Been to Hawaii and Oregon and didn't blog... hmmm...

I ended up just putting photos on my Instagram and in FB for these trips. Blogging from my phone was too awkward (small) ... there must be an easier way.
So here are a few of my favorite photos from Hawaii...

I do want to find a way since I am going to Japan in September and would like it to be easy to post photos from there.

Garden flowers and a test from my phone...

Getting ready for a couple of weeks in Hawaii and thought I might post some photos from there on my blog so testing how to do it from my phone again. Had to edit from the tablet cause I couldn't figure out how to add info from the phone. Gotta relearn how to blog while I travel!

A couple of photos from my garden as I test it out again.

Irises blooming after Andy moved them away from the roses. 

A hidden strawberry in one of my forgotten containers.

An Alton Brown sort of day...

Ok let's face it, we are both Alton Brown's Good Eats junkies! We love the shows, sad that it is no longer being made but thank goodness for reruns! So yesterday it was a little rainy and just the right weather to bring out one of my Christmas presents ...

I gave Andy the book and salt cellar (just like AB uses of course) and he gave me the burr coffee grinder and the popovers tray.

So can you guess which one I used?

Yep! Made popovers! First time in ages!! And maybe the first time with a "proper" popover baking tray!  Used the AB recipe and they turned out great!

I haven't used the burr grinder yet because I was not out of coffee last week, but now I almost am. We got some good beans (Brazilian) from Chocolate Fish the other day, where I might add, Andy had the best mocha he said he has ever had! So I will test out the grinder in a day or two.

End of 2016 and the word of the year for 2017...

For many 2016 was not a good year because of events that happened externally. With all the negative posts online (by others) about this tumultuous year, I decided to see what had been good about it for me and attempt to find a smooth way to transition into the New Year.

What I did that I am happy about in 2016:

• We made a little progress in the house: living room bookshelves, second fridge, new bed. I also purged some of the clothes I don't wear (although I think I still have a lot of clothes, probably need to do it again next year). I did more with the bookshelves, purging a lot of my old books that do not serve me anymore and donating them to the library for the Friends of the Library sales. 
• I was fairly steady in my yoga practice this year, getting more consistent as the year wore on.
• Rearranged my sewing room to make it more efficient for me for when I eventually sew more (see below LOL).
• Stayed in relative good health for the year. I seem to have weathered a health situation that may get worse in the future but for now, I am healthy. 
• I was more aware of staying positive and being grateful for situations and things. For example, when our old washing machine died as I started a load, I was grateful that I had the means to just go out and get a new one. And I think what helps me is when I share my gratitude about things, either out loud or online (here or FB mostly).

What could still use improvement from 2016: (just noticing, not getting down on myself cause we all know how that doesn't work!)

• Well I do still have a mountain of fabric that I could have been sewing on. Luckily fabric doesn't spoil and I can carry that over to 2017.
• There is still a ton more work to do in the house to make it comfy and so that I can feel like it is a home to be able to invite friends over to. I think my immediate goals now that the bedroom stuff is redone has to be the living room. We both still have a lot of stuff to go through. 
• I got lazy about my better eating habits towards the end part of 2016 and ate more breads and sugar sweets than I might have liked. That too is easily fixed in the new year.
• My walking plan sort of petered out. Time to get that started up again for 2017. Where IS that Fitbit I wonder?
• Not as many blog posts happened last year as I had intended. I want to use this blog in the coming year to log some of my own personal growth and achievements. I saw a blog post once with the title something like "What if you write a blog and no one reads it?" Well, for me, that is just fine. I am writing for myself and if someone else happens to read it along the way, all the better. 
• I sort of forgot my word for the year for 2016 (BE) and my CDF's (core desired feelings). Around November I remembered them again and decided I would find a way in the new year to integrate them more into my life on a consistent basis.

So this brings me to what my word for 2017 will be. Last post I wrote of some suggestions and why I might choose them. I decided as much as I did want to look outward for many things this coming year (volunteering or making things for donations), I still needed to be a bit introspective as well... so the word I chose is:

                               COMPASSION

Compassion is a great word for what I have been feeling. I can look outward and help others/be compassionate towards others, and yet I can still show compassion for myself and make the things I am working on for myself happen without being mean or negative towards myself.

