While we were visiting South Dakota in July, we discovered that 17 miles or so down the road from Mount Rushmore (see my recent post Mt. Rushmore National Park, Believe the Hype) is the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Since we were already in the area to see Mount Rushmore it made sense to see the Crazy Horse Memorial (which is a memorial in progress)!

According to Wikipedia:

“The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski. It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization.”

Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people. His most famous actions against the U.S. military included the Fetterman Fight (21 December 1866) and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (25–26 June 1876). He surrendered to U.S. troops under General George Crook in May 1877 and was fatally wounded by a military guard, allegedly while resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of Native American tribal members..”

Image credit: Crazy Horse 1842, nativepartnership.org

Before we took a bus to see the Crazy Horse Memorial in progress, we first stop at the Visitor Center and wandered around the Indian Museum of North America, “a large collection of art and artifacts reflecting the diverse histories and cultures of over 300 Native Nations.” (crazyhorsememorial.org/the-museums)

Then we got on the bus to travel to the Crazy Horse Memorial carving site which is on a private road.

Here are some of our photos from the site and I bet you can guess that the photos do not do the experience justice of seeing it in person, but unless I can teleport you all to the memorial this will have to do! 🙂

At the Visitor Center they had a model of what the completed memorial will look like someday:

As far as completion of the Crazy Horse Memorial – so far the head and left hand are completed; and according to Google AI:

“There is no definitive completion date for the Crazy Horse Memorial, and it is expected to take many more decades, with estimates suggesting a potential completion around 2037 for the horse’s head, arm, and hand, but the entire monument is considered a long-term project with no firm deadline, according to Summer Creek Inn and Wikipedia. The monumental scale and funding challenges, which rely on donations, have contributed to the lengthy construction time.”

I’d like to visit it when it is complete someday, it will be spectacular.

Papercrafting, Sunflowers!

Back to a little card making

June 11, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I have a penpal and we’ve been exchanging letters/cards. She makes beautiful handmade cards and it was time I made her a handmade card. I pulled out my dusty papercrafting/card making supplies and made one that is an ode to Sunflowers my favorite flower!

I also decorated the envelope. I have it partially displayed in the image above behind the card because I’ve already addressed it.

(In case you are wondering, I got those little sunflowers from Hobby Lobby last year. The other supplies were in my stash and who knows where I got them as they are at least 5 – 15+ years old!)

Now that I have my card making supplies out (and I re-organized them too!), I am looking forward to making more cards!

A Crafter's Life, From the Woodshop

A Good Man

June 3, 2024June 3, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been away from blogging for a little while because of travel. I celebrated my birthday at the end of May and John and I recently returned from a 4-day road trip around Colorado that I will post about in the future. Before that we were in Estes Park and Fort Collins for a couple days (will post about that trip too). I look forward to getting caught up on my blogging buddies’ posts in the near future.

My husband John is a good man and he continues to reinforce this fact all the time.

Our homeowner’s association (HOA) can be rather strict at times (and rather lax at other times when you want them to reinforce the rules), and our neighbor was in danger of getting fined for not finishing a fence he started on this property (our neighbor only got around to putting in two fence posts to start the fence).

Our neighbor is a busy father of two young children and commutes over an hour to work each way, Monday to Friday. He’s exhausted by the weekend and most of his energy goes to time with his kids.

So John offered to help him complete the fence and ended up purchasing for the neighbor (who paid him back of course) all the fencing materials, AND building the fence and gate on his own for the neighbor!

Here is the neighbor’s dog waiting for John to finish the fence so she can now have a fenced yard:

I got some cool gifts for my birthday including a lovely home decor book and collection of stickers (I love stickers) from my friend J. My brother and family sent me the cutest schnauzer themed T-shirt inspired by a Van Gogh painting:

The Starry Schnauzer?

John got me a new iPad (I think my previous iPad belonged in the Apple Museum as it was many many iPad generations old); and my awesome stepsons were very generous for my birthday. One got me a gift card to my favorite used bookstore, and another got me some very yummy books!

I can’t wait to dive into this pile. But first I have to finish the two books I am currently reading The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi; and Fairy Tale by Stephen King.

I have some surprises on the way from my sister for my birthday still, and I just received the most beautiful fiber art card from my longtime friend in Austria (my “Danish Brother”, I spent part of my summer in 1998 in Denmark with him and his parents) today in the mail:

Now here’s a quote to close out this post from the amazing (so far) book Fairy Tale I am currently reading, that make me think of John:

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

Another Hat, Sunflower GS, “Agriculture Report”, and some Pickles

May 23, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

ANOTHER HAT

So I finished knitting another hat (same pattern as I always make), even though I can’t wear it until it gets cold again.

Yummy purple and blue variegated yarn from who knows where…

I need to be distracted when I am a passenger in the front seat a car (or I get anxious) so I always have some handwork with me:

Riding in the car is better with a project!

If you’ve followed my blog for a while and seen the endless hats I’ve made in this same “Rolled Hat” pattern, then you know I had to take my photo with the double pointed needles in the hat as it nears completion (it’s tradition!) – ha!

Where is Tierney?

SUNFLOWER GS

I’ve been working through random balls of yarn I find in my stash, some of them left over from making other people gift hats.

With the hat complete and the weather getting warmer (into the 70s F and next week into the 80s F) I wasn’t in the mood to start knitting another hat. I have some crochet granny squares to work on using recycled yarn (see post Plastic Yarn?) but wasn’t in the mood for that standard pattern after already making 3 granny square blankets with it.

So I decided to challenge myself and learn a new granny square pattern – Sunburst Square. Here is the YouTub video I used to teach myself:

The YouTuber does a great job teaching you how to make this granny square

Here is my first Sunburst Square in progress:

In the center photo I am in the car as a passenger working on it!

I love Sunflowers and I just had to make my flowers look like Sunflowers! I will share more progress as I work on them while in the car. We have a couple road trips to explore Colorado coming up this summer so I hope to make lots of blocks then!

“AGRICULTURE REPORT”

What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well I was inspired by @quiteayarnblog‘s ongoing series of posts titled “Agriculture Report” (and this title always cracks me up) that are actually updates of what is going on in her garden. I just had to adopt this same title for updates on what is going on in my garden/my “garden report“…

With the new upstairs patio deck nearly complete (see post Guest Blogger Post: Managing Humans Demolishing and Rebuilding a Deck) it was time to restart my upstairs patio container garden.

It’s pretty much the same as last year – several varieties of tomatoes, hot peppers, herbs and some marigolds to help with pest management.

Oh look I caught the Sunflower block trying to sneak into the container garden…

Those squares are so sneaky…

PICKLES

I’ll just close this post with a pretty giant jar of spicy pickles that John recently made which is sitting on our kitchen counter.

Papercrafting

Recycled Calendar Cards

March 29, 2024March 29, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A couple weeks ago I decided to organize my paper-crafting supply stash. Before I started quilting, I started card making with a group at my job in the breakroom at lunch time (I guess paper-crafting is a “gateway drug” to quilting, ha!).

