I’ve enjoyed the posts some of you have written showing how you’ve reinvented, remodeled, revitalized, refurbished, rescued, etc. an item that was headed to the rubbish heap/landfill; and made it useable again. I wanted to share how I rescued/remodeled a blanket that was not working.
During the pandemic I discovered at Costco these magically soft and cozy blankets: Pendleton Sherpa Fleece Blankets. They were on sale and I bought it in King size.
Found this photo on eBay, I bought the King size version
Photo credit – eBay
Well the blanket has become worn out and I ended up buying a newer one a couple years ago. It is still a super fleecy cozy and I was using it as a blanket in the basement, however it was cumbersome to use to snuggle under on a sofa as it was king-sized blanket (meant for a king-sized bed).
My initial options were to 1) keep using the huge bulky blanket; or 2) donate the blanket. I was leaning towards option 2 but then I realized that the charity thrift shop I donated it too would like throw it own as it the blanket was worn down in several areas and it might not be resellable.
So I decided to cut the king-size blanket in half, overlocked stitch the edge and turn it into TWO blankets!
I don’t have a serger so I had to overlock stitchthe blanket and then I trimmed as close to the edge as I could to clean up the fibers (I didn’t take a photo).
John and now each have a cozy large lap-sized fleece blankets to snuggle under when watching TV in the basement!
Cabinet Building in Progress
While I was remodeling a blanket, John has been busy in his workshop making a cabinet for the upstairs primary bathroom. For years I’ve just had shelves about the “water closet” room the toilet in the primary bathroom resides in, and finally John is adding a cabinet.
Here are some images of his project in progress:
When he finishes the cabinet I’ll share the completed piece in its own future blog post.
We spent the week of Christmas (12/22 – 12/27/24) in Miami, Florida with my family. One of my stepsons joined us along with my siblings, their kids and my sister-in-law. We came from Oregon, Virginia, Delaware and Denver to meet up for Christmas week!
Here is John on his way to get our rental car in the Miami airport with the artificial Christmas tree we brought along on his back!
John and I rented a couple loft condos in a converted former industrial building so the 8 of us would have plenty of space; and made our condo the main Christmas area with the tree, stockings and meals served there. I put on a fireplace video with Christmas music from YouTube and hung the stockings on the entertainment center for ambiance – ha!
Here’s what our condo looked like with a view of Miami’s skyline:
John made several wonderful meals and it was so good to sit down with the family from all over the country and share his yummy cooking:
I spent an evening on Espanola Way in South Beach with my siblings and their kids wandering around and it was magical!
John got to go on several rented bike rides along South Beach with his son Z who is an avid cyclist in Portland, Oregon (they didn’t appear to take any photos).
Miami was beautiful and decorated for the holidays:
I got to spend a morning wandering around downtown Miami with my sister and visiting the really lovely Brickell City Centre shopping area.
We stopped for some amazing pastries at the Rosetta Bakery.
Our family was so sweet and the day after Christmas they threw a surprise party in the afternoon for John and I at the other condo to celebrate our love and our commitment to family. They decorated the table with my favorite – sunflowers!
My brother, sister and stepson all made amazing speeches and John and I got pretty choked up! It was a very special afternoon.
On our last day in Miami, before heading to the airport, a couple of us went to Coral Gables and spent time in a delightful independent bookstore – Books & Books. It has a cafe, a bar, and endless rooms of books! I didn’t want to leave but eventually we had to head to the airport – ha!
I loved the cozy looking windows looking out to the outside dining at the bookstore.
The week flew by fast and we didn’t get to do all the things we planned (like go to the beach!) but it was a very special Christmas!
Hope your holidays were wonderful, I’ll be catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts I’ve missed in the near future 🙂
This is a continuation to yesterday’s post (Paper Piecing Paradise) where I shared that a week or so ago quilting friend and her partner; and attended the opening of two quilt shows at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.
