Snippets and Threadtales

My last snippets post was the sharing of some of our country living adventures with escaping pigs, cows, horses..and of course our own chickens!

This one is all about my very latest quick projects for all of my favorites ways of giving to others.... in a life that is lived to the fullest, but often in the simplest of ways.

The past weeks have been catching up with giving quilts for good causes and making a few small gifts....two of my favorite things to do and get done..even under pressure and in a hurry.  I just keep most things very simple and splurge a bit more time when I'm being more creative. And somehow, thanks to divine intervention and aha! insight, I come up with ideas!

 
I made a simple prayer flag for a lovely lady who took my prayer flag class at the Polk County Fairgrounds last year. Her husband passed away and after sharing his own journey with Parkinson's and mine with my mother's Alzheimer's, we found so much in common.

I knew I had to make a prayer flag for her, but I only had an hour to think of an idea and get it down. Aha! That quick thought that comes into your head when you're not evening thinking about it...her husband was most proud of two things about himself...he was Norwegian and left handed.

A Norwegian flag and I tied the knot on the back with my left hand..hey, I needed to incorporate it somehow!

I needed a 'Congratulations and Best Wishes' kind of card for friends who had just bought the
Keizer Florist ..incorporating flowers was a given, but how to make a card..one of my recent Fabric+ Paper ideas??? Or something a bit different? Ah, instant insight or otherwise known as the "Eureka, I have found it"  moment. And a hang on to it before you lose it, reminder!

Found some fabric in my art scrap bag left over from my years of sewing small format art quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and made a quilted fabric card, inside and out. Quilted and with 3-D effect, besides.

I do my best work apparently on 1 hour and 45 minutes of sleep. They all loved it, bless their hearts!

And a piece of my homemade paper leftover from creating my daughter's wedding invitations a year ago for the inside. All the prettiest pieces out of 6 huge batches was used but I found a little orphan and gave her a good home.

And nope, never did take a nap..my brain doesn't work like other peoples. Crazy is as crazy does. and I do.

I've been using my little 'green' Singer Featherweight all week and wanted to keep the momentum going. Here, I'm working on one of my Alzheimer's Fidget Quilts that I donate to the Salem's
 Mid Valley Quilt Guild for nursing home residents who are really enjoying our little quilts.

 

A few big patches and some 3 D geese< prairie point style, to fiddle with....I keep mine very, very simple and easily laundered, as well.Too much or too delicate and they fall apart...either from the constant washing or because the residents cannot for the life of them figure out why a colander is tied to their quilt.

I fiddled and diddled around a bit more and even made another quick quilt to bring in and donate to  Alexia's Cozy Covers , for the month of April. A top that had never been finished and needed some quilted love. I just added a "Later Gator" to the simple design of skateboarding Alligators and got that puppy quickly stuffed, backed and quilted. Not fancy, not a lot of work on my part but oh, so ... Done! And speaking of  "Later Gator"...

Chicken #6 out of #7.....the proverbial pecking order...Dorothy is moody and broody right now. That's kind of like the chicken version of PMS or having one non-stop hot flash. She's pining for a little one of her own and with infertile eggs, (i.e no rooster at my house thank you very much, the neighbors' crows 15 hours a day, already!) she's going to be pining for a very long time!

Snippy, and cross, she huffs and puffs up until she is three times her normal size in an attempt to keep me away.  Didn't work, Dorothy I'm hauling you off, anyway!

Yep, busy times call for drastic measures and you do what you need and want to do.

So, I do and I did! And so what, if the chickens all think I'm nuts. I have an awful lot of fun and do manage to get things done around here. I just have to watch where I walk......


The liberated, wonky and hootchy, hootchy mama cross blocks will be arriving soon. And I'll be 

Designing a Liberated Cross Block and Quilt For Mary Lou!

And yes, I do remember to breathe, and to go outside and play with the chickens, and dig in the dirt and plant flowers and even wash my fingernails. 

It's all good.

Michele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey from Alaska to Oregon with thousands of free Quilting, Sewing, and Crafting Patterns and Tutorials. Help change the world, one little quilt, art quilt, and prayer flag at a time!