In my stash I had a stack of calendar pages I picked up somewhere (thrift store) from 2016/2017 of Colorado nature scenes. For a moment I thought about just recycling them, but then I thought: I could make a set of cards for visitors that they can use as sort of postcards to send Colorado greetings to their friends and family back home. (I might even provide them with a PEN to write with and STAMPS for mailing, ha!)

I’m still working on the cards, but here is a close up of the ones I’ve completed so far:

Since I had to trim off the section of the calendar page that provided the details of the photo, I hand wrote the details on the bottom.

The only problem is I do not have the original calendar book and so I do not have the name of the awesome photographer who took these photos to credit. I did indicate on the back of each card that these are recycled cards so no one will think I took these wonderful photos.

So the plan is to keep a stack of these cards on the writing desk I moved from the library (when we got the dining room table to put in the library, see post A Table Runner for the New Table) to the guest room. I am glad we were able to fit the little table in the guest room as I know when I am visiting someone I appreciate a little desk in the room.

(Oh and if you are wondering what the is document with the quote “Be yourself…” behind the cards in the images – I am working on creating my first journal – it is going to be on my first 5 years in Colorado. I was inspired by my friend J who is a prolific journal and amazing artist!)

Storytime

Misadventures in Ice Fishing

March 28, 2024March 28, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Every Winter I say to myself: “I should share this story on my blog”, but then Winter passes and I forget. Well it just turned Spring and there is still a little bit of snow on the ground in Colorado so I am giving myself permission to go ahead and share it now instead of waiting until next Winter (smile)…

If you are new to this blog let me give you a little bit of background to the story I am about the share. I am a widow and my husband John is a widower. We were each together with our late partners, who both passed in 2018, for over 30 years (I was with my late husband Terry since I was 20 years old). John and I met in 2019 when I left Bend, Oregon and moved to Denver, Colorado to try and start a new life after my devastating loss.

John and I have each lived quite a bit of life before we met each other and one of the fun parts of getting to know each other has been sharing our life stories. In this post I am sharing one of my favorite stories John has shared.

Misadventures in Ice Fishing

Years ago John and his brother-in-law went ice fishing in Deckers, Colorado. (If you’ve never heard of “ice fishing”, I put a hyperlink above for more information).

Photo by Glenna Haug on Unsplash

It was a 10 degree F day (-12 C) and when they were done fishing, they went walking across the frozen river to get back to his brother-in-law’s truck which was a mile away. While traversing the frozen river, the ICE BROKE near the shore, and they fell into the icy river. They pulled themselves out of icy river and shivering they agreed that no matter what they would keep walking and not stop until they got the the truck (if they stopped they could become hypothermic and run into life threatening issues).

Photo by Bryan Rodriguez on Unsplash

They had to walk close to a mile to the truck feeling like they were freezing to death. When they got to the truck they started the truck, stripped down to their underwear to get the freezing cold clothes off their skin, and threw their wet clothes into the back of truck.

Driving back to John’s brother-in-law’s house and running the heat in the truck at full blast, suddenly they saw law enforcement lights behind them, it was a Colorado State Trooper following them and signaling for them to pull over.

So there they were in only their underwear, two middle aged men on 10 degree F day (-12 C) driving around in a pickup truck, and a Colorado State Trooper is pulling them over! There was nothing to do but pull over to the side of the road and face the State Trooper!

When the State Trooper walked up to the passenger side of the truck and saw the two men in just their underwear he did a double take. John and his brother-in-law immediately said to the State Trooper: “This isn’t what it looks like, he is my brother-in-law”. Then they went on to explain what had happened after they went ice fishing, the breaking of the ice and fall into the river, and why they were only in their underwear.

The State Trooper (who was probably trying his best to keep a serious face) said: “The reason why I pulled you over is there were clothes flying out of the back of your pickup truck onto the highway”. The State Trooper didn’t give them a ticket and let them just continue on their way home to get warm (and get some clothes on).

If only they had thought to put the wet clothes in a more secure place they wouldn’t have given the State Trooper a story he probably still tells to this day!

Postscript

To my dog Mike, my late husband Terry was his whole world.

One of the very sad things that happened when my husband Terry died was that he passed suddenly at home while alone with our dog Mike the Miniature Schnauzer. Mike had to be with Terry’s body for a couple hours before I came home to discover him.

I thought Mike would be traumatized for the rest of his brief dog life and I tried to give him all the love I could after Terry died while dealing with my terrible grief and my trauma of finding the love of my life dead on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.

I remember taking Mike on walks after Terry died and every time Mike would see a man in the distance walking towards us, he would wag his tail and think it might be Terry joining us. It was unbelievably heart-breaking.

Then I met John after moving to Colorado and Mike (who is a “guy’s dog”) completely fell in love with John and I think John healed Mike’s heart.

Here is a photo that always makes me smile – Mike all snuggled to the new love of his life – John:

Feature photo Photo by Bryan Rodriguez on Unsplash

Studio, tierneycreates

Update on Some W.I.P.s

February 2, 2024February 8, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here’s an update on some works in progress (aka WIPs) that I’ve discussed in previous posts…

Gray Granny Square Blanket

Previous post on this project: Guest Blog Post: Progress on “My Blanket”

I am plugging along with this great-to-work-on-while-watching-TV in the evening project. I’m working on attaching the 7th row of blocks. It will be an 8 by 10 blanket when done as I made 80 granny squares. I will add an extra border or two of the same yarn I am using as the lattice (to attach the granny squares).

SuperSymmetry Table Runner

Previous post on this project: ScrapHappy January 2024 – Update on Table Runner and More

As I mentioned in that previous post, I decided to use a collection of traditionally pieced “orphan blocks” that my friend Wendy gave me as the backing for this table runner.

I figured that if I got a stain on the front of the runner while entertaining, I could flip it over and use the other side!

I’ve completed the machine quilting of the table runner and just need to sew the binding strips together, sew on the binding, and sew down the binding.

For the quilting I just went with a simple double crosshatch pattern (no that is not a real pattern name, I just made it up on the spot), following the lines of the pieced blocks.

I plan to press it, ha! It just came off the machine and I just finished trimming off the excess batting and backing so it is pretty wrinkly!

What Direction Do I Go? (Denim Quilt)

Previous post on this project: Denim Quilt Top Done and a Visit to a Fun Brewery

I am so looking forward to hand quilting this quilt (yes I decided to hand quilt it)!

I got the batting and backing put together with the quilt top to make the “quilt sandwich”. I’ve also auditioned some threads (I plan to use multiple and to use pearl cotton weight) for the hand quilting.

Other WIPs Growing Inpatient As They Sit in Queue…

I have two more quilt tops awaiting quilting by me:

Strings Attached

Previous post on this project: Scrap Happy September 2023 – Strings Attached

I am going to machine quilt this small wallhanging.

