What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

                       

I've had this in my online notebook for quite a long time.
I don't pick a resolution or a word for the year- usually. But I will keep rereading this as a reminder of how to cope sometimes. This saying represents the deliberate turning away from the awfulness and bad news we seem to be bombarded with these days. Choosing to focus on and keep enjoying the wonderful, the sweet, the unique, the pretty, no matter how small is how I aim to keep it because there is still good in the world; we must never lose sight ...

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I shared a little about Marie Kondo, the decluttering expert, a while back... I was rather taken with her question does an object give you joy implying that objects can, in fact, spark joy in us.  As someone who lost all her objects and was told at the time by many, they're only things, this whole notion is interesting and actually has me rethinking just why I was so sad and still am about losing mere "things".
I own very few objects these days; my stitching stuff constitutes the most of my belongings. My closet almost doesn't count ...

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Old St. Nick, a Kathy Schmitz design for A Patchwork Year

Happy December!  On December 1, the sun shone all day like a bright shiny gift to us so welcome after the endless greyness of this year's November.

The tree is up and all ready to be decorated with the help of our special little elf, 5 year old grandson, Robbie. This is just 6 feet, pure fake, but enough to satisfy my Christmas tree need.  Yes but oddly sheds the fake needles just like a real tree.  And I really shouldn't complain about this once a year ...

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I like this saying and I think I had the fortitude to choose mostly, but I'm not sure everyone has that ability and certainly not all the time. For instance, last Tuesday I felt sad all day.  No idea why, no reason that I could pinpoint, just mopey and teary with a feeling of weight on my mind. I went about my business as usual but felt like I was going through the motions, as it were.
When I woke on Wednesday, I could tell immediately the feeling had lifted a little, and thankfully wore off throughout the day ...

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I get goosebumps just thinking about war and especially reading all the stories that keep emerging about those times.
Soldiers Embroider for Therapy   This is an interesting story sent to me by a friend through Facebook (thank you Lillian!).  I've read about soldiers knitting as therapy but had not heard of embroidering before.  It looks to me like counted cross stitch. I can only hope that working like this with needle and thread soothed them somewhat after the horrors they endured during trench warfare in World War I.

To commemmorate the 100th anniversary of that war's ending,  the ...

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One of my Netherlands blogging friends made the point that though we have already reached a good age, her and I, was I like her and still wanted more days.  Are we selfish to wish this though so many did not get what we have gotten, she wondered. Yes, I agree, most definitely we do want more.

 I immediately thought about the friend who played the organ at my first wedding and has been gone over twenty years now.  She was so mature, talented, and remarkable in many, many ways...a true inspiration to me, and sadly did not get ...

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I have been feeling nearly normal for almost a week. I credit it to getting more sleep after a terrible bout of continual insomnia.  I would like to know the cause. Is it my fearful, worrying and sometimes overactive brain that can't stop thinking of things past, present and future. Intellectually I know just what a waste of valuable time (when I could be getting much needed beauty sleep, LOL) such meanderings are!
 Like so many of you, I do possess a slim vein of creativity in me ...words, music, nature, architecture, art, fabric each and all stir me ...

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I love this bit of writing, especially the way I think the author let himself just play with certain phrases and let them take him wherever they would lead.

And I believe that anyone we have ever loved do get 'carried' by us.

It is Canada Day today where we celebrate wholeheartedly the love we feel for our country, but for those of us who are Newfoundlanders we also mark this day for a whole other reason.
  On this day during World War I, the Newfoundland Regiment fighting in Beaumont-Hamel, France were sent 'over the hill" into battle.  About 700 ...

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There was a breeze off the lake at all times and my bedroom had a small balcony. I slept well and woke early so ...

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As I went about my business yesterday, doing this-

trying out my Indigo Snowball blocks on an actual bed and feeling pleased with the progress but knowing I have a ways to go just yet.

and looking at this photo of Murphy on the spare bed a couple of years ago and realizing once again that she can no longer jump up on beds,while Rex, though older, still can. But what a silken beauty she still is!


