Needle-arts crafters (knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch and other needlework) seem to be good people based on those I’ve met through blogging, so I thought I would try for the first time to join a Knit/Crochet Group instead of a quilting group.

One of the area libraries, Arapahoe Library, had a Knit/Crochet Group that met once a week.

I already belong to three Denver area library systems (have library cards), so why not add one more to my list (they are fairly laid back on who can get a library card and there are a lot of libraries systems in the Denver Metro Area), so I went to visit one of the Arapahoe Library branches for the first time – the Smoky Hill Branch.

I was so surprised on my first visit as this branch had a cafe, an awesome used bookstore, and a free seed library where you could take 3 packets of seeds a day!

Of course I had to browse through a stack of used books (that I didn’t buy) at their bookstore while enjoying a hot chocolate and a danish at the cafe:

Other cool things I discovered while doing a self-tour of this library was kits for book groups which included 10 copies of books, and an awesome Craft book section (where else would I have headed first, ha!):

So for the past three weeks I attended the weekly meetings of the Knit/Crochet Group and I met some nice people. Here I am at the group meeting working on another knitted hat; and checking out a wooden yarn holder bowl another attendee’s woodworker husband made her:

I decided not to continue with the group as the venue was too large (space for 17 people) and I wasn’t getting any work done on my project and I was getting a little overwhelmed by the crowd, all their energy and stories. I appeared to have fully transitions to an Introvert post-pandemic!

I might try another group someday in a smaller venue.

Bags Bags Bags, Library Adventures

The Denver Tote

March 1, 2024March 1, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of my favorite bag designers is the Netherlands based designer Svetlana Sotak of Sotak Handmade. The drawstring bags I’ve made (feels like I’ve made hundreds of them) is based on her pattern. I like that she supports small businesses by licensing them to sell items make from her patterns by purchasing the pattern.

It was time for me to try out a new pattern so I made a friend who loves to knit a project bag from the Sotak Handmade pattern – Denver Tote with knitting/yarn themed fabric by Ruby Star Society fabrics.

I was proud of myself because I installed a magnetic snap for the first time on the liner and reinforced it with heavy weight interfacing so the snap did not pull on the liner (which has medium weight interfacing attached).

Next time I make it I might make coordinating handmade handles. I was trying to coordinate the handles with the drawstring that is part of the bag too.

Oh and speaking bags, I don’t think I’ve shared this lovely tote bag I found while thrifting that I love to take everywhere, especially to the public library to pick up my holds!

Here is my latest library stack I brought home with the tote and so far I’ve really enjoyed the book Cool is Everywhere.

Library Adventures, What's on the Design Wall

Update on SuperSymmetry Table Runner and the Library Book Borrowing Bonanza

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Update on SuperSymmetry Table Runner

Well after Monday’s guest post by Mike the Miniature Schnauzer’s on the update of one of the WIPs (Guest Blog Post: Progress on “My Blanket”), the gray granny square blanket, that I shared in this post 2023 Recap: A Year in “Makes” and WIPs Going Forward, I guess I should actually do a post providing an update on another WIP I mentioned in the “2023 Recap” post: the table runner for our new table made from orphan blocks from my friend Wendy’s quilt SuperSymmetry (the quilt and the pattern she wrote appeared in the October 2010 edition of The Quilt Life):

I have all the blocks that Wendy gave me sewn together; and now it seems I have quite a few to make to bring the piece the full length of the table.

I am floating the table runner in progress on the taupe-brownish fabric that I will use as the borders. It is the same fabric I used as the setting fabric in this quilt which is in the dining room/library:

Yes that is Mike napping at my feet while I read a book in the library (before it was the dining room/library).

Here’s a couple more photos of the table runner in progress laid out on the dining table, this time with the bowl and candles that will sit on top of it when it is done:

You can see my breakfast in the background, it is a nice place to sit, read and eat breakfast.

I really like how the table runner is looking in the room and it coordinates well with my color scheme. I have one of those Ruggable washable rugs on order for under the table the in a muted brown color. Hopefully the rug will tie the room even more together (as well as protect the carpet from food spills when the dining table it being used).

A Library Book Borrowing Bonanza

You might have noticed in the first image in this post a stack of library books on the chair in the corner. A while back I decided to end my series of posts on the stack of library books I borrow from the library (last post in the series was Revenge of The Library Stack). But I thought I would share a special library book borrowing bonanza event.

The Saturday before New Year Eve (12/30), John and I decided to have a unique adventure – we decided on one day to visit all the libraries in our local library system that were within a reasonable drive. We drove to four different library branches, three of which I’ve never visited. Since my library card worked at all the libraries, I had an “incident” and came home with a LOT of books.

It was fun raiding the NEW NONFICTION sections of each library as well as browsing their 700s sections where all the yumminess for me awaits! It was such a delight to visit all those libraries in one day and what a wonderful sense of anticipation I had as our car parked in front of a library I’d never been to before!

Remember the post I did on the literary and popular culture inspired Christmas Trees my local library had on display (see post O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Trees…) as part of the Forest of Trees? Well the other libraries we visited in the library system also had trees on display as part of this library system wide program.

I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of the different trees at each library branch we visited. Here are some of my favorites (sorry the lighting wasn’t the best for photography) listed in order of the photos:

Princess Bride
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Cat in the Hat
Star Wars
Star Trek
The Hobbit

Such amazing creativity on the part of the library staff who came up with the concepts and decorated the trees!

Library Adventures

Revenge of The Library Stack

October 3, 2023October 4, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I’ve written any posts for my blogging topic category – The Library Stack where I share my latest stack of local library books I’ve borrowed; and this might be my last “library stack” post for a very long time.

Why? Because I overdid it this time…

A couple weeks (or a month ago), I went for a wander in our local Barnes & Noble bookstore and spent way too long in the Interior Decorating/Home Improvement section with lots of new and yummy design books.

Above is a small sampling of the two bookcases in Barnes & Nobles filled with new interior design books.

I noted many of the new book titles, went home and reserved them at the library. Little did I know they would all come in so fast…and continuously.

This was the first library stack:

I didn’t take any more photos but the books kept coming in until my stack was over 20+ books before I left for my trip to Montréal a couple weeks ago. While I was in Montréal books I had on hold kept coming available and John had to keep going to the library to pick them up each time I got a new e-mail until I returned to the US. It was getting ridiculous.

When I got back from my trip I tried to flip through as many books (drinking a lot of tea!) as I could knowing some I had to return in 21 days AND that more books kept coming in.

How did this happen? I don’t remember reserving that many Interior Design books but I think I made a mistake when I was putting books on hold and accidentally checked a whole screen page listing of books instead of just the one (or several books) I wanted on that page of the library listing.

I ended up with over 35+ library books which I had to make into 3 stacks!

After a while I became fatigued with Interior Design books and realized I’d really overdone it this time. I ended up returning all the books before their 21 day loan was up including 10+ books I didn’t even flip through.

Of all those library books, in the TRIPLE STACK, my two favorites were these two, I really enjoyed looking through these gorgeous books:

I enjoyed them on the front porch during a lovely day with milder weather.

But I think my “library stack” era has ended (or at least on hiatus for some time) and I am just going to focus on reading the books and magazines in my home library for now. I am currently quite disinterested in any home design suggestions – ha!

It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
– Aesop

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Library Adventures, Studio

Library Stack Unrestrained…

April 10, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Again, it’s been a while since I’ve written any posts for my blogging topic category – The Library Stack where I share my latest stack of local library books I’ve borrowed.

In this quick post I thought I would share my latest stack, recently acquired when I browsed the library “unrestrained” (by common sense and no longer being hindered by hobbling around in a walking book):

Yes it’s a bit ridiculous and I am not sure what happened to me while browsing (I guess I had an “out of body” experience) the library. It was the first time I was able to drive myself to the library and browse independently since I broke my ankle in January 2023.

Surprisingly I was able to haul all these books to the library’s check out station using a tote bag (and taking the elevator, there was no way my ankle was going to get me all the way down the library stairs!).

My plan is to flip through these books while I have breakfast each morning.

I think that is all the time I should allow this stack as I need to keep working on finishing my Colour Wheel Quilt that I most recently blogged about in this post Update on the “Colour Wheel” Quilt.