Go Boldly

Previous post on this project: What’s on the Design Wall: Go Boldly

I haven’t decided on machine vs. hand quilting but if I do hand quilt it I have some cool threads I collected many years ago I want to use.

I will get to these two quilt tops eventually – ha!

I’ve been trying not to start any additional MAJOR projects before finishing my existing WIPs…but then some small projects might sneak in…you know how us crafters are!

Oh Mike wants me to tell you that he’s happy he doesn’t have to fill in for me with blogging since I seem to be back at it again (see his recent post Guest Blog Post: Humans Traveling and Dog Camp).

This leaves him more time for napping in the sun, on fleece blankets, in the upstairs bedroom (with the occasional waking up to intensely bark at people walking by and delivery trucks coming into the neighborhood).

A Crafter Needs to Eat, Fabric Scraps Obsession, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy January 2024 – Update on Table Runner and More

January 15, 2024January 15, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.

UPDATE ON SUPERSYMMETRY TABLE RUNNER

For this month’s ScrapHappy blog post, I am sharing an update on the table runner I’ve been working on that is made from my friend Wendy’s fabric scraps and orphan blocks from a quilt she made SuperSymmetry (see blog posts Update on SuperSymmetry Table Runner and the Library Book Borrowing Bonanza, A Table Runner for the New Table, and Quilter Distractions: Good Mail filled with “Taupe” ).

I completed piecing the table runner per the piecing instructions from her pattern SuperSymmetry, and discovered I needed to make more blocks in order to make it long enough for the table as well as finish each end (more on that later). Unfortunately Y seams were involved in the piecing (shudder) but I made it through.

I ended up making 14 additional blocks.

I floated the pieced SuperSymmetry blocks in taupe-brown Peppered Cotton (a heavy duty linen like shot cotton). Here is a little photoshoot I did of the completed table runner top on the new dining room/library table:

In the last two photos you can see the new rug that arrived that I mentioned in a previous post. It is one of those Ruggable rugs that can be laundered in the washing machine (in case there is “The Great Spaghetti Sauce Spill” during a meal someday).

And in case you are curious here is how I finished the ends of the table runner with all those triangle blocks in the piece:

Thank goodness for a good steamy iron as there was a lot of pressing involved to get it looking like I hadn’t been on mind altering substances while piecing…

In addition to the SuperSymmetry orphan blocks and fabric scraps, Wendy also sent me 7 traditional quilt blocks orphan blocks for a taupe quilt she was working on. I’ve decided to use these blocks as part of the back for the table runner.

I am going to float each of them in the taupe Peppered Cotton and then add in enough length in side borders as well as a bottom and top to meet the length. I am getting ready to start working on floating each block by doing some “log cabin” style piece around each block:

AND MORE

We’ve had a run of sub-zero Fahrenheit (colder than -17 Celsius) temperatures in the Denver metropolitan area and we’ve been spending a lot of time inside. John got addicted to watching cooking/culinary themed videos on YouTube and this weekend decided to try and make a copy of the famous Chick-fil-A (very popular fast food eatery in the US) chicken sandwich and the accompanying sauce after watching a video on how to do it.

He made enough for his father, sister, son and son’s family (who all live nearby) and then delivered them to their homes! You might have heard of the popular food delivery service DoorDash – well we named John – “DadDash”!

The sandwiches were a hit and included the famous pickle like the original. Here is a little photo spread from yesterday to close out this post.

Oh and if you’d like to try and make them yourself, here is the video John used:

As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia , Gun @Rutigt – G Adrian, Eva @bambisyr-evaj, Sue @From the Magpie’s Nest, Lynda @Life on the Farmlet, Birthe @Birthes rom, Turid @Den syende himmel, Susan @DesertSky Quilting, Cathy @nanacathydotcom, Tracy @It’s a T-Sweets Day!, Jan @The Snail of Happiness, Moira @The Quilted Snail, Sandra @Wild Daffodil, Chris @chrisknitsews, Alys @Gardening Nirvana, Claire @Claire93’s Blog, Jean @onesmallstitch, Dawn @DawnGillDesigns, Gwen @Deep in the Heart of Textiles/Textile Ranger, Sunny @The Adventures of Team Wil-Sun, Kjerstin @Quimper Hittys, Sue @Going Batty in Wales, Vera @lifebyacompassnotaclock, Ann @Ann F Stonehouse Quiltmaker, Dawn @myquiltprojects, Carol @Quilt Schmilt, Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts, Nóilin @Paper, Pen and Mug, Viv @Where the Journey Takes Me 2, Karrin @Karrin’s Crazy World, Amo @View From Our Hill, Alissa @ Snakes & Cranes, Lynn @Tialys, Tierney @tierneycreates, Hannah @quietwatercraft

What's on the Design Wall

A Table Runner for the New Table

December 29, 2023December 30, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

There were 7 of us for Christmas Eve and we were going to make do with our 6 person seating kitchen table, with one person (#7) either crammed in or sitting at the kitchen counter.

We don’t have a formal dining room, just an open room when you first enter the front door which we turned into the library (previously it was a “sitting room”).

Well I came up with the semi “hare-brained” idea on December 23 that we should go buy an actual dining room table and put it into the library. It would serve as both a library table (it’s always been my dream to have one) and a dining table when needed.

So off we went to IKEA on 12/23, which was surprisingly empty so close to the Christmas holiday, and bought a table which seats 8 (but you could fit 10 at the table).

Yes John could have built a table in his woodshop but we figured it would cost the same or more to build from scratch a 92 1/2″ x 39 3/8 ” table (234 cm x 100 cm approximately) and he wouldn’t have it ready for December 24th!

We got the table home and before you know it we had it set up and made up for Christmas Eve (including Christmas Crackers):

And the table worked perfectly for our Christmas Eve dinner of 7 people (we used the loveseat in the library as seating for 2 of the 7 people; and the chairs are the existing kitchen table chairs):

In addition to candles on the table, I set up tea lights on the bookshelves in the library for a nice atmosphere during our festive dining.

And the two dogs that attended (Mike and Ajax) enjoyed foraging under the table and begging for food:

Christmas morning I was having some quiet time sitting at the new table in the library having tea and looking at library books with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer…

…and I thought: this table needs a table runner! (And a new larger rug under it…I am looking into one of those Ruggable rugs that remove from their pad and are machine washable).

Luckily I had in my stash a group of blocks my friend Wendy gave me (see post Quilter Distractions: Good Mail filled with “Taupe”) from a quilt she made for a magazine article/pattern she wrote for October 2010 edition of The Quilt Life called SuperSymmetry.

It is not enough blocks to make a quilt but it was enough to start a table runner!

I used up all the blocks Wendy sent and I am only at about a 6 foot table runner. The table is over 7 1/2 feet long so I am going to have to piece more blocks. Luckily Wendy sent me a bunch of coordinating fabric scraps!

