Wednesday Hodgepodge - May 24, 2017

From this Side of the Pond

1. What color is prominent in your home? Are you glad about that or wishing you could cover it up or remove it?

White is the prominent wall color. Some rooms have colors (like yellow for the family room and my office; blue for two bedrooms; and green and turquoise for another bedroom). Other than that: all white.

Dark green is the other prominent color in our home. I found out it is a dated color after we had water damage a few years ago and needed to replace carpet in the family room and my office. That particular color is very difficult to find now.

I like the color and wouldn't change it in several of the rooms.

The green  carpet is representative of the color of the blinds and

some accent paint in various rooms of the home.

(Taken on April 2, 2013.)

That being said, the majority of our windows are covered with dark green blinds. This definitely has limited what colors we could paint walls.

If I could do anything over, I would keep the blinds a neutral color so that we could paint the walls a different color. (Although, as I type this, perhaps moving to neutral-color blinds would be good so that we could change things up a bit.)

2. What's something you'll NEVER do again?

Have an extensive amount of livestock. We used to have sheep, chickens, turkeys, and a horse. I enjoyed that time in my life; and loved seeing the animals roaming in the pastures; and the chickens walking around the yard and pastures.

Olivia looking at chicks at another farm.

(Taken on September 30, 2007.)

Given the season of life I'm in now and the length of life some livestock have, it isn't practical. I'm grateful I had that time in my life where we could have animals; and that I have the memories of them to draw upon.

3. Tell us a couple of ways you fit the stereotypes associated with your gender, and a couple of ways you don't.

I'm a stay-at-home mom who takes her daughters to a variety of lessons and activities, enjoys crafting, sewing, and cooking. Adopting both the girls has been such a blessing. I truly cannot imagine my life without them. They have brought such joy to it; and enriched it in so many ways.

Taking the girls to various activities:

Above: Sophia recording a CD that has

music she plays on the harp (May 2017) and

Below: Olivia painting outdoors at an art event (September 2016).

When I think of my dad and his role in the family (as well as other males), there are some things that I do around the home and farm that would stereotypically fall into the male role (or at least what my dad would have done):
=> Mow the lawn on the lawn tractor as well as fill it with gas and can fix it if the mower deck comes unattached (it's an older mower);
=> Repair the fencing as needed;
=> Deal with all the service men/repair guys - both with ordering the services, overseeing their work, and paying them.

4. May is Motorcycle Awareness Month. Have you ever owned a motorcycle? Ever ridden a motorcycle? If the opportunity presented itself would you hop on a motorcycle and go for a ride?

I have never owned a motorcycle, but have ridden on one. My first ride was during Vacation Bible School. If any child memorized a Bible verse by the end of the week, they could go on a short motorcycle ride on the back of the Pastor's motorcycle.

I memorized John 3:16 and earned a motorcycle ride.

Source

The short ride - without a helmet and not very fast around the parking lot - was exhilarating and exciting...and so worth the effort of memorization at that young age.

As a side note, this was in the 1970s, so way before organizations began thinking of potential lawsuits and liability issues. No one blinked an eye at the fact that none of the children wore helmets while on a motorcycle because no one was wearing helmets when riding a bike.

A motorcycle from 1974.

In the past 15 years, I've only gone on two motorcycle rides. If presented with an opportunity to go again, I definitely would!

5. If someone wanted to understand you, what should they read, watch, and listen to?

The best way to understand me would be to read about the personality type INFJ, the astrological sign of Cancer, and a book about introverts.

Source

In terms of watching something, maybe a t.v. show that I enjoy: Modern Family, The Goldbergs, Speechless, or Black-ish.

In terms of listening, the sounds of nature - birds singing and calling to one another, frogs singing, owls hooting, crickets chirping - all of these sounds are ones I love to listen to throughout the year.

An oriole and cardinal in the backyard on August 23, 2012.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Four years ago today, this was the sunset as I stood in the pasture looking to the west.

When I was growing up, our home faced west over Bass Lake. We saw so many amazingly beautiful sunsets. I am so grateful that our home has open views to the west so that - since 1995 - we can enjoy seeing the gorgeous colors of the sky and clouds as the sun sets.

Needle-Felting Natural Toys

Felt Balls in Lots of Colors
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

On a recent afternoon, I was organizing my wool.  I had not done much needlefelting recently, so I thought it would be fun to take a little break, pick up the barbed needles, and start creating some natural toys for children.  Ended up making a dozen of the wool felt balls.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

These felt balls (to the right) are needle-felted from beautifully soft, 100% wool roving. They are colorful, safe, and fun to play with indoors. They are the perfect size for small hands, and easy to catch and throw.

