fassett fabrics on display:
We had beautiful weather (though a little warm in the afternoons) while MJ and J visited. Every morning MJ (who loves to walk like I do) and I took Mike on a couple mile stroll around my neighborhood. John introduced me to what we call “the nature hike” near our house – miles and miles of wooded trails surrounding and connecting different neighborhoods. I’ll share photos from my new favorite daily walk/hike someday.
tierneycreates 