Category Archives: small quilts

Cloth, feathers, rainbows

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Mindless sewing is sometimes a good thing. That small rectangle (upper left, featuring a threadcrumb shop moon) is purely decorative and I don’t mind.

Do you see that hummingbird?

Yesterday, while standing under Billy’s ficus tree to take this picture, a peregrine falcon burst out of the branches not five feet above my head. Wow. I’d been looking for it. In years past, it’s visited the edge of the hot tub and waded in the overflow.

Today we’re headed to a huge flea market near Hollywood and then maybe over to Griffith Park.

“More Americans are afraid of running out of money than they are of dying.” Just heard on Jacob Soboroff’s new morning show. This weekend promises to be a vulgar horror show. But! Over on Threads, I’ve saved lots of reels of New Yorkers celebrating the Knicks’ win and lots of reels of the joyful, rowdy Tartan Army invading Boston. Necessary cheer.

One stitch at a time

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The advice to “take one stitch at a time” is comparable to the advice to “take one step at a time,” but when you’re stitching a little scene with houses, windows, and trees, other metaphors spring to mind. 

Such as: oh look, I’ve just stitched a shelter into place. Before, it was merely pinned to the surface, but now it is secure. 

A secure shelter.

Oh look! I’m connecting the foreground to the background, which is to say, the land to the sky. Integration. The power in that. 

My oh my! I’m flying with my needle through the sky! There will be a place for the moon tonight, the moon who is now and always has been, my friend. 

October arrives

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The week slid past. Some sun. MORE RAIN. More jackhammering (including right now). K “bricked his phone” (don’t ask) and I continued to work on a number of small village quilts and the Barn Storm (below).

One FB friend called it “Cabin on a Lake.” I can see that, but to me it is a barn in a field.

I didn’t like the Moon Face in this one (which was unintentional), so I added some stripes to hide.

Face was too goofy

There was also turkey soup with kale and a walk around Crystal Lake.

Hazel (handstories) boat with books

Dog walk and pin boards

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There are a lot of words I could say. Like it’s 70 degrees.


Like: I resisted taking a book from this Free Library kiosk. Ta-da! (Don’t be impressed — it was mostly full of crap).


Like: the light is decidedly spring-like today. Or, I’m worried about one of my kids again. Or, my sister has inexplicably stopped ripping my head off and handing it to me (my theory? She’s a walk-in now).

Or: it’s crazy to hand quilt a blanket I won’t be able to charge much for and anything I DO charge will probably keep it from selling. Or: how good deadlines are but how loathsome selling is.

But! I’ve got to save most of the words for those other pages. Which are coming. Which continue to draw me in. Which I cannot wait to be able to share with you all.

I swore

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I swore an oath, I mean. To uphold the Constitution and so on in service of my duties as a Notary Public. This is the sort of formality that when practicing law seemed a quaint inconvenience but this morning (after being a stay at home mom for a long time (and now a stay at home whatever)), seemed a little momentous.

The raised right hand. Proof of identity. Presentation of the letter of appointment.

After swearing the oaths, I signed the big ledger book. All wrong. Oh dear. The beautiful thick pages with tri-color lines marred by my inability to follow directions. I was halfway done, when I noticed the pen tied to the counter, clearly meant to service the signees. Appalled, I asked, “Is this supposed to be in black ink?” Oops. And then I scribed today’s date in the box meant for the commission’s start date. Scribble. Scribble. “I’m so sorry,” I said to the nice man behind the counter (a counter, which, by the way came up to my collar bones and might’ve had something to do with an impaired performance) (nice try, Dee). “Your beautiful pages. Your lovely book. I’m so sorry.” I got the sense that the clerk didn’t give a shit about the book but appreciated my forlorn apology.

K drove me in and out. What a guy! I had three months to get this done and left it to very nearly to the last minute.

Other news: I registered (correctly, as it turns out) for Newton Open Studios yesterday. It takes place the first weekend in April. I’ve participated five times in this city-wide event, but it’s been a while. I have so much finished work! So much almost-finished work. As long as I put the writing first, I’m good. Actually — excited!