A Crafter’s Life – Page 8

I will continue my series on my Minimalism Journey in my next post, but today I am at a show called Trends and I get to hear Mary Fons (of Fons & Porter…the daughter of the original Fons) speak; and take a class from Annie Unrein of byAnnie.com (maker of those adorable purse and bag patterns and creator of ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable). I am very excited!

So I am going to focus on quilting in this brief post today – words related to quilting as a matter of fact.

Whistler Studio has a new line of fabric called Sew Hope Full (I came across it while looking at “fabric porn” online). It is filled with humorous acronyms related to quilting, many of which I have never heard of before and I thought you might enjoy (though you might have heard these before…):

PhD – Project half Done
WOMBAT – Waste of Money, Batting and Time
SABLE – Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy
UFO – Un Finished Objects
WHIMM – Works Hidden in My Mind
PIGS – Projects in Grocery Sacks
WISP – Works in Slow Progress
TGIF – Thank God It’s Finished
HIPS – Hundreds of Ideas Piling Skyward
STASH – Secret Treasures all Secretly Hidden

These crack me up and I can completely relate to “WHIMM”!

Do you have anymore to add to this list to share? Feel free to make some new ones up and share with us!

A Crafter's Life, Miniature Schnauzer Adventures

Taking Chances: The Mike Hogan Chronicles (re-post)

August 27, 2016August 9, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In honor of Friday August 26 being “National Dog Day” and in celebration of Mike’s 2 year anniversary with us, here is a re-posting of a post from 11/27/15:

Making a decision whether to “take a chance” on something or someone, is part of life. We all face decisions on whether to take chances related to work, family, relationships, finances, environment, career, artistic endeavors and so forth. Most of the time there is no guarantee that the chance we are taking is the right one to take.

Even the most evaluated, considered and researched “chance” requires an element of risk and an element of faith that it will work out. Otherwise it would not be “a chance”, it would be “a certain”.

In September 2014 I took a chance that required a very large element of risk and faith, and that chance’s name is Mike Hogan.

(Usually any posts about the miniature schnauzers are done on Sassy the Highly Opinionated Schnauzer’s page Schnauzer Snips, but she gave me permission to post on this topic.)

Meeting “Cujo”

For nearly 24 years we have adopted miniature schnauzers from rescue organizations. Our first miniature schnauzer, Kerie, was from a rescue organization in Houston Texas, where we volunteered as Caring Critters Animal Assisted Therapy Volunteers, visiting health care facilities, residential homes, and shelters with animals to foster the human-animal bond.

After our first rescued miniature schnauzer, we were addicted to the breed. Kerie passed away after we had moved to the Pacific NW, and we adopted our next rescued miniatures schnauzers (two brothers, Fritz and Snickers) through Miniature Schnauzer Rescue, Inc. and all future rescued miniature schnauzers.

In July 2014, after losing the second of the two miniature schnauzer brothers we had adopted from Miniature Schnauzer Rescue, and applying for another rescued dog from the organization, we were contacted about a miniature schnauzer “Michael” that needed a new home.

Michael was a troubled rescue – surrendered by his family due to excessive nuisance barking and aggression. We first met Michael at the end of July 2014 at his foster parents’ home. After meeting him, I nicknamed him “Cujo” (yes, after the terrifying rabid dog from the Stephen King book and movie), I gave an apologetic but firm “NO” on adopting Michael.

To summarize his behavior when I first me him: He was insane. My husband Terry however saw something in Michael and was willing to give him a chance but I quickly talked him out of it.

Alright, You Can Come Home with Us

In September 2014, we were contacted by the rescue organization asking us if we would reconsider adopting Michael (they were persistent!). He had been living between two foster homes (Michael needed to be shared!) and the rescue organization had brought in an animal behaviorist to work with him. I am not sure what convinced me to say yes to meeting with Michael (aka “Cujo”) again but I did.

When we met Michael again in September 2014, he was a bit calmer and we could see the good work his foster parents, in two different homes, had done with him. He was still territorial and moderately insane. I had a lot of hesitancy but my husband Terry felt strongly that Michael needed to come home with us, and I agreed to give Michael a chance. (My primary fear was that Michael, with all his territorial issues, would not fit into our very social lifestyle).

When we loaded Michael into our car, he became very quiet and calm on the ride home to our house. He seemed like a different dog once he got into our car. He got along well with our other rescue dog Sassy on the ride home.

The first couple of months with Michael were challenging – he had anxiety issues, engaged in plenty of nuisance barking, had leash aggression and was very territorial to anyone trying to come into our house. He even chewed on one of my quilts (it was an old quilt and I was able to repair it but it was very upsetting and I was worried for the other quilts around the house).

My husband Terry was very patient with him. We spent a lot of time working with him and renamed him “Mike Hogan”. (He appears to love his new name “Mike Hogan” and his tail goes wild whenever we say it.)

One of the Great Loves of My Life

It is now 14 months later and Mike Hogan is now one of the great loves of my life (as are all my dogs). He is still territorial at times (though we are now able to have friends over without him being too insane as well as bring him over friends’ houses); he still has a bit of leash aggression and he still likes to bark.

These things do not matter as he is the most loving, cuddly, sweet dog I have had in my entire life. Every night I go to sleep snuggled to him and every morning I wake up to him nestled against me. He insists on sharing my pillow with me. He is obsessed with my husband Terry, and I refer to Mike as “Terry’s Fan Club President”. He is also very sweet to his adopted miniature schnauzer sister, Sassy, who we got a year before Mike.

Mike Hogan now knows quilts are for napping and snuggling in, not chewing. He appeared to sense how upset I was when he chewed on my quilt when we had first adopted him. He is attuned with our moods and seems to want to make us or keep us happy. He continues to struggle with wanting to protect his home and his people versus being open to meeting strangers and giving them a chance. He has learned to trust us: if we act like someone is okay, then they just might be okay!

One of the things I did with Mike Hogan during the early days of adopting him is continually tell him “you are safe” and “we are your forever home”. You can debate whether or not you believe dogs understand human language but in my heart I feel he heard me.

He obviously suffered from anxiety, as confirmed by a veterinarian friend of mine, and by continually making him feel safe and loved, he settled down. I cannot imagine not having adopted Mike Hogan, he was a chance well taken! (I am forever grateful to the volunteers at Miniature Schnauzer Rescue who encouraged us to revisit giving him a chance).

