YouTube Videos, Hand Quilting, Feelings

 Richard Scarry books were a favourite of my children and then the grandsons. So many things on every page to point to and talk about. We had to make a rule with younger daughter, Beth, that she couldn't choose one of Richard's books for a night time read in bed book. She was the one so reluctant to give up on the day and she still makes the most of her busy days starting with a very early morning run.  

We had geese flying overhead yesterday and turkeys trotting through though not in a cute little red car. 

It was so sad that our little pond completely dried up with the summer droughts. The well we used to top it up also dried up. Both firsts for here. It will be interesting to see if winter snows can bring them back.

I collected a few little shells from the bottom. A surprise as I never knew there were crustaceans in our pond.

I enjoyed this video of Megan explaining what it was like to wear dresses for a year. She is Mormon but it wasn't for religious reasons and it was interesting to hear what her final thoughts were. I wear dresses in summer time and do like it...I've also noted the convenience of not having to worry about tops and bottoms and also just how comfy it feels. Megan gives links to where she bought her dresses, some on Amazon. 

BTW, Megan is now recording and sharing her journey with breast cancer. It's so awful how rates of that dreadful disease keep rising. It's so frustrating that all the substantial funds thrown at research can't seem to further our knowledge of how to beat this for good. 

With Tony's help, I moved the smaller television into the sewing room. So here's my hand quilting set up now. That's Kate there from The Last Homely House that I'm watching.

 I decided that quilting circles would be appropriate for the Propeller quilt and, for the first time, I'm using chalk to mark the lines. It's okay so far. 

So there I am, stitching and watching Kate show how she hand quilts at her table half a country and the Atlantic Ocean away. These are amazing times to live in!

I had a tiny epiphany while searching for the slippers I'd stowed away last spring. While searching I found two things I'd forgotten about and was happy to come across them. So I realized it isn't such a complete waste of time to have to look for something after all. Sadly still have not found the slippers.

This post has been my usual mishmash of topics. I started with a children's book, the idea for which was so cleverly devised by Richard over 50 years ago and still lives on though he has been gone over twenty years. I'll finish with a line I have written in a notebook. It's meaningful because we all know what loss feels like and I've said at times I'm the queen of losses. But even when suffering, luckily I knew what I hadn't lost...my life, my health, a limb, my mind- though in private inside my head, very sad woe is me mode for quite a while, and with a little more time I felt fortunate to not lose my family and my history. So I often repeat to myself in my sternest inside voice...you be thankful you.

And here's the line- How shall the heart be reconciled/ to its feast of losses? Kunitz 

Change, he decides. Learn to embrace the new version of yourself, scarred yes, and without whatever it is you know/feel you've lost. It's so good when you figure out what works for you to achieve that...whatever it is that can move you forward past it all. 

 Well that's enough chatter. Hope you are calm and peaceful and enjoying these September days whether it's warming up or cooling down where you are. 

Sharing this post with Alycia Quilts, Creations Quilts Art Whatever and Quilting Patchwork Applique.