Felt balls also:
- make great cat toys
- can be easily juggled
- make a light-weight bowling ball
- teach children about the colors of the rainbow
- are natural and safe to play with (no risk of lead!)

Each felt ball is approximately 3 1/2" (8.5 cm) in diameter; and 10 1/2" (26.5 cm) in circumference. The core is clean roving that was from one of the sheep I raised at Harvest Moon's organic farm. The outer layer is wool roving that has been hand-dyed with natural dyes.

Some of the wool balls are a single color…while others use roving that have a lovely blend of shades and specks of vibrant colors.

If you're interested in purchasing a felt ball (or a whole collection of them), please visit Harvest Moon by Hand.

Helping Children Learn Math Using Math Gnomes

Math Gnomes
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

This is a set of Waldorf-inspired math gnomes that I made for a customer for my shop, Harvest Moon by Hand.

The gnomes stand between 9-10” inches tall, and each is needlefelted by hand. Sometimes I use 4 barbed needles at a time and at other times only a single barbed needle (for example, when attaching the curly sheep wool to the face and body or creating the math symbols on the bodies).

Each gnome has a different math sign on the body - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and equals. Individual gnomes and combination of gnomes can be used in combination with natural tactile elements (e.g., pebbles, gems, acorns) to make learning math more tangible.

There are many Waldorf-inspired stories using math gnomes on the internet. You may choose to use one of the stories as they are presented...or create your own stories.

The gnomes are made from sheep wool - the interior core is from cream-colored wool from sheep that I raised at Harvest Moon's organic farm. The exterior (colored) wool is from a variety of textile artists who hand-dye sheep wool.

For a set of custom-made gnomes or other needlefelted items, please visit my shop, Harvest Moon by Hand.

Quartered Postcards

4 Quartered Postcards
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

These four postcards were made for the quartered postcard swap on Swap-Bot. The challenge was to take 4 postcards, cut them into 4 identical pieces, and then glue the pieces onto another piece of stiff paper to make a postcard.

It was a quick project to do, but definitely is something that helps me try to meet my goal in 2010 of creating something each day. Sometimes what I make can be completed in one day (like these postcards) and other times the project is much more labor-intensive (like a sashiko quilt I made this spring/summer).

These postcards were sent to people throughout the world. In exchange, I receive 4 postcards from other people who live in different parts of the world.

August Journal Quilt

August Journal Quilt without Border
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

For my August journal quilt, I continued with my yearly theme of “Happenings and Highlights.” The goal of each journal quilt is to reflect positive things that happen during the month so it can be a tactile, quilted image that brings back happy memories and can be looked at when I need encouragement.

The thoughts that kept coming to my mind when I was thinking about the quilt were the hummingbirds that have been visiting the feeder.

Every day the hummingbirds have been at the feeder in the backyard, and it seems like that’s been a daily topic of discussion and excitement.

So, for my quilt I looked on the internet for black and white images of hummingbirds; and found several that I liked.

I needed an image for a flower, and happened to see a free embroidery pattern on Flickr.

Taking these elements, I modified their sizes, printed the images, and cut them out. I arranged them onto a 9” x 12” piece of white fabric and then traced the image onto the fabric with a disappearing ink pen.

The entire design (the hummingbirds and flower) are all hand-embroidered using the back stitch, straight stitch, seed stitch, crown stitch, and French knots.

I machine-quilted the top, batting, and backing together and then wrapped around the backing to create a binding/border.

Some of the activities and highlights of August, and how they are represented in the quilt, include:

- Competing in the Washington County Fair – My daughters and I competed in the fair again this year. The girls each entered over 20 projects; and I entered 37 projects. The ribbons color that we received the most of – blue, red, white, and pink (4th place) are all represented in the quilt. In addition, the purple grand champion is reflected by the purple border, backing, and one of the hummingbirds. The birds also represent each of us and our favorite colors (Sophia is pink; Olivia is blue; and I am purple).

- Swimming Lessons for the Girls – For two weeks in August, I took the girls to swimming lessons. They took swimming lessons last summer and enjoyed it; and this year was no different. They enjoyed their daily swim, and passed to the next level. They were both SO excited. The swimming/water is represented by the free-motion sewing in the quilt. It reminds me of waves and the comfort they provide as they move against one’s body.

- Lots of swaps on Swap-Bot – I enjoyed participating in a lot of swaps during August, especially the ones where I am challenged to create something new related to a theme and postcard swaps where postcards arrive in the mailbox from all over the world. The swaps are represented by the center half of one flower. I learned how to do the “Crown” stitch for this quilt. I like the trio of spokes on the crown – there seems to be many of them when I look at the flower…just like the many swaps I signed up for and/or are finishing.

