Blog

A Crafter's Life

Magnetic Poetry to Ease My Soul

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been looking for ways to comfort myself during strange times. I shared in the post Flowers on the Table, my keeping fresh flowers on my kitchen table to brighten my world.

Another things I’ve been doing is playing with a set of Magnetic Poetry words I found a couple months ago thrifting; and writing (albeit bad) poetry on a magnetic bulletin board.

The challenging and yet cool thing is that my poetry is limited to the magnetic words provided in the set, however Creative Limitation/Creative Constraint is known to be a good thing (*see the Postscript section below for an AI summary of the research on this topic).

Most of it has been forgettable but I really like this piece and thought I would share:

THE FEROCIOUS ETERNITY by tierneycreates

but perhaps

above a vast sacred sky

seeps only the fresh clean

liquid of time

yet with delicious rhythm

we wake

we listen

and we embrace

the ferocious eternity

of a universe

I haven’t written any additional poems since this one as I do not want to take it down right now. I find it strangely comforting and empowering.

Speaking of ways to comfort/empower yourself during “strange” times, if you don’t already follow her, my blogging friend Laura of Laura Bruno Lily has a powerful creative piece she did as part of the Fall of Freedom program where creatives express Activism through art. Here is a link to the post which contains a video of her piece:Fall of Freedom 11/21 – 22, 2025.

If you are struggling with our strange times, please share if you like, what you are doing to to comfort and/or empower yourself, in the comment section below.

While traveling in September, I ran across a framed print of the 1961 Norman Rockwell painting, The Golden Rule, and it definitely gave me a pause for thought:

*Postscript

As a creative person you’ve likely already heard about the concept of “Creative Limitations” or “Creative Restraints”. If not, here is an awesome summary by Google AI of research and thoughts on this concept.

Limitations foster creativity by preventing overwhelm, forcing a more focused approach, and encouraging innovation within boundaries. Instead of being paralyzed by limitless options, creators can use constraints to find novel solutions, distill ideas into their most impactful form, and become more resourceful. This happens because limitations act as a “creative anchor,” stimulating the brain to make new connections and discover solutions outside of standard methods. 

Limitations spark creativity by:

  • Prevent decision paralysis: An abundance of choices can be overwhelming, leading to “analysis paralysis.” Limitations simplify the creative process by narrowing the field of vision, allowing for deeper focus on the task at hand. 
  • Encourage innovation: When faced with a restriction, creators must find a new path to achieve their goal. This can lead to more unique, original, and efficient solutions than they might have come up with if they had unlimited options. 
  • Force efficiency and focus: Limitations, such as a time limit or a limited budget, can force creators to prioritize what is truly important, leading to a more streamlined and impactful result. 
  • Stimulate the brain: The brain grows by forming new connections. Constraints can act as a catalyst for this growth, pushing the brain to create new branches and associations that lead to creative breakthroughs. 

I know this is why I love working with a set group of fabrics or fabric scraps when making a textiles project. One of my favorite scrappy projects was Seattle Scrappy where I was given/challenged with creating a piece from a bag of my friend’s scraps.

I only used those scraps for the quilt top. I used a recycled thrifted cotton bed sheet for the back and hand quilted it with thrifted Perle Cotton thread I already had in my stash.

Special Events

Christmas at the Bellagio Conservatory

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Do you need any help getting in the mood for the upcoming Christmas holidays? Do you want to see where Christmas has “exploded” and holiday cheer is spewed everywhere? Well I have a post for you 😉

John and I were recently in Las Vegas for his poker tournament and we stopped one day at the Bellagio Hotel’s Conservatory and Gardens where they had outdone themselves on Christmas decorations.

Here we are, overwhelmed with holiday cheer 😉

I don’t mean to make fun of it, the display was actually very lovely and the Bellagio’s team did a spectacular job with the design and decorations.

I got a kick out of the miniature train set circling one of the Christmas trees on display. It reminded of the electric train set we got from my grandfather that always chugged around our Christmas tree when I was a kid.

After touring the gardens we popped into the over the top Christmas Shop at the Bellagio where many items cost a mortgage payment.

But they were beautiful to look at and we had fun browsing the very crowded shop.

From the Woodshop

John Builds Himself a Desk

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I posted about one of my husband John’s woodworking projects.

I set up a website/blog for him for his Mighty Moe Creations – but I never got the posts from my tierneycreates blog on his woodworking transferred over so it is not really a functioning blog yet.

So for now I will continue to share his crafts on my blog 🙂

John was tired of his desk which he bought used like 15 years ago from a neighbor:

He wanted a smaller profile “Mission” style desk and found images like this one on line to inspire him:

With no formal project plans or any instructions, John figured out how to build himself a desk. First he had to learn a new skill – using little dowels for joining the railing on the side pieces of his desk:

He was pretty proud of himself for making it through that which was the most challenging part of the build.

From there he went on to build the rest of the desk:

Then stain and polyurethane it:

And finally to add era/style specific handles to the drawers that he had to special order:

Here is John very happy at his new desk!

Now he plans to build a coordinating station for his printer with an attached 2-drawer file cabinet.

