handstories

chasing suns/sons

    Yesterday there was a small block of time to finish up these pieces.  Just as the sun was heading behind the trees, and the last backing was being stitched on, Moon came home announcing he had big things to talk about.  "Can you give me ten minutes?  I'm racing the sun, and want to take photos for a shop update,"  So, he waited and I rushed.  The big things were shared, debated, and I was told I was not much use at all, and the photos weren't so good- colors were kind of off, loose threads were here and there . . . fail all around.

    So, today, after school, I will try again-  to be a better parent and photographer.

in search of light

    Sunlight is elusive these days- lots of rain, gray skies, and the cold arrived last night.  Thank goodness for oranges, bites of light.  

    I find myself trying to plan the days around when the light might come through the front window, where the stitching happens.  Dipping into some of Deb's brightly dyed cloths helps to add a warm glow to things.

a little knitting

    Blue has flown back to school, but it's only for three weeks this time.  We wrapped up the weekend with more rounds of Apples to Apples, playing our own version- which includes an imaginary player named Mr. Nobody, and trying using the most obnoxious cards possible ("my body" & "beets" are family favorites).  Do other families rewrite the rules for boardgames?  I multi-tasked by knitting socks.  The colorway is "peppermint bark" adding to the flavor of the season.  Time to think about holiday making . . .

notes from the center of some very nice days

    "Everything is different, and the same, but different in the sameness."  Part of a conversation with Moon about having Blue home.  It's been so good to have him here- seeing his face at the table, his long body stretched across the couch, playing board games, I even peeked into his room to watch him sleeping on the first night.  Right now they're off with friends (You were right, Liz!), but it's ok, even nice, because they'll both be home for our Friday night ritual of take-out and a movie.

    Meanwhile, I'm stitching evergreens, starlight and the season.

    And the spinning wheel finally got a dusting and a using, after months and months.  Twinkle stood guard. (photo by Moon)

looking to the skies

    Some patches of sky, some skies of patch.  They seem to be going their own ways.

    This one has been starred, un-starred, and on the way to being re-starred (the computer wants to make it "restored").

    Blue lands from the skies any minute . . . I've stitched, rearranged, paced, fiddled, and even dusted a little of the day away. . . waiting . . .  Three days of Blue, and all of us together . . . that is what I'm giving thanks for this holiday.

    He's landed!  Toodle-loo!

    Wishing you all peace-filled days. ox, Hazel

moonlight & songs

    That old saying of "a bad dress-rehearsal means a great show" must be true.  During one song, in our practice before the performance last night, I completely blanked on my part, with our leader looking right at me saying, "Get something out, anything!" at which point I got out the entirely wrong thing. Others had their share of missed words, notes, and entrances, too.  In spite of it all, the show did go on, and it actually went quite swell.  The audience seemed to really enjoy the unusual experience of the experimental music.  

    The above piece was a thank you gift for our leader.  It was inspired by the score of one of our pieces, "Epitaph for Moonlight" (see here).  She really is amazing, so talented in her own musical abilities, and how she pulls us, a bunch of musically inclined and musical misfits (my hand raised here), together every time, I will never know.  It's a kind of musical magic.

    And a special thank you to Deb Lacativa's dying gifts, the glowing moon-yellow backing piece arrived in a bundle of rainbow gorgeousness just in time.

it's been a wild couple of days...

   Beginning with this woman, our host for the Remix event at the Seattle Art Museum, on Friday night.

    A few of us, from our singing group, performed for twenty minutes at the event. 

    What a happening!  We definitely felt like the old folks in the room, but it was a lot of fun to be a part of.  

    Saturday evening was the reception for the second stop of Fiber Fusion.

    My "wanderlust" booklet was included at this venue. (more here.)

    In addition to "As it is, and should be" (more here)

    Another lovely event.  There is still one more show to go . . . our concert tomorrow night.  Then it will be time for some quiet-alone-with-just-the-family days (sighed the overdone introvert).

flannel love

    A co-worker is expecting a new arrival any time now.  It's been a long time since I've made my turn-to-new-baby gift, a flannel blanket trimmed in crochet. I love these blankets- making them, and how cozy they are. Someday I'll make a grown-up sized one for myself. A friend taught me to make them long ago. Her mother-in-law showed her, and then she began one for her own expected baby. Two babies later, even with both of us working on it now and then, it wasn't done. It was finally finished for Blue, when she came to help with his birth.

    When I first learned how to make them, I went home and made my first one, just for fun.  It had a rosebud print, that reminded me of my favorite childhood sheet.  When I showed it to K. he asked, "Are you trying to tell me something?" It was about five or so years later when Blue came along and it became his favorite blanket.

    Here he is, one day old with his Rosie...

    Five more days till he's home!

puzzled over pins

    What do you think about the safety pin movement?  Some say the wearing of a pin is "a symbol of solidarity with minorities who feel marginalized and unsafe following the 2016 election. The pins are meant to show that the wearer is a safe person to turn to in times of trouble."  On the other hand, some say "...it's better to show support through action," and are encouraging people not to wear the pins.  Can we take action AND wear pins?  I've got pins a plenty . . . to pin or not to pin?

making music

    A very full week ahead . . . a family singing group concert, putting things up at the salon, frisbee championship game, a short performance at the art museum, finding something to wear to the art museum (has anyone seen my black shirt?!), and hopefully, finishing this piece for our singing leader.  It's an abstraction of some of the "Epitaph for Moonlight" music (more about that on this post), a song I barely understand where I'm at in it, but love looking at the pretty notation of.