I Like Thursday: Contras, Quilts and Cheese

For this week's I Like Thursday I'm going to kick off with the latest addition to the neighborhood.  This guy appeared in my neighbor's yard yesterday - he must be five feet tall.  Quite striking!

NEFFA!  The New England Folk Festival.  I've written about this in the past: a weekend filled with music and dancing.  This year, alas, I only got there on Sunday.  It was a challenge finding a balance between catching up with people I hadn't seen in years and dancing as much as possible.  One day was not nearly enough (although my pedometer claimed I did 12 miles of dancing).  Next year I'll attend more of it.

Since I didn't attend NEFFA on Saturday, I attended the Hands All Around quilt show in Amherst with my sister.  So many amazing quilts.  I'm only showing a few photos of the beautiful items.

I Like Thursday: A Paddle, Some Honey, and Good China

Welcome to this week's post.  These seem to be my only posts lately - not much on the sewing/guinea pig front.  On the other hand, I've snagged a bit of restful, quiet time.  I'll roll with that until I get creative again.

I kayaked on Friday!  Couldn't let the warm weather go by without a paddle.  No one was parked at the entrance, but I came across a trio of paddleboarders on the water.  Otherwise I had the pond to myself. 

Kayaking is calming.  I don't know if it's the water, the view, or the rhythm of the paddling, but I have a better mindset when I'm done.

I Like Thursday: Artistic Eggs

Our neighbors invited us over on Friday afternoon to make Ukrainian eggs.  My sister came with me.  There were six of us, engrossed in eggs, wax and dye.  What fun!  I haven't done this in a long, long time, but the process came back pretty quickly.  I got to know my neighbors better, which was lovely, too!  The smell of the beeswax lingered all evening bringing back good memories.

I Like Thursday: Easter and Quilt Prep

I picked up some daffodils last week.  They fit nicely in this cute little vase I picked up a few years ago.  A little sunlight, a little green and yellow - it makes me happy!

I've spent the last few days working on Easter candy, a little at a time.  Candy centers.  Almond buttercrunch.  I'm still working solo, so I'm doing small batches and experimenting.  Last year's coffee buttercreams were good, so I'm trying it again  year.  I intended to make chai buttercreams, but instead I added some chai spice to some of the cookie dough truffles.  I'll be curious how they taste.

I Like Thursday: Little Bits and Pieces

Quick post this week to share with I Like Thursday.  Work has been busy.  Managed to get a bit of work done in the yard.  Pulled fabric and have been researching a quilt (I think I finally picked a pattern).  Working on my crumb blocks.  Once I go through them, I'll move onto strings and selvedge blocks.  And then onto my next baby quilt.

I Like Thursday: Thaw

We've gone from winter to spring all within a week.  I squeezed in some cross country skiing.  Thursday morning I explored some of Upham Road at the top of my road.  It was a nice climb, but too icy to ski down.  I had to pop off the skis and walk down.

Mandala

Mandala is finished, bound and labeled!  I had a beautiful sunny day for photographs in between snow storms.  It's just taken me a while to write this blog post.

Project Quilting 14.6: Broken Dishes Cover

The last of this season's Project Quilting challenges was an odd one:  Conquer a Fear. Quilting fear?  Personal fear?  How do I represent that?  And what do I fear?

I dismissed most of the sewing/quilting fears... almost all those are just something I haven't gotten around to trying yet.  Personal fears?  I have some strong dislikes (like making phone calls to people I don't know).  But what causes me the most anxiety is around What if I couldn't....  I've had some illnesses that have made me too weak or painful to do basic things, like climb stairs or go shopping (let alone go dancing).  Made my brain too fuzzy to do my work.  I've been lucky - my worst problems have cleared up in months or maybe years.  But a few never got a real diagnosis, so they could return.  What if I couldn't dance any more?  What if I can't sew?  or do yoga?  can't eat real food?  have a heart attack?

My fear is becoming broken.  

How the hell do I quilt that?