(In case you are wondering what the sign behind John in his bar “Pog Mo Thoin” means, it is Gaelic for “Kiss My Arse” – we picked it up in 2022 while in Ireland. John’s nickname is “Moe” and so he got a kick out of the sign!)

A Crafter's Life

Flowers on the Table

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Reading Gardening Nirvana’s post Celebrating the Gardeners of In a Vase on Monday reminded me of a post I was going to write this summer but I forgot about.

Things have been mighty strange, sad and stressful here in “America-land” and this summer I decided to combat the ugliness I would see in the news (when I could bear to check it) with BEAUTY.

I decided to try to always have a bouquet of flowers on our kitchen table. I’ve continued the habit into the Autumn and plan to take this practice through the Winter and beyond.

I started with pulling flowers this summer from my garden and putting them on the upstairs patio table:

By the way here are our last roses of the season in our rose garden in the front of the house (I had some of them in a bouquet but didn’t photograph it):

Then I moved to purchased flowers each week (or every other week if the bouquet was especially hardy) and here are some of those bouquets:

The bouquets really make my kitchen table happy and add some happiness to our lives!

I’ll close this post with a beautiful bouquet of flowers I stumbled upon while we were in NYC in October 2025 (see posts Time in Times Square and West Village Wander, the Tiniest Yarn Shop and More) at this wonderful Japanese tea/coffee shop we stop at in Manhattan:


What's on the Design Wall

T-Shirt Quilt Assembled

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello, here is a quick update to my post Easing Back into Quiltmaking with a T-Shirt Quilt 🙂

I got John’s T-Shirt Quilt assembled and I am shipping it off to the long-arm quilter. Not sure if I’ll have it back for Christmas as she is of course backlogged this time of year!

Just a reminder from my previous post on this quilt – I will have red binding to it to frame it and pull in the scrap red flannel I used in the center to make the center T-Shirt fit with the others.

Oh and here is a photo of the basketball themed flannel (John loves basketball and was even playing in an intramural league where he was the oldest guy and the referee nicknamed him “Old School” – ha!) that will be on the back:

A Crafter Needs to Eat, Knit and Crochet Away!, Sunflowers!

Big Progress on the Sunflower Granny Square Blanket and Pumpkin Muffins

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is an update to the post Update on Sunflower Blanket and Picking Knitting a Hat Back Up.

I got all 11 rows of 12 sunflower granny squares each, connected vertically. I also began connecting them horizontally.

It seems like I am so close, but so far away from finishing. I have many horizontal rows to single crochet together and then I need to do a border around the whole thing to “square” it/neaten it up.

Then I have all the ends I did not already weave/crochet in to weave in 😦

But I try to focus on far how I have come and how much closer I am to being able to snuggle under my sunflower blanket!

Weather is weird in my part of Colorado and it is at time trying to be Spring, then Summer and then switches back to Fall. To encourage Fall to come to us in full force (bring on 40 degree days!) I made a batch of yummy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins:

I think I’ve posted about these muffins before but here is the link to the recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction:

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-muffins/

The recipe looks tedious because you have to make 1) the streusel topping, 2) the cream cheese filling, and 3) the pumpkin muffin BUT it is totally worth it. I put on some good music and before I knew it I had to components assembled and they were baking the oven.

John was naughty and have two once they cooled down but they were VERY tasty with our coffee/tea!

What's on the Design Wall

Easing Back into Quiltmaking with a T-Shirt Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It feels like I floated far away from a regular quiltmaking practice and I’d like to return to it.

I’d like to always have some quilt, whether traditional or art, in progress on my design wall.

So I am easing back in by making a simple T-shirt quilt for John for Christmas (it’s not a surprise as I wanted him of course to have a say in what T-shirts he gave up for the project!);

I took 17 of his old T-shirts and backed them with interfacing and trimmed them to 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches.

The one in the middle, “Beards Turn Laziness Into Awesomeness” is not actually one of his old T-shirts but a joke T-shirt my friend S found for John while she and I were thrifting.

I am setting the interfaced T-shirt squares with a tartan looking flannel I found a couple years ago at a thrift shop.

I will bind the quilt once it is quilted with red flannel binding to “frame” it/coordinated with the scrappy red flannel I put around the center T-shirt to make it large enough to fit into the design.

Happy to have a quilt in progress up on the design wall!

It should come together quickly so I hope to soon have an update on this quilt!

Knit and Crochet Away!

I Finished the Mystery Variegated Yarn Hat

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quick post as I work on catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts (oops I got so behind!)

This is a follow up to the posts The Purple/Violet has Returned! and Update on Sunflower Blanket and Picking Knitting a Hat Back Up about the hat I was knitting from mystery vareigated yarn that I found while thrifting. I didn’t know what the colors/pattern was going to because it was already wound into a ball.

Here is the finished hat:

And the weather is cold enough in the morning and evening in my part of Colorado to start wearing it!

Independent bookstores, Knit and Crochet Away!, Thrift Shop Adventures, tierneytravels

West Village Wander, the Tiniest Yarn Shop and More

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I love New York City (NYC) and I’ve been there many many many times. This is a continuation of the post Time in Times Square about the couple days that my sister, John and my nephew L spent in NYC in October 2025. This post is a little bit about our wander from Soho to Chelsea one day, with most of the time spent in the West Village.