I just finished wrangling the quilt, with just the batting attached (to act as interfacing), under the sewing machine to machine applique down all those letters. So I am moving forward despite distraction from my latest (and unrestrained) “Library Stack”!

Library Adventures

The Library Stack – Beauty and Slowness

January 23, 2023January 22, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I’ve written any posts for my blogging topic category – The Library Stack where I share my latest stack of local library books I’ve borrowed.

Before I got injured (slip on ice led to broke ankle, if you are new to this blog), I borrowed a HUGE stack of library books and a couple of contained meaningful quotes and concepts that stuck with me.

Yummy Library Stack!

Beauty by Design: Refreshing Spaces Inspired by What Matters Most by Ginger Curtis

This book focuses on turning your home into a sanctuary that reflects who you are.

The author uses the acronym B-E-A-U-T-Y in a creative and inspirational way:

B – Be still in your space and spend time reflecting on your journey.

E – Express your dreams. Say those lovelies aloud, tell friends about them, write them down.

A – Ask someone in your life to share insight and encouragement about you and your dreams.

U – Understand the values of what you have to offer through your heart and home.

T – Take time to plan a next step or two or four. Use this book to keep going.

Y – Yes. Say it. Yes, you have permission to foster the beauty you long for.

The book is peppered with inspirational quotes and here are my favorites I stumbled upon as I paged through this book:

If it’s a woman’s nature to nurture, then she must nourish herself.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Still: The Slow Home by Natalie Watson

This book also contained inspirational quotes that stuck with me. This book invites readers to structure their home environment based on the “SLOW” Movement – living SUSTAINABLE, shopping LOCALLY, selecting ORGANIC products, and eating WHOLE foods.

When were you last still?

Without movement and motion.

And free from thoughts tumbling and rumbling ahead.

But still in the silent depths of quiet calm.

Holding space for now.
Natalie Watson, Still: The Slow Home

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.:
Rumi

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.
Marcel Proust

The book discusses 10 steps to slow living:

Create a vision
Develop a value framework
Find our why
Focus on priorities
Take responsibility
Let go
Switch off
Live in the now
Cultivate good feelings
Embrace SLOW living one step at a time

It was a wonderful home decoration book and I felt calm and peaceful after reading it.

The other books in the library stack were awesome but these two stood out for me.

Library Adventures

Back to My Local Library Stack!

June 10, 2022June 11, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Well after sharing my visit to the Austin Central Library in the post Peaceful Oasis at the Austin Central Library; and a weekend spent in Fort Collins, CO with a visit to an incredible kitchen store with a wonderful collection of home decor books, I was in the mood for a library stack that I can have at my home!

And that stack would be filled with books from the 700s section!

So on the way back from Fort Collins on Monday, I reserved a couple books (and I use the word “couple” lightly…) that I saw at the kitchen store while we wandered around College Avenue in Fort Collins.

But I couldn’t wait and on Tuesday, I headed to my library to browse their new releases in the 700s and anything else I might find. Little did I know, and I only checked on a whim, a bunch of books that I had reserved were waiting in the “Holds” section for me.

So here was the stack I brought home on Tuesday (a combo of my Holds and my browsings):

And then on Wednesday I received an e-mail from the library that MORE books I had on hold had come in. I already needed to run errands in that area (with the crazy price of gas I’ve been grouping all my errands) so I stopped at the library and increased my stack!

Here is the stack with the additional books, minus one book I finished on Tuesday:

I set up a system to place books I am done with under a chair in my home library so I know what needs to be returned for whenever I am running errands near the library again:

I know, I know, it’s a very fancy system.

I am working my way through the stack with my tea each morning:

One of the books I’ve really enjoyed so far is British Designers at Home by Jenny Rose-Innes (2020):

I’ve read/browsed a lot of interior design/home decorating books, and many that feature the homes of interior designers, but this one was different. I am not sure if it is the British approach to decorating but the interiors actually looked like real people lived in them!

Yes there were some expensive antiques and I am sure some pricey paintings, etc. but many of the interiors looked like you just wanted to curl up in a corner with a good book and some tea. This is my kind of decorating!

Although I love all the Farmhouse, Scandinavian, Minimalistic, Arts and Crafts, Midcentury Modern, Rustic, Industrial, etc. interior design styles I see in a lot of home decor books I borrow, they do not always seem particularly cozy or real – like how do you get comfortable in those homes? I am just looking for somewhere to curl up with some books and my tea!

The best compliment/feedback I ever got on my personal random eclectic style of decorating was from my neighbor in Bend, Oregon’s 3 year old son who plopped onto some pillows on my floor and declared: “Tierney, your house is cozy!”

Another thing I really liked in the British Designers at Home was that nearly ever house had a library, or some room dedicated to their book collections (or just books everywhere)!

Besides the “people actually live here” vibe of many of the homes in the books, the thing I most enjoyed about the book was the brief interviews with the designers at their homes at the end of each section using standard questions.

The best question was:

If there was a fire, what would you grab?

I think that question can reveal a lot about a person and what they truly value.

(Another question I loved was “Fiction or non-fiction?” – it was an appropriate question as clearly these designers loved to read!)

Library Adventures, tierneytravels

Peaceful Oasis at the Austin Central Library

June 6, 2022June 6, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was in Austin, Texas the week of 05/23/2022, the same week of the School Shooting Massacre In Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday 05/24/2022. I was staying in downtown Austin, where my partner John was attending a multiple day work meeting with his leadership team.

Tuesday 05/24/2022 I was coming out of the hotel gym after a great workout, about to go back to my hotel room, shower and then spend the day exploring downtown Austin, when I passed by the hotel bar area where news of the shooting was being broadcast.

I stood there dumbfounded and in shock, surround by other hotel guests who were equally in shock. The school shooting occurred 10 days after another horrible mass shooting that shook me to my core – the Buffalo, NY Grocery Store Shooting.

John was in a work meeting and could not be disturbed so I was left to spend the rest of the day in distress, flipping from news channel to news channel to find out more and more disturbing details while sobbing.

That evening I went to dinner an evening boat tour to see the bats that live under one of the bridges on the river that runs through downtown Austin, with John and his colleagues. At dinner we kept the conversation as light as we could and several of his Austin based colleagues talked about the amazing Central Library in downtown Austin.

Library? An awesome library?!?! Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I am obsessed with public libraries. I’ve loved libraries since I was young (9 or 10?) and spent a summer at the public library nearly every day, riding my bike to the library every day and befriending the kind librarians who worked at the library and took me under their wing.

John’s colleagues mentioned that the Austin Central Library had a rooftop garden and amazing architecture.

Libraries to me are nearly sacred peaceful oases. I knew that Wednesday I needed to visit the Austin Central Library.

And I did. And it was a peaceful oasis and my spirit was centered and calmed for a couple blissful hours.

Here is the photo essay about that visit.

I walked a mile through the beautiful park (River Metro park?) along the Colorado River running through downtown Austin to the Central Library. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and in another post I will share photos from that walk as well as other photos of downtown Austin.

I entered the library on a lower level and I tingled with anticipation. Here are the stairs that greeted me that I could not wait to climb:

Before ascending the stairs, I noticed the library had an amazing high tech book return station:

After ascending the stairs, and being the library geek I am, I stopped at the information booth, informed the library team member who greeted me that it was my first visit to the library (and how excited I was to be there) and got a map to guide me through the library.

The library’s interior was amazing. The library has 6 levels, connecting with lofty ascending staircases. I explored all 6 levels!

The library has a huge clock that it can be viewed from any level and is as tall as a level or more:

This window, viewable from many levels, is just breathtaking:

I already heard about the rooftop deck and was planning on making that my last stop after exploring the other levels but then I discovered the library had a READING PORCH and I started on a mission to put together a “library stack” to take out to the reading porch.

I headed to my favorite section – Non Fiction – 700s to put together my stack!

I took my lovely “library stack” to the reading porch and spent a couple hours reading books as well as having a little picnic lunch I put together on the enclosed porch with views of downtown Austin:

It was so amazingly peaceful on the reading porch and I could only hear the bird song (there were trees filled with birds near the porch) and the sounds of traffic below. It was such a wonderful place to read my “library stack”(which I could only read/look through at the library since I was not a local resident).

After a couple hours in the reading porch and some reading of/flipping through the books in my stack, I returned them for re-shelving inside, and then wandered additional levels until I got to the rooftop deck.