The second show opening at the museum was SAQA Wild. Per the museum’s website the show: A collection of Art Quilts submitted by Studio Art Quilt Associates members from an invitation to let their imaginations take them on a journey to a WILD place – ANY wild place. The exhibit includes pieces from 30 artists, many from our own state of Colorado!! WILD is a small word, with BIG opportunity especially when you live in the area of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. These art quilts use texture, shape, color and a multitude of techniques to take you to their WILD places.
Here are my favorites of the art quilts on display in the show:
Lots of art quilt inspiration in the show!
If you aren’t familiar with SAQA, it stands for Studio Art Quilt Associates. When I lived in Central Oregon I was an active member of our local SAQA group which at first was headed by Jean Wells an international known art quilter, author and former owner of the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon which held the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
I participated in their local shows and challenges for about 5 years.
After moving to Colorado in 2019 after my life partner, “Terry the Quilting Husband” died in 2018, I lost my “art quilting mojo” as well as my tolerance for group activities so I didn’t join the local SAQA group. (And in 2020 we had the COVID pandemic that stopped group activities for quite a while).
I’ve met some wonderful quilters in the 5+ years I’ve lived in Colorado and have been invited to join various guilds and groups but so far I’ve declined.
I remember the card my friend W sent me in 2020 that reads: “Give Yourself Grace“, and I continue to remember to do that. Perhaps I will join a quilting group in the future, perhaps not. Currently I am enjoying just working solo on project ideas and catching up on my backlog.
The middle of October, John and I went “Pumpkin Picking” at a Rock Creek Farm in Broomfield, Coloradowith his 15 year old granddaughter, her parents and their dog. It was a gorgeous day.
I made my stepson, his wife and his daughter all “Fall Fun Bags” for the day with Autumn themed snacks, tea (all three of them love tea like I do), and other treats. I used recycled paper handle bags and decorated them with customized gift tags.
Here are some photos from our pumpkin picking fun include John and his son E being silly in the pumpkin field:
We also took them for their first trip to Buc-ees, a place I am not sure how to describe except as a “convenience store on steroids with a gas station”, for lunch.
I waited in the back of John’s truck with their dog (we sat outside in the truck bed), while they got their food (and treats) at Buc-ees.
John’s granddaughter had an awesome time (it’s a success when a teenager is fully engaged and having fun on a family event, right?) and we had a family picnic in the parking lot of Buc-ees using the truck bed!
October 2023 I posted about a house in the neighborhood I often walk in that I felt “won Halloween“ – The House That Won Halloween – due to their extensive and creative decorations (tastefully done and not too over-the-top):
(see the October 5, 2023 post for all my images of their awesome decorations)
Well, I was walking by the house the other day and once again they have their awesome Halloween decorations out but this time they added a BIG item to the group – a GIANT skeleton coming out of the ground!
It is massive and just compare it in the image to the house in the background which is a large house to give you an idea of the size of this skeleton!
Yes this house is so fun to walk by; and it continues to “Win Halloween” in the neighborhood!
The leaves are really starting to change in my section of eastern section of the Denver Metropolitan area of Colorado that we live in. I thought I would share a couple photos from my recent daily walks and a hike we went on at Castlewood Canyon State Park.
And of course I had to take a Black & White photo of the Autumn foliage scene during my daily walk:
Looks mysterious in B&W!
We’ve had some lovely Autumn evenings enjoying the cooler weather. Here is a photo from last week when John and I were hanging out at our friends’ home on their patio visiting with one of their dogs. We still miss our Mike the Miniature Schnauzer terribly but we appreciate our friends sharing their dogs with us!
Of course I took a ridiculous number of photos and I thought I share a few (giggle) in this post, to provide you a little bit of full summer bloom floral color added to your day!
I think we spent many hours there, I lost track of time. It was an overcast day but that did not detract from the beauty of the gardens.
They had wonderful structures and sculptures throughout the Botanic Gardens including these whimsical/fantastical animal structures:
They had an amazing Dale Chihulyglass structure in a beautiful pond:
Throughout the Botanic Gardens they had structures for pollinators, which are very important to gardens!
They have a large number of lily ponds, well at least for a non tropical climate. My friend L told me most of the water lilies are in pots sitting on the bottom of the pond so they can pull they inside during the cold weather.