Living with fear stops us from taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit. – Sarah Parish

By the way, I now lovingly call Mike Hogan my “sweet little Cujo”…

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts, Sunflowers!

Becoming Wise

August 24, 2016October 21, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

On my walk this morning, I plucked a ripe peach from the neighborhood tree (to snack on during my stroll) and listened to the following passage from the audiobook Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippet:

There is a reason why, when my son, who is 6 and is crying…needs a hug: It’s not just that he needs my love, he needs boundary around his experience. He needs to know that the pain is contained and can be housed, and won’t be limiting his whole being…that he can get a hug – and he drops (back) into his body…

This passage is from an interview with Matthew Sanford, a renown yoga teacher and inspirational speaker (who is paralyzed from the chest down), discussing the mind-body connection.

I had to pause for a moment during during my walk (and wipe the peach juice from my mouth) and reflect on the true purpose of a comforting hug. This audiobook is filled with opportunities for deep reflection.

At times a little esoteric but always profound, Krista Tippet in this audiobook, interviews over 40 great thinkers of our time on what it means to be human and the “human experience”. You can find a wonderful synopsis of this book on audible.com: Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living

I cannot promise that I will be wiser after listening to this audiobook but I appreciate the opportunity to listen to so many wonderful perspective and to ponder many aspects of the human experience.

POSTSCRIPT

Reviews

I finished another wonderful audiobook, mentioned in an earlier post – Trespassing Across America: One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas. I posted my review of the book on amazon.com and on Goodreads.

Most of the books I read and audiobooks I listen to come from the public library and so they are for free. My way of thanking the author for the opportunity to read of listen to their book, since I did not purchase the book, is to write a review.

If I did not like the book, and I got it from the library, I do not write a review. I consider my good review a “thank you gift” to the author that hopefully will help gain them new readers (and perhaps lead to an actual book purchase).

I am slowly getting the book reviews I have posted on my blog over the past 3 years on to Goodreads, so they can be in one place. Some of the books already have a review posted to amazon.com.

More Fruit!

I took a different turn on my walk this morning and discovered yet another neglected fruit tree – this time another green apple tree. I am starting to get overwhelmed with fruit!

I am also keep an eye on this tree, wondering what the fruit will taste like when it ripens (and wondering if it is plum or something else..):

Still Waiting…

Oh (the sound of a random thought popping into my head) – if you remember my 07/21/16 post Waiting for the Sunflowers – well I am still waiting for the sunflowers! At least the huge sunflowers in my backyard.

In the post I shared a photo of the hopefully-soon-to-be large sunflower plants coming up in my backyard, just outside of my sunroom window. Here is an updated photo – still no blooms, just growing stalks! All the other sunflowers around the neighborhood have bloomed except mine…I am still waiting…

(Featured Image photo credit – “Owl Eyes” by Danny de Bruyne, free images.com)

A Crafter's Life

Distracted

August 6, 2016August 10, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thursday, while flying to a quilt retreat, I realized what a “distracted” culture I live in.

The “Flight of Distraction”

I am joining some quilting friends this weekend on a retreat they are attending.

Originally I had planned not to attend this retreat (I was trying to “watch my pennies”) however after writing the post Live. Love. Laugh. I started thinking that given all the craziness in the world, it is important to keep fun time with friends in my life.

This retreat is located in a place I fondly call “South Canada” (northern Washington State) so to save 8+ hours of driving each way, I treated myself and booked a flight to the retreat. On the flight, I had an intense realization how distracted in general we are from the world around us. At least in my little part of the world.

As I boarded the plane and walked down the aisle to find my seat, I noticed how most of the passengers were entranced by their smartphones – some talking on their phones, but most of them texting or playing games on their phones.

If it was not a smartphone, then they had an iPad on and were staring at and interacting with the screen. Few people were talking to their companions or introducing themselves to the passenger next to them.

I found my aisle seat and greeted the gentleman who was in the window seat, as we would be flying together for the next hour. He barely mumbled hello to me and went back to watching a movie on his iPad.

As the aircraft doors closed and the plane began to taxi, the flight attendants began their flight safety instructions. They asked the passengers to turn their attention to the flight attendant giving the instructions, and it seems NO ONE but myself looked up at the flight attendant.

My fellow passenger was deep in his movie. The children seated in front of me were playing iPad games. Their father to the aisle seat right of them, had a movie on his iPad AND was playing solitaire on his smartphone!

(Side note: I remember when you had to put away your phone and your tablet for take off until the plane reached a certain altitude. However those rules were lifted and now you can keep these devices out during taxing and take off as long as you have them in “airplane mode”. I think having to put away the devices for a while used to encourage people to just lay back and relax or read for a while.)

As everyone on the plane appeared to have headphones on, it was unlikely that they could hear the flight attendant’s instructions. The flight attendant on the PA system giving the flight safety instructions could have said:

“You will experience some initial nausea during interdimensional time travel as your molecules quickly separate and then reassemble”.

I had brought a library book to read on the flight. I remember the day when most people had a book. magazine or newspaper they were reading on a flight. I love reading a book on a plane and then nodding off into a delicious little nap. The best “flight naps” are when you wake up and you are nearly at your destination.

While reading my book, Crafting the Personal Essay : A Guide to Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction (Dinty W. Moore, 2010) I came across this statement that seemed very appropriate to my current experience on the “Flight of Distraction”:

In our highly visual culture – television, movies, videos on iPad – it is important to remember just how magical good writing can be. – Dinty W. Moore

Note this publication date of the book was 2010. We are even more distracted in 2016!

An Important Reminder

The room I am staying in at the quilting retreat is decorated in modern decor and has “chalkboard” style art. One of the chalkboard-style wall decorations has a saying that really resonated with me given my “Flight of Distraction” experience:

I have people in my life, who I adore, but when I am with them, I am also with their phone. Their phone is always the other person in the room with us, they are listening for and checking their texts. It seems as if my company is not enough for them.

I try to make an effort that my phone is not an extra person in the room. When I am hanging out with you, I am with you, not with my phone. If I am expecting an important phone call, I might let my companion know but I do not check (or listen for texts) when hanging out with friends.

