Favourite Songs of February '14

Below has been my soundtrack to this last month. Enjoy the lyrical, rhythmic beauty as I have.


Lost and Found - by Katie Herzig

Bird's Lament - by Moondog

Ghostwriter - by RJD2

Clocks - by Coldplay

Shooting Stars - by Bag Raiders

Sweet Nothing - by Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch

Haunt - Bastille

If You Run - by The Boxer Rebellion

Choices...

Which book to read next..? A very hard toss up..

The Woodlands of my Childhood.

This last weekend, I had the privilege of returning to one of favorite places as a child.  Accompanying me was my dear friend of countless years.  What follows are images and pieces of reminiscing of our days of old.  

View from the new house.

 To say that the urge to channel my inner 9 year old self and walk to the end of this fallen tree was intense was an understatement. 

 Elle's favorite tree.

 I could look at these trees all day, every day, and I would be happy the whole time. 

 Where the old "bridge" used to be with the rope swing.  We've spent far too many hours at this spot. Laughing, gossiping, talking about boys, pretending and fighting. 

 I miss the old days when we would search for frog eggs in these seasonal pools...

...and run through the deciduous under story brush as though our lives depended on it.

The gnarled leafless branches dripping with moss were a stark contrast to the leafy maze of our magical childhood summer realm.

 This beasty. We were so irritated when we had originally found it and the others that dot the landscape. Eventually it became one of our hiding places between our various forts and safe havens.   

 One of my favorite trees.

 I will never tire of seeing this.

Like walking back into a dream of old.

 Elle's realm.. The older sister who would play with us. But usually ended up being our enemy whether she knew it or not. 

 One final strike against her rule, for old times sake.

 One of the old paths still lays true.

 My accomplice throughout the years, once again at my side.

 One beautiful and dark forest if I've ever seen one.

 My old nemesis.  Fell into this hole sledding when I was about 13.  Thought I died for about 5 seconds. 

 The old house. Both of us remembering it being larger, taller, stronger. It's state of abandonment was painful to see.  In it's former glory years, she was our strong hold, our Jolly Roger, our homestead, country estate. 

 You will always have a spot in my heart, dear friend.

The old road down to the creek.  Many a trip was plotted and organized on this walk down hill. 

 The old front porch swing tree. 

 The apple tree that we spent many hours telling our secrets to. Shouting, swinging, and laughing. Its current state looks like a page out of a fairy tale.

 This was my spot.

 The hay barn.

 Our old nemesis: Himalayan black berries.

 View from the barn. 

As of late

As of late, I’ve come to realize days that I used to count individually have flown by in a blur. The numbers of which are a faint memory to me.  Days and weeks are now weeks and months.  The once highly painful rhythmic beat of my heart has returned to a dull, low roar, seemingly still in its present state.  Boarded up, newly secure and healed.  A wonderfully blank and open slate lies before me.  As I walk and at times prance forward on fresh ground like walking through an undisturbed field of snow.  The prints left are my own now.  The steps evident in a swirling pattern of freedom in my own company.  The amount of peace and joy I hold now is more then I’ve held in far more than a year with him.  It surprised me at first. And then I found myself wishing I had made that step myself and sooner.  A step to a better me. To a solitary state. To enjoy the simple bits of life and of not knowing what each gloriously diverse day will bring.  I find it ironic how the things that were once of negative concern are no more.  I feel at peace for the moments being. A feeling I had long since forgotten.  Though the world crumbles around me daily and I reflect on life’s joys and defeats; I am reassured that this is where I am supposed to be.  And what’s more, is I’ve never been so sure of the ledge that I stand on and that the next leap is yet to come. Whatever that leap may be, it will be bigger, louder, and have such a grandeur as I have not yet seen. And that, dear reader, gives me more hope than I thought I would have at this point in my life.  This forward motion may hurt and burn our bodies, but wouldn’t it not be moving forward if it were to not? 