I plan to add some type of thin border to the pieced blocks to float them. I don’t plan to make the table runner very wide as I just want to run the center of the table.

I’ll update you on the progress.

Oh and I’ll close this post with something sweet I saw this morning on my walk.

We have a lot of deer in the area so there are a lot of “deer crossing” warning signs as crossing deer (who like to randomly cross the street when you least expect it) are a dangerous traffic hazard.

Well someone decorated one of the “deer crossing” signs with a red nose (like Rudolph the Red Noses Reindeer!) to make it festive!

This bit of whimsy gave me a huge smile on my walk!

tierneytravels

Folk Art Center, Asheville, NC

October 31, 2023October 31, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I would close out my 31 days of daily blogging to celebrate my 10th anniversary month in October 2023 with a little more on our trip to Asheville, North Carolina a couple months ago. Check out the post Greetings from Asheville – Blue Ridge Parkway for more on our trip.

John’s long time friend E was our tour guide during our trip and one day he took us to an absolutely magical place – the Southern Highland Craft Guild’s The Folk Art Center.

Downstairs was an amazing craft shop with everything from handmade baskets to spectacular quilts; and upstairs was a craft museum with exhibits of new work and historical works.

I took like a thousand pictures (okay perhaps only 70 or so) but here are a couple of my favorite images of what was on display or for sale.

If you are a crafter visiting Asheville I highly recommend this place. John and E were very patient as I wandered around this magical place wanting to see everything. I think they had a good time also (E and his wife S have purchased some amazing crafts from this place for their home); or they were patient because they knew afterwards we’d be visiting another amazing Asheville, NC brewery (Asheville is known for its craft breweries!)

Agriculture Report, Sunflowers!

Agriculture Report

October 24, 2023October 25, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I know it is late in the season to be reporting on my garden but better late than never. My part of Colorado seems to have a short growing season and we’ve already had a freeze at night so my garden is done for the season but here is the story of what happened during the 2023 growing season.

THE PATIO GARDEN

In August I shared some photos from my patio garden where I was growing tomatoes, peppers, and herbs (I use Marigolds as natural pest control):

Well I ended up having a sort of decent harvest of tomatoes and for the first time I was able to grow FULL SIZE tomatoes instead of just cherry tomatoes. I also grew a couple Anaheim peppers. John even roasted one. I also grew a lot of basil and made pesto.

I felt like a FARMER (ha!) with my imaginarily large harvest (yes it was a little bit more than in the photo above, but not that much more). And as I mentioned John actually roasted the first large pepper I grew and added it to a salsa.

GIANT SUNFLOWER (YUP ONLY ONE)

In 2022 I grew bunch of sunflowers including a GIANT SUNFLOWER. I harvested the seeds from the giant sunflower with plans to plant as many as I could to have a mini field of giant sunflowers in 2023 (see post The Sunflowers!)

I felt so “rich” in giant sunflower seeds from this harvest I even shared some with friends.

So I planted a lot of these seeds (probably 1/2 the jar that was left from sharing with friends) and guess what:

I GOT ONE GIANT SUNFLOWER from all the seeds I planted:

And then when I went to harvest the seeds, I pull the head off the sunflower too soon and the seeds did not appear to be mature. I ended up putting the sunflower head in a paper bag upside after googling what to do when you screw up like I did, to let them mature more and dry out.

I don’t think it helped but I did go ahead and harvest what I had a couple weeks later:

So next year I’ll try and plant them and see what happens. I suspect nothing as the seeds are pretty thin and I do not think they will germinate. But I will try.

I might have to just start over again with some store bought giant sunflower seeds…

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Quilt Retreats

Another Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat (Sort of)

October 2, 2023October 2, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In honor of the 10th anniversary month of my blog, I am going to attempt blog everyday for the month of October. I’ll be catching up on adventures I’ve not yet shared. Perhaps eventually I’ll share my latest textile project(s) when I get back to working on them…

ANOTHER QUILT RETREAT IN MY HOME (SORT OF)

Back in May I had a “Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat” at my home for my friends D and K, who are both quilters – see series of posts in this blog category Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat, if you’d like to read about our “fabric-scrap-wrangling adventures.

My friends MJ and J got interested in “retreating” at my house – J is a quilter and MJ is not. I met J through MJ and MJ is a long time very dear friend of mine that I met when I lived in Bend, Oregon 2005 – 2018. We planned the retreat for late August 2023.

I thought it would work – MJ and J would come for 5 days and J and I would working on scrappy freeform log cabin quilts while MJ did some other craft and just hang out with us. MJ joked that we were going to give her macaroni, non-toxic glue, popsicle sticks and fingers paints (like in Kindergarten) to work with – ha!

I’ll share what MJ actually ended up doing later in this post (she creatively made her own retreat!) when our retreat in August happened.

But first I will share the huge fabric scrap pile J and I had to work with during the 5 days in August we had the retreat: it was a combination of my scrap pile and scraps that J brought:

I helped J find some type of inspiration fabric scrap in the pile that had a color palette (as how else to you start sifting through that “hot mess” to design a scrap quilt?). Once she found an inspirational scrap, she started pulling from the scrap pile fabric scraps that coordinated with the scrap to create a palette.

J took off and ran with the concept and before I knew it she was covering my design wall with her improvisational combinations:

Which evolved into these blocks:

I’ll share her pieced quilt top someday in a follow up post when she completes it (if she doesn’t mind me sharing the photo).

What did I work on? I started a new freeform scrappy log cabin but I didn’t like the direction it was going; and after a couple days working on it I recycled it into the scrap pile (and didn’t take any photos of it).

So what did MJ work on? Well not any crafts, ha! She abandoned us in my studio and ended up having a cooking retreat with my husband John.

Like the retreat I had in May with my friends D and K, John did all the cooking. MJ helped John do all the cooking and got cooking lessons from him on some of his specialities. Here they are in a lesson:

She also enjoyed hanging out with Mike our dog (MJ is a “dog person”) and binge watching Netflix shows. Here life is very busy back in Central Oregon and she enjoyed just relaxing and helping cook as her “retreat”, while J and I were upstairs in the “quilters sweatshop” working on our scrappy projects!

MJ also ran errands to the home improvement store with John and Mike, and she got trained on how to push Mike around in his box in the shopping cart as John does!

We had a “make/top your own pizza night” for dinner one night, it was so fun. John and MJ pre-baked the pizza crusts and we got to add our own toppings and hang around the oven waiting for our delicious combinations!

We got out of the house and spent a couple hours or a 1/2 day on various adventures.

One day we went to Castle Rock, CO and visited The Barn, a consignment/antique venue (sort of like a nicely curated flea market), that I love and is so fun to wander.

Here are some boots at The Barn I just could not live without (just kidding, definitely not my style):

It is such a fun wander to meandering around The Barn; and as mentioned on their website: “When you walk into The Barn you may feel many things. Among these feelings could be a sense of comfort…..like you have come home. Many customers express these sentiments…it has come to be known as ‘Barn Therapy’.”