There is more going on in life then on the smartphone or tablet. (Now do not get me started on how I feel about people walking around and texting without looking up at their surroundings…)

A Crafter's Life, Thrift Shop Adventures

Mysterious Thrift Store Fabric Find

August 4, 2016October 21, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Earlier in the week I went to drop off a donation of no longer needed items to one of our local thrift stores.

There was a long line at the “drive thru” drop off donation area (good to see so many people in town making their lives lighter of stuff!), so I decided to park at walk in my donation. After dropping off my donation, since I had already parked, I figured it would not hurt to go into the thrift shop and look around…

Naturally I went directly to the donated fabric section of the thrift shop and after a bit of rummaging discovered a yard of a lovely Asian print I thought would make great kimonos.

I am careful on thrift store fabrics of quilting weight material and always check the manufacturer name on the selvage (end/label area) of the fabric. This print had a name I had never heard of – Watex – but it the fabric felt like a high quality Hoffman Fabrics style Asian print, so I bought it (yes my huge $1.99 investment).

Returning home, I tried to google “Watex” and could not find anything of use other than it appears to be a Japanese fabric and several people were selling “Vintage Watex” on eBay and Etsy. The word “Watex” on the selvage was surrounded by Asian language characters, so I guessed the fabric was manufactured somewhere in Asia.

Below are photos of my fabric find, let me know if you have ever heard of Watex fabrics!

If the fabric’s origins/manufacturer remains a mystery, it will still be great fabric for a future miniature kimono or other project.

A Crafter's Life, Sunflowers!

Waiting for the Sunflowers

July 21, 2016November 15, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Flowers of the Sun

Sunflowers are my favorite flower and they actually spark a sense of joy inside me when I see them. Currently I am waiting for the sunflower seeds I planted in my yard to mature into sunflowers.

So far I have sunflower plant stems sprouted from the ground with their leaves and hopefully soon I will have the flowers themselves. I’ve spotted a few sunflowers in full bloom in around the neighborhoods I walk and bike. The feature photo on this post is from such a flower.

Sunflower Obsession

I think my obsession began with a lovely gift I was given by a friend many years ago – an artificial potted plant of sunflowers (that looked quite real). That potted plant began my collection of sunflower related items.

My sunroom is decorated in a sunflower theme (I tried not to overdo it and it keep it semi subtle) and here is the plant that started it all along with a couple other sunflower themed items in the corner of my sunroom:

Here is the sunflower themed quilt in my sunroom – it has sunflower themed flannel on the back! (You can read posts about this quilt – Ugly Sunflower Fabric Challenge and Ugly Sunflower Fabric Challenge” Part II):

Cozy Sunflower Quilt – designed/pieced by Tierney Hogan, quilted by Guadalupe Designs

I also have sunflower art around the house. Here is a sunflower vintage style piece of art in my sunroom:

And a sunflower wallhanging which I made from a painted fabric sunflower panel which I machine quilted:

If You Plant Them, They will Come

I am thinking of the line from the movie Field of Dreams (1989): “If you build it, he will come”. I am patiently awaiting the arrival of the sunflowers I have planted including those I planted in the raised beds that surround the outside of my sunroom!

I will have sunflowers peeking into my sunroom and not just sunflower themed items around the sunroom!

Postscript

I was luckily enough to discover the blog of a talented painter who has a lot of sunflower themed art: Brush of Dawn Oil Paintings. Her sunflower paintings make me smile whenever I see them.

Here is a bonus sunflower, from an old post, in an unusual color!

Of course I could not refuse sharing a quote about sunflowers:

I don’t think there’s anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that’s because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that’s such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.

– Helen Mirren

A Crafter's Life

Live. Love. Laugh.

July 15, 2016July 15, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniatures Schnauzer’s latest musing on her blog page SchnauzerSnips.

It seems like a week (or even a day) does not go by without hearing of some new atrocity in the news. There seems like there is so much sadness in the world.

What gives me a sense of peace is remembering that there is ALSO so much happiness and kindness in the world. It is important to focus my energy and attention on stories of people doing good in the world.

During my days of garage sale-ing with my friend Pam, years ago, I came across the cutest little “knick-knack” that made me smile. I think I bought it for 50 cents at the garage sale.

I keep it on my desk in my studio, however I posed it in my backyard for the photo. I always keep one of my little schnauzer figurines with it (because schnauzers are part of what make me “live, love, and laugh”). My 50 cent investment has brought me priceless amounts of smiles.

I will keep sending my thought and prayers to those affected by all the terrible recent tragedies in this country and around the world.

I think though it is okay, for our own psychological and emotional well being, to take a break from the news (and social media like Facebook) for a while and just focus on our loved ones, our friends and our community; as well as sewing, quilting, or other crafting project.

It is also okay to keep on living, loving and laughing, despite what is going on in the world.

(Photo credit for featured photo – by Magnus Skarstedt, Duck, Duck, Goose Statue | White River State Park, Indianapolis, freeimages.com)

A Crafter's Life

A “Functional” Quilt

July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Happy 4th of July, hope you all are enjoying your hopefully 3-day weekend.

I am re-posting a tierneycreates post from August 2014 (Properly Hung!) on a truly functional use for a quilt (besides keeping warm).

It continues to make me smile knowing something I made is being used as art and in a very creative functional way!

Properly Hung! (8/24/2014)

I received delightful news the other day from my dear friend in Austria – the quilt I made his son has now been “properly hung”.

The quilt, whimsical house blocks done in a Scandinavian palette (my friend is originally from Denmark), is not just “properly hung” on the wall of his house – it is FUNCTIONALLY HUNG!

There is an electrical panel in the hallway of their house and they creatively hung the quilt with a special frame that both disguises the electrical box and gives easy access! Brilliant, eh?

Access to the electrical panel behind the quilt!

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts

The Guest House

June 27, 2016July 17, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Happy Monday to you and I hope you have a wonderful week filled with Inspiration, Creativity and Joy.

As I mentioned in last’s post “Listening and Reading“, currently I am listening to the audiobook The Here and Now Habit by Hugh Byrne. This book focuses on using “mindfulness” to break unwanted habits.

During my walk on Sunday with this audiobook, I listened to the author discuss one of my favorite poems by Rumi (Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī – a 13th century Persian poet and scholar) – The Guest House.

The author discusses this poem in relation to finding peace in dealing with unwanted thoughts and feelings. What I love about the work of Rumi is that it can be interpreted in so many ways and the meaning can be personalized to what you needed to hear/read at that moment in your life.

