The February high holy days for dog lovers have come and gone again. Miss P, a Canadian 15” beagle, is the Best in Show winner of the 139th Westminster Kennel Club show. A huge win for a dynamite little dog!

I’ve been a dog person almost literally my whole life. My family’s first dog was a puppy I mostly remember as soft, named Charlie Brown the Beagle Dog. As the oral tradition goes, back in the days before Pull Ups and piddle pads, Charlie and I taught Mom not to try potty training a two year old and housebreaking a puppy at the same time! I can still hear her telling about finding a suspicious damp place and asking—kind of needlessly—“What is this?” To which I would apparently respond, “Charlie did it!” Only to have her retort, “Then why are your pants wet?”

Read More

Yes, winter is a relative thing. And a matter of perspective. The moo.com website is predicting major shipping delays as the northeast braces for another snow storm. And, again, it’s been grey and wet and bone chillingly cold in Atlanta.

The head cold, which has stalked Bill relentlessly since Thanksgiving, has now become my case of bronchitis. This is not unfamiliar territory! A couple of things are different this time.

Read More

It’s 4:15 am, in the midst of the 30 Days of Writing challenge I joined and the very early days of blog writing. I’m curled up in one of my quilts, sipping tea and scribbling recipes. Recipes which are not, by the way, related to the writing prompt for whichever day this is! It’s worth pondering why.

When my first granddaughter was born, just before I turned 50, I noticed a surprising thing. In the midst of making baby quilts and packing glass baby bottles for the trip across the pond, I began to get an inkling that things were changing inside me. Suddenly, things that had been sort of philosophically important to me for years began to seem more urgent. This tiny person, this wee image of my son, this huge new spark of love in my heart had to grow up in this world. And if we’re honest, this world could use some work!

Read More

While much of America is buried under a thick blanket of snow, here it Atlanta it’s wake up every day and find out if it’s winter or spring time! I prefer spring, myself, and spring it has been for a couple of days. Sunny. And still quite cold for shopping in parking lots!

Most of our local farmers’ markets are closed for the winter. One intrepid farmer, however, runs a pre-ordered delivery service. This system would have amazed Elsie, my farm grandmother.

Read More

Take a deep breath, please. That’s right. And another. Now, allow yourself, in whatever way is comfortable for you, to be led into that imaginal space where each path leads to many layers of meaning.

Perhaps, as you walk along, you can feel the sun on your face, and the dust between your toes, even as you notice a quilt, tattered at the edges, and faded just a bit, drying on a split rail fence. Bits and pieces of calico and homespun cloth, cut and pieced just so, form patterns as old as the ages.

Oddly, quilts can form maps of the future as well, for, as the story goes, they were used as signposts on the Underground Railroad. Signposts on the road to freedom.

Read More

This one was a challenge! Another move, and another big girl quilt, twin sized. Taylor wanted pink. Mama said pink and purple. I like polka dots. I learned a lot!

One night I got online and started buying up juvenile-type pinky prints. Also lots of dots. Then the box came. The next morning I was off to Intown Quilters. I needed help!

I walked into the store, past the register, into the second room, and literally almost tripped over the fabric that turned out to be the focus fabric for this quilt. And, immediately, I knew the perfect pattern. Back to the “Geese in the Fields” block by Carolyn Griffin I had re-worked for my Liberated Wild Geese quilt.

Then things got exciting! I was busy laying out the pieces on my homemade “design wall” which is simply a flannel sheet cut to fit, hung through the top hem on a broomstick that fits perfectly on top of my fabric cupboard. Enter Sarah, our Newfoundland rescue, who had been with us just two days. She wanted to be by me so laid down just at the bottom of my flannel sheet, rolled over, and pulled all my carefully positioned blocks right down on top of her! I started again and added quilting to the list of things Sarah needed to learn!

For this quilt, I added a gorgeous batik border and then a scrappy striped border with lots of my favorite fabrics. Fun. Easy. Lots of movement. Not at all juvenile. Perfect!

Again, backing and binding cut from a good quality, pre-washed flannel sheet. This one’s a binding fiddler, too!

Then I gave all the kids’ prints away!