A couple fun standouts on my way to the rooftop deck include the “Technology Petting Zoo” and the Board Game area – where you could grab a board game and play games with friends/family at the library!

I was not sure what to expect of a library’s rooftop deck but I was pleasantly surprised! It was huge, filled with people reading, visiting and lounging about. It had a garden area and amazing views of downtown Austin!

Here are some of the photos I took while on the rooftop deck:

I was craving something sweet and after the rooftop deck, I headed back to the ground floor of the library and had a cupcake at the library’s cafe called the Cookbook Bar & Cafe.

And guess what – the cafe was filled with used cookbooks! You could browse/flip through cookbooks while you ate (and I did) – it was glorious (and the cupcake I had was glorious!):

With my belly full of delicious cupcake and my spirit soothed by the energy of a public library, I headed back to my hotel, enjoying the scenery immediately outside of the library on my route back to my hotel.

I took a ridiculous amount of photos but I tried to select the photos that would give you a general idea of how awesome the Austin Central Library was to visit. Here is a little video tour if you are wanting more:

Oh and I thought this was pretty cool – I’ve never seen a library do this!

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

Double Stacking It with the Library Stack

February 11, 2022May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I shared my latest “Library Stack” in my series of ongoing posts by the same name – The Library Stack. I noticed I have 39 posts so far under the blog post category “The Library Stack” so over the past 8 years I’ve been blogging I’ve shared a lot of stacks!

A couple weeks ago I had “an incident“. I borrowed a stack of books from two different public library systems which resulted in a DOUBLE STACK!

I have to keep the stacks separate so I don’t mess up and return the wrong stack to the wrong library!

Here is a close up of each stack:

Stack I (Library 1):

Stack II (Library 2):

I’ve recently finished up Stack II and returned it to its correct library (yay!). The books I most enjoyed in this stack were: Styling for Instagram and Dollhouse Style.

For the past couple of month’s I’ve been obsessed with tiny room vignettes and dollhouse size furniture on Instagram (I think it is just a phase) and I follow Instagram pages such as @simplylivingminidesigns.

I was obsessed with tiny houses (the kind you can live in) for quite a while, but now I seem to have gone tinier!

The human sized livable tiny house still remain an obsession for me as you can see that in Stack I I have a book titled The Giant Book of Tiny Homes!

Well I have a lot of page browsing ahead with pots of tea to finish Stack 1 and get it back to its library! Then I will take a “Library Stack” break and work on reading the books I already have in queue in my home library!

Blogging Awards, Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

Library Stack Attack

March 23, 2021May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before I get into this post, which is a continuation of my ongoing series, The Library Stack (in which I share my stacks of borrowed books from my local public library), I would like to say thank you to the very talented Mariss @ Fabrications for also nominating me for an Outstanding Blogger Award. In the Postscript section of this post I will answer the questions she posed to her nominees.

It’s been a while (November 2020) since I shared my latest “Library Stack” and I thought I would just catch you up on several stacks over the past several months.

Here is my current stack and I’ve been enjoying the book The Best of Me by David Sedaris. Thanks to Anne @ I’ve Read This for her review – Book Review: The Best of Me by David Sedaris.

And here are the previous library stacks that I have not shared before:

As you can see there appears to be a limited number of general themes of the types books I borrow from the local library – home decor and crafting. These are my fabric subjects for a book browsing over a pot of tea!

You might have noticed that I have The Shopkeeper’s Home by Caroline Rowland in two different stacks – if I really enjoy a home decor or crafting book I just borrow it again and again!

I’ve been reading a lot (well “a lot” for me) of fiction books but those I am reading from my home library (see post Curating a Home Library) or library borrowed audiobooks; and I might share some reviews in a future post. You can follow me on Goodreads @tierneycreates if you’d like to see what I’ve been reading fiction wise and read my reviews.

Postscript

Okay now to answer the questions from my Outstanding Blogger Award Nomination from Mariss @ Fabrications:

For how long have you been writing a blog? Since October 2013 – over 7 years
What made you start? Originally it was a vehicle for my soon to be opened (and eventually opened) tierneycreates Etsy shop – I closed the shop after a couple years but kept the blog
Why do you continue to blog? I enjoyed sharing my experiences with others and reading their experiences on their blogs – I get inspired
Have you ever met any of your fellow bloggers face to face? If so, how did it feel? Yes I’ve met the lovely ladies from Gray Barn Designs when they attended a show opening of one of my pieces – see post Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I
Do you write regularly? If so, why? I go in spurts – where I write regularly and then take a break, it all depends on my mood

If you’d like to see my other nomination and the questions answered (by my tierneycreates Beastie) check out the post Outstanding Blogger Award (and snow).

A Crafter Needs to Eat, Books, Music, Podcasts, From the Woodshop, Library Adventures, Thrift Shop Adventures

Curating a Home Library

November 12, 2020May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I love public libraries and as my series of posts The Library Stack shows, I am always browsing them and borrowing books when I can. A couple of years of ago I studied and embraced Minimalism trying to live a simpler lifestyle and letting go of things that I thought cluttered my life. I decided to stop buying books and just borrow them from the library.

Then in December 2018 my husband suddenly died and things shifted in my life on a large scale. And in early 2020 the pandemic hit and more shifting occurred to include examining how I could redefine a “simpler lifestyle” and have the physical things I enjoy in my life.

Our local libraries closed for what seemed like endless months during the early days of the pandemic and when they reopened it was only for curbside pickup. Currently they have fully reopened but have many strict protocols (beyond mandatory masks) and there are not that many patrons in the library anymore. It feels like something is lost from whole public library experience (and it is strange to see the librarians behind glass).

Pre-pandemic I was really in to audiobooks. Something shifted in me during the pandemic and I began to crave reading physical books rather than listening to them. I also remembered my secret dream of having an extensive home library like the ones I see in the home decorating books I borrow from the public library.

Like this one below:

With all the above things in the background of my mind, a couple of months ago I decided that I wanted to proceed with curating my own home library. Nothing as extensive as the image above but a nice collection with books that I’ve read and loved (and want to read again) and books I want to read (and might read again).

So how to do this and not “break the bank”? Well I used the following sources to find books for my home library:

Thrift Stores
Garage Sales
Thriftbooks.com
Independent bookstores selling used books

I was able to buy books from 50 cents to $5.00 from these four sources. Most books I paid between $1.49 and $4.99.

In addition to amassing a collection of second hand books over the past couple of months, my partner John also added an additional bookcase to the front room beyond the two he already built for me.

So here is the current version of my home library which used to be the front room/sitting room in my house:

I had so much fun hunting for books at thrift shops (one local thrift shop has 1/2 priced Saturdays).

I’ve loved the books by the authors Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child and I’ve read at least 85% of their entire catalogue of books. So I put together a collection of their books of my very own (previously I had borrowed them from the library):

I do not have their latest books as those are not at thrift stores yet or reasonably priced on Thriftbooks.com but it was so fun finding each book one at a time while hunting at thrift shops.

At the beginning of my home library book curation process I thought about filling part of my home library with classic novels and books that might impress a book collector. But that thought lasted only a couple seconds. I have no need to impress anyone with my home library except myself. It is only filled with the kind of books I will read (and my partner too).

Like lots of Science Fiction and Fantasy (especially Young Adult Fantasy, I love it):

You might wonder what I did with my craft book collection. Well it is on the opposite wall organized by craft or topic (like art quilting):

All those books – got to have a cozy place to read, right? Here is Mike the Miniature Schnauzer sitting in my favorite reading spot:

And here is Mike and I snuggled cozy under a warm blanket on a cold Saturday reading (it was quite a delicious morning with my pot of tea next to me). I rediscovered the joy of reading a while, napping, waking up and reading some more!

Note these images were taken before my partner put up the third bookcase last week.

In case you are curious, I am still occasionally getting a “Library Stack” from my local public library, though not as big as the ones I was getting (the ridiculously large stacks like in the post The Library Stack Is Back!) when the library first reopened. Here is my current linrary stack:

Speaking of libraries, some of the second hand books I’ve purchased over the past several months are former library books! I’ve gotten pretty good at removing the library’s plastic dust cover with all their library specific stickers so the books sitting on my home library shelves does not look like I stole them from a library – ha!