I have shared this poem before in a previous post and wanted to share again.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness

comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

-Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Postscript

I am off for a bike ride and to enjoy this beautiful summer day!

Sassy captures my feeling when riding around empty streets on my bike!

A Crafter's Life, Outside Adventures!

At the Corner of Joy (and some other street)

June 10, 2016June 8, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yesterday I was at the corner of Joy, literally and metaphorically.

A reader asked “so what happened to your Pilot Butte hikes?” Well it has been very hot in Central Oregon and I had no desire to hike in the heat. Also my knee was bothering me a bit so I thought perhaps I should try something else besides the Monday hikes for a while.

So I decided instead to start riding my bike, on a daily basis, in the early morning, instead of a Monday hike. It has been a year since I have been on my bike and I forgot the joy of bike riding!

I am riding a couple miles each morning up to 7 or more miles. Some days I can only fit in a couple miles but that is still wonderful!

Bike riding is great for my knees and I am feeling a tremendous sense of JOY when I ride my bike.

I am riding in the surrounding neighborhoods and in low traffic areas. Many times, it is like I have the road completely to myself.

A sense of peace washes over me and I would be in a complete meditative state if not needing to carefully watch for cars (as you never know when a car will come out of no where and many drivers do not seem to see cyclists – it is like we are invisible!)

The other morning I was having a glorious bike ride in a newer neighborhood area I had not noticed before and I came across a street called JOY WAY. This street name perfectly described what I was feeling biking on a beautiful morning!

I had to take photo (yes I did dismount from my bike to take the photo) as it made me smile even wider than I was already smiling!

I hope you all find yourself at “the corner of Joy…”, metaphorically that is!

“One of the most important days of my life, was when I learned to ride a bicycle.”
– Michael Palin (English comedian of Monty Python fame)

“I’ll tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”
– Susan B. Anthony, 1896

“Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.”
– H.G. Wells

Postscript

One of my favorite bicycling memories biking for miles and miles around the rural outskirts of Copenhagen when visiting a friend in Denmark. It was magical!

A Crafter's Life

The Case for Modern Quilt Design (from the 1970s)

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Contemporary quilt design, innovative quilt design, improvisational quilting, modern quilting, and intuitive quilt design are not recent ideas. You probably already know this but sometimes when reading quilting publications over the past couple of years it appears like these ideas are portrayed as new ideas in quilting.

My friend and quilting mentor, Betty Anne, studies the history of quilting. She loaned me a book from her quilting history book collection, Quilts & Coverlets: A Contemporary Approach by Jean Ray Laury.

This book was originally published in 1971. Here is an except from the book that makes a case for intuitive, innovative, contemporary, modern design (in 1971):

…for many years, quilt making was unaffected by contemporary art. In early America, the sources for quilt designs came from nature and from all articles of everyday use – the patterns on dishes, the designs from cast-iron stoves, political symbols such as the eagle and the star, wild flowers and other natural forms. In the twentieth century, however, none of the new influences of the time seem to have permeated quilt design. Even the strong influence of Art Nouveau, which was apparent in other crafts, had almost no effect on quilt making.

Perhaps women lost confidence in their ability to design. We saw watered-down versions of old designs, used over and over, with few of the revitalizing changes essential in any “lively” art. Only recently is the influence of contemporary art once again seen in our quilts. Modern designers of quilts are not concerned with reiterating statements made years ago. They have their own comments to make, comments which are relevant to our own times.

…Quilt makers today are recapturing the spirt and essence of early American quilts, At last we can look forward to exciting designs. Gone, thank goodness, are the rows upon rows of obese, sunbonnet girls in pale green and lavender. Traditional designs no longer meet our needs. Creativity and inventiveness make it possible to modifier and rejuvenate the old approaches and techniques…If we can retain the structural integrity of the traditional quilt, and add to it a contemporary approach in color and design, we achieve a quilt which merges past and present.

New ideas, are rarely new ideas. They seem like “new ideas” when they get popular!

I was fascinated by this book and all the “modern” quilting ideas discussed in a book published in 1971.

What are you thoughts?

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts

Tuesday…an update

May 17, 2016July 17, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The past five Mondays I hiked up or walked around Pilot Butte and shared my tale.

Sunday evening, 5/15/16, I returned from a four-day quilt retreat at Sew-N-Go Quilt Retreat with my longtime “Quilt Sisters” from Oregon, Washington and California. Monday I spent recovering from my drive and unpacking (unpacking did involve trying to figure out what to do with the new fabric and quilting tools I acquired while at the quilt retreat…other quilters are bad influences!).

So I skipped Pilot Butte on Monday. I am not sure if the 2 mile walk with Terry “the Quilting Husband” and the dogs made up for it, but at least I did something besides fondling my new fabric purchases.

I will share my adventures related to quilt retreating in my posts the rest of this week, but I wanted to follow up on last week’s post The Monday, Post “Yard Bark Mulching” in which I discussed “xeriscaping” (low water landscaping with native plants) and laying down endless bark mulch.

One of the tierneycreates blog readers asked to see photos and here they are:

Xeriscaped Front Yard (with fresh hemlock bark mulch)

Another example of a Central Oregon xeriscaped yard from my neighborhood (they used rocks instead of bark mulch):

Gratuitous flower photo: My lovely irises in bloom

If you want to read more about xeriscaping check out the online publication Introduction to Xeriscaping in the High Desert.

Postscript

As I mentioned, the rest of the week I will share stories and photos from the quilt retreat I attended.

Currently I listening to the audiobook – The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life by Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh.

Parts of this book seem fairly esoteric, while other parts are deeply profound and very accessible. If you can be patient through some of the more scholarly sections (the author is a Harvard professor) you will be rewarded with timeless insights into human nature from ancient Chinese philosophers.

I feel I grow more enlightened by listening to this excellent audiobook.

The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others. – Mencius

the-path-9781476777832_lg — Photo credit: simonandschuster.com

A Crafter's Life, Outside Adventures!

The Monday, Post “Yard Bark Mulching”

May 9, 2016September 4, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This morning I read in a WordPress blogging forum, that you should always have an engaging title to your blogpost. An engaging title will entice existing readers and potential new readers to click on the link and read the post.

What could be more exciting and engaging to read about than yard bark mulch? I am bristling with excitement just typing these thrilling words:

Y-A-R-D B-A-R-K M-U-L-C-H.

