Today I am 75. This morning’s 4 mile walk was great. The weather is gorgeous - we’re heading into my favorite time of the year. Next week we’re taking a river cruise out of NYC up the Hudson River. And I live in a neighborhood where people have money to decorate in style! Note: These things that make me happy are listed below but not necessarily in order of importance.
Newish guild member Janette wound up with a lot of cork fabric and has shared it. Cork is expensive. I like it but don't often buy it. When we were in Portugal (home of cork) I asked our tour operator and also our driver if we could stop at a cork factory. They both said no. But here comes Janette with these lovely bolts! She came over and we played cork one day. But there is so much left. We have a guild retreat in early November - I'm planning on taking cork, perhaps even already cut out for pencil cases, like the one in navy to the left.
Below is a picture of my beloved working away at the dining room table. Not only does John make me happy, this whole room does too!
Making purses for Sew Powerful and their menstrual hygiene education program makes me incredibly happy. I love using quilt leftovers for these purses as well as some terrific feature fabrics. I have 19 here that I'm about to ship. I have three more started on my design wall and hope to add those to this shipment.
Of course I love my studio - that's a given. But what I really love are my work tables. They are on casters so I can reconfigure the room at whim. And the storage under the tables helps me keep things organized and within reach. Each table is 35" x 60". I paid a small fortune to have them deconstructed from the LaGrange studio where they were built and then rebuilt here - worth every penny.
I am fully aware of how geeky what I'm about to say next is: new purse/bag patterns make me very happy. VERY HAPPY. This pattern is Bohemian Carpet Bag by Sew Liberated. There is a metal frame that allows the bag to open completely. See the second picture. While I love the grey one, I especially love the other two, both made with fabrics by Seth Apter. With the grey and the greenish one, I used cork for the corner parts. With the grey one, I used a suede-ish sort of fabric for the straps. The beauty of the pattern is that it's simple. The hardest part of all these of these projects was taking apart the metal frame and then reinserting the pins that hold the frame together. A pair of pliers and a hammer were needed. And I love the results!
I could go on and on about what's making me happy. What I have here is not the entirety. But its a start. This quilt below has made me very happy and it still does every night as I hand-quilt it. I've been at this one for about a month and will happily spend another month of 6 weeks to finish it. Who is it for? I don't know. Someone at some point will claim it.
Life is a mystery. My brother Doug didn't make his 60th birthday. And here I am 75, and John 85. Today, right now, I am happy and healthy and productive. And so thankful.