After The Barn we had cocktails and delicious appetizers at the Ecclasia Market across the street, sitting in the Sinners & Saints/Gluttony & Graze area of the market on the comfy sofas.

We also stopped at my favorite indie bookstore in Castle Rock – Sudden Fiction Books.

All of us brought books and J bought so many books we wondered how she’d get them all in her suitcase (she did ship them home), especially some amazing Children’s books for her grandkids. This little bookshop has an amazing curated collection.

They also had this adorable little miniature room display (that lit up) inside one of their bookcases!

One day I did take J to a quilt shop – we visited Holly’s Cabin quilt shop and J was amazing by their extensive collection of curated Kaffe Fassett fabrics on display:

We had beautiful weather (though a little warm in the afternoons) while MJ and J visited. Every morning MJ (who loves to walk like I do) and I took Mike on a couple mile stroll around my neighborhood. John introduced me to what we call “the nature hike” near our house – miles and miles of wooded trails surrounding and connecting different neighborhoods. I’ll share photos from my new favorite daily walk/hike someday.

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

A Lovely Time in Loveland

July 13, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A month ago John and I decided to visit Fort Collins, CO for an overnight visit. We love Fort Collins and are entertaining the idea of moving there someday…perhaps.

On our way to Fort Collins, we stopped in the neighboring town Loveland, CO to visit John’s sister and her husband and go on a boat ride with her and her husband.

We had a lovely boat ride around the reservoir/lake area they live in (Colorado is far from the ocean but we do have rivers, reservoirs and lakes to sail on). Their adorable little dog Lacey came on the boat ride with us and had her own little bed on the boat:

After visiting with John’s sister and her husband we stopped at the Loveland Visitor Center to get John a sticker (he collects stickers to put on his toolbox) and took some photos of the awesome “Love” sign outside the visitor center:

(Did you spot John in the photo?)

Behind the “O” of LOVE, which is shaped into a heart, are “love locks” where people promising their love to each other have left locks:

You can see the theme of Loveland is “Love” and inside the visitor center they also had this sign that you could use as a background for photos:

Postscript

A Visit to Pink Door Fabrics

Before we got to Loveland, we first stopped in Frederick, CO to visit the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is only open to the public 2 days a month.

Here are some photos from my wander around the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is primarily an online shop specializing in Tula Pink fabrics.

I was well behaved until I got to this section of the shop:

I filled my bag really full and they did not mind!

A Year of Finishes - 2023, Quality of Life, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Go Boldly

July 12, 2023October 18, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a follow up to the June 23rd post What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall.

For the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot (see posts Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I and Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II ), I wanted to have a quilt in progress up on the wall. The magazine editor had suggested it a day prior to the photoshoot and the quilt I had in my “UFO Stash” that came to mind were blocks of brightly colored “Crazy Curve Circles” that my friend D had given me a couple years ago (see June 2020 post Tweaks to the Tierneycreates Studio).

D already pieced a lot of the blocks; and I ended up piecing the rest of the sections together that she cut from the templates but had not pieced. She also gave me fabric and I made some additional blocks using the templates she also gave me.

Here is what the quilt currently looks like on my design wall – I’ve made a small version of the quilt pattern designed by Elisa’s Back Porch Designs:

There was a lot of piecing to get the whole quilt together – first the individual sections into a four patch, resulting in 16 blocks; and then sewing the 16 blocks together. I thought about making a larger quilt (I am so many blocks left over) but I just wanted to get this one done and move on to my other projects.

This quilt is part of the project A Year of Finishes – 2023, and it was mentioned in this February 15th post A Year of Finishes: Audit of Existing Projects, Part II as one of the outstanding UFOs I have in my stash.

I’ve decided to hand quilt it as a late Autumn/early Winter project, and use this dusty collection of hand quilting threads I bought at a sewing expo show in Seattle, WA early in my quilting days (2000?):

I think they are YLI threads.

So I am taking this quilt off the design wall and putting it away until the cooler weather when I’d want to have a quilt sitting on my lap while I hand quilt it.

So what to do with all the leftover blocks?

I’ve decided to make the large version of the quilt Circle Dance which includes both the larger “Crazy Curves” blocks (the one I made) and the smaller ones:

The pattern says “63 inches by 70 inches” but I think I can make it even larger with all the blocks I have left over. I will need to make the small “Crazy Curves” from the small template from the extra fabric D gave me.

I might start that in 2024 or 2025, who knows. I have so many projects in queue!

Next up on my project list is sewing on and then sewing down the binding for my black, white and gray scrappy freeform log cabin quilt – Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White (see post ScrapHappy June 2023: “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White!” if you’d like background on this quilt), which is back from the longarm machine quilter:

And to close out this post, here is my Human Manager, Mike (see previous post) who is irritated I was taking a photo of the quilt on my design wall and not playing with him and his bear.

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Sampler Quilts, What's on the Design Wall

“Sewing-Block” Resolved by Sewing a Block!

April 29, 2022June 16, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

My sewing “mojo” was hiding somewhere for a while and I had little desire to sew. I had a “sewing-block“. Turns out the best way to resolve it was to sew a block!

I’ve been distracted from time in my sewing studio by some recent travel, visits from out of town friends, and a couple challenging recent life events. A couple days ago I knew I needed to get my back to sewing (as there is just so much fun stuff to be made) and decided returning to working on my Tula Pink City Sampler (100 Modern Quilt Blocks) would be a good place to start.

So I made block number 31 (I’ve already made blocks 1 – 30, see post What’s On the Design Wall: Not Losing Momentum):

Once you get started up sewing again, things get rolling, and I was able to make also blocks 32 – 40 over the next several days (my sewing was “un-blocked”!):

Today while taking photos for this post, I discovered I did not like the gray “frame” in one of the blocks (too overpowering):

So I redid it this morning with a red “frame”:

Now I have 40 blocks out of 100 now complete!

Not sure why my photos came out so dark from my design wall, I guess it was the lighting in my sewing studio this morning.

I am enjoying working from my piles of scraps selected for the 100 block sampler, and I’ve decided to just keep the piles out until I finish all 100 blocks.

I’ve been making a bunch of small scraps while cutting the fabrics for the 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch blocks and I plan to stuff pincushions like I did in this post – Stuffing it the Eco-conscious Way!

I plan to continue working on the blocks for the sampler and maybe whipping out a pincushion or two between sets of blocks if my tiny pile of scraps gets larger than my little basket for tiny scraps.

Knit and Crochet Away!

The Itty-Bitty Hat and Fun Surprises in the Mail

November 17, 2021June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am covering two topics in this post:

How the knitted hat I made from yarn I discovered in my stash turned out too small (follow up to blog post Hot Mess of Yummy Yarn); and
The two awesome packages I discovered in my mail upon returning from vacation in Northern California.