As I mentioned earlier in this post I used to listen to a lot of audiobooks. Current I am only listening to podcasts now, taking a break from audiobooks. I am currently enjoying holding a book in my hand and reading it. Quite a different experience. I am taking a break from multitasking in life and just enjoying a solitary task of reading a book!

Postscript

Over the past several months of going to thrift stores to find books for my home library, I’ve come across many curious items for sale at thrift shops.

Here are my top 5 favorite finds that gave me the chuckle (and I promise you I did not buy any of them):

Number 5: If you need a lamp and a place to store your leftover yarn, would this not be the perfect solution?

Yes it’s – YARN LAMP!

Number 4: Patriotic pants – they defy any further comment (but my apologies to you if you happen own these…)

Number 3: Donated photo frames with family photos still in them.

I could not believe how many donated photo frames I came across with family pictures still in them at various thrift stores, like the example below. Wouldn’t you perhaps remove your family photos before donating?!?!?

Number 2: An outfit for a very adventurous and crafty person.

Though it was on display way before Halloween, I think this was supposed to be a suggested Halloween outfit (hopefully as you would get a lot of stares should you select it for a cocktail party…)

And Number 1 is…

Something that you absolutely cannot imagine living without…

A cattle leg (yes real cattle leg) with hoof attached Barometer!

Yes, now you can remember the favorite steer you raised on your farm and know the current barometric pressure!

My regret is I did not buy it and put it away as the ultimate future “White Elephant” Christmas gift! (Could you imagine the look on someone’s face when they opened their gift!)

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures, Thrift Shop Adventures

Good Morning and The Library Stack

September 28, 2020November 15, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

First let me wish you all a “Good Morning”, even if your time zone is greatly different from mine (perhaps you are reading this post before you go to bed!).

Just like in the August 6, 2020 post Good Morning, I would like to give you a “Good Morning” greeting by sharing some photos from my partner John’s morning bike ride, this time from a couple days ago along a reservoir near our house.

Now for the second part of this post, I am going to continue my series of posts about the latest stack of my local library books I’ve borrowed (The Library Stack), and show you the sort of crazy huge stack of books I just got from the library:

I actually took a break from “library stacks” for a while as I was trying to catch up on my backlog of crafting magazines I have to read in my home library. But then my blogging buddy, author and podcaster* (and fellow Beastie owner) Tammie Painter shared her latest “library stack” in her post It’s Time for An Action-Packed Library Stack and it made me want to go to my library and get my “stacking” on! (I am easily influenced).

(*If you enjoying listening to podcasts check out Tammie’s wonderful The Book Owl Podcast available on the podcast platforms).

In addition to my standard home decorating books (so enjoyable to browse with a pot of tea), I have a couple books in the stack related to my latest obsession – making granny squares (see post Granny Square Madness).

Speaking of granny squares, the other day we stopped at a thrift store when wandering about and I found another cool granny square afghan that needed “rescuing”. Yes – it looked at me with big eyes that said “bring me home Tierney…please…”. (It is okay if you are now rolling your eyes…)

Here is Mike (my rescue dog) with my latest “rescued” afghan:

It’s quite cozy and I had a nice nap under it this weekend.

I can relate to all the work that goes into making granny squares (I’ve made 15 more this weekend of the 43 left to make to complete my first granny square afghan) and I sort of wince to think this ended up in a thrift shop but I guess it was time for me to be its guardian!

Oh and since this post seems filled with rather random things (sunrise photos from a morning bike ride, a library stack, “rescued” granny square afghan, etc.) I will add to the randomness by closing out this post with my new tablecloth and placemats I also picked up from a thrift shop.

The napkins are from World Market and but the table cloth and placemats were a couple of dollars investment for a nice new look to our kitchen table!

Okay that’s the end of this random item post, hope you all have a great day!

Beastie Adventures, Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

Beastie goes to the library (and gets a Library Stack)

July 5, 2020May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It was as if the gates of Heaven opened and I could hear the angels singing: Last week a neighboring library system (the one I’ve started getting books via curbside pick up from a couple weeks ago, see post The Library Stack Is Back!), OPENED ITS DOOR TO THE PUBLIC!!!

So the tierneycreates Beastie and I headed to the library to frolic among the stacks! (We did not bring tierneycreates Beastie’s dog Mikelet since only Service Dogs are allowed in libraries…even though he is very small and I likely could have hid him in my pocket…)

After chatting with the library front desk staff and introducing them to the tierneycreates Beastie and showing them her library card* (see post Beastie Outing to the Library), we headed upstairs to browse our favorite Dewey Decimal System section 700 (Arts & Recreation)!

*tierneycreates Beastie with her very own Library Card

Once again, like the other time I took my Beastie to the library, she insisted on trying to navigate the library stairs herself:

But she was not getting anywhere very fast so she agreed I could just carry her upstairs to the magical 700 section of the library.

Once we got upstairs, I let her do her own browsing and she eventually found her way to the knitting book section as she is always trying to learn more about how she was made in Dublin by her maker Helen@Crawcraftbeasties.

Beasties are sort of vain and she kept asking me to take her photo among various stacks of craft books. Here is a photo she did not want you to see but I told her I was going to share it anyway so you can see sometimes even Beasties take bad photos:

While I was browsing (note – this was the first time I’ve been inside this library as I joined this neighboring library system when they started curbside pick up a couple weeks ago since my local library is still completely closed) in section 700, I noticed this sign:

I was like “whaaaaaaaaaaaat?” I love Interior Decorating/Design books and this library has their own “Interior Design Nooks?!??! (insert sounds of more angels singing). So I wandered over there while the tierneycreates Beastie continued to browse through the knitting section.

The nook is both sides of this freestanding section and a built in bookshelf!

Unfortunately my arms were overloading with browsings from the other 700 sections and I could only select a couple books from this section to borrow (but I will be back!!!)

Here is the resulting Library Stack from our visit (or frolic among the library stacks):

tierneycreates Beastie just mentioned to me that since I was “keeping it real” by showing a photo of her earlier in this post with disheveled hair, I need to show you all what the Library Stack really looks like when I first get it home before I put it in a nice order:

Beasties keep you honest!

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The Library Stack Is Back!

May 22, 2020May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of the things I’ve greatly missed during the “COVID-times” is visiting my local public library to browse the shelves and/or pick up my latest stack of holds.

1000x700-love-libraries-quotes-12 — Photo credit: dictionary.com

My local public library, which is within walking distance of where I live, is still closed BUT last week I discovered the public library in the neighboring country opened for “curbside pick up”. Library patrons could reserve books online and when notified that the library that they are available, could park in designated spots at the library and HAVE THEIR LIBRARY HOLDS DELIVERED DIRECTLY INTO THE TRUNK OF THEIR CAR!

Giddy with the excitement of this news, I contacted the neighboring county’s library to see if they would allow me to sign up for a library card/account with them. I discovered from the friendly library staff that any Colorado resident could sign up!

I could not get online fast enough to sign up for a library patron account with this neighboring county’s library!!!

But…

I went a little crazy putting books on hold online. Like super crazy. Like completely and utterly insane.

So now I am ready to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my local public library. Because, the LIBRARY STACK IS BACK

Initially I received an e-mail that several of the books I reserved were available and immediately drove to the library to pick them up. !

And a couple days later I received a notice that like 15+ more books were available for me to pick up.

Here is the resulting MEGA STACK of library books:

And I am in library book heaven!

This morning (the first day of my “staycation”, see Postscript), I had a simple breakfast in the front room with a pile of library books. It was a lovely way to spend a morning!

Oh and yes, a couple more books have come in and I returned to the library a third time to have them load more books into my trunk! I did return a couple books using their drive through book return so my stack is still the same size (sort of…but I am not showing you any more of my pathological addiction to library books in this post – ha!)

Postscript

Today I began my first day of a 10 day “staycation” (a holiday at home). I plan to spend it reading my giant library stack, catching up on reading the blogs I follow, and even writing some more blog posts. My partner John and I are also planning some day trip adventures and working on some home remodeling projects.

Oh in addition to the library stack, I am also reading a book on Kindle – Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace; and listening to a fantastic audiobook book – The Library Book by Susan Orleans which is a love letter to public libraries. I will of course be discussing this book a bit in a future post when I finish it.

