Quilters 911

Quilters 911....asking for your input.  But first you need the background, then the question.  You see, my mother gave me this quilt top.  She "thinks" my grandmother made it, but maybe it was my great-grandmother, and she's not sure which side of the family.  But it was someone I am related to.......she thinks. Keep in mind this was in the midst of clearing her home before she went into assisted living, she has dementia.

The top is hand pieced. Pretty cool, eh?  A quilting friend initially thought the pattern was DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS but then I learned it's THOUSAND PYRAMIDS.  I'm thinking I should make a quilt sandwich and hand quilt it, get the thing finished. What do you think??  So that's the first question.

Now take a good look at the top.  It resembles Tennessee or Arkansas, sort of, only upside down. Notice the right side follows the pyramid angle instead of being squared.  It's a little irregular on the left too, but not as bad. I think Grammy was.....well....sipping some hard stuff while she pieced.  Go Grammy!  None of this would be a problem except her borders follow the angle of the pyramids.

So the 911 is this......do I remove all her THREE HAND stitched borders, then square the entire top up, then replace the borders?  Or....do I leave it as is, finish with hand quilting and make a wonderful quilt label that explains all this, and about Grammy's suspected afternoon sipping?  I must admit I'm leaning like the border, to leave it as is. This will never make it to a museum, and the story will add some humor.   So what do you think??

Quilters, start your engines!

I mean 'start your sewing machines'!  Yes, I watched the Indianapolis 500 last weekend on and off.  I was rooting for Helio since he was a Dancing with the Stars alumni, and the only one I knew.  But I digress......

A few days ago I asked some of my quilting pals what their BUCKET LIST QUILT PROJECT would be.  You know, that one elusive quilt you'd like to complete before......well, you know, before the featherweight is silent and your needles and thread are covered with dust.  It would be your crowning quilt achievement. The idea has been percolating in the inspiration folder in your mind for awhile likely. Perhaps you've not started because it's a daunting project.  Or you have too many other UFOs in queue.  Once finished, it will be that one quilt you'd grab if you had to get out of your house fast, say for a fire or tornado. 

One by one they began to reply, sharing details, some with pictures saved for inspiration.  One common theme began to emerge.....these were not for the faint of heart.  These quilts were going to take time and financial investment.  Most are steeped in a rich historical foundation from the mid 1800's era.  What a great way to honor our quilting ancestors by recreating their designs today!

What ever our skill level or how complicated these are, the next question is 'when?'.  We are not getting any younger and these will take a lot more time so I'm posing this challenge.........lets get started, today.  Just commit to it. Move it from the back burner to the front, drag it out of the proverbial bottom of the fabric stash and get started.  Gradually and incrementally we will get them done, but only if we start.  We can be accountability partners to keep each other moving forward. 

I added your names and the quilt you have in your mind to the project list on the right.  Periodically I'll check in to see if we started, and how we're coming.  Or you can let me know too.  It will be fun to see our progress.....me included!! 

As a jumping off point, my friend Sally shared this hand appliqued Christmas quilt, a block of the month by Pearl Pereira. Sally said this was "good practice" before she starts a Baltimore Album quilt.  What? ......if this is her practice quilt, I can't wait to see the real Baltimore Album!  Go Sally!!!!!!

Maya Angelou and HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT

Today came with sad news that a most creative and incredible woman has passed away….. MAYA ANGELOU, at 86.  She did it all, poetic command, story-telling, actress, civil rights activist.  She spoke 6 languages.  She was abandoned by her parents, and sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend. She became homeless and a teen mother.  She didn’t speak for 5 years.  Her writing I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS speaks to racism in stark language.  An incredible rich life.  

I don’t believe Maya quilted.  But my vivid imagination allows me to think about the two of us sitting down over a glass of fresh brewed iced tea with a spritz of lemon, and a dash of simple syrup to make it officially ‘sweet tea’, with quilts stretched over our laps.  Thick-rimmed magnifying glasses hang near the ends of our noses, needed to complete the tiniest of stitches.  And we would chat.  Or Maya would chat and I’d listen.  I’d hang on her every word, thought, picking up every scrap of wisdom I could.  We’ve lost a treasure with her passing.

