Pieces of January...

 

Yes, I know it's February...but I'm still picking up pieces of January (and, actually, several other months if truth be told.)

This winter - this year so far - has been bumpy. Extreme cold, frozen plans...and pieces that just fell apart. Most days, "Plan A" never stood a chance, so I moved on to Plan B, and, right about now, I think I'm pretty firmly entrenched in Plan D.

I'm far too far behind to make a pretense of catching up, so I'm just jumping in here and sharing some of my "puzzle pieces" from the past month and hoping things start to fit together at some point.

I am not entirely certain what happened the first few weeks of the month. I know what didn't happen (like getting Christmas put away...Lauren, I'm sure, is loath to have a twin like me) so we're going to skip that part, k?

But mid-month I remember both what I did and did not do, so we'll start with that.

The past several years I've spent mid-January at Cathy Stephan's (Red Barn Rugs') rug hooking workshop. For various reasons, this year's January workshop was cancelled. Instead, Cathy and a couple other hooky friends from the January group joined me at the lake for a few days of hooking.

Our friend, Marilyn Becker, who passed away the end of October, had been part of our January workshop group so we decided it would be a fitting opportunity to celebrate her, her friendship, and her amazing hooking artistry.

It was snowy and cold, but we enjoyed the few days we had together.

We took turns making meals, some hooked more than others (ahem!), we watched a few movies and, one day, we ventured out to do a bit of antiquing/junking.

A few of the things that caught my eye:

{Only one of the above items followed me home....}

And what about the hooking projects?

Well, yeah, I was a bit preoccupied with trying to remember how to be a hostess so failed quite miserably not only in that department but also in getting photos of the projects being worked on by the others. 

Here are the few I managed to get:

Marilyn ("Bad" Marilyn...not "Good" Marilyn who we were celebrating) was working

on a piece based on a photo she had taken of a Guatemalan woman and her child. She has already redone the woman's skirt at least twice and plans on redoing it again with totally different wool. She is also going to re-do her face. (Like Good Marilyn, Bad Marilyn is a fine-cut hooker, meaning she hooks with wool strips the width of dental floss.)

Below is the actual photo from which she is working:

Cathy, ever the over-achiever, was working on several things at once. This is the only one I got a photo of:

This rug is HUGE. It is shown below with my 20-lb cat for size reference.

(I believe she said the rug's name is "Hazel" and measures 48" x 60"??)

I tried to convince her to leave the rug for Rajah and me, but she declined.

Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of our friend, Kim's, rug. :-(

I'd like to leave the following part out, but I know there is at least one person out there who would be asking what I worked on.

It's little, it's pathetic...and I got pathetically little accomplished on it, but here ya go MD:

Each of us were also gifted a rug/mat that had been hooked by Good Marilyn.

This is the one I received:

I stayed on a day and a half after everyone left to clean things up, pack things up, etc. (i.e., to catch up on sleep??)

The end of the month? Well, I remember most of that as well - the good, the bad and the ugly.

First the good:  The night after I got home from the lake, I was drawn outside by a lightening of the sky.  Some of the strangest Northern Lights I've witnessed - not so much colorful as BRIGHT - especially against the white of the snow.

There are no streetlights (or any kind of lights) out where I am and I had no porch or yard lights on, yet it was so clear it seemed like early evening. The photo info is shown below. It was 9:59 p.m.

Then there was the bad:

I know many of you were inundated with snow and we, thankfully, escaped that...but we were plunged into bitter, bitter, cold. -30° actual temps with -50° windchills...and guess who came home to heating issues, AGAIN???!

Thankfully, it was in the shop, not the house but, in many ways, it was just as bad since the shop has an in-floor heating system and if it stops working, the entire system and floor can be ruined if it gets cold enough...and it certainly was cold "enough."

On top of that good news, I was unable to even get into the shop because the door had frozen shut.

I finally managed to break in after 2 days so I could get the heating company out in...only to be told that the company that manufactured the heating system had gone out of business, so replacement parts were no longer available.

Seriously??!! If you recall, I just replaced that entire system shortly after my husband passed away so, less than two years ago.

GAH!

They did manage to get it working again, but they had to bypass the auto-shut off function so should it stop working again and drop below freezing, it's done and gone.

Did I say "GAH!"?

And then the ugly:

I came down with a bad case of the flu.

Let's just leave it at that.

I'm on the mend but certainly haven't kicked it completely.

And there you have it...my January in bits and pieces. There's more, actually, but this is more than enough for now, I think.

*****

Oh...and one last thing for the person who asked....

{pssst....and soon there will be two....💗}

One for the Crow...

...one to die, one to grow.

Just an old gardening rhyme with lots of variations:

"Four seeds in a row, one for the rook, one for the crow, one to die, and one to grow."

"Four seeds in a row, one for the rook, one for the crow, one will wither and one will grow."

"One for the blackbird, one for the crow, one for the cutworm, and one to grow."

"One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow."

