A Creative Challenge; Thoughts on Losing Pets and Thoughts on Kids

 Hello Everyone,

Thank you for all your kind words yesterday about the loss of my dog, Piper.  I really appreciate them.  I have something more to say about that, but first a bit of quilty news.

You might remember that I said I have set a goal for myself to something that was not from a pattern.  And that I wanted to develop my creativity a bit.  And that I wanted to work through Jean Wells' book Intuitive Color and Design.

I have never been all that into "art" quilting, but I was really intrigued by all the stuff Lynn, Alamosa Quilter, was doing with her quilt group as they worked through the exercises in this book.  Here is just one example of what she's done.  So, I bought the book.  I hadn't done anything in the book, however.  I felt intimidated by it all.  So, I decided to kick myself in the butt and set a goal to do it.  When I posted that goal earlier this month, Lynn was kind enough to offer to work through the exercises in the book with me.  She said she really enjoyed them and would like to try them again.  This meant a lot to me.  I thought having Lynn there to guide me and give me advice would be just great.

We decided to pick one exercise a month and work on it that month, with a goal of doing a blog post about it around the first of each month.  We want to keep it sort of low key and not stressful, so we may get off a little on our timeline.  Bear with us.  If anyone else wants to join us, grab a copy of the book and feel free to join in!  We'd love to see photos of other people's work!

We are starting with this first exercise, Intuitive Angle Piecing.  Like I said, not many rules.  Just complete the assignment and post about it.  We're working small....shooting for a piece about 15"x18".  Doesn't have to be quilted or bound (but can be if we want to).  Could be just a piece we make and put in our sketchbooks.  So, in a couple of weeks, we'll show you what we did.  (I just started on mine this weekend.) 

Postscript:  I was just surfing over at Oh, Fransson!, and she has a fabulous example of intuitive angle piecing today.  She's working on a new quilt using very similar strategies.  Go check it out.  You'll love it!

After we decided to do this, Lynn e-mailed me and said she was going to send me some of her Kona solids scraps to get me started.  I've been oohhing and ahhhing over her work with the Kona solids, and I've never done much work with solids before.  I don't have may solids, except for the jelly rolls I got to work on that UFO of mine.  I thought it was so nice of her to share her scraps with me to get me going.  They came the other day:

Here they are.  I was pretty excited about this.  She issued a further challenge to me:  Use only these scraps of fabrics to complete my first exercise.  Now, that's fun!  That gives me a little more of a challenge (in some ways, it actually has helped provide me direction by limiting my choices--more on that later).  Thanks, Lynn, for really pushing me!

Also, as a surprise for me, Lynn had enclosed this thread catcher.  I remembered when she had posted about these earlier (here and here), and I had expressed interest in them.  I was hand sewing the other night and thought, "I really need a thread catcher out here in the family room when I sew," and I had resolved to make one with a pincushion on it for keeping pins and that I could rest on the arm of the couch (or on the coffee table).  But with this little surprise, I don't have to now!  How sweet of you, Lynn.  Thank you so much!

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As I told you yesterday, I lost my beloved little pooch, Piper.  Today, I still feel a bit weary.

I posted a link to my blog on my Facebook page so that some of my friends and family who knew Piper well would be informed.  A certain colleague who lives half-way across the country saw my post about Piper.  He sent me the most thoughtful and sweet note.  I have never heard anyone put into words so well what pets mean to me.  I thought you might enjoy reading what he said:

I'm so sorry to hear about Piper. It's the profound innocence of our pets that gets to us and makes their loss so poignant. Never a moment of doubt in their minds that the world we provide for them is the best of all possible worlds and that we are the best people in it. So happy to see us, no matter how petulant and unworthy we are. It is tragic that such innocence should ever leave this world.

Isn't that just the truth?  I thought that was an extremely thoughtful note to send me.  And it said everything so well.

Sweet Pea handled it pretty well.  We've been trying to prepare her for this for a while, as we could tell Piper was showing her age. I was impressed with how maturely she dealt with it.  I think it upset her most to see me cry about it.

On the up side, she came home from school with some worksheets yesterday, most of which were about Martin Luther King, Jr.  On one, she had to fill in some blanks.  One question said:

"Martin Luther King Jr. gave speeches to many people.  He bceame a famous American [leader]."  Sweet Pea filled in the blank with "leader."

After a couple more of those, at the bottom of the sheet, there was a box that said "Martin Luther King Jr. was an American leader.  People worked with him and helped him.  Name another person who is a leader."

You know what Sweet Pea wrote?

Mom.

Okay, my heart just melted.  Isn't that sweet?  At least that helped to cheer me up yesterday.

Thanks again for all your kindness.  I hope you'll join in the fun with me and Lynn.  You all are such inspiration to me!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[carolld]

I love art quilts and am so anxious to see what you are doing. Thanks for the links, too. I'm going to try one of those "free" blocks. You will love that thread catcher. Best money I ever spent! Sweat Pea is so cute. I told you that you were a good mom!

[Cathy Buel]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.

[Shelly]

Good luck with your assignment. You will undoubtedly learn a lot. That's one reason I joined the 15 Minutes Play blog and bee. It gives you "permission" to do something you wouldn't normally, and discover things you might not otherwise. Have fun with it! Oh, and I love the note your friend sent you about pets. It hits the nail right on the head. My Cowboy and I were just talking about our indoor male cat, Dan, this morning. I said: "He's as happy as can be, and has no clue what his life might otherwise have been like." (We saved him from certain death outdoors.) Gotta love em.

[Lynn]

I just read the Oh, Fransson! post for today and immediately thought of you too. I love how she mixes print and solid fabrics. You have to have a really good solid stash to be able to do that successfully though, in my opinion. Ideas are still percolating for my project this month.

The note your friend sent about pets resonates with me too. Thanks for sharing!

[Terri]

Rock on, Sweet Pea! Such a good judge of character!

[Deb]

Oh no, I haven't been checking my computer over the long weekend and just saw your post about Piper. I'm so sorry to hear that, my heart goes out to you, it's so tough to lose a part of the family and the post from your friend says it so well.

I applaud your efforts to improve your creativity - I need to do the same! I get stuck looking at all the beautiful things that others have already done and really need to stop copying and start creating!

[Erika P]

Your blog today really hit home. I'm so sorry for your loss and truly feel your pain as we suddenly had to put my beloved cat down last night. Isn't it amazing how much they touch our lives and how empty it feels without them around. The comment from one of your readers really touched me and is one that I've read over and over today. Thank you.

[Linda in Calif.]

I'm so sorry to hear about Piper. Even though you try to prepare - it's still tough to handle. I'm glad Sweet Pea is taking it well. I bet your collie misses Piper too.

Your dad is so funny about getting another dog, and the e-mail he sent out. Another puppy doesn't take the place - but they sure add happiness to the family.

Your doodle assignments seems to be going good. Good for you to be working on them already. Have fun with the quilty project. It's nice that you are doing one each month and letting others join in.

[Linda]

These quilts and way of design are so striking. I love the bold solid colors.

Again I am so sorry about the loss of Piper.

[Allie]

Wow I got that book last year, with the intent of working through it - perhaps I should join you! How very, very thoughtful of Lynn to send you some solids and that wonderful thread catcher.
I love what your friend wrote. He nailed it exactly. The innocence and trust and unconditional love of our pets is what breaks our hearts in losing them.

Sweet Pea should get some cookies after school tomorrow - home-baked - fresh from the oven, lol. What a darling!

[bedroom furniture]

great man :D