I love the reflections on the water in the water lily ponds. In the image below you can see the overcast sky reflected on the water:
The Botanic Gardens has a breathtaking waterfall display with mist rising around it:
And to close out this post here is a tiny sampling the amazing and beautiful flowers and foliage at Denver Botanic Gardens – enjoy :-). (Visiting made me want to run home and plant flowers throughout my entire yard!)
When you are a crafter and someone gifts you a wonderful handmade craft it can really make you smile!
Back in August 2023 my friends J and MJ came for a little retreat at my house (see post Another Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat (Sort of)). J had this amazing bag she had made and I was obsessed with it. She said she would make me one someday.
Well today in the mail, a year later, an amazing surprise arrived in the mail – a handmade bag from J!
Here are the photos I took of it to include inside the bag and the bottom of the bag:
J is an accomplished pianist and she put a little piano zipper charm with the words “make your own music” engraved on the back of the charm:
Here’s a little clip of J playing her piano I included in the November 2022 post Guest Blog Post: The Fayetteville Friend’s Studio Project, Part II from when our mutual friend MJ and I spend a couple days in Fayetteville, North Carolina helping J reorganize her studio.
J also included this nice strap if I want to travel with the bag and attach it to my suitcase:
This bag arriving in the mail today was an exceptionally awesome surprise!
I actually have the pattern for this bag (I bought it after I saw J’s bag) and I might try and make one someday!
Well it’s been 2 weeks since Mike the Miniature Schnauzer passed and I thought I would give it a go on returning to blogging. I struggled to decide what to do first: 1) catch up on my blogging buddies’ posts; or 2) write a post myself. I decided to just go with writing a post first and then work on catching up on others’ posts.
The BIG Decision
They say that the best way to heal a broken heart from the loss of your dog is to bring a new puppy or adult dog into your life. John and I have made the decision not get another dog anytime soon. I am going to ramble on a bit about that decision.
Before I met John over 5 years ago when I moved to Colorado in 2019, he’d lived without a dog (he formerly also had a Miniature Schnauzer) for a couple years. His dog had passed and a couple years later his wife passed after a long difficult illness. But when I added Mike to his life he was very happy and realized the intense grief that followed his wife’s passing might have been eased a tiny bit if he had a dog to comfort him.
I’ve lived with at least one dog since I was in my mid 20s when my late husband Terry, a dog-person like me, insisted that we adopt a little Miniature Schnauzer Kerie that had been found in a drainage ditch by firefighters during a hurricane when we lived in Houston, Texas, and were volunteering with a local shelter as Animal Assisted Therapy Volunteers.
Terry and I adopted many rescued Miniature Schnauzers over the years and for the past 30+ years I’ve not had a period without at least one dog in the house. Usually we had two dogs and as soon as one passed we got another one as soon one was available (usually through Portland Miniature Schnauzer Rescue contacting us that they had a Miniature Schnauzer that needs a home!).
When Mike passed, I realized that for over 30 years my life decisions (primarily travel plans) have been guided by the fact I had a dog(s). There were many trips I did not take because of not having someone to watch the dogs or not wanting to be away from the dogs very long, etc.
John and I discussed: what would life be like if we could just travel when we wanted and not incur the cost of dog camp/dog sitters. What would life be like it we could just go out to dinner, see a movie, wander around Denver, etc. when we wanted and for as long as we wanted during our free time?
I never considered life without a dog as it is all I’ve known since being a young adult, and there are so many benefits (and just basic joy) that comes with having a dog that outweighs any sacrifices you have to make. But John and I made it through the greatest losses of our lives (our life-partners of over 30 years), what if we took a break from “responsibility” and just lived life for ourselves for a while?
Later on when we’ve gotten the travel and adventure bug out of our systems we might add a dog to our life (no cats, John is very allergic and I am mildly allergic); but we don’t have to decide anytime soon.
