Chaos, Cranes, and Campfires

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Beth Markel

With the temporary shift is sewing rooms, it’s been something of a challenge to get this next strip of ‘Chaos’ done. Three more strips to complete! The strip column on the far right is just pinned in 7 blocks. It was a dig-deep couple of weeks, not just with the basement drying out from the flood, but because I would be working in cleaning off all of the shelves that have to be moved and suddenly come across something else ruined by water. Cleaning is kind of a drag, but sewing is therapy!

As I began to look over the whole of what is complete so far, I wondered if I was still using a wide enough variety of my scraps. I have used a lot of smaller pieces that were socked away in bins, but I think there’s more variety when I first started than now. Here is the comparison to one year ago when this first seemed like a good idea.

It’s been just over 2 months since the basement and my studio flooded, but it feels like a long process before it will be back to “normal” at my house – sometime after Christmas. While I like sewing on the dining room table, I’m easily distracted by what is outside. We live a stone’s throw from a huge metro park, and every year we have Sandhill cranes that nest in our neighborhood. They wandered into our yard one day this past week, likely getting ready to migrate south. If you have never heard them talking to each other…they sound what Pterodactyls must have sounded like. It’s also a little hard to tell, but they are huge birds, standing about 4′ – 5′ tall.

After taking Rosalie Dace’s last workshop, I have started a series of small quilts. The impetus was partly as a reprieve from making 3/4″ finished blocks, but also looking at utilizing some of the many leftovers from other projects. I cranked some Myles Davis, Dave Koz, Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays, and just put blocks together. No plan whatsoever, just working improv with my new earbuds cranked.

And to the campfire…first one tonight if it doesn’t rain!

Make something beautiful today, whether it’s a quilt or a pumpkin cheesecake…

Cheers,

Beth

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