What's in my quilting bag

I know there's the "What's in my purse" tags, but I figured I'd change it a bit. So, I present to you a "What's in my quilting bag!" I'm sure other people have done this as well, so I won't try to take credit for it.

This is the little quilting bag I keep with whatever my current project is to hold needles, scissors etc.

Let's take a look:

-Red, Yellow and Blue thread from my current Linus quilt

-Blue-purple sandwiching thread

-Forest Green thread from my previous quilt

-Blue cut thread

-Four needles...I really need to put these in a little plastic case

-Scissors

-Two white quilting pencils

-Normal black ink pen

-Pencil sharpener

-An old co-op card I use for drawing lines

-Bamboo shell of an old pen I use when tying quilts

-Life savers peppermint

-Some random piece of paper containing quilt descriptions and sizes.

I'm actually surprised there's not more random stuff in here like there is, at times, in my purse. 

Personal Bits in this Mad Party of Life - I need

I need to get what's left of you out of my head.
I'm not saying what we had wasn't great.
It really was.
But it wasn't real.
Not for half of the time we had together.
Being real was too much for you.
Suppressing. Hiding. Lyeing.
Why?
To what end?
Building walls to 'keep me safe'
Only hurt me more than you ever will know.
You were right?
Yeah right!


I let you in, believing you were different.
When things became real
The real you came too
You knew it was wrong,
So you hid, suppressed, and lied.
How'd that work out for you?
Don't tell me you did this for me.
When you don't even know why you do simple things.


I need to build up my walls again.
Stronger, bolder, higher.
Your simplicity was not appreciated.


I need to have a mourning period.
I need to find myself.
I need to have fun again.
It wasn't fun with you when you hid from me
And you blamed me?
          ...bastard.


I need to have a good time
Have someone else show me passion
Passion that slipped from your veins, like sand in an hour glass
Its been two weeks
And one encounter of brief passion has already been more
Than I've gotten from you in a long time
Strong arms and nimble tongue
Raw passion.
Something that was highly lacking in your soul


Wishing you the best?
I'm neutral to the very thought.
I overlooked your every flaw
Saw only the good
Willing, till our last day.
But still not good enough.


I need to get you out of my head
I need distance of mind.
I need new space.
I need a new person.
I need a new hope.
A new love.
A new man, capable of passion.
And understanding.
Someone better than you.

A How Do: Quilt Sandwiching

What you will need to sandwich your quilt:

-Top of quilt

-Batting

-Backing Fabric

-Needles

-Thread  (I use old thread from yester-year that isn't good for sewing in the machine or hand quilting

-Scissors

-Masking Tape

-Large Spoon (optional-I don't use one but many ladies I know do)

-Tea (optional but helpful to keep the mind sharp)

(Some ladies I know use pins instead of thread and needles and its all up to you.)

1) Lay out the backing face side down.This means if you have any seams they should look like this:

 And tape it down firmly and as flat as possible. This ensures that the back won't be moving while you're working on it. 

(I included the above picture to show that I previously made a mistake and had to take a seam ripper to it..)

 2) Lay the batting out on top of the backing. Typically, there's more over lap for this but I was working with what I had.

 3) Lay the top of the quilt face side up and centered as much as possible. 

 Now the soon to be quilt is laid out as it will be when completed.

 4) Thread needles and with large stitches baste the layers together. Starting from the middle and working your way toward the edges. 

 This is were the spoon can come in handy to help pull the needle back up. 

Eventually, it will look like this:

The best description for it that I've heard is that it should look like a spider web, with the threads going all which ways and crossing each other. 

In doing this you ensure that the layers will not move while quilting on it. 

When it comes to the edges; roll them inward so that the fabric won't fray when it's being worked on. 

And sew a simple stitch through these as well to allow them to keep their hold.

And yes, the scissors help in more ways then one.

And there you have it! You're done. Now begin quilting away!