I don’t know about you but I keep fighting getting blue during these COVID-times. I know some of the stay at home orders/restrictions are loosening but if your part of the world is like mine you are still dealing with “social distancing”, limited access to things and needing to wear masks when you venture out.

I am so grateful for my health and the health of those I love and I hate to sound whiny at all but I miss what life used to be pre-COVID so much.

Somedays I sort of want to just run around and hug everyone I come across! It hurts my heart to always have to intentionally and constantly stay away from people. When walking my dog and passing another person, we each move an extra bit to the opposite side. I guess dogs just figure that people all hate strangers now or something!

I came across this quote the other day and it was a good reminder for me to “snap out of it” and send out positive vibes to my fellow humans struggling with this new reality:

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The (Ridiculously Large) Library Stack

November 13, 2019May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hmmm…

I might have overdone it this time with my public library stack:

Last time I had an entry my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my local public library was May 2019, 6 months ago.

As I shared in my August 19th post, Morning Walk in Black and White, this summer I moved from my apartment to a house sharing situation – 35 miles away but still in the greater Denver metropolitan area.

When I moved, I had to change libraries as I moved to a new county. I really liked my public library in the first area of Denver, Colorado in which I lived (see post New Library in My Life!) and I was bummed to leave the sweet little library I could walk to.

My current library at my new housing situation is not too bad (and I can walk to it), the only thing is they do not have a good selection of crafting or home decor books (two of my favorite genres to borrow from the library).

However I discovered their online interlibrary loan system across the entire Denver metro area (numerous counties) and BAM – I now have access to lots of great titles.

Unfortunately I went a little “online-borrowing-request-crazy” and put too many books on hold at the same time through the online interlibrary loan system.

And they all came in at once…

Here is the new stack of the interlibrary loan books (they were quite the cumbersome stack to carry out of the library after check out):

And here is the existing stack I already had at the house of library books:

So when you combine them together you get this: The Ridiculously Large Library Stack!

I was not even sure when to store all 18 books I have out on library loan.

Storing them in the sitting/reading room seemed like the best idea:

This morning I attacked the stack over breakfast…

Lesson learned – I will not be so enthusiastic in reserving a large number online interlibrary book loans at once!

(Or I could just quit my job and read library books for a living…)

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

New Library Stack and Option B

May 13, 2019May 14, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

NEW Library Stack

I am ready to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my local public library. This is my first stack from my NEW local library in the Denver greater metro area!

I live within walking distance of a public library branch and last week I wandered over and selected my first stack! It was so fun to walk back home with my stack:

So far I’ve finished browsing through the books The Quilting Arts Idea Book by Vivika Hansen Denegre and Global Bohemian by Fifi O’Neill. I enjoyed both of these books immensely! Lots of art quilt and decorating inspiration!

As my library is so close, I will probably keep my library stacks small instead of the mega library stacks I used to borrow from previous Central Oregon public library (which I transported home by car). I love the idea of being able to quickly walk to the library!

Option B

It’s been a while since I shared a recent audiobook listen and I am currently listening to a fantastic audiobook (borrowed from the library of course) – Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resistance, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant.

If Sheryl Sandberg’s name sounds familiar, she is the former Google executive and Facebook Chief Operations Officer who wrote the wildly popular book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Several years following her success from that book and becoming an internationally known speaker, writer and business mogul, her beloved husband suddenly and unexpectedly passed, just like how I lost my husband in December 2018.

This book is about how she faced her grief, rebuilt her life and achieved “post-traumatic growth”. The interesting thing is I tried to read this book over a year ago (before my loss) and lost interest in it after a couple chapters. Now I am devouring it and gaining a lot of insight.

I can relate on so many level to what Sheryl Sandberg shares in her first hand account of experiencing one of the most awful things that can happen to you – losing your life partner. I do not think I was ready to read/listen to this book until now. I like to think that the Universe is helping give me what I need when I am ready for it.

What is Option B? Well Option A would be for your loved one to still be alive. But Option A is not available. So you have to find your Option B.

“Option A is not available. so let’s just kick the sh*t out of Option B.”
“Life is never perfect. We all live some form of Option B.”

I will close out this post with a couple additional quotes from this powerful book.

“Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. It comes from gratitude for what’s good in our lives and from leaning in to the suck. It comes from analyzing how we process grief and from simply accepting that grief. Sometimes we have less control than we think. Other times we have more. I learned that when life pulls you under, you can kick against the bottom, break the surface, and breathe again.”

“…post-traumatic growth could take five different forms: finding personal strength, gaining appreciation, forming deeper relationships, discovering more meaning in life, and seeing new possibilities.”

“Some things in life cannot be fixed. They can only be carried.”

Finally, here is one of my favorite quotes from the book so far:

“I am more vulnerable than I thought, but much stronger than I ever imagined.”

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures, Quality of Life

Library MEGA Stack!

March 17, 2019May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before I begin this post, I just want to reach out to my NZ blogging friends and let you know I am thinking of you. I am so sorry to hear of the recent terrible tragedy in your beautiful country.

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind and I have lots to blog about in the next several posts:

I’ve visited friends in Gig Harbor, Washington and attended the Sew & Stitchery Expo;
Returned to Seattle again for a brief business trip, met with the City of Seattle, toured the and got to tour the gallery space for my first solo show in April;
Continue to prep for my big move to Colorado at the end of April (see series of posts Colorado Bound); and
In the near future I travel to Denver to visit a friend and tour 10 (yes 10) rentals I’ve researched for my future home (looking between Boulder and Denver, CO and in a future post in my Colorado Bound series I will share more about how I got to 10).

Should I also mention need to create a piece for an invitational only juried show that I really want to get into? I was invited in the Fall of 2018, before my husband passed away in December 2018. I will see after my visit to the Denver area to find my housing if I think I can whip out an art quilt before the closing of the show entry date on June 15.

In between all this mixture of fun and crazy schedule, I am still grieving the loss of my partner of more than 1/2 my life, Terry the Quilting Husband.

I was having a rough patch of grief earlier this week and I had a wonderful conversation with one of the physicians I work with, Liz, who is also a friend. She strongly suggested that I take some “self-care” time and slow my life down a bit.

I decided to take her advice and had a “Self-Care Saturday” yesterday which involved a visit to my local library to get a MEGA library stack!

So let’s continue my ongoing (and long-time neglected) series – The Library Stack – in which I share my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library (and in the next couple of months will have to change to the Denver or Boulder area public library system).

Leisurely Lounging, Library & Lunch

By Thursday of last week I decided that Saturday was only going to be for me. I was going to relax and have fun. A dear friend invited me to have breakfast with her on Saturday and I declined telling her I was “busy”. As much as I would have enjoyed her company, I wanted to keep my commitment to myself (I was “busy” – I was busy taking care of myself).

Saturday morning, Mike the miniature schnauzer and I spent hours leisurely lounging in bed (including breakfast in bed for me) and binge watching documentaries on space and astrophysics – two of my favorite documentary topics.

Here we are binge watching, but I think Mike is just napping – ha!

Of course maybe Mike’s giant schnauzer cushion is blocking his view of the television…

After a couple documentaries, Mike and I headed out for a long walk around the neighborhood.

Then I headed out for a special treat – to return to my local downtown library and spend an hour browsing in my favorite sections – crafting and home decorating.

Here is the crazy MEGA library stack of borrowed books that resulted from my leisurely browsing:

A couple of the books are repeat loans but most of them are new to me. It appears the library acquired more yummy crafting and home decor books while I was away for a couple months!

After my library browsing, I took myself to lunch (yummy tapas) and brought one of my library books along to start reading while I ate my delicious patatas bravas and rockfish taco:

A solitary lunch with a good book can be quite exquisite.

The New Bohemians Handbook

I’ve borrowed Justina Blackeney’s book The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes, several times in the past from my library.

61MljfrjRRL._SX403_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

How delightful it was to discover during my library browsing that she has a new book: The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes:

61a9esMUzaL._SX399_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

I loved her previous book and this new book is excellent timing for me to discover as soon I will be working on decorating my new apartment (which will be much smaller than my current home).

The “Bohemian” style really appeals to me. I’ve always referred to my style of interior decorating as “cozy and random”. I think “Bohemian” sounds even better!

In this book the author proposes that there is a “deep connection between home decor and well-being”. She recommends five (5) processes to achieve that sense of well-being with your home decor:

Clarity
Flow
Spirit
Growth
Harmony

It was a wonderful book to read and browse through during my delicious lunch at a local Tapas Eatery.