- Lots of hummingbirds at the feeder – There has been constant traffic at the feeder since the middle of August. Sometimes there’s only one, and at other times there have been up to three at a time. They have sat still while eating (there’s a little perch that goes around the feeder); played in-air chasing games; and perched on what the girls call “The King’s Perch” and “The Prince’s Perch” in the pine tree Sometimes they even hide in the pine tree in “The Secret Hideout Spot” and dive-bomb another unsuspecting hummingbird when it tries to eat at the feeder. Needless to say, the girls [and I] are easily entertained. The embroidered hummingbirds and the flower represent the trio of hummingbirds at the feeder that we’ve been enjoying watching.

- Started homeschooling – The curriculum I’m using for homeschooling with the girls this year is called Sonlight. It’s an excellent curriculum that is heavily literature-based. We’ve been doing quite a bit of reading, and enjoying the new books that are part of Sophia’s 4th grade year, and Olivia’s 2nd grade year. The white background of the quilt represents the white pages in the books that the girls and I are reading together.

- Severe thunderstorms and lightning + house damage from storms – For one week in August, the weather was in the upper-90s with humidity in the upper-70s. It was incredibly hot and the air was unstable. Each night, there was a huge thunderstorm – each bringing a deluge of rain and a symphony of thunder and an accompanying light show. Some nights were less stressful than others.

For many of the storms, the mudroom roof/ceiling began leaking. The storm left the mudroom floor flooded, the window ledge full of water, and canning jars in the closet with water in them (one storm left a good 1” of rain in some of the jars).

Normally, I wouldn’t considered this “happiness” or a pleasant memory I want to recall. However, there would be no way in the world that updating and replacing items in the mudroom would be financially possible at this point. Had it not been for the roof leaking, the mudroom would continue to be well-worn and outdated.

The storms are represented in some of the machine quilting. There are jagged lines/sharp angles which represent lightening.

- Harvesting from the garden and canning peaches – the garden has produced a lot this season. This is the first time we’ve gardened since 2003 when I ran an art and farm camp here at the farm. We have enjoyed organic cucumbers, tomatoes (4 different types), beans, carrots, herbs, rhubarb, and raspberries. The green peppers are almost ready and the potatoes should be ready next month. The pears and apples on the trees should be ripe soon.

I canned 14 jars of peaches this month (one is already gone because the girls love peaches!). Sophia helped put the peaches in the jar, and Olivia helped me label them. They were both so excited to be able to help in their own ways with the canning process. The green in the quilt (the leaves of the flower) represent the “green” produce we are harvesting from the garden.

- Death of my cousin’s wife: This isn’t a “happy” memory of the month, but it is one that happened. Anne died on August 17th, and had brain cancer. She was 65 years old. The happy memories are ones that I recall from many years ago…before she was affected by cancer.

Her memorial service was held at a beautiful chapel that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Its interior is covered in mosaics – the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. There are over 10 MILLION mosaic tiles that make up the pictures. Here’s the link for the chapel which shows picture of some of the mosaics.

Anne epitomized Southern graciousness and hospitality. She was absolutely beautiful – inside and out. Leo Buscaglia said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” To me, this captures Anne’s spirit and who she was as a person.

From the day Anne died and for four days, there seemed to be more hummingbirds than usual. Because I’ve never seen hummingbirds for such a long period of time – nor in a trio – I wanted to see what they symbolize. I learned that:

the fluttering of hummingbird wings move in the pattern of an infinity symbol – a symbol of eternity and continuity.

By observing the hummingbird, we see they are seemingly tireless. Always actively seeking the sweetest nectar, they remind us to forever seek out the good in life and the beauty in each day.

Amazing migrators, some hummingbirds are known to wing their way as far as 2,000 miles to reach their destination. This quality reminds us to be persistent in the pursuit of our dreams, and adopt the tenacity of the hummingbird in our lives. The hummingbird is a messenger of hope.

Anne’s gifts and impact on individuals and the law community will continue on thanks to her tireless determination. She truly was an encourager and supporter – especially to those in need of guidance and hope. Hummingbirds – and what they represent - capture Anne’s gifts and her contribution to making life better for others. She made such a positive difference in the world.

So, the hummingbirds in my August journal quilt also represent this wonderful woman who I was so happy to have known, and who epitomized the true meaning of kindness, generosity, and graciousness. Her name was Anne Wilson Grande – an article was written about her and the impact she had on the community. It was in the Star Tribune; and this is link HERE.