No. There is nothing even remotely exciting about putting mulch in your yard.

No worries, this post is not about yard bark mulch; it an update on what happened with this week’s visit to Pilot Butte for my weekly hike (see my previous post Monday on the “Butte”). Okay I do provide a little background on the yard bark mulch situation just so you can understand why I chose a different Pilot Butte experience today.

WALKING AROUND THE BUTTE (NOT UP THE BUTTE)

We had 6 yards of hemlock bark mulch delivered on Thursday. We were convinced (or deluded) that we could, by Saturday, get all that mulch spread around the front and back yards of our house (and still be able to walk). I guess we thought our bodies had suddenly become the bodies of athletic 18 year olds with extensive recent manual labor experience…

Several years ago we “xeriscaped” – removed our front lawn and planted native plants and grasses.

In the Central Oregon’s high desert, if you want to grow anything, you have to use irrigation. Xeriscaping allows you to use less water/irrigation to keep up your yard. We receive little rainfall in Central Oregon (hence the beautiful blue skies). This limits what will grow in Central Oregon without irrigation/watering.

Bark mulching our xeriscaped yard helps it to maintain moisture (and look more aesthetically pleasing). Every couple of years we have to refresh the mulch.

If you would like to learn more about xeriscaping and creating a low water consuming landscape you can check out Oregon.gov’s online publication: Introduction to Xeriscaping in the High Desert. (Central Oregon is known as the “high desert” as we are at 3600+ ft above sea level elevation and we have a low average yearly rainfall).

When we lived in Seattle, Washington, where there is plenty of rainfall, I never appreciated gardening. Now I live in a land where growing anything is challenging and I am fascinated with gardening and landscaping.

As a bonus to the challenge of growing plants in Central Oregon, we are a geologic volcanic landscape (No, no, no – NO live volcanos – my blogging won’t suddenly be cut off by lava flow…but we do have many extinct volcanos here).

Our soil is coarse, has a sandy texture and tends to be very sterile with minimal organic matter (OSU “Central Oregon Climate”). Central Oregon is not for “gardening sissies”!

So where am I going with all this information? Well this is all relates to what happened today during my weekly hike on Pilot Butte. I was extremely sore from laying down bark mulch over the past 3 days, that my knees told me I may not hike up Pilot Butte today.

With some tedious negotiation I was about to convince my knees (and my sore back) that they could WALK AROUND Pilot Butte.

I didn’t want to just abandon my weekly Pilot Butte experience (every Monday for the past 4 weeks) so I thought “as long as I walk around the base of Pilot Butte that would still count as doing the Butte”!

Here are photos from the ground level of Pilot Butte as I walked approximately 2.5 miles in a loop at the base of Pilot Butte. My knees are not speaking to me right now but I think by tomorrow we will make up with each other.

The Loop – I did 8+ laps around the path while listening of course to an audiobook! Nearly 2.5 miles.

The Day – another beautiful blue sky day with a couple solitary clouds here and there.

The Walk – photos from walking around the loop to give you a feel of the view from the base of Pilot Butte.

BONUS – some of our beautiful volcanic rocky and pumice soil that I get to try and grow things in!

Enjoy your week!

A Crafter's Life

The “Downsized” Quilt

May 1, 2016May 2, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Today a thought popped into my head: “tierneycreates is a quilter’s blog, perhaps I should post something about quilting!”

The Original Plan

I completed the binding on a “log jam” (free form log cabin block piecing) quilt I am putting the in the July 2016 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) called Modern Bedtime.

It measures 63″ x 72″ which is short of a Twin size quilt and more like a large Lap size quilt.

This quilt was meant to be a King size quilt. I originally made its dimensions 98″ x 100″. I worked within the limit of the dimensions of acceptable quilts for entry into the SOQS (a maximum of 104″ on any side).

Last year the quilt I sold at the 2015 SOQS was a large Queen size quilt and I thought I would have a better chance of selling another quilt in the show this year if it were also bed size. I thought: “Maybe there won’t be a lot of large Queen/King size quilts in the show; so if someone attending the show was looking for a large bed size quilt my quilt would be available for consideration!”

Below is a photo of how the quilt started out. The original design had the log jam pieced center floating in a large khaki border. It is draped over a King size bed and you can see there is a nice drape (which I trimmed down to meet the less than 104″ on each side limit for SOQS).

The Universe however did not want this quilt to be King size (or Queen size, or Full size, or Twin size…).

Disaster Strikes!

Something very bad occurred when I pieced the border, I am not sure what exactly as I have been piecing/sewing borders on quilts for many years.

The long-arm quilter discovered that the borders where extremely uneven when she loaded it on her professional quilting machine. Not just uneven, they were “majorly wonky”! She tried to fix it but the borders were so strangely pieced she could not fix it without disassembling a large amount of the quilt.

Additionally, there were several other strange and embarrassing quilt piecing errors (I am too embarrassed to mention these).

What the heck happened? I do not make mistakes like this! I do remember that I was in a hurry to finish up the quilt to get it to her to put it in her queue of customer quilts for the SOQS (she gets very backlogged with customer quilts prior to the SOQS). I was always working long hours on a challenging work project and very tired at the end of the workday.

Perhaps I should not have engaged in “Piecing While Tired” (PWT).

Downsizing

I had a painful phone conversation with the very kind and patient long-arm quilter as we tried to figure out what could be done about this quilt. She had tried removing one of my borders and trying to fix it for me. I kept thinking: “I am so disappointed in myself, I so wanted to sell this quilt at SOQS as a King size quilt”. I wanted so badly for this quilt to work out as I had planned.

Then suddenly I decided to just let it go. I asked the long-arm quilter to just cut off the offending borders and finish quilting the quilt.

*Modern Bedtime (2016)* by Tierney Davis Hogan, quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe

I trimmed off the left over borders, put on the binding and have embraced the quilt as it. I am still showing it/listing it for sale at the SOQS.

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go – Rumi

Warning: Never work on a quilt while tired and stressed from work! Lesson learned!

Postscript

I am working on something exciting right now but it is a secret. It is a piece for an invitation only special juried exhibit. More to come!

A Crafter's Life, Outside Adventures!

Monday, Again

April 25, 2016December 20, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I walked/climbed/hiked Pilot Butte (see previous post “Monday“) for the 3rd Monday in a row today. I was fairly pleased with myself, as I again went up and back down Pilot Butte in 45 minutes.