I grew up in Long Island, NY and Albany, NY. I remember when I was 14 years old in the late 1970s taking the train from Long Island to NYC with a high school friend. We were two teens wandering around NYC unsupervised. Perhaps not the safest idea nowadays but it seemed okay (maybe back then).

Because I’ve been to NYC so many times, when I visit, which is usually with my sister who loves NYC also, we like to focus on a specific neighborhood(s) and just enjoy our times like locals. We are very “un-touristy”.

Some Background on NYC and How I’ve Visited Over the Years

If you are not familiar with New York City, it is comprised of five (5) boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The boroughs are then divided into neighborhoods.

For examples some of the well known neighborhoods in Manhattan are Greenwich Village, Soho, Tribeca, Chinatown, Upper East Side, Central Park, Hell’s Kitchen, Harlem, Meatpacking District, etc.

Image credit: Wikipedia

The challenge with visiting NYC is there is SO MUCH TO DO and SO MUCH TO SEE that you have to narrow your visit to just a specific section to really enjoy it (at least in my opinion). Here are some examples:

Back in 2017 when I attended Quilter’s Take Manhattan (see posts from my blogging category Quilters Take Manhattan), I pretty much only spent time in the Garment District and Central Park area (I spent the most amazing day on my own at the Metropolitan Museum of Art one of the most magical places in the world in my opinion).

When my visited NYC Spring 2024 we didn’t even visit Manhattan (see post Springtime in Brooklyn ), we just stayed in Brooklyn. Primarily hanging out in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Dumbo and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

When my sister and I attended New York Fashion Week in Manhattan in 2021 we primarily hung out in Soho and accidentally discovered the “Little Paris” micro-neighborhood that we didn’t even know existed (a cultural heritage project and micro neighborhood occupying the stretch of Centre Street between Grand Street and Broome Street – Wikipedia).

So what I am trying to explain in a very long-winded manner is when I visit NYC I focus on a small part of NYC each time I visit.

And that’s what we did in October. We stuck primarily to the Manhattan neighborhoods of West Village, Soho, and Chelsea.

The Tiniest Yarn Shop

While in West Village we discovered what I call the “tiniest yarn shop I’ve ever seen” – West Village Knit & Needle. There maybe smaller ones but was impressively small!

We took the narrow stairs down to the shop in a brownstone’s basement:

There was barely enough room for John, my sister, my nephew and I to maneuver around (they were great sports stopping at bookstores and craft stores whenever I came upon one) but here is a little tour:

The staff was very friendly and one of them was working on an amazing cabled cardigan:

That is some serious cable knitting. I tried to learn to knit cables when we were visiting Ireland in October 2022 in a class taught by Helen of Knit with Helen but I have yet to finish the cabled knitted headband project she gave me to take home!

Helen is the one who knitted the tiny cabled sweater worn by the tierneycreates Beastie:

tierneycreates Beastie with Mattie Beastie (both wearing tiny cable knit sweaters by Helen) and John Beastie in Dublin, October 2022

(By the way we are returning to Dublin in 2026 on our way to visit London for the first time. Aer Lingus flies out of Denver now and we can fly directly, for a reasonable price, to Dublin and then hop on an hour and a half flight to Heathrow. We had such a wonderful time in Ireland 3 years ago we want to stop there again for a couple days before heading to the UK)

I am all over the place in this post, what was I originally blogging about? Oh yes – wandering around the West Village in Manhattan.

We Snuck in Some Thrifting

While wandering around West Village we came upon a charity thrift shop – Housing Works Thrift Shops and just had to peek in.

My sister and I love thrifting (we usually find a thrift shop or two on our sister vacations) and I seem to have corrupted John, who at first appeared to be tortured whenever asked to accompany me into a thrift shop. He now seems to enjoy them and was excited to pop into this thrift shop for a wander.

Yes that’s John in the photo above buying something at the thrift shop.

And a Couple Other Places

We didn’t just torture John to thrift stores and yarn shops, my sister surprised him with a visit to the famous Garber Hardware a family owned and operated hardware store in business since 1884.

John was happy wandering this cool hardware store!

We also visited a couple independent bookstores and this one was my favorite – Three Lives & Co.

I had a wonderful chat with the bookstore staff who told me that surprising a lot of people from Colorado has visited there store recently (what?!?! are a bunch of fellow Coloradans all sneaking over to NYC?!?!). John bought a book as did my nephew but I just bought some postcards and bookmarks, as I need another book in queue to read like I need a hole in the head!

We also ate our way through the neighborhoods we visited picking up little treats, snacks and tastes here and there. There is SO MUCH GOOD FOOD in NYC its difficult to even put into words.

For example while wandering we stopped at a wonderful little tiny sushi counter and got a little sushi roll snack to fortify us for our continuing adventures.

Okay you might be asleep now but that’s the end of this post 🙂

Postscript

I misled you, there is a little bit more to this post.

