Streets, Shamrocks, DNA

Day 28: If Mousie is amazed, so am I in how rapidly her quilt is progressing. That's not to say I'll have it done in anything under a year, but I have completed the hand-stitching of 15 of the 24 "streets" which includes shadow-quilting and a twisted-ribbon design running the length of each one (a pattern I refer to as "DNA" because it's a half-double helix). I've also filled in the nine shamrocks at the intersections and some additional work near the broad borders. I am not devoting myself exclusively to this project, no. In fact, today I've been hard at work on machine-finishing the cathedral window kitty quilt, and in the evening when I feel my back needs a break, I'm hand-stitching orange-themed Dresden Plates to dark brown broadcloth (I'm going to hate myself when it comes time to quilt that). But...and here's the important part of today's post...if schedules can be tweaked to coincide, my two sisters-of-the-heart are planning to come out to the Pacific Northwest for a quilting bee some time in the coming months. This quilt is going to have quite the historic lineage!

Little Things

Day 75: Sometimes little things pack the wallop. I've mentioned the "12 Days of Christmas" gift exchange I share with two east-coast friends. One #12 gift (Christmas morning) was a very small, light box from Mousie, aka Alison. My initial reaction of "What the...?" lasted no longer than it took to think it. Then I burst out laughing, surprised and deeply moved by the significance of a tiny metal pea pod holding three peas, symbols of three sisters-of-the-heart who, by some bizarre twist of fate, happened to have been born miles apart and to different parents. It took me a while to figure out where I wanted to put it so that it could remind me of my friends every day, and I finally settled on entrusting it to a rustic raven, a wood-carving which sits atop my desk with other representations of corvids. Raven is often represented carrying a star in his beak in classic Americana, perhaps a spin-off from the native peoples' legends which say he stole a piece of the sun to bring light and fire to the Earth. The love my "sisters" and I share certainly brightens my day and warms my heart!

Twelve Days, Two Friends

Day 65: Although I generally don't have much good to say about the internet, if it hadn't been for computer technology, I might never have met the two women who are my "sisters of the heart." We became acquainted through a forum about ten years ago, a friendship which evolved into in-person visits and fun adventures on both sides of the country. With them, I share a "Twelve Days of Christmas" tradition of gift-giving, gathering or making twelve presents throughout the year which are then opened in numerical order on the eleven days preceding Christmas, winding up on Christmas Day with a final gift. We "wrap" gifts in cloth bags whenever possible, tie them shut with real ribbons and sometimes add tags which can also be recycled the following year. It makes so much more sense than throwing away piles of paper which has only seen one use.