However, on the way back to my car, I passed by the Pilot Butte Challenge board and noticed the records, by age group, of the fastest ascent/descent of Pilot Butte. I see in the 95 & up age range, someone walked up and down Pilot Butte in 26.51 minutes.

Yes, 95 & up. Now, my new goal is to be able to at least walk up and back down Pilot Butte in 26:51 minutes. Maybe I can even walk faster than that “95 & up” year old person someday and beat their record! Maybe someday I can even beat the time of the record holder in the “90 – 94” age group! (If I am going to dream, I might as well dream big! Ha!)

Here are some photos from my Pilot Butte hike today to distract you from the fact that my time was nearly 20 minutes slower than someone “95 & up” (maybe they were a retired Olympian or something; or maybe a space alien…).

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts, Outside Adventures!

You Got to Start Somewhere

April 12, 2016September 4, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yesterday, 04/11/16, I hiked Pilot Butte, a cinder cone butte (extinct volcano) in Central Oregon. This was my first time hiking “the Butte” since issues with my foot last Fall.

It felt like a great accomplishment since at times during my recovery, I struggled with just returning to regular walks around my neighborhood, much less being able to hike again.

My History with the “Butte”

Prior to my foot injury last fall, I regularly hiked Pilot Butte. In addition to hiking Pilot Butte, I had started going to short runs around my neighborhood. I felt in really great shape.

Central Oregon is a volcanic region (no active volcanos) and its geography is peppered with remnants of its volcanic origins, such as Pilot Butte.

Pilot Butte, according to Wikipedia, has an elevation of 4142 feet above sea level (rising 500 feet from Central Oregon which is 3500+ feet above sea level). From the top of Pilot Butte, the entire city of Bend, Oregon is visible, as are several of the major peaks of the Oregon Cascades Mountain range (Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mount Bachelor, etc).

When I moved from Seattle, WA to Central Oregon over 10 years ago, I had to adjust to the high altitude (Seattle is at sea level). Central Oregon’s climate is called the “high desert” and resembles areas of Colorado. In the late Spring, Summer, and early Fall it can be very dry and dusty. (Central Oregon averages about 12 inches of rainfall per year, the US average of rain is 37 inches according to Sperling’s Best Places).

When I lived in Seattle, I walked a lot and considered myself in fairly decent shape for long walks. I also went hiking and biking in Seattle. After moving to Central Oregon, I remember my first time to hike Pilot Butte – I was so thirsty (the very dry air) and was easily fatigued. I was not used to the altitude!

Persistence pays off and in time my body acclimated to the altitude and I got better at hiking Pilot Butte. Before my foot injury last fall, I could hike Pilot Butte without stopping for any breaks. The hike is only 1 mile up and 1 mile down but there is a gain of 500 feet of elevation, most of it fairly steeply uphill. Area athletes use Pilot Butte for training and there is even an annual competition of fast run up and down the Butte.

The views are amazing, you wind around a continually elevating 360 degree loop until you get to the summit.

View of the city of Bend, Oregon while hiking the Butte

Starting Somewhere

My right foot was a disaster last Fall, and my left foot was beginning to have difficulty. After several medical appointments (including an urgent care appointment as I thought I had a stress fracture when I work up one morning and could not walk on my right foot), I was diagnosed with Plantar fasciitis and a Morton’s neuroma.

Suddenly I could no longer hike, go on runs, or even walk my dogs. I ended up in a walking boot on my right foot for a couple weeks. After getting orthotics, home physical therapy exercises and starting on slow short walks, eventually I was able to return to walking my dogs.

I was even able to go on a long fairly flat hike with a friend. However I was scared to return to Pilot Butte.

I woke up on Monday morning 04/11/16 (I have Mondays off from work) and decided just to do it.

I was going to return to hiking Pilot Butte, even if I was the slowest, saddest looking hiker going up the Butte. I had to start somewhere.

I am not sure if I was the slowest, but I was fairly slow, stopping as I needed for breaks. One guy on his second of third time looping past me (he was running the Butte), told me to “hang in there”.

I timed myself and it took 50 minutes, which is not bad as when I was in better shape, I could go the up and down hike in 35 – 40 minutes.

Postscript: Audiobook Inspiration

While hiking the Butte, I listened to the audiobook Become Who You Were Born to Be by Brian Souza. This book is filled with wonderful, inspiring stories of individuals who overcame unbelievable obstacles to achieve their dreams.

One of the stories the author shares in the audiobook, is that of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and his team’s survival for over a year on the ice-bound Antarctic seas in the early 1990s. He and members of his team successfully hiked 32 miles over frozen mountainous terrain in 36 hours (if they stopped to rest they would die of hyperthermia) to make it to a whaling station to be rescued.

I figured I could hike a mile up and back down a “miniature mountain” on on a beautiful Spring day after listening to that story!

This audiobook was a very inspirational listen as I convinced myself to continue to the top of Pilot Butte!

“By endurance we conquer.” – Ernest Shackleton

A Crafter's Life

The Hen and the Drake

April 2, 2016April 2, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s page Schnauzer Snips for her latest musings…

Time to take a break from talking about quilting. I am actually on hiatus from sewing for a couple days as it feels like I have been been sewing like crazy for the past couple of weeks.

The Sweet Pair in the Neighborhood

I do not know a lot about ducks, especially Mallard ducks, but every year there is an adorable pair of Mallards – a hen and a drake, that wander our neighborhood and the surrounding area.

2016-04-02_021454554_11E97_iOS — The “love birds” (the photo is a little grainy as I did not want to get too close and scare them; and if you regularly follow my blog you know I am not the best photographer!)

I’ve lived in my neighborhood for over 10 years and at least twice a day I go for a walk around my neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhoods. Every spring (and sometimes in the fall) I see a pair of Mallard ducks wandering around – a drake (male) and a hen (female). I like think they are the same pair each year, enjoying the Springtime.

Do ducks mates for life? I guess I could do some research and find out, or I could just decide the answer is “yes” (who needs “facts” when you can have my romantic imaginings?).

Here is the twist about this sweet pair, our neighborhood is not near any body of water, and it is my understanding the ducks like to be in water. There is a small body of water several miles away. Also there appears to be only one pair that wander the neighborhood. I am never clear exactly what they are doing, they just always seem to just be “chilling” in the middle of suburbia.