In this post I mentioned the tierneycreates Beastie (Beastie Adventures). I realized she has not “guest blogger post” for a long time on my blog. She used to be quite active. I used to also have Mike the Miniature Schnauzer (who passed in July 2024) “guest blogger post” quite a bit. I think when he passed I just stopped with the “guest blogger” postings.

But in the future I will be bringing back the tierneycreates Beastie as a guest blogger. She has been primarily hanging out in her “apartment” in my studio and I realize it’s time to take her on some adventures again (I have to give her stuff to blog about!) 🙂

Knit and Crochet Away!, Special Events, Sunflowers!

Update on Sunflower Blanket and Picking Knitting a Hat Back Up

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Sunflower Granny Square Blanket

Update on the post 48 Granny Squares Now Connected – I now have 84 sunflower granny squares joined together vertically! I am plugging along 🙂

So 7 out of the 11 rows of 12 granny square each, are done and just 4 more rows (48 granny squares) to go.

Then I am of course going to single crochet them together horizontally and add a single crochet border all the way around to anchor everything. After that I will decide if I want to make a fancy border, etc.

Revisiting a Hat I Started Last Winter

I made 137 sunflower granny squares while riding in cars, planes, trains and sitting at events beginning May 2024. Now that the making of the individual sunflower granny squares is done (and the blanket is finally being assembled) I needed another portable project.

So I pulled out at hat project that I last posted about in December 2024 – The Purple/Violet has Returned!

I used a variegated ball of yarn I found thrifting with little idea of what the different colors would be since it was already rolled into a ball and I could only see a little of the color changes!

It was my leap of faith hat!

So on Friday John’s son Z was visiting and we took him to the Denver Film Festival and saw the premiere of the film Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Danile Craig, I brought my hat and worked on it in the car on the way to the event and at the event before the film showing began (we arrived early to get good seats and had a bit of a wait before the movie started).

Here’s some additional images from the festival including the lovely Chihuly chandelier that hangs in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House where the film was premiering.

The film was really fun and I recommend it when it premieres on Netflix in December.

A Crafter's Life, Knit and Crochet Away!

48 Granny Squares Now Connected

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was so inspired by your awesome comments on my post 137 Sunflower Granny Squares Completed that I decided to make a big push yesterday to start getting the blanket assembled from a year’s+ of granny squares made while on the road (as a passenger of course, it’s difficult to crochet while driving, ha!).

“Fantastic! A truly graphic representation of the miles spent on the road”

“All those little squares of sunshine!”

“It will be so beautiful to sleep in a field of flowers!”

“Miles of travel and happy memories, a field of flowers to keep you warm.”

“A certain amount of serendipity seems to fit in with the carefree sunflower theme.”

I searched YouTube for the best method to put them together and decided to go with single crochet. I looked at a bunch of videos and went with this simple one:

So here are 48 of the blocks joined into 4 rows and laid upon the “Design Carpet”.

I have 137 as I mentioned in the previous post on this project, and I am thinking instead of using 120 for a 10 by 12 block layout, I should use 132 for a 11 by 12 block layout.

In case you are curious of what my plan is, first I am crocheting vertical rows and once all those are together, then I was connect the horizontal rows with single crochet. So it will be a bit unwieldy until that part but it will make less ends to weave in.

It was actually very relaxing once I got my rhythm to join the granny squares together. While joining them I fell into some sort of strange YouTube rabbit hole and ended up binge watching Barry Manilow performance videos.

Okay so I shared a little about this back in 2016 in this post Shameless “Thrifting” (wow I have been blogging so long) but when I was 12 or so I was OBSESSED with Barry Manilow.

While other kids of my demographic were obsessed with the Jackson 5/Michael Jackson, I was totally in love with Barry Manilow. I remember having a giant poster of him in my room (not sure where I got it) and my father walking into my room and being appalled (my parents were more traditional R&B and Jazz music people).

So I remember when I was around 12, Barry Manilow had his first TV special. It was like 1977 and there were no VCR, TiVo, etc. recording options and most things were not replayed from live telecasts. My parents made my sister (my brother wasn’t born yet) and I go to a party with them on the night on the Barry Manilow Special.

I had a complete meltdown and thought my world was ending because I had to miss the Barry Manilow Special. My parents were not understanding and I was made to go to the party.

Not me but image from web

(Note this is not me but image from web)

While working on the blanket last evening and falling into the “Barry Manilow Rabbit Hole”, I did search YouTube for any videos/clips from that special I missed back in 1977 (which Barry Manilow ended up winning at Grammy for so it must have been good!) and I found a couple but could not find the full special. That would have been fun to sit back all these years later and finally watch it.

My musical tastes have changed quite a bit over the years but whenever I hear Barry Manilow I get nostalgic for that innocence of a 12 year old girl who thought his songs were all that love and relationships were about.

Well I am sure that is more about me than you wanted to know but occasionally we overshare while blogging, ha!

A Crafter's Life

A Quiet Night of Crafting with John

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The other night John and I decided to try something different in the evening.

We both have miniatures to assemble – he has a miniature wooden antique car 3D puzzle to assemble, and I have a miniature bookshop that my stepson bought me as a gift to assemble.