THE ITTY-BITTY HAT

It been a while since I’ve knitted a hat and I appeared to have forgotten that I have to alter the pattern I use in order to accommodate my head (I have a lot of hair and perhaps a larger than average head).

Here’s the yarn I started with that I re-discovered while tidying up my yarn stash (two skeins intertwined):

Here is the hat in progress – I love getting to the double point needles section of knitting the hat:

And here is the itty-bitty hat (too small for my head):

The hat is cute and I guess will be enjoyed someday by someone with a smaller head!

I do have leftover yarn from the first skein and I’ve already began knitting another hat (this time with the pattern modified for my head) with the end of the first skein and then into the second skein. So I’ll see how that one comes out and if I can model it for you (or if it will also become a gift…).

FUN SURPRISES IN THE MAIL

Speaking of gifts, I recently returned from a long weekend visiting friends in Northern California (and while I was there I nearly finished knitting the first too small hat). When I picked up my mail on return to Denver, I discovered not one but TWO awesome surprises in the mail!

SURPRISE ONE was from my blogging buddy in the Netherlands Emmely @Infectious Stitches filled with delicious Dutch treats:

She also included a handmade artist roll for my colored pencils – I can do some coloring on the go!

Just starting to load my pencils on to the roll

Emmely recently released/published a new foundation paper piecing pincushion pattern and I got to be a pattern-tester on it. You can check out her blog post about it – New Directions: Pattern tester makes!. I did not post about it because I was not over excited about the boring version I made of the pincushion and I want to make a better version before I post about it. I do not like foundation paper piecing so we thought I would be a good tester. Turned out it was easy (and a very well written pattern) and I whipped through making a (boring color choice) pincushion. The other pattern tester and Emmely made beautiful pincushions (as you will see if you check out her post I have linked above).

Oh and in case you are curious, I’ve already opened some of the Dutch treats (yum).

SURPRISE TWO in the mail was a wonderful collection of fabric scraps from my blogging buddy Chela @Chela’s Colchas y Mas.

I know I will figure something fun to make with these fabric someday!

It was a nice way to return from “holiday”. I will share some of my adventures in Northern California in a future post or two.

Guest Blogger, Miniature Schnauzer Adventures

Guest Blogger: What Happens at Dog Camp, Stays at Dog Camp

October 1, 2021August 9, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is Mike the Miniature Schnauzer that manages Tierney and her partner John (who I will refer too as “the humans”), guest blogging for this post.

I borrowed Tierney’s laptop to write my post

I heard the other guest blogger that lives in my house, the tierneycreates Beastie, was going to be posting soon and I wanted to get my post in before hers. She is the one with that fake schnauzer “Mikelet”. I cannot believe the humans named him after me.

But we don’t need to discuss our guest blogger rivalry, I do not want to interfere with your enjoyment of my excellent post.

So if you’ve been following my female human’s blog, you’ve noticed that she’s been up to a lot of traveling since late Spring. You might wonder what becomes of me when she and the male human go out of town (or into “storage”, see post “Human Storage” and Airport Lore).

Well I go to Dog Camp.

A couple years ago the humans found a family who only watches small dogs (the best kind in my opinion) at their home; and they live near us.

I really like Dog Camp because they throw the ball for me as much as I want, there are lots of fur people my size there, and they give me special treats with my meals such as mashed sweet potatoes and chicken.

But what I really like are all the cute little female dogs to hang out with there. I am a single (and yes neutered) guy and I like hanging out with the girl dogs, what can I say.

Now personally I believe that: “what happens at dog camp, stays at dog camp”, but the lady who runs Dog Camp, keeps taking photos of my exploits and sending them to the humans! Is there no privacy??!?!

Since the humans already know, I thought I would share some of the photos and video from previous dog camps. I sort of have a thing for cream-colored girl dogs and here are a couple of my girlfriends from previous dog camps:

But sometimes the girls go a little crazy over me (which is understandable) as in this incident below captured by the female human that manages Dog Camp:

Ladies – there is enough of me to go around – stay calm!

But that is enough, I have to keep some secrets from Dog Camp.

My male human is trying to help me fend off the girl dogs by going incognito with some shades for next time:

tierneycreates

Redesigning my logo

January 16, 2021January 16, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I decided it was time to redesign my tierneycreates logo which I had created originally back in 2013 when I first began blogging:

This time I wanted to do something more “organic”.

I’ve been addicted to the game/app Words with Friends for years and I play online Scrabble daily with friends such as my friend Kathy and my partner John:

Yup I lost in the game above.

I loved Scrabble since I was a kid. I actually have a collection of Scrabble letter collected from old games I picked up from garage sales or just the letters themselves.

I’ve crafted with them in the past making refrigerator magnet gifts with friends’ names done in Scrabble letters.

Also recently my partner John made me a photo platform to use for photographing items for my tierneycreates Etsy shop (which I hope to re-open this year). Combined with my new Ring Light (which I am still learning to use) I hope I will have decent photos for my Etsy listings!

So I came up with the idea of spelling out my company name (tierneycreates) with my tagline (a fusion of textiles and smiles) in Scrabble letters, and adding some textiles!

For the “textiles” I dug into my basket of fabric scrap strings:

Here is the photo shoot:

Here are two version of the resulting new logo I am thinking of trying out (and if you can’t tell any difference don’t worry it is subtle – they are each cropped slightly differently):

It’s definitely “organic”!

So what do you think? Does it look like I was Drinking While Designing (a “DWD”) a logo?

Beastie Adventures, From the Woodshop, Studio

“From the Cutting Table”: Update to tierneycreates Studio (Guest Blogger)

January 12, 2021October 26, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a while since I guest blogged. Hi there – it’s tierneycreates Beastie and I wanted to share some changes to my home (Tierney’s studio).

I’ve titled my post “From the Cutting Table…” because my dog Mikelet and I now live on the cutting table in Tierney’s studio:

In case you are new to this blog, here is a little background on me:

My name is tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster. I was made by Helen of CrawCrafts Beasties in Dublin, Ireland. You can read my story at I’m A Monster!!!. You can also check out the other posts I’ve had to guest blog on (i.e. when the human Tierney falls off the blogging-wagon and I have to help) in the series of posts: Beastie Adventures.

I like the cutting table, I have plenty of room and it is not too scary like it was when Tierney had me next to all those creepy giant schnauzers (see January 2020 post Guest Blogger: What the heck is going on here?)

Can you see the look of sheer terror in my eyes??!?!

Whew, glad those days are over! Oh you might wonder what became of my fiancé John Beastie (see post Guest Blog Post: Mail Order Groom), well he spends most of his time in John the Human’s office downstairs. Tierney and John Human feel it is best not to let a couple of Beasties spend too much time together as mischief is certain to happen! (Just wait until we get married, they’ll never keep us apart!!!)