I look forward to finishing the book and working my way through the rest of the MEGA Library Stack!

I believe creativity and good vibes can save the world.

– Justina Blakeney, The New Bohemians Handbook

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The Library Stack

October 19, 2018May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am continuing my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library. This will be my last library stack for a while – I will explain later in this post.

The Stack

One of my favorite books in this stack was A Year Between Friends: 3191 Miles Apart: Crafts, Recipes, Letters, and Stories (2016) by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes.

YearBetweenFriends22462J3_30 — Image credit: 3191milesapart.com

Two friends who met through an online photography site, one living in Portland Oregon and the other in Portland Maine, formed a close bond 3191 miles apart. This book shares their letters, stories, recipes, and crafts. It is a beautiful story of friendship with wonderful photos and stories.

Enjoying the Stack

One of my favorite weekend morning activities is to sit in my quilt and afghan covered old chair in the front window, with tea, and browse a stack of books:

2018-10-13_10-11-27_368 — I realize it looks messy in this photo but I was in my “happy place”

I used to make a pot of tea that I set on a warmer, but I discovered that my tea will keep just as well in a thermos!

Buying a Library Book, Literally

I decided to purchase one of the books from my previous library stack (see post Library Stackings) and found it used online. When it arrived, turns out – it was a library book!

2018-10-16_19-09-17_484 — I now actually own a library book!

I was laughing when I looked at the receipt and saw it was from the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library.

Our library in Central Oregon, Deschutes Public Library, also has a “Friends of the Library” organization that raises money for the library through used book sales. How cool I bought a used book from another library to support it!

Then to my surprise when I opened the book, it was stamped by yet another library – this time in Las Vegas, Nevada!

So I book I borrowed from my library, that I decided to buy used, came from another library’s book sale fundraising activities that they got from another library! Wild, eh?

Taking a Break from Library Stacks

I’ve decided to take a break indefinitely from borrowing craft and home decorating books from the library. Instead I am going to focus on spending time with my extensive library of craft books (see my old posts Craft Book Hoarder?!?!? and Craft Book Purge).

To give you an idea of how many craft books I’ve collected over the year, here is our guest room with all my books and magazines in piles and baskets as we prepared to replace our 20+ year old bookcases with new IKEA bookcases:

So maybe I will start a series of posts where I talk about the books in my collection, instead of the libraries!

Postscript

This is sort of a follow up to the post Shinrin-Yoku: The Japanese Art and Science of Forest Bathing.

Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) and I were laughing hysterical when we came across this recliner at a local store the other week:

Now no judgement directed towards someone who finds this chair appealing, but what gave me a laugh was that if you really wanted to feel like you were “bathing” in the forest while sitting in your living room, this chair would be the perfect solution!

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

Library Stackings

October 6, 2018May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am behind in continuing my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library.

Two library stacks (and a mini stack) have been browsed and returned to the library since my last post (luckily I remembered to take photos) and I have a current stack I will post about after I finish my reading/browsing.

Stack 1

Here is the oldest of the stacks that have been enjoyed and returned:

The book that really stood out in this pile was Faux Appliqué (2008) by Helen Stubbings:

51VmlIwjlJL._SX385_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

I loved the idea of the Colourqué® technique: using colored pencils to re-create the look of intricate appliqué.

Stack 2

After returning this stack to the library, I accidentally discovered a new section to browse while looking for a cookbook – the Sewing Section!

I did not realize there a separate sewing section in the library’s Non-Fiction collection. I usually browse in the quilting, needle arts (knitting, crochet), general craft, and home decorating sections. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new treasure trove of sewing/crafting books!

Trying to be reasonable in my selections, here was the resulting library stack after my new discovery:

The book that really stood out for me in this stack was 50 Little Gifts: Easy Patchwork Projects to Give or SwapPaperback (2018), Compiled by Susanne Woods:

51vbpE5FprL._SX397_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

There were so many projects I wanted to make in this book that I just broke down and bought it.

Another book that intrigued me was DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community (2016) Paperback by Gabriela Pereira:

41eju0SJzXL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ — image credit: amazon.com

8 years ago I finished my MBA (Masters in Business Administration) because it was an appropriate graduate program for the work I am employed. However my dream would have been to get my Masters in Fine Arts (MFA). If money were no option and I did not have to work for a living, I would love to get my MFA!

Then I discovered this book which teaches the concepts of the MFA condensed into one book. I started the book, reading about a 1/4th of the book but then had to return it because another library patron had it on hold. I am going to borrow the book from the library again when I have more time to read/work through it.

Stack 3 (Mini Stack)

I picked up a miniature stack (one book) when I stopped by the library to return the above stack (are you impressed with my self-control?):

The title of this book cracked me up and the cat themed crafts were over the top (there is a cat head skirt pattern that only someone truly obsessed with cats would make much less wear).

Okay so those are the stacks that I forgot to post and stay tuned for a future post on my current library stack.

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The Library Stack and a Little Craftivism

August 4, 2018June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s time to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library.

“Craftivism”

I’ve finished most of the stack and enjoyed flipping through the books with a couple pots of tea. I’m still finishing up one book that I wanted to spend extra time on: How to be a Craftivist: The art of gentle protest by Sarah Corbett.

51v6+oHF22L._SX359_BO1,204,203,200_ — Image credit: Amazon

As the author asks in the book: “If we want a world that is beautiful, kind and fair, shouldn’t our activism be beautiful, kind and fair?”

This book is by the founder of the Craftivist Collective and provides an alternative to responding to injustice with apathy or aggression – responding instead with gentle, effective protest.

The back cover summary provides as excellent overview of the book so I am going to just quote it: “Quiet action can sometimes speak as powerfully as the loudest voice. With thoughtful principles, practical examples and honest stories from her own experience as a once burnt-out activist, Corbett shows how activism through craft can produce long-lasting positive change.”

If you are interested in Craftivism (using craft as a form of activism according to the author), I highly recommend you borrow this book from your library or pick up a copy at a local bookstore (or online).

The author shares a Craftivist’s Manifesto and I’ve listed her ten (10) actions below but I refer you to the book for more details and explanations:

Be the tortoise
Craft is our tool
Solidarity not sympathy
Find comfort in contemplation
Empathy never points fingers
Small and beautiful
Humility holds the key
Provoke don’t preach
Embrace positivity
Make the change you wish to see

The book is peppered with powerful quotes by great thinkers and activists and below are several examples, which are explored deeply in the book:

There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out-of-the-river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in. – Desmond Tutu

Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart. – Rumi

An unexamined life is not worth living .- Socrates

We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove. A tough mind and tender heart. – Martin Luther King

If you want to go quickly go alone. If you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world,. Today and I am wise so I am changing myself. – Rumi

Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up. – Mahatma Gandhi

Handle them carefully for words have more power than atom bombs. – Pearl Stracha Hurd

Evil flourishes when good people do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.. – Winston Churchill

UPDATE 8/6/18

There are several TED Talks by the author, here is one of her awesome TED Talks:

My Dabble with Craftivism

In my June 27, 2017 post Seeds I share how I contributed a piece/banner from the Women’s March to the national traveling exhibit called S till They Persist: Protest Art of the 2017 Women’s Marches. It is featured in a book about the exhibit by the same title.

NOTE: Being sensitive to the fact that my American blog readers may have differing political views in regards to the current U.S. President and protest events such as the Women’s March, please be thoughtful in any comments you make in the “Thoughts” section of this post about these topics.

My Craftivist Future

A couple of weeks ago I had a wonderful conversation with my sister who challenged me on what direction I want to take my art.

I already plan to continue by series Stories My Father Told Me (see post Creative Inspiration: Stories My Father Told Me ) which is focused on sharing positive stories through textile art of how my father overcame the challenges of discrimination, segregation, and racism. However after talking to my sister, I am starting to explore other series that will have a “Craftivist” flavor.

Ultimately I would love to make art that inspires dialogue. I am still early in my artistic journey and finding my voice.

Of course I also want to make pretty/visually pleasing traditional and art quilts in the future too as well as many other types of textile crafts. Now to just plan to win the lottery so I can devote all my time to my art! (Oh wait, do you have to play the lottery to win?)