So after dinner we went to my studio and sat at my studio table with the Denver Nuggets basketball game on and perhaps a whiskey (sometimes you need a “crafting cocktail”) and got to crafting for the evening!

Here is John working on his project (which had like a million pieces, ha!):

And here I am with mine:

Luckily we had our new glue gun we found at Costco as we had several incidents where tiny pieces broke as were were trying to connect them.

The Glue Gun saved our sanity!

It was a pretty fun evening, I think we crafted for like 4 hours. We are going to do this on a regular basis during the late Fall and Winter season.

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

The Spinning Scrap Bin

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I don’t seem to be able to control my attraction to fabric scraps – various little bits of tasty fabrics. I’ve culled/curated my collection over the years and have donated the scraps I’ll never use to the charity thrift shops to sale in bundles.

I tell myself that I must use up what I have before I pick up more scraps, but new fabric scraps keep finding their way into my life.

I was doing pretty well controlling my obsession until we went on a day trip to Fort Collins, CO last week and stopped at the relatively new retail location of Pink Door Fabrics in Frederick, Colorado on the way to Fort Collins.

And they had toward the back of the store a SPINNING BIN OF FABRIC SCRAPS!!!

They had organized the fabric scraps (which were fat quarter to nearly half yard sized scraps!) by color and/or fabric line. The spinning bin was some type of industrial organization bin that was repurposed into a fabric scrap bin.

They had a “fill a bag” for a flat rate set up and I filled…two bags.

I started out filling only one bag but the staff was so friendly and got a kick out of how excited I was about their spinning fabric scrap bin and one staff member decided to go out to the Pink Door Fabrics Warehouse behind the shop and see if there were scraps for me to choose from.

She brought back this plastic tub of scraps:

So I ended up filling two bags. Very full. They even let me have fabric overflowing the bag. (I am pretty sure they were happy to get rid of the scraps).

I know I should show you my haul but I forgot to photograph it before I put it away in my already ridiculous collection of fat quarters and fabrics scraps.

If you’d like a little tour of the quilt shop here are some additional photos:

Pink Door Fabrics has an amazing collection of well curated fabrics with a focus on modern quilting style fabric lines such as Ruby Star, Tula Pink, AGF Studio, Riley Blake, Alison Glass, Tilda Fabrics, Anna Maria, Tara Faughnan, Moda, etc.

They also have a nice little seating area in case you have someone with you that doesn’t want to wander the fabric stacks – ha! (hint John)

I really loved this quilt they had displayed:

Postscript

After the “spinning scrap bin” incident, we headed on to spend the day in Fort Collins (which is about 1.5 hours from our home) and found a delicious Ramen place we never tried before (we love Ramen); as well as stopped at one of our favorite Fort Collins breweries – New Belgium Brewery and had a tasty sampler!

Special Events

The House That Keeps Winning Halloween

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yes I’ve posted about this house before:
The House That Won Halloween

Still Winning Halloween

Well they are at it again and they keep winning Halloween in my opinion!

The other day on my neighborhood walk I took another series of photos of the annual Halloween display of one of the area houses. Posting again for those of you who love Halloween (of course my photos do not do their display justice, it is so awesome and epic in person!)

Postscript

Bonus photo: John loves Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joes and they finally had them in stock at our Trader Joes. He posed with this cookies in the pumpkin display in front of the store!

Knit and Crochet Away!, Sunflowers!

137 Sunflower Granny Squares Completed

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here’s an update on this post from September 2025 What’s on the “Design Carpet”: Update on Sunflower Granny Square Blanket.

After lots of time on the road during various roadtrips in 2025 I’ve exhausted my supply of “center flower” yarn for the Sunflower themed Granny Square blanket I’ve been crocheting while riding in the car.

So it is time to make it into a blanket!

There are a total of 137 granny squares!

This might seem tedious but I counted and photographed how many of each different mix of yarns squares (21 different versions of the square*) of the 137 squares I made (the count of each type in lower right hand corner):

I’m not using all 137 squares in the blanket. I figure I will make a 10 square by 12 square blanket and use 120 squares and save the rest (17) for a couple small projects like a pillow or something like that.

I decided not to use the “design carpet” to lay out the sunflower granny squares. Instead I separated them into VERY ARBITRARY “light” and “dark” piles, trying to make the piles as even as possible:

So I’ll post my progress as I crochet together alternating “light” and “dark” squares to make the blanket!

*(Why so many different versions for the granny squares? Well I was using up miscellaneous yarn I had thrifted over the years)

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Tooling Around Townsend

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before we sailed out of Port Angeles, WA to Victoria BC for 24 hours (minus sleep) of fun in July 2025, (see posts A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC and 24 Hours in Victoria, BC) we spent a lovely afternoon in Port Townsend, Washington.

It been countless years since I visited Port Townsend, WA…not since when I lived in Seattle, WA for 8 years and would stop there on the way to British Columbia (which we visited as much as possible)…. Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Washington state known for its beautiful waterfront and natural scenery at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula; and many historic Victorian buildings remaining from its late 19th-century heyday. It is also a hub for numerous annual cultural events, and a maritime center for independent boatbuilders and related industries and crafts. (Wikipedia).