I’m not sure how many acting roles she had, but one scene is in my top 5 favorite movie scenes of all time.  Here's an excerpt from the 1995 movie “How to make an American Quilt”

In the opening scene, the quilt bee is gathered for their weekly get together, everyone welcomes Finn home for the summer to work on her ‘3^rd’ thesis, settling in to work on their quilts.

Anna (called the master quilter, played by Maya Angelou in a soft matronly voice) speaking to Finn:

“The challenge with a quilt like this is that each of the blocks are made by a different hand so I have to bring these different squares together in a balanced and harmonious design.  First we have to find a theme, and for this particular quilt the theme is ‘where love resides’”.

Finn (played by Winona Ryder in an attentive and curious voice)

 “So…what you are saying is that by harmonizing all these different elements you’re kind of creating a continuity in the piece’.

Anna (sounding a bit stern)

 “No, what I’m saying is I don’t want to end up with some damn ugly quilt.”

The bee breaks into laughter…..

May all your round robin and group quilts be balanced and harmonious given all the different hands that constructed the blocks.

RUNNING IN CIRCLES

I'm wondering what quilting style I am, modern or traditional.  I feel like I'm all over the map because I travel in both categories..  But are there certain elements that continue to creep into my designs regardless of style??? Am I in an aesthetic quandary because I love both?? Is there any commonality or a central theme?  I'm on a quest to find out.

My profile indicates I live in two eras......colonial and modern, yesterday and future. Our home leans  colonial/folk art/primitive and certainly hand crafted.  My studio is lighter, more modern. Colonial interiors are steeped in history.  You don't need to change your look with every fleeting design or color trend.....seriously, you can't rewrite design history. Although I love my antiques, perhaps they are holding me back.  Ideally, I would separate my studio from my house, with it's own entrance away from duties and responsibilities leaving me a clean white canvas to work in.  I would make it a nice warm white, Benjamin Moore Simply White to be exact.  With lots of color correct daylight tracks.  And polyurethane cement floors for easy clean up.  Oh, I would love that!  If my work space was white and modern instead of cozy warm and historical, would my influence shift?  

My surroundings affect my inspiration and creativity.  So am I modern at my core, or historically colonial?  Is there another aspect that connects both?  I gathered a group of quilts I finished over the past decade and found one thing that resurfaces over and over again, old or new......

Watermelon - a small art quilt painted on stabilizer and overlay of mesh and Lutrador, with seed beads.

Flowers in the Field - a modern take on the traditional Dresden Plate design, circular motion.  I fussy cut each of the wedges from the same border fabric to achieve completely different plates, a modified a stack and whack technique.  The plates were then hand appliqued.

Happy Mothers Day - round elements again done in brightly colored batik Dresden plate style for my mom.  Again, all hand applique.  Mom loves purple....me, not so much.

Losing my Mother - an abstract art quilt designed as a challenge from an art group I belong to.  The theme was our mother.  My mother is 94, still alive, but suffers from dementia.  The circles depict her 

youthful brightness and how life with dementia shifted into darkness. 

Finding Their Way - a rainbow colored circular Mariners Compass design honoring the many GLBT children that find themselves navigating an often hostile and misunderstanding public. 

Running in Circles - wow....where do I start?  My bucket list included a Nancy Crow workshop which I attended December 2012.  Each student completed 4-40" squares with similar circular motifs. Each "block" was cut by hand with a 60mm rotary cutter, no templates or rulers!!!  Oy!!  BUT....what was I going to do with an 80" square modern bed quilt?? I decided to reconfigure one blocks, which follows. The other three are in process, or rather inspiration pending. I machine quilted each space with matching threads.....which equates to a lot of thread changes!!! I need to plug her 
workshops.....the most intense, hardworking and well worth it workshop I've attended, but not for the faint of heart.  HIGHLY recommended!!!!

Oodles of Spools - a wool applique rather than a quilt, but definitely following the circular theme.

Wreath of Laurel - a colonial red and green reproduction pattern, again with a strong circular movement.

So....the circuluar movement theme certainly carries through my work whether modern or historical.  Each circular element evokes movement, and yet I'm still not sure which style I identify with most.  But one thing I know for certain.  I LOVE COLOR, bright and contrasting.  Nothing pastel or light for this artist. 

CALLING ALL COLORS...........