Here we are in July 2020 celebrating our engagement

Oh I think I am getting off track on my post…

So yes my dog Mikelet and I spend most of our time on the cutting board in Tierney’s studio and we like it, though I have to keep an eye on Mikelet because sometimes he plays in the pincushion and I think that might be dangerous.

By the way my maker Helen of CrawCrafts Beasties made me my own sewing machine so I could help Tierney sew projects and once I figure out how to use it maybe I will have a guest post about my projects instead of Tierney’s!

Now what I was I originally planning to tell you? Beasties are easy distracted. Oh yes, I wanted to tell you about a recent change to my home the tierneycreates Studio.

John, Human John not Beastie John, Tierney’s partner, recently made an ironing board table for the studio. Before the new ironing board table, Tierney was using a traditional ironing board and iron.

What started this change was for Christmas John got Tierney a cordless iron:

Perhaps you wanted to see a full image of the iron but isn’t the iron much cuter with me in front of it?!!?!?

Okay here is the iron:

Now that Tierney had cordless iron she had more flexibility on where her iron could be located, so John (again I mean Human John as Beastie John could not have handled the tools involved which are bigger than him…) built her a 2 foot by 4 foot ironing table for her studio.

First John cut a piece of plywood the same size as the table base being used (an old counter height folding table). Then John and Tierney wrapped and stapled four (4) layers onto the plywood base:

Batting
Insul-Brite heat resistant batting
Heat resistant fabric (like the type used for old ironing board covers)
Cotton fabric

Tierney is really pleased with her new ironing table and she used it while making all those tote bags she talked about in her recent post (see post Tote, Tote, Tote Bags).

So that is the big change to the studio.

Somedays I get tired of the studio and miss the days when I used to go on adventures with Tierney. The pandemic has slowed down my adventures. Tierney promises that soon we will resume our adventures, I just need to be patient.

For now Mikelet and I will wistfully stare out the studio window…

Postscript

I am going to close this guest post by sharing a secret: Tierney is sort of a slob in her studio.

Look at these mini Toblerone candy bar wrappers she left on the cutting table!

I caught Mikelet sniffing them, luckily there was no candy in them as chocolate is bad for dogs.

I hope she will be more respectful of my space and clean up her wrappers!

Knit and Crochet Away!

The Ball of Yarn (which eventually became a hat)

November 11, 2019May 21, 2024 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Did you ever need or want to finish a craft project but the project itself had a great emotional weight?

Such is the case with a ball of variegated turquoise yarn in my yarn stash.

In November 2018 my late husband Terry and I went shopping for the some turquoise yarn for a hat I wanted to make, and we found the perfect yarn and we found it – variegated turquoise yarn.

Terry was taking a break from making quilts and was just enjoying being my “crafting assistant” so he rolled the skein of yarn into a ball to make my hat knitting easier.

This was one of the last crafting things he worked on before he unexpectedly and suddenly died on 12/13/18.

So I had this ball of yarn, that he had wound into a ball.

I could barely touch it much less even think of knitting that hat.

However, as I’ve discovered during my first year journey of widowhood: crafting and making things are good for your spirit. Sometimes it seems like doing something with my hands is healing to my heart.

I began working on the hat in late Winter 2019 as I prepared for my move to Colorado (see series of posts Colorado Bound) to begin a new life adventure.

But it was difficult to work on and I put it away. Every time I picked up the ball of yarn I could picture Terry sitting on the sofa across from me rolling the ball of yarn, watching a TV show with me, and laughing. Some days I still cannot believe my beautiful life with him suddenly ended.

In early October on an unexpectedly snowy day in Denver, I realized that “Winter is Coming” and if my friend was to have that turquoise hat for this winter, I needed to work on it.

And so I did.

Here is my favorite part of knitting a hat – when you switch to the double pointed needles:

Here is the completed hat:

I feel very peaceful after completing the hat. Terry would be very pleased to see the hat completed. His work rolling the ball of yarn was not wasted!

Postscript

To close out this post, here is another inspirational sign from the collection of signs sprinkled about the restaurant I mentioned in yesterday’s post’s Postscript section:

A Crafter's Life

A Lovely Surprise in the Mail

November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of my blogging buddies, Sandra McCall of sandramccall.com sent me a lovely and thoughtful surprise in the mail earlier this week!

Sandra (Sandy) is a published craft book author (check out examples of some of her books on this link – amazon.com) and has a wonderful website/blog filled with home decorating, crafting and cooking ideas – sandramccall.com.

I forgot how I originally discovered her blog but I’ve especially enjoyed her posts on dollhouse miniatures such as this one: Dollhouse Closet,Fabric and RUGS!

I’ve always been fascinated by dollhouses and miniatures and it is amazing what she makes on a small scale!

The lovely and thoughtful surprise I received from Sandy earlier this week was a stack of some of her books (and a couple bonus books by other authors) and a handmade wrap bracelet!

I’m really enjoying the bracelet, I’ve been wearing it everywhere!

Postscript

I continue to explore Denver, my home of now of nearly 8 months. This weekend I had lunch at the JUST BE KITCHEN in the South Platte River front area.

Sprinkled about the restaurant was awesome inspirational signs and I wanted to share two of my favorites (the latter one was in the restroom):

A Crafter's Life, Adventures in Paper Piecing

Back to Making Things and Lovely Surprises in the Mail

January 16, 2019January 16, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello My Blogging Community, thanks for all your support during the most challenging time in my life.

I wanted to share that I have finally returned to “making” after quite the hiatus after the loss of my husband.

But first, let me share the two wonderful surprises I got in the mail today.

Surprise #1

My blogging buddy in Dublin Ireland, Helen @crawcraftsbeasties.com sent me a hand painted card featuring a Beastie comforting another Beastie:

To learn more about the amazing Beasties that Helen makes, check out her website – crawcraftsbeasties.com.

Surprise #2

My blogging buddy in the Netherlands, Emmely @infectiousstitches gave me an amazing stitched card:

It was like a large fabric postcard with a wonderful handwritten note on back.

I so appreciate all the support from my blogging community including so many people who have never met me in person and only know me from my blog. I wish we could all get together for some tea and pastries at a nice cafe.

No Longer Dreading the Mail

I feel I turned a corner as I am no longer dreading sympathy/condolence cards in the mail. So many thoughtful people have sent their condolences over the loss of my husband but each card was like a gut wrenching stab reminding me of my profound loss. I dreaded getting the mail and making myself open the cards and their words of sympathy blurring before my tearing eyes. Perhaps in retrospect I should have put them aside and read them later. I felt compelled and obligated to open each card.

On Tuesday I began an 8 week Spousal Loss Grief Support Group. The first meeting was incredibly difficult especially at first but by the end of the meeting as we all started to share and connect it got so much better. The Grief Counselor facilitating the meeting is amazing. This support group is through our local hospice and is a free community service.

There is an educational component to each meeting and I learned a lot about grief and why I have struggled with some severe irritability. I am so happy to have a safe place to talk about complex feelings with others who have also experienced the profound loss of a life partner.