And glancing at these guys that have been sitting in a bowl for the last week.  What is it with avocados? I ...

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This week started with two feet planted in winter. Below freezing wind chills but a lot of sun which helped to compensate.  The sun is glorious to see and yay to natural Vitamin D. But then the rains came...I heard a strange sound on the roof (which is metal) and realized it was pouring rain.  Ahh, springish weather.

New to Me

I've now come across two articles about Plogging, a Swedish idea that is taking hold in North America. An eco-friendly way to help rid the environment of rubbish...pick up any trash on your jogging/walking route ...

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I read a post by a blogger who was saying she could accomplish so much stitching in front of the tv which perhaps was a sign of what tv shows have become.  It made me think which shows make me put down my stitching and actually watch, not just listen.  The list is very short.
Downton Abbey and The Crown come to mind. Fargo I also watched because I loved the characters and accents. Do you have any that make you actually watch?

Something those of you in the southern hemisphere need not worry about when it comes to ice ...

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Pride goeth before a fall, my dad would quote.
I haven't mentioned it but I practice tiny balance exercises all the time...the usual, standing on one foot at the kitchen sink and while I'm brushing my teeth or on the phone.  Yesterday I got one high boot on without leaning on anything even though I was feeling a little tipsy (literally and it has nothing to do with alcohol, believe me, just some days seem wobblier than others).

At that moment I actually had the prideful thought, my balance seems to be pretty good.  Then while still ...

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Before I forget, the link to Ina Gartner's fabulous Beatty's Chocolate Cake is over on the right in the featured post. If you are a chocolate cake lover or have someone in the family who is, it is a terrific recipe...easy and delicious too.

Last weekend had me wearing my ice cleats on my boots and also doing some shovelling. The usual February mix of weather.  I decided to put out peanuts in the shell to lure the squirrels away from the bird feeders.  One small red squirrel found them first and had a field day.  Keeping ...

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Friends in the northern hemisphere....Did you go snow sliding as a kid?

 Growing up in Corner Brook, with its snowy, hilly terrain, I got to slide many days of the winter months.  I loved it.  I lived in the far left hand corner there on the outskirts. (Like Lincoln, I had a very long walk to school each day, lol.)



  I didn't have a sleigh like in the picture further below but a toboggan and I remember well the Christmas I got a new one, a five seater so I could always have a couple of friends on ...

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During our weekly phone chats, Mom always asks me what I am making for supper.  She was saying yesterday how though she still has a good appetite (at 84), she is finding it harder to know what to cook and she is losing her interest in meat in particular.  Lately she has been making a simple soup of tomatoes, onions, broth and barley and throwing in some carrots and peas and this seems to be satisfying enough.  I don't know if this is what happens as we age or not.

Mom went on to say here I am with ...

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As I write this, the wind is howling around the house, strong enough that it has moved my door wreath right across the door.  We have had wild weather with rain, then a freeze up and a snow storm on top of it all in the space of hours.  The weather network has had a hard time keeping up with all the warnings.  Today's is Extreme Cold Warning.

So it's January in Canada and so cold even Niagara Falls has been freezing in unusual spots.  Photographers and ice climbers are having a field day.


                            

Orange isn't just ...

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Has this ever happened to you?

Yesterday I went into my sewing room feeling a little down...just a bit out of sorts I guess you could call it; came out two hours later feeling just fine.

I think that proves right there that stitching is theraputic. As long as this is true for me, I can justify the cost of all those pretty things I buy for this habit of mine.

Truthfully, I have to guard my feelings a little this time of year.  Christmas was always very special to Newfoundlanders and a highly celebrated time of year. Memories ...

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I have traveled far the past few weeks both physically and mentally.  Both journeys worth taking but both took a lot out of me.

Truthfully I've been feeling very sad for a couple of weeks and have only just now gotten myself in hand.  I'm not even sure sad is the right word...maybe melancholic would suit better.  Hubby has termed me pensive.

My physical travel since talking to you last included visiting my grandparent's community in Newfoundland.  It is a haunting kind of place on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and evokes deep feelings in ...

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