"Color is my day long obsession, joy, and torment."  Claude Monet

The other day someone asked me to describe ‘my colors’, or which colors are my favorites.  Geez, that should be easy enough, right?  Well, not so fast.  I love all shades of blue, and of course reds, and certainly yellows and gold, and don’t forget greens and browns, but then I don’t mind purples either even though they may be my least favorite.  And anyone that knows my wardrobe knows I love black.  I mean you can’t have too many pair of black pants. 

Now here’s where I come clean, sort of a confessional.  This is a snippet of my quilting fabrics, or as we quilters call ‘my stash’.  I always found this is an odd phrase.  To me, a stash was something of great value usually money stolen from a poorly supervised bank in an old western movie.  The robbers took the loot, rode off into the hills and stashed it somewhere safe until things died down as they made their getaway.  Okay, so maybe quilting stash makes sense given the ‘high value’ part and I even get the ‘for later’ part.  Just in case I need a color late on a Saturday night when my favorite quilt shop is closed.  Back to color…this is just a portion, there are more in another cupboard.  My fabrics cover the entire color wheel whether bright or muted, regardless of their design, with lots of blacks, whites and neutrals.

I continued thinking.  A nearby quilt rack showcases a bevy of Amish inspired quilts, lots of blacks peppered with a wide array of solids covering the breadth of the color wheel.

My next stop was “Birds of a feather” an original quilt design I developed awhile back.  It 
showcases my obsession for applique, and fun paper piecing with a wide range of brightly colored graphic designs against a black background.  One of my quilt BFF’s Janet did the lovely machine quilting.

As I finished looking around my home for color clues, I thought about which color I could not go a day without my only conclusion was….I love all colors, seriously.  I want my daily world to have all of them.  Naturally I have preferences depending on mood and time of year, but how can you not love all colors?  I can't say I have a favorite....it's like saying you have a favorite child, which we wouldn’t do. I’m very fortunate to surround myself with the richness and beauty of colors, and even more fortunate to have such a wide selection to pick from when auditioning colors for a new quilt.

HERBS, RUNNERS, and LADDERS

Today was a busy day ‘crafting’ things.  To be more specific, I designed and constructed luxury table runners for a client’s shop in Chicago, plus I made herb garden stakes out of old ice tea spoons, and Gary finished making prototype quilt ladders we plan to sell.  Busy hands!  There is something so satisfying about having an idea, gathering up the tools you need then successfully bringing the ideas to fruition.  Not all days are like that, but ideas today went well.

HERB GARDEN STAKES…..not so long ago we shifted to whole foods, meaning natural unprocessed not the store.  Although I’d love a Whole Food in our area, the nearest one is three hours away. Along with cooking with whole foods came fresh herbs in my sun-filled kitchen.  Kind of ironic considering I’m not a green thumb, and in fact can’t keep silk flowers alive. Plants come here to die, not necessarily a quick and pain-free one either. But I digress. I wanted to remove the plant stakes that came with the plants replacing with some cleverly crafted way for others to identify them….okay, for me to until I’m sure I know which is which.  Yes, I can smell.  I just wanted something cutesy, and cheap. After lots of thinking and searching I decided to repurpose some old ice tea spoons, flattening and distressing them.  They turned out so cute.  See for yourself.  Maybe I’ll make a wind chime next!!! 

SKETCHING & SEWING……..Some of you have asked about the table runners I create for my 
Chicago customer.  Basically, they are a full service luxury high-end design business for the entire home, including custom upholstery and window treatments. I take whatever textiles and trims are leftover and design table runners from 48” to 144” long.  Sometimes I have very little to work with and sometimes fabrics are VERY difficult to work with, but that makes it challenging.  Not only does something of value come from this, but it keeps these scraps from the landfill.  Very environmental!  Here’s a sample of today’s labor!

QUILT LADDERS….while I was busy playing herb farmer and sewing runners, Gary finished up his two new prototypes.  He made the one on the far right a long time ago, but we made some enhancements. These are very useful, not just for displaying beautiful quilts, but for showcasing antique textiles, or hanging extra towels in guest rooms.  The ideas are limited only by our imagination.  We’re leaning (no pun intended) towards the design in the middle.

In the end, a satisfying day making things by hand, something out of nothing.

Lavendar French Lilacs!!