I’ve spent what seems all my life (yes actually all my life as I loved dogs as a child) as a “dog person” and it will be strange not to be a “dog person”. But I realized I am still a “dog person” as we recently returned from a couple days visiting Breckenridge, Colorado and I visited with many dogs wandering about – dogs are part of my heart, I just don’t have to live with one to still love them.
So not having plans to get another dog right now is a HUGE decision for me and I wanted to share my musings about it.
Dealing with the Loss of Mike
Mike was a huge part of our lives. He was more than just a “guest blogger” (ha!) on this blog. Our lives sort of revolved around Mike. So life without Mike is very strange but we’ve been adapting. The grief comes and goes and John and I both remind ourselves that we made it through the loss of our life-partners, so we can make it through this loss.
We’ve been trying to distract ourselves with various projects including re-arranging the furniture in our basement where Mike laid in his cushion everyday next to John while he telecommuted for work. It was difficult for John to go to the basement and log into work each day without Mike by his side. (By the way, Mike was the “dog love” of John’s life – see the Postscript section of the post Misadventures in Ice Fishing) So we moved his desk to another area and rearranged the basement layout.
John’s been staying busy with woodworking projects and recently a couple of small and lovely 3-D cutting boards, one of which I had to keep for my own:
I’ve been working on some crafting projects and will share them in future posts.
It was difficult to clean out Mike’s stuff (his stuff was integrated into the whole house) but we were able to donate his stuff to several other dog households including a couple who is actively involved in animal rescue and have 3 rescued dogs themselves.
I appreciate all the thoughtful comments people made on the blog post about Mike’s passing. I received thoughtful condolence cards and e-mails; as well as an out-of-state group of friends sent us a delicious box of ice cream from Salt & Straw that we got to share with a local group of friends at a dinner party we had last week.
This same group of out-of-state friends sent us a custom wind-chime with a Miniature Schnauzer on it and Mike’s name which we hung in our backyard where Mike loved to play ball.
John and I have begun planning/discussing some big trips in the future now that we no longer have a dog to include an across Canada train trip, and traveling to Japan and New Zealand. We’ve listed out all the places we’ve ever wanted to travel and we are constantly discussing what to do with our new “freedom”.
We get to test out a life of just being caretakers of ourselves (John raised kids and then was primary caretaker of his late wife who had a long illness; and I cared for an endless stream of rescue dogs…which was of course a much easier undertaking than of course John’s journey) for once in our adult lives.
Remembering Mike
Many of your have followed our adventures with Mike for many years and I thought I would close out this post with a gallery of photos of Mike from my blog posts over the years. Thanks for sharing my Mike journey with me and if you want to read the story of how Mike originally ended up in my life see this post – Taking Chances: The Mike Hogan Chronicles (re-post).
I like to think that Mike’s spirit is traveling around in the afterlife in a grocery box and a shopping cart/trolley, his favorite mode of transportation…perhaps my late husband Terry, the reason why Mike was even in my life, is pushing that shopping cart.
Postscript
Perhaps to end this post with smiles instead tears, here is a classic moment from “Dog Camp” where Mike was always popular with the ladies…
Well, I guess I better get a book written and published to keep up with my 11 year old nephew…
In 2018 my brother, Raoul Davis, Jr. who owns a Branding and PR firm, had his first book published with two colleagues – Firestarters (available on Amazon)
Image credit: Amazon.com
Then in May 2024, his son, Austin Davis, who is 11, had his first book published – Dogs vs Bears (also available on Amazon):
Image credit: Amazon.com
Per the book summary:
“…Austin Davis introduces a new way for kids to learn about diversity, appreciating differences, and teamwork.
Austin’s never known the truth—that his stuffed animals come to life whenever he leaves the house! Every time he goes to school, his bedroom becomes a brutal scene of battling teddy bears and stuffed dogs. Minion, leader of the bears, fights fiercely against Woof Woof, the dogs’ commander, over who will reign supreme.
But after years of fighting, the bears and dogs discover a new threat. Will they be wiped out by an invading species, or can these two groups put aside their differences and face it together? The future of the fortress—and Austin’s realm—depends upon it!”