Intentions, not resolutions. I stopped making New Year's Resolutions years ago. Instead I went towards what my Intentions for the new year would be. Then I stumbled upon the Core Desired Feelings and that resonated with me even more.

Core Desired Feelings. According to Danielle LaPorte, the core desired feelings (CDFs) are how you want to feel in these 5 categories:  Livelihood & Lifestyle, Creativity & Learning, Body & Wellness, Relationships & Society, and Essence & Spirituality.

As for my CDF's, I kept a few from last year and changed some. Mine for 2017 are:

• uncluttered
• open
• mindful (intentional)
• helpful
• connected

Today I will be working my way into the new year with a 2 hour yin yoga session at Shala Yoga. I still attend It's All Yoga and consider it to be my "home" studio, but I am finding some other teachers in other studios as well who lead classes in the slow, more introspective styles of yoga that I enjoy. For a while I fought going to any other studio, wondering if it was disloyal or whatever, then after some thought realized that it was just fine. Finding classes that work for me in my yogic pursuits are a good thing. And once I opened to that thinking, I think I was more accepting to finding my own yoga path and helping myself grow in whatever ways served me.

Thinking about 2017...

Like so many people I chose a word for the year. This word is my focus for things I want to do or change in the year. This is my fifth year doing this and it is still a work in progress for me.

My first word in 2013 was RELEASE, written about HERE. 

The next year I chose BREATHE, noted HERE.

My 2015 word was OPEN, which I wrote about HERE.

Last year I chose BE, explained HERE.

It has been interesting to me how one word has led to the next. And it is no different for my new word. I have been thinking long and hard about what sort of word I want to "guide" me for the coming year. Several factors came to mind when deciding what kind of word to choose:  

1. I have now been retired since June 1, 2014. That is 2 and a half years already! I'd be hard pressed to be able to tell you where all that time went! What am I doing with my time? What more can I do? What can I do to be of help to someone?
2. The last 4 words have been about me, looking inward, helping myself. There is nothing wrong with that. A lot of people use these yearly words to help themselves. But it has been in my mind that this time I want to look outward, that my own personal growth and well being also comes from helping other people. 
3. I wanted to find a word that would help me get out in the community and be more active in a more social way. As I get older I am more and more aware of the problems some old people have with dealing with the world so maybe I can find something to do/volunteer at that would be of help.

So, I am still looking for the right word. I am making a big list and will continue to mull over them until one just waves and tells me it is my right word.  Here are some of the words I am thinking about. 

Words so far:  outward, contribute, help, support, change, give, service, expand, unite, connect, share, offer, return, expand, generosity, kindness, compassion, unselfishness, benevolence, altruism, community.

Please feel free to add any others if you happen to think of one!

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On....

Someone (sorry not sure of original source) posted this on Facebook and it seemed to sum up what I was thinking today...

The Journey

Another Mary Oliver poem has popped into my life several times in the last weeks ...

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Rain...

It has been raining softly here for the last few days, a little in the morning, more vigorously at night... today, Sunday, there has been a gentle rain all morning.  And man oh man my sinuses are happy for it! You see, I have those sinuses that clog up when there is a hint of low pressure and until it actually is released (rains), I have headaches and what I call "Charlie Brown head" (swollen and feels too large for my body). Today I am fine, no more headache and I can breathe! I love the rain!

Back from Oregon...

August zoomed by as did September. Then at the end of September into October I went back to Oregon. Lots of quilt shows, quilt shops, and bits of nature later... I am now home, sorting through hundreds of photos and wondering what I want to do with this blog... again!

And practicing yoga, and putting fabrics away, planning clothes and quilt projects, catching up with the cats...

Ice Dyeing...

Recently I have become a fan of the mottled look of ice dyed cloth so I wanted to try it. Dharma Trading Co (where I got my procion dyes) has a tutorial HERE.

So last weekend when I was visiting my friend Leslie we did some ice dyeing.

It amazed me that even when it was 103 degrees outside the ice lingered.