"One for the wind and one for the crow, one to die and one to grow."

...and so many more one could write a book of nothing but these rhymes.

Anyway...that has little to do with this post.

The season to sow is long past. Sometimes I feel like I went to sleep sometime in April and woke up and it was the end of October.

 

Somehow there is less than one week until Halloween.

I've not gotten a fraction of the things done that I had hoped to (including blogposts), but I have gotten some of my Halloween up and a few (small) projects crossed off my list. 

Wow...have I veered off topic. 

Back to "One for the Crow"....

In addition to an old and prolific gardening rhyme, it's the name of this design by With Thy Needle & Thread.

I stitched these designs several years ago but was disappointed in the linen I used. It was the called-for 40 ct "Legacy" from Picture this Plus," but my pieces did not look like the model photos. 

I distressed the linen a bit after I completed the stitching, but they still were pale and sickly.  (These photos make them look closer to the models but they aren't really.)

However, after extended stays at both the Isle of Misfits and Castaways and The Isle of the Unfinished, they finally made it into these little pinkeeps.

Two littles off the list....

Now back to my other distractions.

Blizzards, Bindings, and Birthdays

 

Another week three days, another blizzard in Nod.

The 8" of snow we received last week (Wednesday) had just begun to properly melt...and then yesterday happened.

Another 8+" of s**w.

For some reason, snow is prettier in December.

That's all I have to say about that.

On to binding....

A few weeks ago, Saundra (of Woodland Junction fame) and I had virtual, long-distance, "dates" for an hour each day dedicated to binding our rugs.  

Saundra, of course, finished hers and I, well...didn't.

I attempted to work on mine again during yesterday's storm, but I've come to the conclusion that I have a definite handicap.

Oh well...I'm sure there'll be another blizzard and another chance to bind.

The bright spot in the whiteness (and the most-welcome distraction to binding) is little Miss Mia. 

She celebrated her second birthday this month with all things kitty.

She has grown so much in one short year but one thing that hasn't changed is her now-trademark "skunk eye."

{Mia at one on the right and at two on the left}

Some things are irrefutably genetic.

Hope your blizzards are few and far between....

What was Beneath the Cat

Happy New Year??

EEEK...How can it be almost 3 weeks since my last post?

Once again, I have so little to show for those 3 weeks.

No projects have been finished, none of the things that should have been done have been done, and Christmas is still up. 😬

(And, no, I'm NOT off having fun.)

In my defense, there have been several drains on my time.  

I've been switched from the injections (which I was giving to myself) to infusions, (which have to be done by IV). The hospital clinic where I have them done is 45 minutes from me and the actual process ends up taking 4+ hours.

Eventually, they will be less frequent but, for now, the loading doses are a big commitment.

There are also the oral surgeon appointments, and they are almost an hour away and seem never-ending.  Another (painful) one is coming up on Monday.

And something is always requiring repair.  The latest is my furnace...AGAIN!

Despite the annual routine maintenance/inspection I have done, and despite whatever part was replaced last year at the coldest part of the winter, it stopped working a week ago Friday.

I had to have an emergency technician come out and he replaced the part with a temporary one, but it does not work like it is supposed to.

Like many of you, I turn my heat down at night...It was never a problem getting it to warm back up in the morning and it was, in fact, on an automatic schedule.

Now I have to remember to manually turn it up and down and it can take an entire day and not reach the temperature to which it is set. First world problem I know and I am, truly, grateful that I have heat at all.

They are coming back with the new part on Tuesday, and I am just hoping that it actually fixes the problem.

Of course, it always happens when it's the coldest. This is today's advisory:

Anyway.

Back to the purpose of this post:

I promised that the next time I posted I would post the Stag Rug I completed but couldn't show before because Liza decided it was her new digs.

It is not bound (ha! silly you for even thinking it might be) but the hooking is as done as I'm getting it. 

I think.

I had envisioned a warmer background and a less "busy" deer but neither of those things happened.

It was difficult to photograph, but you get the gist. 

It measures approximately 33" x 24" and was hooked in a 9.0 cut.

The design is by Lori Rippey ("Homespun Prims by Lori").

I'm undecided as to what's next. I started a little cross stitch piece until I decide - but it's not holding my attention. 

I think what I need to do is commit to binding at least one of my rugs before starting a new, larger, project.

Baking/cooking is also at a lull.

I played with tweaking my recipe for "Tuscan coffee cake."

The original recipe, though called a "coffee cake," is actually more bread-like than cake-like. (And I'm not talking bread-like as in banana bread, etc. I'm talking a full-blown yeasted bread.)

I really did like it (how can you go wrong with dates, cranberries and toasted walnuts??) but decided to change it up and make a more truly cake-like version.

I can't decide.  I like them both.

And since this post is a bit on the dour side, I'll leave you with these photos of my grandkitty, Emmy. (Yes, she looks a lot like my Liza Bean - they are half sisters.)