There is a website set up for the book – www.dogsvsbears.com and this site has a more extensive blurb about Austin the Author than Amazon:
image credit: screen shot from dogsvsbears.com
Austin is very brilliant – he is nearly fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has been studying it since he was 5 years old in a special program in his school district. His parents figured out early on he needed something to occupy his big brain! (I remember when he was 6 years old or so and he was watching YouTube videos on human physiology and knew more than I remembered as a former clinical nurse!)
I was joking with my sister about feeling like an underachiever as my 11 year nephew has a book out before I do but seriously I am super proud Aunt! I of course bought a couple copies and have one displayed in my home library!
It’s a really fun book and it came out of all the stories Austin, an only child who really bonded from a young age with his huge collection of stuffed animals (and yes I contributed to his stash), would share about stuffed animals’ adventures.
I am glad my brother, who’s PR firm helps sports figures and company CEOs write and publish their stories, helped facilitate his son’s first book!
Okay I will start working on my first book, as soon as I clear up all these quilting unfinished projects – ha!
I’ve been away from blogging for a little while because of travel. I celebrated my birthday at the end of May and John and I recently returned from a 4-day road trip around Colorado that I will post about in the future. Before that we were in Estes Park and Fort Collins for a couple days (will post about that trip too). I look forward to getting caught up on my blogging buddies’ posts in the near future.
My husband John is a good man and he continues to reinforce this fact all the time.
Our homeowner’s association (HOA) can be rather strict at times (and rather lax at other times when you want them to reinforce the rules), and our neighbor was in danger of getting fined for not finishing a fence he started on this property (our neighbor only got around to putting in two fence posts to start the fence).
Our neighbor is a busy father of two young children and commutes over an hour to work each way, Monday to Friday. He’s exhausted by the weekend and most of his energy goes to time with his kids.
So John offered to help him complete the fence and ended up purchasing for the neighbor (who paid him back of course) all the fencing materials, AND building the fence and gate on his own for the neighbor!
Here is the neighbor’s dog waiting for John to finish the fence so she can now have a fenced yard:
I got some cool gifts for my birthday including a lovely home decor book and collection of stickers (I love stickers) from my friend J. My brother and family sent me the cutest schnauzer themed T-shirt inspired by a Van Gogh painting:
The Starry Schnauzer?
John got me a new iPad (I think my previous iPad belonged in the Apple Museum as it was many many iPad generations old); and my awesome stepsons were very generous for my birthday. One got me a gift card to my favorite used bookstore, and another got me some very yummy books!
I can’t wait to dive into this pile. But first I have to finish the two books I am currently reading The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi; and Fairy Tale by Stephen King.
I have some surprises on the way from my sister for my birthday still, and I just received the most beautiful fiber art card from my longtime friend in Austria (my “Danish Brother”, I spent part of my summer in 1998 in Denmark with him and his parents) today in the mail:
Now here’s a quote to close out this post from the amazing (so far) book Fairy Tale I am currently reading, that make me think of John:
Well you haven’t heard from Tierney in a while so I figured it’s time once again for me to step in and update you on what we’ve been up.
This is Mike the Miniature Schnauzer who lives with Tierney and John, who despite not having opposable thumbs is able to write a guest blog post from time to time.
Tierney and John had an upstairs deck that was on the verge of collapse. John had tried bracing some of the rotting sections a couple years ago but they were one crazy human-deck-dinner-party (you know if the humans started jumping up and down on top of the deck while dining) from a total deck disaster!
Their awesome friends from Bend, Oregon (where Tierney and I used to live) MJ and J (J has a lot of deck building experience) came and visited us last week; and thus began 4 days of deck demolishing and rebuilding.
MJ and Tierney documented the whole 4-day long project with photos; and I am going to share some of their photos (it’s impressive enough that I can write without opposable thumbs, taking photos with a smart phone would be nearly impossible…but with the right dog treats offered, I could try…) in this post.
First they had to take the existing deck-of-terror down:
The backyard got to looking crazy and there was no place for them to play ball with me (humans are thoughtless)!