There is nothing that says SPRING to me quite like lilacs.  I’m not a fan of the color purple normally, but I love lilacs. I grew up in a late 19^th century Michigan farm house with heirloom lilac bushes that were huge and overgrown.  The fragrance and color display each year are happy memories etched in my mind.

Lilacs are such a breath of fresh air, literally.   I have to admit, each spring I look forward to lilacs  
more than the forsythia and tulips.  As soon as we moved into our home late fall of 1987 I pleaded with my hubby that we needed to plant lilacs before the snow fell so they’d be ready in the spring.  It would take years to grow the bush to that of my childhood, but that’s okay….you have to start somewhere.  To our surprise, the following spring we were showered with a full show of hearty lilacs, but not from the new bush, but a very large existing bush just off our deck.  How could we not see it was a lilac?!? Apparently I wasn’t very good at identifying plant life because I completely missed it during our property search.  I didn’t see purple, so I guess I didn’t care what the green bush was. 

Today, that bush, and the new one we planted are HUGE!!  New shoots come up each year too. Last 
year the flowers were overloaded top to bottom after rebounding from the prior year’s drought and frost.  Sadly, this year’s flowers are sparse, I think from the extremely long, hard winter we had 
followed by a late spring frost.  Even with that against them, there’s still enough so I can open my 
sliding glass door and smell the fragrance wafting thru the house…at least for a short time.  I wish I could capture it and share with you.  Perhaps someday technology will allow.  But for now, I will cut as many bouquets as I can and enjoy them inside and out.  So consider this me bringing you a bouquet of spring for your home too!  I’m sure there is inspiration for a new quilt or a painting in those colors!

Rustic Beer Bread.....crafted by hand.

Several of you requested the recipe for my Rustic Beer Bread posted last week.  What a tease I am, putting the yummy photo out there without the details!  Well, here it is…..

Rustic Beer Bread

Adapted from Sullivan Bakery, NYC

3 C. flour

1 ½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. yeast

3 oz. beer

1 T. white vinegar

7 oz. water

The covered Dutch oven is vital to creating the steam needed to produce a thick crisp rustic exterior and an incredible soft interior like the best bakeries.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  The dough may be craggy and appear somewhat dry.  Set the bowl covered on the counter for 8 hours (min) to 18 hours (max) to activate (1^st rise).  At this point, it will look wet, sticky and giggly.  Next, turn out on a well-floured surface.  Knead 15 times, shaping a round with the rough side up.  Place a large piece of parchment paper in a round skillet so the paper extends above the rim.  You will use the parchment paper to lift and transfer to Dutch oven later.  Spray parchment with Pam.  Place rounded dough rough side up. Cover with saran wrap sprayed with Pam so it doesn’t stick.  Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours (2^nd rise).  30 minutes before 2nd rise is done, place a large cast iron Dutch oven & lid on lower oven rack in a 450-degree oven to preheat.  Meanwhile uncover the dough, slit the top gently and sprinkle flour on top.  Next, 
move hot Dutch oven to stovetop, removing the lid.  Very carefully transfer the parchment paper sling from the skillet to the hot Dutch oven.  Replace cover and put back in oven.  Paper may peak out of the Dutch oven.  Bake 30 minutes covered at 425 degrees, then 20-30 minutes uncovered.  VERY IMPORTANT - Let cool completely, at least 2 hours before cutting.  Enjoy this simple hand crafted loaf of bread!

This weeks quote – heaven resides in our humanity towards each other.

MODERN or TRADITIONAL??

Modern or traditional?  A small group of quilting friends discussed the two styles last night, trying to decide which group each fell into.  Most of my "quilting BFFs" are close in age.  They lean towards the traditional category creating the most incredible treasures worthy of passing down for generations to come.  We only hope those we pass on to treasure them because of the time and care (not to mention the cost) we put into each quilt.  For those not clear how modern and traditional differ, I will work with visuals.

See the difference?  The top one I named "falling off a log", a modern, wonky approach to the traditional and beloved Log Cabin pattern.  The bottom I named "heading home" a very traditional version of the Flying Geese pattern. To confuse you more, the top one is also an art quilt, a third category I'll talk about at a later date.  Yes, that is me, standing on the deck of my favorite spot in the entire world, at Red Point Cove, Swans Island, Maine, during a quilt retreat with my Quilt ‘besties’ September 2011.  Ahhhhh…. nothing like a walk down memory lane to invigorate the soul!