What About the Cats?

So what about the neighborhood cats? We already have the “natural selection convention” going on at our house with all the bird feeders that Terry-the-Quilting-Husband keeps stocked and my neighbors’ outside kitties lurking beneath the feeders. I have seen a cat or two, walking out of our yard with an unfortunate bird in it’s mouth.

60955_1414755848535_1829558_n — A neighborhood cat waiting in our yard under our bird feeders for an unfortunate bird…

When I first saw this pair (or perhaps a different pair, sigh), 8 – 9 years ago I thought: “Oh, no, the neighborhood cats are going to have a field day with them!”.

So far there appears to be no problems with this pair and the cats. Mallards are not small birds, these ducks are as tall or taller than most cats.

In regards to cats, my favorite memory of this pair is from around 7 years ago when I saw a neighborhood cat stalking this pair as they walked down the center of the street. The Mallards completely ignored the cat. The cat seemed to be intimidated by them and never got that close, but still keep stalking them for at least an 1/8th a mile.

I adore these fearless “love birds”, they make me smile every time I walk by them. I wish I could ask them – “So, are you the same pair I see every year, or have your parents passed onto their offspring that my neighborhood is the place where Mallards can quietly enjoy their love?”

A Crafter's Life

Terry the Quilting Husband Update

March 12, 2016December 2, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

(Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog page SchnauzerSnips for her latest musings)

Five (5) of Terry the Quilting Husband’s quilts have been accepted into the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) for the 2016 show on Saturday July 9, 2016. He will be in the special exhibit, ManMade featuring quilts made by men.

One of the quilts he will be showing at SOQS is named Cozy Flannel Snuggle and has a special story.

Cozy Flannel Snuggle : The Story

Terry was very determined and ambitious as a new quilter that he could “mass produce quilts”. He thought why make blocks for one quilt, when you can make blocks for THREE quilts? He took my flannel scraps and did just that – chain pieced (for days and days it seemed) enough blocks for 3 large lap size flannel quilts.

Terry is the youngest of 7 kids and his Mom and two sisters are quilters. When we told his Mom and sisters in 2014 that Terry had become a quilter, I think they thought we were “pulling their legs”. We suspect they thought he was just helping me with a couple tasks here and there on my quilts, not actually making his own quilts!

So in early 2015, Terry surprised his Mom for her 96th birthday, with a quilt made by her youngest son!

She and Terry’s quilting sisters were very surprised and impressed. One of his sisters sent us a wonderful photo of Mom Hogan snuggled with her Terry quilt and her newly adopted little rescue dog (Terry’s sisters adopted for their Mom a senior rescued shelter dog for companionship).

Terry’s Mom received the first quilt he ever made on his own. He figured, since she brought him into the world, she should be the recipient of his first quilt!

The photo of Terry’s Mom and her dog all snuggled in the quilt, inspired the name of the quilt “Cozy Flannel Snuggle”. In addition to the one Terry gave to his Mom, we kept one of the three quilts ourselves and the last of the three Terry is showing (and selling) at the SOQS so someone else can have the snuggle experience! (Perhaps Terry was right about “why make one quilt, when you can make three?”)

(NOTE: This story was originally very briefly mentioned in the first post about Terry the Quilting Husband – This is the Story of a Quilting Husband)

Screen Shot 2016-03-11 at 10.27.40 PM.png — Cozy Flannel Snuggle (2014). Designed and pieced by Terry Hogan. Quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe.

Postscript

I will have four (4) of my quilts in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year, but mine will be mingled in the “general population” of quilts at the show (smile).

A Crafter's Life

Signs of Spring

March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Very quick post – today on my walk I saw definitive signs of Spring – Crocus in a neighbor’s yard.

We are in need of Spring in Central Oregon!

Every late Winter or early Spring when I see the Crocus, I tell myself “okay this Fall, you need to plant some so you can have them in your yard”. However, when it gets to Fall I forget! I hope I remember this Fall as Crocus are such a wonderful treat to see!

A Crafter's Life

Coupons of Temptation

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Temptation: The Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores’ coupons…

In previous posts such as Craft Book Purge and Craft Book Hoarder?!?!? , I confess my addiction to craft books; and my struggle to stop bring new crafting books into the house.

I recently realized a major source of temptation related to craft book buying: The weekly Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store coupons that come in the mail.

How could I turn down 40% off, 50% off and occasionally 60% off – one regular priced item?!?! You can probably guess what I would buy with these coupons (hint: craft books).

Many times I would go to Jo-Ann’s with a plan to buy a crafting, quilting or sewing supply such as interfacing, rotary blades, etc. with the coupon. I would then discover that the item I had intended to use the coupon to purchase, was already on sale and thus not eligible for the coupon.

After finding what I needed already on sale, I could not just leave Jo-Ann’s without using my glorious coupon! I would usually end up getting a crafting related book for 40%- 60% off with the coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket.

The Solution: I have started recycling these coupons when they arrive in the mail.

It was unnerving at first but it is a huge step towards just enjoying the books I have already.

I can continue use the public library to satisfy my need to have new craft books to look at (True Confession: I do get a little buzz with the anticipation of leafing through a new crafting or decorating book). I do not need to own them!

Postscript

In my recent post The Library Stack I shared how I am enjoying the audiobook SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal and her discussion on “cognitive reframing”.

Well, another concept discussed in this wonderful book – “self distancing” – has also caught my attention. Paraphrasing the author, “self distancing” is the technique by which you step outside yourself and view a situation from an observer point of view, not from the point of view of the person experiencing the situation.

For example, when I was working through allowing myself to just recycle the latest weekly Jo-Ann’s coupon, I stepped outside myself for a moment and asked:

“Does Tierney really need anything right now (or in the near future) from Jo-Ann’s?”

The answer from an observer perspective is a clear “No”.

A Crafter's Life

Love Wears it Out…

February 13, 2016February 15, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In honor of Valentine’s Day weekend, I am reposting this post from Nov 2013 as QUILTS ARE LOVE:

How do you know a quilt has been loved?

It is worn, frayed, maybe even threadbare. In my early days of quilting this would make me cringe – I put all that work into a quilt and now it is all worn out? Now the thought of one my quilts being so loved (just think of that glorious book The Velveteen Rabbit) brings a huge smile to my face.