John and I had a delicious lunch at thr Sirens Pub with a wonderful view of the water:

Then we wandering around the shops in downtown Port Townsend including a fiber shop – Diva Yarn & Trim.

A shop with yarn and fabric is always my kind of place.

While walking in the waterfront area we came across two ladies playing guitar and accordion and singing in French. Their music was so wonderful I tried to find their tip jar to give them a little something but they said they did it just for fun not for any money.

They didn’t mind if I filmed the area with their music in the background:

It was a glorious day in Port Townsend, WA!

Postscript

When we first arrived in Washington State via the Seattle (SeaTac) airport, we stayed in Olympia and the next day drove to Port Townsend and then on to Port Angeles to take the ferry to Victoria, BC. On our way to Port Townsend, we stopped in Shelton, WA and visited one of my favorite Washington state quilt shops – Annie’s Quilt Shoppe.

I hadn’t been there in years, not since I used to attend an annual quilt retreat in Shelton, WA (see posts A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part I, A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part II, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part I, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part II, and Riptide Retreat 2022 in Black and White ) and it was nice to return and chat with Annie the owner.

I bought some very reasonably priced fabric to support this awesome shop (that perhaps I did not. need, ha!).

I always get a kick out of this sign in front of the shop that some of the quilters reading this post might have seen in front of other quilting shops:

Finished Projects, U.S. National Parks

National Parks Wallhanging Quilted and Hung

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Now that my year of travel has slowed down (only one more trip to go this year), I am easing back into my studio to make things. (Perhaps someday there will be more “tierneycreates” posts vs. “tierneytravels” posts in the future…)

John and I are obsessed with U.S. National Parks and ended up visiting 6 this year (I’ve only blogged about 2 of them so far as I am quite behind in my travel posts – Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks) and when we redecorated our basement guest room we did it in a Colorado and National Parks theme (see post “Pieces of Colorado” Now Hung in the Guest Room):

What you can barely see in the image above is some of the art on the wall are framed pages from a book I found thrifting for $2.99 (retails for $34.99) of 63 of the iconic Anderson Design Group National Park Posters on individual pages:

Image Credit: Anderson Design Store website

I took this amazing 9″ x 12″ book apart and framed 16 or so of the 9″ x 12″ to use as art in the basement and in the stairwell leading to the basement.

So when during our trip to South Dakota we stopped at a quilt shop in downtown Rapid City, SD (see post A Wander About Downtown Rapid City, SD) and they had the Riley Blake Designs National Parks Poster Panel featuring miniature U.S. National Park Posters by the Anderson Design Group, I had to have it!

Image Credit: Riley Black Designs website

Instead of letting it gather dust in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection”, I decided this week to actually make it into a wallhanging and hang it 🙂

I decided to use strategically placed fusible web tape between the panel and the batting, and the batting and the backing to hold it all together for quilting instead of thread basting or pinning it:

Here the wallhanging hung in the stairwell from the 1st floor to the basement:

Here is a close up of some of the miniature U.S. National Park posters on the panel which mirror some of the posters I hung on the wall from the Anderson Group book I thrifted:

My machine quilting on this quilt was very simple – I followed the lines in the panel and outlined the individual states, the miniature posters, and the longitude and latitude lines. The finished wallhanging measures 33″ tall by 43″ wide.

Of course now the MANY other panels in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection” are envious of the National Parks Map panel as they would also love to be completed wallhangings and hung (or made into quilts). 😉

tierneytravels

Time in Times Square

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thought I share a little on a recent travel before I work on catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts.

My epic year of travel continues and just a couple of days ago I was in New York City for a couple days with John, my sister and nephew. We had a blast during our 2 day trip to NYC and I will blog more about the trip at a later date, but here are some photos from our couple hours in Times Square.

I hadn’t been to Times Square in like 10 years. We used to stop there every we went to NYC but then it lost it’s excitement for me (super “tourist trap” to the max) and on my annual (or biannual) trips to NYC with my sister in the past we would skip it and just visit places like Brooklyn (see post Springtime in Brooklyn).

We spent about 3 hours in Times Square including our time to eat and I think I am now good for another 10 years – ha! (It is so many people and non stop overwhelming visual stimulation).

tierneytravels

24 Hours in Victoria, BC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thought I would finish up the story of our 24 hours worth of adventures in Victoria, British Columbia which I began sharing in the posts A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC  and Smelling the Roses in Victoria, BC.

We visited John’s cousin in Bremerton, Washington in July 2025 and made an impromptu decision to take the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) for an overnight adventure.

The ferry ride was smooth until we crossed into Canadian waters and then it got pretty rough but luckily I had taken Dramamine for sea sickness and was okay.

I was pretty happy when the ferry docked after the 90 minute trip from Port Angeles to Victoria!

We stayed at the lovely Chateau Victoria Hotel and wandered around the Inner Harbour area/Downtown Victoria during our 24 hours in Victoria before taking the ferry the next day back to Port Angeles.

We had a lovely breakfast and delicious tea/coffee at Murchie’s Fine Tea & Coffee:

They had an amazing tea shop attached with lots of beautiful tea pots and tempting teas. I did bring some tea home!