Plus they kept chasing me back inside because they didn’t want me to get any splinters in my paws (perhaps that was thoughtful…but I wanted to play ball!!!)
Luckily and I had Tierney and MJ (the female humans) hostage in the basement den binge watching television shows and eating snacks while paying attention to me:
Here I am with MJ, one of my favorite humans in this world (she is lucky I love her!)
John and Tierney made sure the visiting humans ate well, making what looked like delicious breakfasts each morning; and what looked like tasty dinners in the evening like the Chicken Piccata with homemade pasta and Caesar Salad they served one night:
I did get nervous while they were working on the deck as it looked like the humans working on it could fall at any time. They of course made sure I was safe (which is what is most important).
Tierney and MJ helped out the male humans John and J by running some errands including a trip to Home Depot for something called “shims”. Of course Tierney and MJ took me with them and I had to help them find the shims:
You might notice Tierney has a bandage on her thumb – it’s not from working on the deck but carelessness while chopping carrots…
I was concerned when there was an attempt to scan me twice while we were in Home Depot – don’t they know the cash value of me would break a price scanner?!?!?!
We also took a trip to Target to buy J some additional clothes as he had “Man-packed” where he forgot to pack all the clothes he needed for the trip. Little did MJ and Tierney realize that there was a “Service Dogs Only” sign in the entry of the store (oops!)
No one said anything to MJ and Tierney about how I didn’t belong in there as they wandered around the store except to say “cute dog”. Well I guess that was my one and only trip to Targetunless I pursue a career as a Service Dog (but I am too grumpy to do that).
By the 4th day the male humans finished up the deck and they were so happy! Here are photos of the last stages of putting the deck together and making it livable again:
The deck is not completely done. John has to order something called “matching trim” for the deck, add post caps (whatever those are), and do some painting. But the deck is now very usable! The humans could even have a crazy human-deck-dinner-party if they wanted.
The last day of the project, the humans went out to dinner and then relaxed in the basement den for a movie night. If you look closely at the lower right hand section of the photo below, Tierney is actually working on the quilt she is hand quilting (see her post Hand Quilting Go Boldly) and perhaps sometime this year she will finish it!
Note: J and John are only snuggled as a joke for the photo, they did spend the 4 days working hard, not snuggling.
By the time we took MJ and J back to Human Storage aka “the airport” as humans call it (see the blog post “Human Storage” and Airport Lore) I was pretty tired because managing humans is so exhausting!
On the way to drop them off in Human Storage and then when I returned home
Well that catches you up on major recent events in my life. I will work on getting Tierney to blog on what she has been up to (before the deck project she had just returned from a trip to New York City with her sister) and to have her work on catching up on all her blogging buddies posts!
I was getting suspicious about Spring in Colorado. We had a streak of some wonderful weather with temperatures in the 60s to even 80 degree F (16 – 26 C) and I thought Spring was really here (even did a garden clean out in preparation for Spring planting) and then BAM – SNOW STORM!
But the snow is gone and the first trees to really pop in my section of Eastern Colorado are really popping – the Crabapple Trees!
This scene from my daily walk yesterday made me really happy:
Yay! The smell from the flowering Crabapples was so deliciously fragrant, especially coupled with the warm weather (70 degree F yesterday).
I am starting to believe it is really Spring (until the next snowstorm, ha!)
Oh and with Spring comes new musical adventures:
John used to play guitar when he was a teenager and was sort of a guitar prodigy. He shared he could have had a career in it if he had pursued when he graduated high school. Instead college and life distracted him and he never played again.
For the past year he’s been talking about wanting to pick up the guitar again, but hasn’t bought a guitar. I found a guitar at Costco (some of you might be cringing, ha, but it is at least a Yamaha guitar) – a Keith Urban guitar with lessons included, and convinced John we should buy it.
Well John is currently enjoying relearning the guitar! If you are on Instagram you can pop over to @tierneycreates and see John practicing his guitar.
This was so wonderful about the healing properties of knitting (and crafting in general) I had to reblog. Thank you Wild Daffodil for posting this and warming my heart (and moistening my eyes) on a cold and snowy day in Denver.