The modern quilt movement seems to draw mostly younger quilters.  I’m mostly thrilled because I want my love of quilting to be passed down to future generations.  But the conflict seems to reside in use.  Practical or show?  Display it on a quilt rack or put it on a bed to be used, dragged around the house, washed and loved… ending up worn and frayed? My quilt friends spend hours and hours planning, cutting, piecing, appliquéing, and hand quilting their works of art.  Sometimes we dare to have it long armed (machine quilted). All this time can make it hard to let go of, like raising a child. During our chat last night, one of us said they can’t bear to see their finished quilts dragged about because they put so much work into it.  So we made it to give away, but not really?  I can relate.

Back to the modern movement......our daughters and daughters-in-law watched us craft these INCREDIBLE fussy quilts.   They couldn't wait to receive them.  Then they weren't allowed to use it.  Perhaps this was when they turned their backs on quilting because it didn't make sense to them.  Sort of like building a house but not letting anyone "live" in it.   Maybe they wanted to pick up a needle, cut into a chunk of beautiful cotton fabric, or scour thru the never-ending list of quilt books and patterns.  In the end, they want to snuggle up on the couch with their kids tucked tightly inside the quilt alongside them. Hmm….our kids are pretty darn smart.

Renowned quilt expert Marianne Fons wrote on her blog:

"Finally, I could not be more enthusiastic about the Modern Quilting movement going on now, and it’s exciting to see my own quilt style changing a bit as I incorporate their new aesthetic. I find as I am getting older, I embrace change more readily than I did in the past. One of the characteristics I love about the Modern quilters is their desire to make quilts that can be used."   USED?  Sigh....  Form over Function???

The modern movement ‘mostly’ consists of bright colors, lots of white, random seams (no perfectly matched points to be inspected by the quilt police of my generation), redesigned 
from traditional patterns, made of fun and happy fabric designs, all made by loving hands using the most efficient tools.  Wow....sign me up!  These new quilters have it figured out. Have fun sewing and use the quilts they make, passing down well-worn  quilts in the end.  

So.....I personally think we can, and in fact should coexist....traditional and modern, side by side.  We can learn from each other, enjoying the quilting we both love. We can enjoy a cup of coffee or tea together, share our lives, needle in hand, technology set aside for a brief moment and......in the long run, pass down our passion for quilting to the next generation.  We can ensure our grandchildren carry the tradition that began with our grandmothers, making quilts to keep them warm at night.  I wonder if my grandmothers were conflicted when we began quilting for show.  Sadly, they can no longer be asked.  But my gut tells me they would be happy to see us share the tradition, and coexist, traditional and modern, side by side.   As Marianne Fons said, be open to change. We owe it to our grandmothers to make room for the modern quilts.  Move over Barbara.......there is a chair just waiting to be filled next to me with a modern quilter.........

Hand crafted Rustic Beer Bread for Mothers Day

Merriam Webster on-line describes CRAFT (noun) as an activity that involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands and a job or activity that requires special skill; skill in planning, making, or executing; an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill such as pottery, carpentry, or sewing.  CRAFTS are objects made by skillful use of the hands.  With this in mind, I feel compelled to honor all mothers for the skillful use of their hands on this Mothers Day.

Many mothers make something out of nothing each and every day when preparing meals with few ingredients.  They instinctively create homes that are comfortable and safe whether using simple natural components or the most luxurious and lavish furnishings.  Now, as a fiercely progressive woman I realize fathers do these same things, but I'll save that for a future day.

So much today is mass produced.  But even in that case, someone had to initially think about what was needed, how it looked, and how to make it.  This is the conceptual or design process.  If I could have one wish today it would be for each of us to look around your home and find something that was crafted.  It shouldn't take long, even a manufactured item.  There was an initial concept sketched on piece of paper.  The concept was then honed to be more refined and produce able.  So even though it was "produced" rather than individually hand crafted, it's foundation was artistically formed.

In a perfect world, the things we use in our daily life would be individually made by skillful hands.  That said, with the world population as it is that would not be practical or affordable.  Dare to dream. But many things can be, and give great satisfaction in what results.  Take a loaf of bread, one of the most basic things in our daily lives.  The vast majority of Americans grab plastic wrapped loaves off store shelves, with little regard to ingredients or nutritional value, or smart marketing used to entice us.  If we did, most of us would stop dead in our tracks.  If I can't pronounce the ingredients, I probably shouldn't be ingesting them.