We went to several “tourist trap” shops and John enjoyed having his photo taken in with various shop mascots:

We spent a couple hours at one of my favorite museums in the world the Royal BC Museum (where many years ago when I lived in Seattle and would visit Victoria, BC I saw the most amazing Leonardo DaVinci exhibit).

In front of one of my most beloved museums

We saw two wonderful exhibits: 1) Global Threads: The Art of Fashion of Indian Chintz; and 2) Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change.

John couldn’t refuse having his photo taken on the simulated musician stage with a guitar in hand at the Beyond the Beat exhibit:

We didn’t see 1/2 of what we wanted to see in Victoria and plan to visit next summer.

John fell in love with Victoria and we discussed visiting it every summer!

John has never been to Vancouver, BC and area I also love and we will also plan to visit Vancouver next summer too!

Bags Bags Bags, Finished Projects

Adding a Zippered Pocket to a Golf Shoe Bag

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in June I experimented with making a golf shoe bag using a modified version of the pattern I use to make drawstring bags (see June 30, 2025 post Experimenting with Making Golf Shoe Bags). The bags are lined with vinyl so that if grassy/dirty golf shoes are put in it the bag can easily be wiped out.

I made one for John and one for his cousin M who we went to visit in Washington State in July:

I wanted to make another golf shoe bag for another golfer in my life but this time I wanted to add a pocket to the front of the bag. So I used a front zipper pocket pattern from Noodlehead’s pattern for the Firefly Tote (see December 28, 2021 post Adventures in Bag Making: Firefly Tote is done!).

I forgot to take a photo of the bag back in my studio and here I am balancing it on my lap as we are driving to meet up with my golfer friend to give him his gift.

My golfer friend happens to be in the financial services industry so as a little bit of humor I added a money fabric liner to his zippered pocket:

He loved the bag and said previously he was just throwing his grassy golf shoes into the back of his car when he was done golfing. Now they can be in a nice vinyl lined bag!

A Crafter's Life, tierneycreates

Reacquainted with an Old Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Recently my friend K reacquainted me with an old quilt with emotional ties I had forgotten about.

I’ve been quilting since the late 1990s and I’ve made a lot of quilts, most of which I’ve given as gifts or in some cases sold, so you kind of forget some of the quilts after a while; and sometimes the emotional connection you had with a particular quilt.

One of the quilts I had forgotten about was a blue and white quilt that I made from a pattern many years ago (10 years ago?) and ended up sellling (for basically the cost of the fabric and the professional longarm quilting) to a quilting friend L who fell in love with it.

Last week my friend K was staying at L’s home in New Hampshire and ended up sleeping under that blue and white quilt I made (and had forgotten about) and sent me photos:

It was nice to see the quilt but I forgot the emotional connection I had with the quilt until K mentioned that the quilt had a spectacular backing.

I gasped as I suddenly remembered the backing I put on the quilt and asked K to send me a picture of the back of the quilt so I could see it again:

On the back of what one might consider a “quiet quilt” (blues and white in a traditional setting) I put what one might consider a “very bold” fabric!

At the time I made the quilt I thought the front of it was “boring” and decided to spice it up with a colorful backing fabric I found in my stash.

That fabric was from my friend Tracy who suddenly died a couple years after giving me the fabric which she found at a thrift shop.

I met Tracy at work back in the 1990s when I lived in Houston, Texas and we stayed friends for many years, occasionally losing touch but finding each other again. I started quilting while livingi in Seattle, Washington and she, unknown to me at the time, had also started quilting! When we reconnected a couple years after each of us becoming quilters we were very elated that we now shared the same hobby.

I however have some intense regret related to Tracy. Over a year before she died we were supposed to go to the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October, and I cancelled and said it would work better for us to go next year.

There was no next year quilt festival for Tracy as she passed away the following year before the festival. I had missed a glorious opportunity and memory with my friend because I delayed going to the event with her a year. I also missed an opportunity to spend time with her before she left this existence.

Perhaps this is why many years ago I decided to sell the quilt to L. L loved the quilt and the quilt was just making me sad, reminding me of Tracy’s passing and my regret on not going to the quilt festival with her.

Now of course I wish I’d kept the quilt and honored Tracy’s memory by still having a quilt a made with a backing she gave me.

However, all I can do now is be grateful that is being used and not in a closet somewhere tucked away; to remember not to wait to do special things with special people; and tomorrow is not promised.

Studio, What's on the Design Wall

“Toward 2050” Quilt Top Done

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This post is a quick follow up to the “Toward 2050” – Volunteering to Make A Quilt Top .

After seeing the Toward 2050 exhibit and walking the labyrinth at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona in February, I knew I wanted to contribute to the project in someway and ended up volunteering to sew one of the “blankets” (what they were calling the quilts, ouch) to be made from 30 of the flags that people around the world created inspired by their feelings on Climate Change.

So I turned this pile of 30 – 9 1/2″ by 9 1/2″ flags:

Into this quilt top per the detailed instructions provided:

It was challenging as the flags were really more individual art pieces and likely not originally created to be incorporated together into one piece*.

I ran into issues of trying to sew through very thick materials; and dealing with flag original construction and design issues such as sections within a flag not fully stitched together.