I now get the whole “support group” concept where people going through similar experiences can support each other and relate to each other struggles, especially with the help of an amazing group facilitator.

Back to Making

I knew I needed to return to sewing and the tactile experience of working with fabric as part of my healing. I was either struggling with low energy or lack of interest, but I kept trying to dive back in.

First I tried to return to the Tula in a Box quilt I was working on before Terry died (and Terry helped me lay out the blocks) – see post .Tula in a Box. I managed to get the quilt back up on the large design wall in the hallway (I had half of it sewn together) as I had removed it from the design wall after he died as it was upsetting me:

But I have not done any work on it.

Then I tried to work on taking out the stitching of a quilt I made into a tablecloth. I decided to turn it into a quilt. I did get the stitching out but got stalled on getting it ironed out so I could sent it out for long-arm quilting:

Finally I thought I would try some hand work – something I could sit in front of the TV (I’ve been watching endless Netflix in the evening) and work on – English Paper Piecing (EPP):

That worked. I’ve been working on making EPP hexies in the evening. Occasionally making the hexies feels bittersweet at Terry punched out the paper piecing templates for me. But I like to think that we are making them together.

A Crafter's Life, tierneycreates

Artistic Delights in the Mail

December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of the best thing about having the tierneycreates blog for the past 5 years is connecting with other crafters, makers, artists around the world.

One of those people is Pennsylvania based artist extraordinaire, Claudia McGill. She is one of those “Renaissance Women” whose dabbles successfully in many arts – writing, painting, drawing, illustrations, poetry, ceramics/pottery and collage.

She has two blogs (that I know of, maybe she has more, ha!) – one for her art and one for her poetry:

Claudia McGill and Her Art World

Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That?

A couple days ago, I was surprised in the mail with a lovely holiday card and some some little pieces of her art!

Lucky me!

I know there are new bloggers now following my blog that might be looking for other maker blogs to follow and blogging communities to connect with, so I plan in the future to share more about the blogs I follow to help connect anyone interested.

Over the years, I’ve met so many other bloggers through following and commenting on blogs that capture my interest.

Postscript

I’ve always fantasized about writing poetry and had dabbled but never had the confidence to share any of my writings.

In addition to Claudia’s blogs, I also follow other “artist poets” such as South African based artist and poet, Mariss Stevens. She shares her beautiful art quilts with accompanying poems!

You can check out her amazing art quilts and poetry on her blog:

FABRICATIONS

tierneycreates

tierneycreates has a new look

June 23, 2018June 23, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Every so often I enjoying changing out my WordPress blog template and trying something new.

Previously I had two blogs I managed: 1) my personal blog, tierneycreates; and 2) a collaborative blog, Improvisational Textiles where I kept my art quilt portfolio.

Improvisational Textiles is now inactive and I’ve transitioned my art quilting portfolio over to my tierneycreates blog.

I also added a “landing page”/Welcome Page (“Home“) when you first arrive at tierneycreates.com to make it more like a “artists website” and not only a blog.

Screen Shot 2018-06-23 at 6.37.11 PM.png

I added a new menu “Tierney Creates” which contains the pages for my Artist Statement, my art quilt portfolio (Art Quilt Stories), and a listing of Exhibits/Shows I’ve participated in.

Screen Shot 2018-06-23 at 6.37.33 PM.png

This is all part of my pretending that I am an art quilter!

I still need to move some of the blog posts that relate to my art quilts over to my tierneycreates blog; and I want to update my “Tierneycreates Studio Tour” page (located in the “About Me” menu) with current photos.

I am self taught on WordPress (thank you WordPress for awesome reference materials and for people publishing YouTube videos with WordPress tips and tricks) and I will keep tweaking my tierneycreates site as I keep learning new tips and tricks!

Oregon Coast Adventures, Quilt Retreats, Quilt Shop Tours

The Road to Retreat (Via Cannon Beach)

May 29, 2018August 14, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts about the annual May quilting retreat I attended with my Quilting Sisters in Vancouver, WA May 17 – 20. To read my previous posts about quilting retreats I’ve attended, see my post category – Retreats.

A Different Way to Quilt Retreat

Each year when posting about the annual May quilting retreat I attend, I include a “road to retreat” post on my journey to the retreat at Sew N Go in Vancouver, WA.

Examples of such posts include The Road to the Retreat on my solo car road trip and The Road to Retreat (Via Bus!) about my first time taking the Central Oregon Breeze bus to the retreat.

A couple weeks before the retreat I was trying to decide whether to drive to the May quilt retreat or to take the bus again. Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) offered to drive me this time to the retreat with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer joining us for the road trip.

Instead of having him drive 4 hours to the retreat and then back, we came up with the idea of driving to Cannon Beach, Oregon the day before the retreat. We would spend a day in Cannon Beach, stay overnight and the TTQH would drive me to the retreat and head back home.

I Love Cannon Beach

We’ve been visiting Cannon Beach for many years – I think we visited the first time in the early 2000s. In my post A Case for Buying Tings You Have No Plans For At The Time, I share my love for Cannon Beach and a special Cannon Beach themed wallhanging I made for my friend at work Nancy.

Wandering Around Cannon Beach

Let’s begin with images of the beach, the sea, and the iconic Haystack rock at Cannon Beach. We enjoyed talking the coastline with Mike and here are images from Day which was fairly sunny.

The next day, before heading to retreat, it was overcast but the beach was still wonderful:

I love Central Oregon but it is far away from the sea. Every so often it is nice to be at the sea, smell the sea, and listen to the sea.

Cannon Beach has a wonderful quilt shop, Center Diamond Fabrics. If you check out my post A Case for Buying Tings You Have No Plans For At The Time, you will see a link to a YouTube video by the Quilt Roadies with a tour of Center Diamond Fabrics.

We’ve had a doggy backpacks for years that we carry our miniature schnauzers around in when traveling (most shops unless they are restaurants will allow a dog in a backpack in the shop) so we do not have to leave them in the car when sightseeing.

TTQH had Mike in his backpack as we wandered around Center Diamond Fabrics and Mike appears to be advising TTQH on fabric selections:

2018-05-16_16-17-56_002 — Mike: “TTQH look at the fabrics over there!”

2018-05-16_16-17-41_689 — Mike: “I am not too sure about those fabrics”

2018-05-16_16-17-22_472 — Mike: “Hold on, slow down, I want to check this rack”

2018-05-16_16-18-14_953 — Mike: “Okay let’s get all of these…”

After the quilt shop, it was off to the yarn shop at Cannon Beach, Coastal Yarns, where Mike also advised from his backpack:

I was naughty at this shop and bought a skein of this ridiculously expensive variegated silk yarn that I fell hopelessly in love with it:

We stayed at the inviting and dog-friendly McBee Cottages where they had a welcome basket for Mike and a wonderful collection of handmade bird houses.