I've become much more careful about labels and ingredients, striving to simplify and improve our nutrient intake. Of course I want it to look and taste great, which leads me to my rustic beer bread recipe..almost foolproof, with few tools and virtually no kneading.  All you need is flour, salt, yeast, water, vinegar and beer, plus a large bowl to let it activate for 12 hours/overnight, some parchment paper, a large enameled cast iron pan and oven to bake in.  And here's what it looks like when you're finished:

It's lovely, no?  And it smells INCREDIBLE. The hardest part is waiting overnight for the dough to "activate" then waiting for the rise, then to bake, and worst of all......the two hours to cool

completely before cutting into the rich golden crisp exterior unveiling the soft and aromatic interior.  OMG! It's wonderful and fulfilling (and filling), with or without real butter.  And best of all....HAND CRAFTED with simple whole ingredients!!!

It's TULIP TIME!!

After what seemed to most to be the longest never ending and brutal winter in our memories, the calendar says spring.   But no one remembered to tell Mother Nature.  It's been cold, in fact our furnace ran earlier this week.  And just when we thought it wouldn't warm up enough for the tulip bulbs to make a showing....voila!  Finally, the temps reached the seventies, just enough to watch the tulips spring forth in time for the festival, like a slow motion video seemingly overnight.

Thousands of people flock to our city to see miles of tulip lined streets.  In fact over six million bulbs are planted each year for visitors to enjoy the following festival.  Hard to image, but those six million bulbs are planted by hand, by city employees and volunteers alike, and that's just the "city" controlled areas.  Great care goes into planting ample amounts of early, mid and late blooming varieties to enjoy regardless when you come.  Many locals also take great pride in their lush gardens preparing right along side the city.

So this is the time when locals are on our best behavior.......being friendly saying "Welkom" (welcome in Dutch) to all the visitors.  It's also a time when locals try to stay clear of town, avoiding all the congestion and traffic.  There are endless parades, food booths, souvenir and shopping opportunities.  And don't forget our wonderful full size authentic dutch imported windmill called "DeZwaan".  And wooden shoes and dutch costumes representing all the different regions in the Netherlands.

But the most important, the star of our show.....is the tulip.  In all her glory, hundreds of varieties, too many to have a favorite.  And here for such a short time.  Here she is......the queen of the festival herself:

My Very First Post.......

So here it is...my very first post.  It feels like an occasion to open a bottle of bubbly, no? As my profile indicates, we live near the water.  We enjoy quiet seclusion situated 1000 feet off the main road.  Our only child Aaron (aka Micah) lives a short drive away in Chicago.  If I could live anywhere else it would be on the eastern shore of Swans Island, Maine. Many days my heart and soul straddle both locations, as well as eras...modern and colonial, future and yesterday.  I hope I don't confuse you going back and forth between these locations and eras.

I retired at the end of 2013, having devoted the vast majority of my career to the office furniture industry in procurement and surface materials, and finally as an Account Manager for a Canadian textile mill serving the office furniture, healthcare and hospitality industries.  My friends and family describe me as a designer, artist, crafter, quilter, teacher, writer, cook, savvy analytical business minded person deeply concerned about my fellow humans, born in a modern era with a centuries old heart.  My thoughtful times flow from that most conscious state between sleep and awake.

But to the point of this blog.....Perhaps you've noticed (and are concerned like me) that we are losing the art of craft, devaluing work done by hand and labor.  Today is about speed and instant information.  So I'm vexed since I love picking up my iPad researching a topic. To give proper credit to both, this blog will be about learning, where I write the curriculum and syllabus and the measure of success. I hope to put color back in a black and white binary world of speed and technology.  Much of our daily life lacks touch and face to face communication, disconnected, driven by instant gratification. We want the destination without the journey.  I want to honor craft, its processes, analyzing the smallest of details which we make by our hand.  I will touch on music, poetry, art, fiber and quilting, storytelling and good books (I'm a Jane Austen fanatic), travel and great food from recipes using whole foods, all intended to nourish the mind, body and soul with dignity and a sense of humor.  Lastly, I've avoided anything remotely resembling social media FOREVER, at least until now.