Postscript

Speaking of “winning the lottery”, I had one of those awesome early morning walk experiences last Friday (or maybe it was Saturday) that felt like a mini-lottery win.

I’ve been trying start each morning with a 2 miles walk around 6:00 am before it gets hot.

The Balloons Over Bend Hot Air Ballon Festival was in progress (July 27 – 29) and much to my surprise during my morning walk I noticed hot air balloons floating over my neighborhood at a fairly low altitude. One of them dipped so low for a moment that I thought it was going to land in my neighborhood park!

It did not land however and took back off up into the sky.

It was 60 degree Fahrenheit with a slight breeze and absolutely crystal clear blue skies. Seeing the hot air balloons float by was an exquisite experience and the moment made me pause and realize that life is filled with many wonderful little sweet surprising moments!

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The Library Stack and a Little “Acrostic”

June 26, 2018May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library. This is not my most recent stack but a stack from last week. I’ve returned a couple of these books and added a couple more but I’ll just use this stack as an example of a latest stack (smile).

In this pile is a book that was in the previous stack – Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life by Diana Raab – in my 05/13/18 post.

The book is so good I borrowed it again to finish reading it. A couple of days ago I decided to just buy the book as it is one of those books you want to work through slowly, underline passages and take notes!

The author Diane Raab encourages people to read and write poetry and states that “poetry is the voice of the soul”; and “writing and reading poetry can be a springboard to growth, healing, and transformation.”

She defines and discusses different types of poems; and introduces a type of poem I’ve never heard about before – the “Acrostic” poem – a poem in which the first letters of each line form a word or a phrase if written vertically.

So I thought for fun I would take a stab at writing an Acrostic poem for you:

It Will Never Be Done, and That’s Okay

Quite wonderful is our hobby, even if it fills our lives with

Unfinished projects, gadgets and tools, stashes of precious fabrics and

Impulses to buy even more fabric.

Look at your completed creations and

The smiles they brought to the recipients who are

Intrigued by all the work and love that went into your textile art.

Now step back and realize thank

Goodness you will never be done.

I know, I know, you are thinking: “don’t quit your day job”! Thanks for reading my first Acrostic poem tand I think I experienced a moment of bliss by completing it!

Postscript

I mentioned the previous Library Stack earlier in this post from 05/13/18.

Well here is a little update on the cookbooks I borrowed:

I decided not to buy an Instant Pot or and Air Fryer at this time. Actually I did buy an Instant Pot and then I returned it. I got overwhelmed with bringing new kitchen gadgets into my life at this time and decided to focus on reacquainting myself with neglected appliances such as my slow cooker.

I ended up using one of the Slow Cooker Cookbooks in the stack above to make a couple delicious dinners including slow cooked shredded barbecue chicken that made wonderful sandwiches.

I will revisit the Instant Pot and Air Fryer in the future as I enjoyed looking through the recipe books and all the great (and seemingly) easy dishes you can make with these appliances.

You can’t use up creativity; the more you use, the more you have – Maya Angelou

A Crafter Needs to Eat, Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

The Library Stack

May 13, 2018May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my latest stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library.

This current stack is laden with cookbooks as that was the kind of mood I was in during my recent library browsing. I realize this should have been a “Winter” thing, but I am in the mood to use my slow cooker more and wanted some new recipe ideas.

I am curious about Air Frying and might buy an Air Fryer someday so I borrowed a book with recipes for an Air Fryer.

I did just purchase an Instant Pot and I have reserved a huge list of books with Instant Pot recipes. So the next library stack is likely to be filled with Instant Pot cookbooks!

Also I was lured into the New Nonfiction Releases section (okay I am am always lured into that section when I visit the downtown library) and several new crafting and home decorating books just had to come home with me!

Here are some comments and thoughts on the books I’ve dived into so far in my latest library stack:

The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People by Meik Wiking

“Lykke” according to the author is the Danish word for “happiness” and is pronounced “loo-ka”. Meik Wiking is also the author of the book The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living which I discussed in my 04/15/17 post The Library Stack and Hygge.

I read the first couple of chapters and then remembered how much I enjoyed listening to the audiobook The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living after I read the book and the author’s delightful Danish accent; and I decided to reserve The Little Book of Lykke on audiobook as it looks like it will be another delightful listen during my daily walks.

Denmark is one of the coolest places I have ever visited and definitely had a happy vibe!

The Joy of Hygge: How to Bring Everyday Pleasure and Danish Coziness into Your Life by Jonny Jackson & Elias Larsen

There appeared to be a “Danish Hygge theme” going on in the New Nonfiction Releases section of my library so I added this one to my stack also. This book is more of a lifestyle book with images of decor, activities and crafts to bring “hygge” into your life.

I came across a quote in the book that gave me a huge smile as this is exactly how I want to live my life:

Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours. – Scandinavian proverb

Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life by Diane Raab

This is an amazing book! I am tempted to purchase it as there is so much in the book I do not think I can digest it all during my library loan period. I am going to share verbatim the overview on the back cover of the book to give you a tiny feel of all the good stuff in this book:

Writing for Bliss is most fundamentally about reflection, truth, and freedom. With techniques and prompts for both the seasoned and the novice writer, it will lead you to

– tap into your creativity through storytelling and poetry,

– examine how life-changing experiences can inspire writing,

– pursue self-examination and self-discovery through the written word, and,

– understand how published writers have been transformed by writing.

The is amazing guidance on meditating and become centered so you can reflect and writing, and many other tips. The book is like a course and there are assignments. I think I am going to go ahead and buy the book so I can write notes and work through it at a pace that works for me.

The Dutch Oven Cookbook: Recipes for the Best Pot in Your Kitchen by Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne

This book inspired me to drag out my Dutch Oven:

Today I am going to make Lentil Sausage Soup on page 11 of this wonderful cookbook.

Hopefully the rest of the books will be as wonderful as the first four I am working through. While taking photos of my latest library stack, Mike the Miniature Schnauzer wondered what I was up to and ended up “photo-bombing” one of my shots:

He likely felt that I should return to my chair in the front window and continue cuddling with him instead of whatever strange thing I was doing posing books and taking images with my smartphone!

Postscript

The reason why I stopped at the library for a browse and ended up with this stack was I received an e-mail notification from my library that a whole bunch of movies I put on hold were available.

It always seems to be “feast or famine” when it comes to library movies that I put on hold being available. No movies for a couple of weeks and then BAM – 6 movies available at once! You only have a short window to pick the movies up before they put them back into circulation for the next library patron on the hold list and since I did not want to wait a long time to get these movies again, I checked them all out.

The loan period for DVDs is 7 days so Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) and I are having an ongoing movie marathon – 1 – 2 films each day. So far we’ve watched Molly’s Game, Star Wars The Last Jedi, and The Greatest Showman. We enjoyed all three films.

The Greatest Showman was spectacularly entertaining and TTQH were glued to the screen the whole time. I will close this post with a quote from this movie, that really resonated with me. It was one of those life lessons that I have worked on learning for many years (but finally I think I am getting it):

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures, My Minimalism Journey

The Toe Saga, Library Stack Catch Up, and Your Sacred Nest

April 13, 2018June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

That’s a lot of topics for one post, well let’s get started!

The Toe Saga

I’ve been delinquent in blogging lately due to a very silly injury: a broken toe.

My sofa and I had an argument and I lost. I was rushing around, not paying attention and jammed my right foot/toes into the metal leg of my sofa at what felt like 80 miles an hour. It hurt, like really hurt but I thought it was just a sprain or an irritation to my toes and tried to care for itself (after all I am a RN).

A couple days later one of the toes was looking more purple and bruised so it was time to head over the Urgent Care, and yes, per the x-ray, the toe was fractured…in two places. They are hairline fractures and will take up to 6 weeks to heal; but my toe did not require surgery or fracture reduction/setting (so that is a good thing!).

(I know, I know, you all are so disappointed that I did not include a photo of my purplish bruised toe in this post, ha!)

I am mainly irritated with myself for such careless stupidity and that my daily walks are on hold for a week. The Physician Assistant I saw in Urgent Care said in a week my toe will be better to walk on, but I suspect I will have to take a hiatus from my hiking adventures.

I am trying to use this experience as a lesson that I need to slow down and be more mindful of my environment. I also rearranged my end tables to guard me against a future “sofa attack”.