A very bright t-shirt (still electric after washing).
Interesting note: the white you see are the threads which obviously were not cotton. Procion dyes do not dye synthetics.

 A piece of fabric also very bright. Perfect for a burst of color on a quilt piece! Thanks Leslie for holding it up!

And the blue-greenish ones I took out early and rinsed out to get some more or less pastels. Will be great as blendables on a quilt piece!

All in all the ice dyeing was so much fun I want to do it again! I think I will do it in a smaller scale though, maybe a small tub at a time since I do not have a lot of work room outside. I could use some blues into turquoise ranges next.

All of this was on plain old cheap muslin. I like the more coarseness of the fabric and the occasional bits of brown or other nubs in it. Plus it is so much cheaper than something like a Kona white PFD (prepared for dyeing). But I also have some of that so I will be trying it in the coming weeks as well.

Recent projects and plans to visit quilt shows...

I haven't made anything yet with the indigo fabrics although I did wear the tshirt to yoga the other day! I need to alter it a little though. It is a women's XL but the neckband is a little tight and it is not very well fitted. I think I will cut around the neck band and then maybe change the sleeves or even cut them off.  But for now, it was fun wearing the indigo tie-dye shirt to class!

So in the Modern Block Party class at Country Sew we did the Uneven Coins Block from the Modern Quilting Bee Block Party book we have been going through. I decided to turn mine on it's side and ended up with a small hanging. I still have the sides to finish.

I am also still working on a piece from the Out of the Box class at Country Sew. I still have a lot of stitching to do!

I decided a while back to try to make travel plans with some sort of event (quilting mostly) in mind. So in late September I am going to go to the NW Quilt Expo in Portland and then when I visit my sister the next week, to the Emerald Valley Quilt Show in Eugene.

My big decision now though is.... do I want to spend the money and go to the big big Tokyo International Quilt Show in January next year? I haven't been back to Japan since 1983 so I am sure it has changed a lot. Part of me wants to keep my old Japanese memories and part of me wants to just go and see what's new and the quilt show. Still thinking about this one!

Indigo...

Well I guess there isn't a better way to get back to my blog than showing some of the results from an indigo vat I made this morning!

I have dyed with indigo many times in the past but this is the first time in many many years. The vat making process is much easier these days if you do a kit, and although it isn't the same as the long slow involved process of days past (which some die-hards, still do -- get it? hehe ).  It is still indigo in my book.

So I started the other day by making up some bundles.

The Indigo Kit and a variety of cottons, tshirt, muslin squares, etc.

More folded, twisted, and otherwise scrunched muslin.

Then put off making the vat until today since this was supposed to be a cooler day (well, ok 89 compared to 90s or 100s).

There are a gazillion instructions for and information on indigo vats so I will not go into it here. I will list a couple of my favorites below or you can just Google it.

The indigo vat before use.

Things look green when they come out before they have oxidized into blue.

 Some of my shibori folds and ties.

 More designs. The white rectangles were made with blocks clamped tightly on the fabric.

A few more results.

I got the indigo dye kit from Dharma Trading Co. HERE is their shibori (Japanese tie dye) info page.

HERE is one of the many Internet references you might enjoy to learn more about shibori.

These colors will be a bit lighter after I wash them which is fine. I was mainly testing out the vat making and how easy (or not) it would be to work in my backyard.  Well and I wanted a few shibori pieces so I could make something. Been sewing a bit lately (more to follow on that).

So once again I have come full circle (hence blog title)... enjoying again some of the crafts I started out with in my 20s. Who knows, maybe now that I am no longer allergic to wool like I was for 40+ years I can get another spinning wheel and loom and really start over!

For now I have just found another thing that gives me joy to do in my retirement years. When did I ever have time to work?

A discovery about myself and yoga...

The other day I went to a vinyasa flow yoga class at another studio that opened near my house, and even though it was geared more for a beginner to vinyasa, I still found it as difficult as I always have. I keep thinking I will get into doing the faster flow yoga but it keeps not happening. A lot of it is the up and down movements, too fast for me now.