For some reason, this just cracked me up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Stay safe and warm.

Happy Christmastide

Not only two posts within a week of each other, but three posts in a month.

Shocking, I know.

It is, however, Christmastide after all .... something that is rarely observed in recent decades and all but forgotten.

Recent generations rush to get Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving and, in many cases, rush to pack them up the day after Christmas.

But, in my world, Christmas Day is just the beginning...the beginning of Christmastide.

Christmastide (also known as Christide or Twelvetide) is the 12-day period beginning December 25th and ending January 5th.  (Start singing - in your head please - The Twelve Days of Christmas.) 

While it is, technically, a season of the liturgical year in most Christian churches, it was also, historically, a period of hospitality and celebration with Christmas Day being Day One.

There were religious services, yes, but it was also a secular matter as well with parties and feasts, gift-giving and general merry-making.

Perhaps due to my father's strong evangelical Lutheran background, our family followed the old ways growing up.

Our tree was not put up until Christmas Eve (or Christmas "Adam" - the day before Christmas Eve) and gifts were opened on Christmas Eve after the evening Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Day was a morning church service and then a more formal dinner.

And then...then the round robins began.

We would visit my great grandmother and great aunts on my father's side, then all the aunts and uncles on my mother's side, and a few close family friends - and they, in turn, would come to visit us. 

Each day saw a new visit or new visitors.

Those days are long gone, but I still think of Christmas as a season rather than a day and I (stubbornly) refuse to give in to the notion that Christmas is over and done with on the 25th. 

My decorations and lights will stay up for several weeks yet and, yes, on occasion, I will listen to Christmas music or indulge in a favorite Christmas movie.

I also continue with a few Christmas projects.

This year, I finally pinned and laced "Merry Olde Christmas," a design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm which I stitched two years ago.

I finished it in this metal ornament frame because it was on hand.

Jury's still out on whether it will stay there but, for now, I'm calling it done.

I also stitched and finished a new seasonal insert for my hanging clock:

This is called "November Ornament" (I think?) and is a free design from Birgit Tolman of The Wishing Thorn.

I had wanted to do a Santa for it but haven't settled on a design that will work well with the dimensions of the clock case.

I also finished hooking my Stag rug - a pattern by Lori Rippey of Primitives by Lori.

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to finish hooking it, and I am not thrilled with my color plan/wool choices.  I suspect Mummy D. was expecting a photo of the completely finished rug but it has been commandeered by Liza Bean and has not even made it through the steaming process.

I also treated myself to a Christmas read.

This book was outside of my typical genres but a fellow blogger (who no longer blogs unfortunately) recommended it to me. 

Her recommendation turned out to be a beautiful gift.

Ms. Silva imaginatively recreates the inspiration behind Dickens' beloved A Christmas Carol.  Although fiction, Silva seems to channel Dickens himself and uncannily recreates 19th-century London and the streets Dickens perambulated during the six-week period of the writing of his famous tale. (Well, not that I would actually know what 19th-century London or the streets of London looked like but, in my head I think I do. 😉).

Whimsical and charming - and utterly believable...I definitely recommend for a heart-warming holiday read.

And, finally, for "Sissy"...because you asked.

I hope 2025 brings renewal, sees your hopes fulfilled, and makes your heart glad.

Monday in Nod

 The current view outside my window invites a bleakness of spirit.

Another 10+" of snow fell overnight and it is snowing still.

I know it won't stay long, yet that is of little comfort as it seems that any snow this time of year, no matter how soon it melts, is more wearisome than during winter proper.

The cold reaches deeper, the wind bites harder and, at least for some, sleep beckons more insistently.

{Liza Bean}

Since I had no intentions of venturing out, I baked a boule of artisan sourdough wheat bread.

Thinking it's going to be another soup night.

While the bread was baking, I pulled the last stitches in my Easter stitch.  This is He Is Risen - a design by Jenny Hoffman (Country Rustic Primitives). 

 

This evening I will return to my hooking on "Early Bird" by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm.

(Sorry for the crappy photo...I was too lazy to take it off my frame to photograph...some Mondays are like that.)

And then, later, of course, I will lose some hours with a book.  This is one I just finished:

I had previously read and posted about Ms. Setterfield's "Once Upon a River" (you can check that out here) and loved it, so I had to read another of her books.

I was equally enthralled.  

It's hard to condense this rich book in a few sentences, other than to say it is a haunting story, beautifully and magically written.

It begins with a young William Bellman shooting a rook with his slingshot...and the turns his life takes after.

A little bit of Dickens...a little bit of Poe...a lot of wonderful.

And, finally, a Mia update for those of you who inquired.

Mia came home from the NICU sooner than anyone anticipated.

Unfortunately, however, after a few days at home, she was struggling to breathe and had stopped eating, so ended up in the ER and a brief stint back in the NICU.

She is once again home and, once again, doing well. Thanks to everyone who prayed, and who wished her well.

And that's a Monday in Nod.