I’ve been working on some handmade holiday gifts so not much to post right now, but I thought I’d get you in the holiday spirit with a collection of delightful Christmas trees!
My beloved local library (yes after 4.5+ years in Colorado I have finally fallen completely and madly in love with a library...I thought no library could replace my beloved Deschutes Public Library in Bend, Oregon but finally I am able to love again!) has a delightful and whimsical display of Christmas trees inspired by literary classics and popular culture.
There are 32 decorated Christmas trees are scattered around the first and second levels of the library and are called the Forest of Stories. I tried to see every tree during my weekly visit to the library; and here are the trees that I found most intriguing:
BARBIE TREE
NANCY DREW TREE
Oh how I loved reading Nancy Drew books as a kid!
THEHUNGER GAMES TREE
JURASSIC PARK TREE
If you’ve only seen the movie and never read the book, I highly recommend reading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton! This is where I first learned about “Chaos Theory”.
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’STREE
Here’s a terrifying movie I do not recommend (and I like scary movies). We went to see it a couple weeks ago with John’s granddaughter and son who have played the video game. It was disturbing and a movie I never care to watch again, ick!
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS TREE
A magical book from my childhood I will not forget!
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES TREE
THE NIGHT CIRCUS TREE
I highly recommend this delightful book! I keep a copy in my home library.
TREASURE ISLAND TREE
STUDIO GHIBLI TREE
MAYA ANGELOU TREE
Beautiful tribute!
TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW TREE
I’ve heard many good things about this book by Gabrielle Zevin. A friend gave me their copy and it is sitting in my queue to read.
BRIDGERTON TREE
Complete with “Lady Whistledown” gossip sheets! I’ve never read the books but did enjoy the Netflix television series which was sort of mindless but juicy entertainment!
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA TREE
HG WELLS TREE
His novel The Time Machine (1895) is quite the science fiction classic!
There were a lot more trees (32 in total as I mentioned earlier in this post) but this post would go on forever if I shared all the photos I took! I chatted with the library staff and they said they had so much fun decorating the trees!
OUR TREE
Speaking of Christmas trees, here is our set up for this holiday season. We put and decorated our right after Thanksgiving:
Can you spot the Miniature Schnauzer (Mike) staring at me?
Let’s zoom in closer…
Our Christmas tree is not even closely creatively decorated like those trees at my local library; but we do have some fun additions to our tree to this year.
Last year during a holiday together, we had our guests including John’s sons and granddaughter, decorate pre-made/printed ornaments with “bling” and colorful markers. We had such a fun time doing it. Everyone signed their ornaments and left them behind with us.
Well now we get to display them on our tree each year! Every time I look at them I smile and remember the laughter and joy decorating them!
Our group was most adults and it was fun to watch the adults have so much fun coloring and decorating simple cardboard ornaments. We had so much fun doing it we are going to do it again this year!
I’ll close this post with the reference for the title of this post. “O Christmas Tree” is the English version of the German Christmas song “O Tannebaum”.
Let’s transport you back to my childhood Christmas for a moment and my parents are playing Nat King Cole’s Christmas album on the record player…
I finished the quilt top for the quilt “What Direction Do I Go?“ which I most recently posted about in this post – Update on Various Projects.
The quilt top measures 55 inches by 55 inches (140 cm by 140 cm). I am still thinking through my plan on how to quilt it but I did decide what fabric to put on the back of it:
I have this awesome vintage Kas Richloom light weight upholstery fabric in my stash that I found at a charity thrift store shop a couple years ago. I think it will add a bright and happy touch to the back of the quilt.
The quilt is meant to be a wallhanging/art quilt so it is okay if the quilt ends up being a little stiff with the recycled denim and home decor fabric on the front and the upholstery fabric on the back.
I have some handmade items I am making as Christmas gifts so I need to set the quilt top aside for now and get to crafting gifts, but I’ll pick it up again after the new year (can you believe it is nearly 2024?!?!?)
