HACKED! DO NOT OPEN MASS EMAIL FROM ME!

This morning I awoke to find that someone in India tried to access my email account and I was hacked!  If by some chance you receive an email from me check it very carefully before opening it is either spam or a virus,  THE SUBJECT LINE WILL READ: srpbabb, if it has a link to NEW KING CITY DEVELOPERS...DO NOT OPEN IT! I am so very sorry about this inconvenience.  Thank you to the dear souls who alerted me to the issue of the email and the removal of my blog.  All is reset and blog is back online.

Please pardon my extended absence as I continue with my mother's immediate care.  Her condition has deteriorated very quickly and my time and attention have been needed there.  I hope to return to blogging as soon as things quite into a new normal here.

blessings,
Sandy

 

TIME PASSAGES...

Time it seems to me is a very precious commodity

One that is spent far too quickly

While I am unaware

Scurrying from here

To get to there

Between "tick" and "tock"

I suddenly age

My life book turns a page

I blink as if it 'twas a dream

Seconds, minutes, hours

Slipping from my grasp

These time passages

Life is being lived swiftly here at the Quill.  I know I have MIA here in the land of blog and I am not sure that will change much in the near future, I hope to catch up with you all soon.  I wanted you to know that I was thinking of you all today and wishing you a very wonderful weekend.

blessings,

Sandy

THE BEAUTY OF A MEMORY...

I stood leaning against the gate, fingers absently tracing the age lines of the slick silver cedar post...

The memories were everywhere; like the trees, they seemed to draw nutrients from the earth, pushing themselves to the forefront of my mind just as the new greening leaves pressed themselves from the tree tips making me take notice of them after the weight of winter shadows had lifted... 

 I didn't decide to move, didn't want to, but before I knew it, I was walking through the gate...

Winding my way along the old stone fence on a feet familiar rut that led to the old home place...

It drew me like a magnet, around the bend to the top of the rise and finally descending the hill that led to childhood.  Each footfall was like stepping into beauty.  The beauty of the natural landscape...

The beauty of the unexpected...

(The fire bush beside what was once a stack of stone steps and a postage stamp porch still bloomed)

The beauty of a memory...

(Where an old green shingled roof covered a silver gray sliver of a house that sheltered some of the most precious times of my life)

The rusty hinge of my memory bank loosed itself...

Swinging open and shut...

Like the damper on granny's old wood burning cook stove, letting in droughts of beautiful swirling airy scenes accompanied by whispers of voices and noises of the past.  The beautiful sound of squeaky old bed springs...

Accompanied by childish laughter and fits of giggles, the fleeting feeling of flying, long hair splayed out like wings, bouncing higher and higher on granny's old iron bed.

What is it, I think to myself, that keeps drawing me to this pile of rubble?

 My heart quickens as I realize it is because I am of the last generation to remember.  Its stories and times and memories will fade when I and the cousins do, we are the last with the ability to step into the beauty of seeing not what is but what once was.  We are the barer of its tales.  We are the keeper of its secrets.  Although it pinches my heart I must respond to urging whispers that guide my steps.  I am compelled to tell the old houses tales, the ones that I can remember at least.

I believe that every life, even the most ordinary one, is like a good book, a page turning tale that unfolds day by day, and is just waiting to be remembered or told.  Each life is full of twists and turns, secrets and surprises, a narrative of threads that weave themselves into a fabric of intersecting lives.  My story revolves around an old house nested on the steep edge of a hollow in the Foothills of the Ozarks where primitive living in modern times created some of the most beautiful childhood memories imaginable.

I come here to pause and listen.  Somehow sitting with the rubble, listening for the whispers of my personal past, opens my heart to the tenderness and exquisite beauty of life.  It teaches me cherish what I have or who peoples my world in any given moment for far too quickly those things change.

The old tree that used to overshadow my play house holds out its hand for me to take...

 Inviting me to fill my heart and head with memories of profound joy.  The past and the present converge in those quiet moments, I step forward and clasp hands with my childhood playmate.  My story, our stories, will continue.....

blessings,

Sandy

CLASS COMPLETE, LESSONS 3 & 4 POSTED...

 All the lessons for the Romantic Crazy Quilt Cuff Class have posted on the class blog.  Some of you have been eagerly crafting right along with the lessons and some of you are saving the lessons for a more convenient time.  Several have expressed hoping I would leave the class up for a while.  This class is my open ended gift to you dear readers, it will not be removed.  You can either save the link or you can always easily access it through the link on my sidebar.

I hope you will enjoy crafting the cuff for yourself, as a gift(s), or to sell in your shop or at shows.  Use this tutorial in whatever way you wish.  I know you all will be making some wonderful creations and I do hope you will share them with me.

All lessons on the class blog are posted in order of the steps needed to get you from start to finish so no jumping links.  The Introduction page contains a main supply list for each lesson for your gathering convenience and each individual lesson is headed up with a supply list for what you need for that lesson.  You will find a blog archive with lesson titles at the bottom of the blog page to help make navigation easier.

The Introduction and main supply list can be found HERE.

Lesson 1, Building a Background can be found HERE.

Lesson 2, Adding Layers and Textures can be found HERE.

Lesson 3, Adding Handmade Embellishments and Beading can be found HERE.

Lesson 4, Finishing Touches can be found HERE.

Enjoy!

blessings,

Sandy

P. S.  I will be out of pocket off and on for the next two weeks so posting may be sparse at best.

LESSON 2 HAS POSTED...

Hi all, I wanted to let you know that Lesson 2 of the Romantic Crazy Quilt Cuff Class has posted today.  The original schedule was for lessons to post weekly but I added a clause that this was subject to change as I got lessons edited and photos loaded.  I will keep you updated here when lessons post and I may have them all done by the end of the weekend or the first of the week!

The class introduction and supply list can be found here.

Lesson 1: Building a Background can be found here.

Lesson 2: Adding Layers and Textures can be found here.

All lessons on the class blog post in order of the steps you need to complete the project and while there is a main supply list, there are also individual lists at the top of each lesson for your convenience.

I know some of you have your base done are ready to start on the next step.  

I will keep it coming as quick as I can.  

Enjoy!

blessings,

Sandy

Class Begins Today...

The first lesson of the Romantic Crazy Quilt Cuff Class has posted over on the class blog.  In this first lesson you will learn the simple free and easy style of Crazy Quilt piecing which will build a background and base for your cuff.

I had some readers share concerns since this class does involve some sewing, you do not need serious sewing skills to make this cuff.  If you can thread a needle and poke it through fabric you got this!  Any special stitching I have step by easy step illustrated and kept things simple for all skill levels.

As one sweet reader put it, "this class has a lot of wiggle room" so have fun with the techniques and ideas, feel free to change it up here and there to make it you own and most of all enjoy!

blessings,

Sandy