*I am not sure if the original participants knew their flags would become “quilt blocks”:

But I got it done (and so appreciated sharing my challenges with my friend W who was also working on piecing a different set of 30 flags) and will mail to the Toward 2050 project team tomorrow for them to send it on to their volunteer longarm machine quilters to finish.

tierneytravels

Smelling the Roses in Victoria, BC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

More on our 24 hours in Victoria, British Columbia in July (which I began sharing in the post A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC ), but today is a brief post on our delightful “floral experience” in Victoria.

In front of the Parliament building is a gorgeous rose garden.

If you remember from my post Agriculture Report: “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”, John loves roses and dreams of a big rose garden someday like his beloved grandfather had.

Well he was in heaven in the rose garden in front of Victoria’s Parliamentary building!

Here are some photos of the other beautiful roses/rose bushes that we spent time admiring:

As it was July it appeared everything was in bloom in this glorious Pacific Northwest City!

In addition to roses there were flowers all about the Inner Harbour section of Victoria, BC.

It’s such a beautiful place and I was so happy to return again after so many years. John and I now plan to visit every summer, he fell in love with Victoria (maybe it was the roses…).

Beads and Buttons, tierneytravels

A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Well we’ve finished up the endless saga of our Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska it’s time for a craft shop post – this time in Victoria, British Columbia!

In early July John and I headed to Washington state to visit his cousin who lives in Bremerton, Washington. On a whim we decided, as long as we were in the Pacific Northwest to add to our trip a visit to Mt. Rainer National Park, and an overnight visit to Victoria, BC which I’ve visited several times before (and absolutely love) via the Black Ball Ferry Line out of Port Angeles, Washington.

More on this Pacific NW adventure in future posts, but for now let’s focus on the fabulous time I had exploring the Button & Needlework Boutique in the Downtown/Inner Harbour section of Victoria, BC.

John and I were wandering after dropping off our bags at the hotel and we turn the corner and see this:

Walking into the Button & Needlework Boutique I was greeted with this delightful sight:

This shop is filled with embroidery patterns and supplies; yarn and fiber craft supplies; and loads and load of buttons!

The also had beautiful Japanese Sashiko kits and supplies, as well as beautiful examples of Sashiko stitching on display:

I couldn’t leave without picking up some buttons (I also bought a Sashiko kit which I forgot to photograph):

I fell in love with these owl buttons. There were many buttons to fall in love with but I behaved.

A Crafter's Life, Special Events

So I took a Watercolor Painting class…

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Skipping around in my Summer of Travel stories to share a recent story (this past weekend).

I recently returned from a 3-day weekend in Portland, Oregon. I went with John to visit his son Z and decided to take a craft class in Portland one day so John and Z could have time on their own one day.

At first I looked into classes on crafts I already know – quilting, bag making or knitting/crochet. I couldn’t find any class that interested me on the weekend I was in Portland.

Then a crazy idea came to mind: I’ve been interested in learning to paint using Watercolors (not sure why I am so drawn to Watercolor but I am) – why not find a Watercolor Painting class?

I found two options at Wildcraft Studio School: 1) Introduction to Watercolor Painting; or 2) Color Theory: Watercolor.

I am very interested in Color Theory (see my post about my Colour Wheel Quilt – The Colour Wheel Quilt is Done) and the class said it was for beginner and experienced Watercolor artists.

So I selected this class. I figure I can watch YouTube videos to learn Watercolor painting techniques but I’d really like some hands on instruction with how to mix colors using the Watercolor paint medium.

Arriving to class this past Saturday I was greeted with a lovely courtyard in front of the studio as you enter (I ended up enjoying my lunch in that courtyard during our break):

I felt very intimidated as I sat down at my table – what was I thinking dabbling in Watercolors?!?!?

The class was comprised of women in my age group, one young woman and one man. They were a friendly and engaging group and I really enjoyed chatting with the two women who sat at the table with me.

The class was taught by the Seattle-based Watercolor Artist Robin Bundi who was kind, patient and an excellent instructor!

The class was focused on understanding color and color mixing and our primary class exercise involved creating color wheel mixing samples using different sets of primary color palettes.

The instructor had many amazing examples of how just a couple primary colors (some version of red, blue, yellow) can make an endless assortment of colors, tints and shades.

Here’s an amazing sample piece created by the instructor demonstrating how you can just use two colors (Ultramarine and Brick) to create a palette:

So I got to work and finally (sort of) got the hang of mixing colors.

And at the end of the class she had us each paint a small piece with basic shapes/improvisational design, using what we learned of color mixing as well as color washing techniques.

Here is the piece I made (yes, not ready for a solo exhibit in Watercolors yet, ha!) but I forgot to erase/lighten the original pencil lines I used (and then ignored) when sketching the piece.

I joked with the instructor when she critiqued the piece that it looks like I took some mind altering substances before I began painting – ha!

Now when I catch up on my sewing projects I am going to work through an Introduction to Watercolor book I found a couple months ago thrifting as well as watch YouTube videos on painting techniques.

I think my goal is to be able to make Watercolor cards to send to friends (for them to recycle – ha!)