While talking to my sister (she has many quilts from me) she mentioned that most of the quilts I have made her are very worn out, some are just “hanging on by thread” about to fall apart. I take quilt construction seriously and for a second I thought “wow shoddy workmanship on my part” and “why did they not take better care of the quilts”? I came to my senses several seconds later and realized: Wow! Those quilts have been truly loved – I am so lucky and so honored!

I think of what my first quilting mentor and dear friend, Judy D, said “if a quilt is falling apart, all worn out, then it has been truly loved…I never mind repairing a quilt that has been loved”.

Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

“Real isn’t how you are made, it’s a thing that happens to you… When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes…When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up..or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once..You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Thank you to all the people I have made quilts for over the years, who have truly loved them, and made them REAL.

my old beloved bear Felix and his — My old beloved and worn out teddy bear Felix and his “doll quilt”.

A Crafter's Life

Time to Give (for real)

February 9, 2016February 13, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I continue on my journey to scale back my material possessions and focus on the important things in life, I realize I have donated a lot of stuff I no longer need to charity organizations but I have not given any of my handmade items.

It feels like I have not been really giving, as I have only given purchased items I no longer want in my life.

Giving seems more like true giving, if you give something that is not as easy to part with – like a quilt (or two)!

So I decided to donate a couple small flannel quilts/baby quilts to Project Linus. I had them listed on my tierneycreates Etsy shop and I am taking down their listings and giving them away instead.

If you are not familiar with Project Linus is a non-profit organization that provides homemade “blankets” to children in need. I am getting together with a couple of friends at the end of this month that have worked with Project Linus in the past and they are going to help me donate my quilts.

It feels like this donation is more meaningful donation than a load of unused kitchen gadgets to Goodwill.

A Crafter's Life

Winter Trees

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

After my recent post on the completion of the quilt Tree Outside My Window (see Update on “The Tree Outside My Window”), I started noticing the beauty of “Winter Trees”.

These bare (or nearly bare) trees are such a thing of understated beauty. I do not think I fully appreciated their austere structure and simple elegance.

There they stand, naked, and exposed to the winter sky.

Last week and today on my walk with the dogs (or “the fur kids” as we like to call them) I photographed several “Winter Trees” whose beauty made me pause.

Below are my photos to share with you:

Of winter’s lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer’s secret
Deep down within its heart.
~Charles G. Stater

These photos were taken with my iPhone camera and are not copyrighted. Please feel free to download them if you find them inspirational in your artistic endeavors!

A Crafter's Life

Terry the Quilting Husband Hard at Work

January 23, 2016December 2, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog page Schnauzer Snips for her latest musings.

Quilt in Progress

Terry the Quilting Husband has been hard at work finishing another quilt for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July 2016, hoping to get into the Male Quilter exhibit (in the upcoming weeks he will submit his entries to the selection committee).

Over the past couple of months he made 82 9.5 inch blocks from my flannel scraps using the log jam method (see previous posts on “log jamming”) and sewed them into 9 rows of 9 blocks each:

Rows of flannel scrap log jam blocks waiting to be sewn together

If you do the math – 9 rows with 9 block each equals a 81 block quilt. So what became of the 82nd block? I was wondering about that also and went into Terry’s “studio” (he uses the guest bedroom as his sewing studio) to discover the fate of the extra block.

Here is what I found: he kept one of the blocks that had a schnauzer in the center (from a flannel dog fabric scrap with different breeds) and displayed it in his sewing area:

Note: our guest room is extremely dog themed. You would not want to stay at our house if you do not like dogs – ha!

The Pillow

The one block displayed made me smile and I wanted to make it into something more permanent for him, so I made a quick little throw pillow for him with the block.

Now he is focused on sewing the rows together so we can get it to the long-arm quilter.

I suspect when the quilt is quilted, we are going to struggle with wanting to part with it if we decided to put it for sale at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

A Crafter's Life, Studio, tierneycreates

Various Updates!

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

QUILTED IT MYSELF

In the post The “Basted” Quilt, Dilemma, and Temptation I bemoaned about my dilemma of wanting to just let the large basting stitches on a quilt suffice as the quilting. Well I put on my “big girl panties” and made it through quilting it myself, using just straight stitches, 1/4 inch apart. So glad it is done! (BTW the whole I time I quilted it I was groaning “why didn’t I just let the long-arm quilter quilt this for me?!?!)

NEW “FURNITURE” ADDED TO THE STUDIO

In my recent post Inside the Studio I shared photos of my tierneycreates studio layout. This weekend I added another item to the studio – I pulled the sad ironing board out of the room and added a workbench table from Harbor Freight Tools. This table was on sale this past weekend for an excellent price. One of my Quilt Sisters gave me a heads up on this wonderful find. Terry “The Quilting Husband” got it assembled and we made a removable wide ironing board top for the table. I love it!

My younger brother surprised me with a new cutting mat for Christmas and I discovered the cutting mat fits nicely on top of the removable ironing board. I can cut and press small pieces on the same surface area. My brother has been very supportive of my quilting adventure (and he and his family has benefited from various quilts I have made them!) Past Christmases he has surprised me with quilting books I do not have! (I suspect he has a secret inside quilting connection, ha!)

MISC UPDATES

Handmade at Amazon

I shared in several prior posts how I was looking at listing items on Amazon’s new platform for crafters to sell their handmade items –Handmade at Amazon. I was accepted to become an “artisan” on this platform but I have decided to just stick with Etsy. I love the experience of working with Etsy customers and I think I would be stretching myself too thin with my full-time healthcare job, my tierneycreates Etsy shop, and the Amazon shop.

Terry the Quilting Husband’s Future Exhibit

Terry, the Quilting Husband, is going to submit 5 quilts to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show for consideration to be in the show. They will be having a special Male Quilter Exhibit. More details later this year!

Also Terry is looking at working on Quilts of Valor quilts to be donated to local Veterans, in the future. A Veteran himself and a military history hobbyist, this would be a wonderful was to combine quilting and his deep respect/wanting to honor those who served. There is currently a local project trying to get red, white and blue quilts to the oldest of the local Veterans, primarily WWII Veterans.

Upcoming Show

My The Wardrobe Meets the Wall collaborator and beloved long-arm quilter and friend, Betty Anne, and I are having an upcoming show at Twigs Gallery in Sisters, Oregon, opening the end of March. More details in the future.