Trying to get back to it

      Well the "it" is blog posting. I read all my favs and comment, but I don't seem to have to mental fortitude to write my own. I have taken plenty of photos and get them on the computer, but stall at writing the post. I have a nice list of posts to do on my to do list, but I just stare at it. It is hard for me to write what I do and getting those photos off the camera, named and in the right folders takes longer than it should for me. Too bad I couldn't just take the photos and they would be right there on my hard drive presto!
     Since my last post, Christmas passed and it was days of card making and getting them out. I think the only one that was late was to Maureen in NZ. I did them with watercolor and no tricks, just flat out brush painting.

Rosie, for the second year, inspected all supplies throughly for use

      The card process is in steps. I cut a strip of watercolor paper (Arches 140 CP). First the yellows/oranges in the sky. When dry, the blues/darks of the sky. Then a light tree line. Then the darker tree line. Then the individual trees. Each step has to be totally dry before I paint the next. I get about 7 cards out of each strip. Last, I add tree shadows and white dots of snow (gel pen). After it is all dry, I cut them, mount them on background paper, and glue them to pre-folded cardstock. I glue a verse inside. Then address and stamp them. A long process. I did not take photos of the finished cards, but a few blog friends posted them. If you are just hankering after one of these, I have a few left, just send me your address and eventually, I will send one.
     One of my favorite things is cutting down the Christmas tree which my husband and I still do. Neither of my grown children do. And the grandkids no longer want to go with us, but we go and we love it. The tree farm is a 45 minute ride into the next county, but the scenery is breathtaking and the tree hunt is great fun.
     Hope this post is not too Christmasy for you, but inspiring you with the natural beauty of trees!

Forever Green Farm's Barn

Last gasp of Christmas

      It is finished, the improv Christmas Trees wall hanging. I like it so much, I hung it up near my side door so I can love it each time I leave the house or go into the basement. It is ok it is out of season now, it makes me smile. I love the fabric I found on clearance at Joann's for the back. I never use glitter fabric, but this was fun.

All quilted

Bound

Detail

Back

     And also, a tablerunner that was made from cut off HSTs from the Christmas Tree quilt I made last year. I could not throw them out, so I sewed them into 4s and then arranged into a tablerunner that was gifted to an admiring friend.

All sewn

Quilted (on the Singer 301) in gold thread and bound

Back

Trees, ok, Christmas Trees

      Nobody probably wants to see Christmas trees, but I started a couple of days before Christmas on making these improv ones that I had been saving the pattern for a long time. I used 5" squares as I had a lot of those colors in my 5" boxes. They finish at 3 1/2 x 5.
     I was going to make just a table runner, but then the addictive and calming nature of sewing them was perfect for holiday stress and I kept going. I bought some clearance Christmas fabric at Joann's and it is ready to load on my longarm. I love evergreen trees. I paint them on my Christmas cards and never tire of them.

2021 cards

Choosing inner border

Choosing outer border

Got crazy and mitered outer border, now to quilt

Well, mine is still up

      All but the binding is finished on the Christmas Trees quilt. My real tree is still up so I think I am good on the tree front. I hate to take the tree down because of the bright cheer it adds on these gray days and because it was from my tiny yard- I will never have 20 years to grow one again. 

     Most of the quilting went ok, just a little bad tension ripping. I had the plan in my head and it went as planned, so that is a plus. Plus, I liked the quilting. I used Celery Glide top and bottom. I need to make the binding but, I have glaring error. When I was trimming the border, because I had a new blade and was careful to not put my fingers close to the edge of my steel framing rulers, the ruler shifted and I cut a slice out of the edge. I cannot trim it even as I would lose too much. I am trying to figure out how to add in a strip, front and back, to hold the binding straight. Never done that one before. The steel rulers are slippery and I try and hold them at the edges, but there was that new blade to deal with.

Oopsie edge gouge- oh no!

Figuring out the backing was hard, but worth it. Started with a panel, but needed much more.

Backing sewn

Needs binding and fixed edge

Detail

Quilted Back

Detail of back

Abiding in Christmas past, present and future

      I want to wish anyone who reads this a Christmas that will be real, deep, and grounded in a joy that can't be taken away. When you look at the first Christmas, it was a hard time. Mary was pregnant, dogged by scandal, away from family, the government had forced them to comply with a census decree which meant leaving home, no one would give them shelter (no inns in Bethlehem- the original Greek means guest room), and the Son of God had to push aside animals and waste to be born. We do rejoice because of the overall plan of salvation, redemption, and promise although it was painfully difficult.

    It is how I think of this year. I am weary of virtual everything. I am an artist, so I spend a lot of time working alone. Consequently, I need people- breathing, living people. To be forced to be solitary as if I am doing time for a crime I did not commit is ruinous. I comply with all the health guidelines, yet part of me is dying. I have not seen most friends or family since March. They seem ok with that because we have to be "safe".  I mourn and grieve for lost time, lost friends, those who are shut and starving emotionally in nursing homes away from family although they get Covid by the droves from employees (don't understand- they all wear masks, PPE), lost incomes, financial disasters for all but Walmart and Target. Church is a ghost town even with masks, distancing, constant cleaning yet the parking lots for Walmart, Target, Aldis are filled to the max. I don't think I will ever recover. Sometimes, I just cry over the loss. Christmas Eve was particularly hard- my husband and I alone eating dinner with Pandora. I think people will like the way it is, just fine, and loneliness will be looked at as a weakness. 

     I rejoice for what God has done and will do for me. I rejoice for the few that stick with me. I rejoice because I have been given a gift of art to share with those who need its comfort and humaness. But I grieve for the lostness, the vacuous Zoom gatherings, and media bingeing that substitutes for relationships. 

    Today, Buffalo received a blanket of heavy, wet snow which is how I feel. It has beauty, but is burdensome, fleeting, and icy. The light is leaden and dull. I tried to show my hometown beauty to you.

Our tree this year is a blue spruce from our yard. It started out as a small live balled tree for our Christmas over 15 years ago.
It grew too big for our small yard, so the tip top is our Christmas tree one more time.