Library Stack Catch Up

Before I decided to share “The Toe Saga”, the original purpose of this post was to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my latest stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library.

Well I am two stacks behind! So let’s catch you up.

The Prior Stack

A couple of the books were books I’ve borrowed before such as Quilt Inspirations from Africa and Red & White Quilting. I like to think of my public library as “my other bookcase” and many of the older quilting/crafting books are always on the shelves whenever I want to read them again.

Two books that I’ve never borrowed before and really enjoyed in this stack were Fairy Tale Sewing: Whimsical Toys, Dolls and Softies by Heidi Boyd and Stitch Draw by Rosie James.

Of course I’ve been heavily influenced by the work of Helen @Crawcraftbeasties and Shirley @Handmade Habit – there are doing awesome things with “Softies” and I want to be part of this scene somedays too (along with the 10,000 other crafts I want to make).

I have commissioned Helen to make the tierneycreates Beastie and Shirley is doing some amazing new things with new stuffed animal creations! Be sure to check out their wonderful blogs if you have not already (I’ve linked their blogs in the text above and you should also check out their awesome Instagram pages).

I’ve also been influenced by Chela @Chela’s Colchas y Mas who retired from teaching and it now trying to become the “Renaissance Women of All Things Crafting”.

She started posting her stitching doodles and drawings on her blog and now I want to try that out someday also (yeah, yeah, future craft projects/techniques, get in line behind all the others). I thought the book Stitch Draw by Rosie James had many great ideas to get started.

A Single Stack

In between the library stack above, and my current stack, I had one solitary book: Living the Airstream Life by Karen Flett.

Lots of daydreaming went on while reading this book (but where would I put my sewing studio in the Airstream…and where would I store all my fabric scraps?!?!).

The physical book itself is pretty cool – the outside is framed in silver paper with simulated rivets like on an Airstream trailer!

Of course Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) had to tease me while I was reading the book. He kept asking: “So do we get a trailer to attach behind the Airstream for your fabric?”.

I’ve posted in the past about embracing Minimalism in my series of posts on My Minimalism Journey but my craft hobbies are interfering with a full “embracement”!

My Current Stack: Your Sacred Nest

My current stack of library books is, in my opinion, quite yummy! This stack is about quality over quantity.

I am currently reading Your Creative Work Space: The Sweet Spot Style Guide to Home Office + Studio Decor by Desha Peacock, and so far this book is fantastic!

I’d like to share snippets from a passage from the book on “Your Sacred Nest: Everyone Needs a Creative Sweet Spot Space“:

A mother bird doesn’t complain that she doesn’t have time or space to create her nest, she just makes do with the resources available to her at the time…Her job is not finished when the nest is built. She still needs to protect it until her babies are strong enough to go out on their own…think of what would happen if the momma bird neglected to actually build the nest because she couldn’t find the perfect materials. Don’t let your creativity suffer or, worse, die because you can’t find the perfect lamp…don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Use the resources you have around you and allow them to blossom with age and use.

Once you create your space, do not abandon it. Protect it fiercely with that momma bird love… – Desha Peacock, Your Creative Work Space (2017)

I love thinking of my creative endeavors as my “baby birds”!

(But wait a minute, I could continue with this analogy and realize that the reason I get into trouble sometimes is I am trying to feed too many “baby birds” at one time!)

Postscript

I love my neighborhood and I have some awesome neighbors who I just really like as people (they are good humans!). Here is a recent sweet public library story from one of my neighbors.

My neighbor and friend Jenny just returned from a three week trip to Australia to visit her in-laws. Her in-laws live suburb of Melbourne and after a week or so of just reading downloaded e-books, she and her young son were missing their regular trips to their our local public library (she is a Deschutes Public Library Cult-Member like I am, ha!). Jenny heard that the Melbourne area library system allows visitor passes and for visitors with ID to borrow up to two books.

So she and her son walked 10 minutes from where they were staying to the St. Kilda library. The librarian was so welcoming and after a chat she not only let them borrow more than 2 books (which is awesome as Jenny and her son did not have to go with one book each), she helped identify some great books (and loaded them up) in the children’s section and gave them a nice tote bag to get their huge stack of book back to where they were staying 10 minutes away!

So libraries are good places all over the world and librarians are some of the best people on earth (smile).

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

A Case Against Procrastination

February 25, 2018May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Duh. Tierney we all know procrastination is not a good idea.

Yes, very true, and I have a recent example that reinforces why it is not a good idea.

In my 12/04/17 post Library Stack Catch Up, I shared a photo of a recently completed knitted hat:

I also stated in this post: “I have another skein of the same yarn for my hat and I am thinking of making a coordinating ribbed scarf.”

I did start knitting a coordinating scarf. I was feeling lazy and decided to do a mindless knit a row/purl a row pattern (even though it tends to curl on the ends) instead of a ribbed pattern which required more thought. My plan was to finish up the scarf while watching television in the evening.

However as we moved from December into January in Central Oregon the weather was not too bad. No snow and on and off in January we had that “Sprinter” (Spring-like in Winter) weather I’ve mentioned in previous posts (see recent post A Beautiful Monday where were are on a hike in 60 degree weather).

So I procrastinated.

I did get nearly 13.5″ of scarf knitted but it is not enough to wrap around the neck of Mike the Miniature Schnauzer much less a human:

Then…Bam – Snowmageddon is back in Central Oregon! Sprinter is OVER! Winter is here, for real (heavy snow and frigid temperatures)!

No that is not a grainy photograph, that is snow falling live

Terry the Quilting Husband and Mike trudging through the snow

And because I procrastinated, I had no scarf to match my hat! I had to face the elements “less coordinated” as I could have been (smile):

On a chilly, windy, snowy dog walk (I am wearing an old ribbed scarf a friend made me).

I am now trying to finish the scarf, no more procrastination, I have learned my lesson!

Postscript

In my series of posts, The Library Stack, it is apparent that I love to borrow a huge stack of library books at one time.

In case you ever wonder how I manage the borrowed library books I have finished that are ready for return to the library (okay you likely have never wondered this but I will share anyway), I wanted to share my system.

We have an old IKEA shoe rack that we keep under the coat rack by the front door. On top of that shoe rack I have a wire basket that holds all library books ready for return:

2018-02-24_09-59-51_548 — Please ignore the winter mess of coats and Mike’s Winter-Walk-Drying-Towel on the coat rack above 🙂

We also keep a tray with a box of tissues (for runny noses during winter walks), earphones for audiobook listening, and keys for easy access. Yes I guess I could have tidied the area up before taking the photo but I decided to “keep it real”!

I started this library wire basket system years ago after hearing a cautionary tale from a friend:

Her husband was trying to be helpful and returned a stack of books for her to the library. Turns out these books were expensive new art books she just purchased, not library books!

Her husband went back to the library to plead his case and ask for the books back but the library had already given them to the Friends of the Library Group for the next fund raising sale. They were integrated with the other donations stored off site and not retrievable (they don’t give back donations or have the staff to search for “oops” donations). So my friend never saw her lovely stack of new art books again! (I think she tried to find them at the annual fundraiser book sale but they were gone).

So I can safely ask my husband to return my library books for me as they are only kept in one place!

Library Adventures

The Library Stack

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I’ve posted my latest library stack like in my series of posts The Library Stack . Why? Because I took a break from “library stacks” and limited myself to one book at a time or actually reading books/periodical from my own stash!

But I could not stay away from my beloved library stack from my beloved public library, and yesterday I picked up a new stack:

The first book I am working through is Quilt As-You-Go Made Vintage by Jera Brandwig – a Pacific NW Authors (she lives in Seattle where I used to live!)

I discovered this book in the Non-Fiction New Releases section (first place I check out when headed upstairs at the library). Borrowing this is perfect timing, as my friend and quilting mentor Wendy H. has been advising me on how Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) and I can do “quilt-as-you-go” on the king-size quilt TTQH is currently working on. This book lays out three methods for quilt as-you-go in a very easy format.

I am tempted to buy the book but I am trying to take a break from adding any more books to my obscene craft book collection (I have an old post about my craft book collection, Craft Book Hoarder?!?!?, but maybe someday I will do an updated post of the current levels of craft book obsession..).

TTQH continues to work on his quilt on my sewing machine and Mike continues to keep him company in the chair in my sewing room!