Keeping Busy

For the past six weeks or so I have been occupied with a knitting project, four sweaters for our youngest four grandsons. Yesterday I finished the final sweater for Peter, he was very pleased with it. What a great smile Sweet Pete has! The other sweaters are pictured in an earlier post.

I enjoy knitting, it is handiwork that is portable, somewhat mindless unless at a tricky bit in a pattern, and satisfying as a project is completed. I think knitting teaches me patience, it is a calming activity.

I am now ready for a new project, one that does not involve knitting. Last April I popped down to Florida for a couple of days to visit my parents. While there my mother, who discovered the joys of quilting several years ago, gave me the quilt top pictured below for me to finish.  I will purchase a light green print fabric for the backing, a yellow fabric, solid or patterned for the binding, and batting for the middle. Once I have put the quilt together I will hand quilt.

Quilt top on the bed in our spare room, my childhood teddy bear Andrew, and Puppy Love keep a loving eye on it.

I find hand quilting to be very relaxing. I can work on the quilt most days, quilt for ten minutes or a few hours. I enjoy seeing my progress. I like to work out the quilting pattern, will I do straight lines, curves, shapes, what will I do in the borders, what color thread will I use, it is a creative process, one I enjoy, and one that I find meditative. Often when I am making a quilt for a specific person, they are in my mind as I hand quilt their quilt and I find myself offering up prayer for them, I like this aspect of quilting.

It is good to have things to do in the winter, and this month our weather has been atrocious, limiting outdoor activities. First we had snow, then extreme sub-zero temperatures, followed by a week of fairly nice weather. Then snow, then an overnight ice-storm, thankfully the ice melted the following day as there was a heavy coating on everything. The ice-storm caused a tree to fall on the power lines leaving our area without power for six or so hours, the house stayed warm enough but was getting quite chilly by the time the power did come on. Then in the evening the wind started, we were under a wind advisory all night, strong winds buffeted our house with gusts to forty-five miles per hour. Thank heavens the ice coating had melted or a lot of trees would have been damaged. It was a noisy night, and this morning it is still very blustery with snow. Oh, how we all are looking forward to spring.

How is it in your corner of the world?

Namaste,

Bean