A Fun Brewery Discovered
Thanks to one of the quilters I met at theRocky Mountain Quilt Museum Reception for quilters in the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine, we discovered an awesome brewery near our house that seems to be custom made for me!
Fiction Beer Company! Two of some of my favorite things combined: craft beer and reading! This brewery was already in Denver and it opened a second location in Parker, Colorado in May.
The brewery is DOG FRIENDLY (we were able to sit inside on a sofa with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer), has a free lending library (take a book or donate a book), delicious craft beer, free bookmarks, and a friendly bartender who came and visited with us and Mike for a while when the bar service slowed up!
This brewery is Miniature Schnauzer approved (no worries we did not give Mike beer, but the bartender did bring Mike over a bowl of water and some dog biscuits!)
There are so many awful and sad things going on in the world right now it’s difficult some days to write a cheerful post. I think for today’s post I will just share a post from October 2020 when I was struggling with craziness in the world.
Currently I am just trying to focus on appreciating the good things in my life and sending love to those struggling in the world.
Why Worry Now (re-post from October 6, 2020)
I was thinking about a different post to write this post on my morning walk with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer.
The trees have turned and the weather has cooled down and there was a delicious Autumn cool quiet to my walk this morning.
I enjoy listening to either podcasts, audiobooks or music while I walk Mike. This morning I was listening to music and one of my all time favorite songs queued up on my playlist – Why Worry by Dire Straits from of one of my favorite albums of all time – Brothers in Arms.
In the back of mind lately, always swirling around, are thoughts of the craziness going on in the world. Listening to this song gave me pause.
So I decided to save the post I was going to write today for tomorrow and instead share this song with you and maybe it can give you a little pause too if you have a lot of “thought swirling” going on in your head…
Courtesy of YouTube
Baby, I see this world has made you sad Some people can be bad The things they do, the things they say
But baby, I’ll wipe away those bitter tears I’ll chase away those restless fears And turn your blue skies into gray
Why worry
There should be laughter after pain There should be sunshine after rain These things have always been the same So why worry now Why worry now
And if you’d like to see a lovely live version of the song in a Mark Knopfler duet with the exquisite Emmylou Harris, here you go…
Courtesy of YouTube
I thought my soul would float away from peacefulness listening to this…
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.
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:
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!
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
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.
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.
After my trip with my siblings to Saltsburg, Pennsylvania for the classroom dedication at The Kiski School (see posts The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part I and The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part II), my sister and I flew from the Pittsburg, PA airport to Montréal, Canada for a little holiday.
I had a laugh at the Montréal airport when I saw this:
I guess that is a fairly universal symbol on how to get to the bathroom!
We stayed in a 2-bedroom AirBNB in Old Montréal – it was a large loft with brick walls, huge windows with a lovely view, and a nice kitchen in an old building. I didn’t think to take photos of the place (and I cannot find it on AirBNB again to use their photos) but here is a photo of me with the kitchen behind me in which we made many meals:
Every day we’d go to the local market place (Le BeauMarché) around the corner from our AirBNB and buy groceries, like these strawberries:
My sister has been to Montréal many times but never stayed in Old Montréal, and it was a great location for my first visit. Here are some photos from our wanderings around the area – we stopped in lots of wonderful shops and tried out different markets/eateries:
And here is a YouTube video to give you a walk through tour of this mind-blowing market:
It was difficult to leave MarchéJean-Talon and when I return to visit Montréal with John someday (he’s never been there), I think we are going to stay in Little Italy (Petite Italie), at an AirBNB (with a kitchen!) and go to the market each day for supplies to make our food (John and I love to cook).
Trying not to make this post too long so I’ll continue with the story of our trip in my next post.
Thanks to my friends K and L, I’ve recently discovered that Quiltfolk Magazine has posted a preview for the issue and if you’d like to see it here is the link – Issue 28 Reveal.
Here is a screen shot from that link of me (Tierney Davis Hogan):
I’ve been sent the draft article to review as well as a proof of the photos to assist with captioning but I haven’t seen the complete article yet – can’t wait!
tierneycreates 