Then I went folk dancing again over at the Temple and had whatever a Jewish epiphany might be called: I like my yoga slow and my movement to be dancing. I think I always have and it somehow took a new awakening for me to see it again. I love to dance but do not go do it often enough. I am going to start going to Contra dance and English country dance again too. Since there isn't a NIA teacher in Sacramento these days (which was my dance exercise of choice for a long while) I will get back to folk type dancing.

Post Cards...

Another thing I finally did was get to the post office and found some new mail art in my box. So last weekend I visited my arty friend Leslie and while she did numerous amazing arty things, I got these mail art cards done and ready to go.

The backgrounds were already done and in my pile of "do something with these!" so I added dots and more dots and lines and a couple of quotes from this large print book Leslie had. I need to get over to my library sale book room and find a large print novel like this for cutting out totally random phrases!

I still have a large pile of finished backgrounds to play with. Maybe now that this 6 week long cold and cough is GONE I will be able to find that arty mojo that seems to have taken a hike and get more done!

Hamentaschen and some sewing...

I did these last week but am finally catching up on the blogging side of things... 

Ok they are pretty lopsided but they were still yummy. I love this time of year because the spring makes me think of hamentaschen, the 3 cornered treats that come out around Purim. I haven't made them for a few years because for a while Solo apricot filling had high fructose corn syrup and I don't want to eat that. Now they don't but the formula is changed. It is no longer that thick rich with apricots filling, but more of a gelatinous pie filling. Still it was what I had so I made them. I morphed a couple of recipes from online but mostly went from THIS one but they needed a little more flour and some baking powder.

And not only cooking... I did some sewing!

I took this WASHI dress class at Country Sew and here is the tunic version I made:

I took the class because there were some dressmaking skills in it I wanted to learn/relearn:  shirring, including hand rolling the bobbin with elastic thread, fitting darts (which I hate), and finishing the inside for a more professional look. I used her online sleeve addition too because I didn't like the little sleeve that came with it. I serged most of the seams and understitched the neckline as well as topstitched it. I forgot to serge the sleeves and when I look at it I can see the difference between nicely finished seams and those seams. Learning curve!

Spring is coming...

From a rainy winter we are coming into a lovely Spring...

Apricot blossoms...

Narcissus and daffodils...

Freesias...

 Tulips...

And a view of some of the front yard.

Looks like I have some weeding to do in the coming weeks!

Back from Oregon...

I have been in Oregon... and Blogger did not function well on my tablet so I just didn't worry about it. Back now and going through my photos. I spent a few lovely days on the coast in windy and rainy weather. I loved it! And yes, I bought fabric! More info soon...

Back to quilting and the blog...

It has been a slow start but I am gathering old projects to finish and moving my sewing area into my art room and generally making a mess of things around here! I have started the process of changing where I sew. I was tired of using the eating table for my sewing because a) it is a small table and b) we never could eat at the table unless I cleared it off every night which I didn't...

So my other "art studio" room is undergoing a transformation into more of a sewing room and crap is everywhere! And now I am leaving for 10 days in Oregon and you know what? It will just stay a mess til I get back! Not going to worry about it!

But I did get the table runner I was making for my sister done and I will be giving it to her in a couple of days when I see her. She saw it mid-blocks but hasn't seen it done. And she doesn't get the cat! (That is Phoebe, dutifully watching what I was doing on the bed since I didn't have a long enough table to set it out!).

The back is just the purple fabric.  The surprise is that I got variegated green and purple thread and serged the edges instead of traditionally binding them like a quilt. I thought it was a cool more casual look and I love how it turned out!

A close up of the serging around the edges:

And now I am really jazzed to start some of my other quilting projects when I get back. I found a really cool lap quilt on Pinterest which I want to use as inspiration for my own modern scrappy quilt and then I have a lot of other unfinished projects (UFOs) to get done. My intention is one UFO a month or at least work on one as well as any other newer project. We shall see!

So now I am heading to Oregon, land of incredible fabric stores -- NOT that I need a single morsel of new fabric, but any of my quilting or sewing readers that has never stopped any of us in the past! Hah!

But I am also going to the coast and some other fun stuff so I will post some pix here and blog from my tablet along the way.  Aside from fabric hunting, my sister is having a big birthday bash, I will get to see another cousin later in the trip and who knows, yoga on the beach anyone?

Wild Geese...

Today in yoga class Denice read Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.  This poem has flitted in and out of my life over the years. I first heard it when Jan Haag read it in our creative writing class at Sac City College many years ago. I had taken that class just as an easy way to get some units for my continuing credit for my teaching credential and it turned out to be a key turning point in bringing me back to writing.  Then I heard the poem a other times and most lately a few times in yoga classes at It's All Yoga. Seems a lot of yoga teachers like Mary Oliver poetry.  And again this morning, my first yoga class of the New Year and Denice read it to the class. I figured it was time I posted it so I would have it at my fingertips:

Wild Geese   by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

And HERE is Mary Oliver reading the poem.

Word for the Year... 2016

I had been thinking a lot about my Word for the Year lately... and even chosen one I thought might be good for it (play) and then in yoga class the last day of 2015 another word came to me that has taken a stronger hold in me.... BE.








The more I thought about it the stronger the word became. So many things have been pulling on me lately (who am I now that I am retired, what do I want to do with my life now, how can I make new habits that would make my life more of what I want it to be, etc)... and though all of it a simple breath and the one word just comes though... just BE. The rest will take care of itself.

So along with this came thoughts of what this new year's CDF's (core desired feelings a la Danielle LaPorte) would be. Last year my words were unencumbered, aligned, vibrant, connected, and mindful. I decided to rework a couple of last  year's words and add a couple of new ones. So for this year my core desired feelings are:

UNCLUTTERED: Still working on the unencumbered, decluttering thing and hoping to muster more energy towards it this coming year.
MINDFUL: I liked this one from last year and want to continue feeling it.
PLAYFUL: Incorporating the idea of play, I want this year to be full of movement (yoga, dance) and just more fun play!
COLORFUL: Feeling the pull to get back to art and sewing, wanting to incorporate more color into my life.
GRATEFUL: An extension of working on this in December (thanks mostly to the Facebook Gratitude group) I do feel grateful for so many things in my life. It seems like a good thing to continue recognizing what they are.

So with that I wish anyone who happens to stop by a joyous and wonderful 2016! Thank you for being a part of this chapter in my life.

Happy New Year!

I know I post this poem often but it is still my favorite for starting a New Year...

For a New Beginning

by John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Potatoes...

I love potatoes. It thrills me to think that I can go out into my yard and pick my own. In my fantasy yard I would have rows and rows or barrels and barrels of little yummy taters. Considering that organic yukon gold or red potatoes are anywhere from $1.50 up to $3.00 or more a pound, it makes sense. 

In my real world however, my harvests are pretty tiny. But this was just an experiment. In September I took a few old yukon golds that had sprouted and were destined to be thrown away and chucked them into an empty planter barrel. Tossed some soil on them and as they grew, kept adding more soil and straw. Then I forgot about them. And yesterday morning when I went out to check the lemon tree I found the barrel. All the plants had died down so I figured I should check for potatoes. And I found these... not much but it did tell me they do grow in fall and into winter here. Like I said, an experiment. And I am sure they will be delicious steamed with some butter and dill.

I will try again in the Spring... 

Sunny Christmas morning...

After a few days of much needed rain, Christmas opens with a sunny sky and a lot of birds! I heard some hummingbirds fighting outside my window so went out to investigate. Apparently they all wanted to feed at the feeders, which of course was an impossible thing to photograph but I did manage to get one hiding in the shadows.

This is the orange tree they like to hang out in as it is right near 2 feeders. I am glad to see they are still around. I was wondering where they had gone when I didn't see them for a couple of weeks. Guess they hide out from the rain just like we do! This year the oranges actually taste good too! Goes to show what enough water and nutrients will do!

So out in the back my lemon tree is starting to show ripe lemons. Glad there are still a lot of them. A lot of the branches had to come down earlier so Andy could get the roofing materials in place for the carport roof that he re-roofed right before the rains came. Yay Andy!

And I am trying again for a small winter garden of greens. Hoping the rats stay away this time... some kale and lettuces are starting up again.

And I noticed my potatoes container had all died back so later today I will empty it out and see if I got any late potatoes.  Time to put some energy back into the garden!