Back Home Again!

My two weeks away were a wonderful experience seeing some family and friends. I learned a lot while I was back in the Midwest, and one thing that came to me was about transparency. Transparency meaning authenticity. This is something I want to cultivate in myself, in my life, and in fact, all aspects of my life including this blog. More about that to come.

Of course I stopped at a local fabric store and bought this amazing piece by Hoffman called "Woodsy Winter" with complementary pieces for borders, charm squares and binding. (Scarlet-Silver, and Silver Ice Dots. The wood slices fabric didn't have a pattern name.)

It will be a quilt I make for myself because of both the Cardinals flying on it and the birch trees...both of which I love and are so Minnesota. There are still travel wrinkles on the main piece and I might not get to it right away, but just love the look. The shop clerk was just pulling the packing wrappers from it. The piece is a vertical pattern and I would HATE to fussy cut it so have a pattern that will work perfectly. 

Also waiting in the mail were two of the June Swaps. This first one is my 12" Christmas block swap from Rev. Traci in NC who made these two lovely Card Trick Blocks. My friend Rex sent me a link from You Tube Quilt as you Go that I think I will use for this quilt that has so many styles for each of the blocks. 

My other swap was from Rina who is in MO and was not feeling well the last few weeks. She sent a dear family member/friend out shopping for her and also made the little pic for getting into the corners a quilter / seamstress needs to turn. What a treasure of fabrics! And I know I will use everything she sent.

Home. It felt good to sleep in my own bed last night and to wake up to coffee in a familiar cup and watch birds at my familiar bird feeder. I've tossed clothes into the washer, and am soon going out into the gardens to see what changed while I was gone those two weeks.

Getting back to the transparency. Its something I wanted for myself some time now but held off because of this reason or that. All those excuses or reasons are gone now, and its just me left at the keyboard. I wonder if I need to start a new blog or if I can let it flow into this one. When I started this blog it was meant to record my quilting projects and process, with only the hint of deep.

Deep is who I am. Quilting is one of the ways I express that deep. Writing and storytelling are other ways. I need to think about it and see what happens.

The feature on this blog (that I set up) lets a reader comment to me from the sidebar or the check boxes at the bottom. If you read it another way, you might not see those options and find others that work too. However, feel free to e-mail if you have comments or ideas, knowing that it will come to me for my eyes only and not go public. I didn't mean to have my blog become a dialogue but know that part of communication is chatting and sharing opinions. If folks email and ask for something more, I may have to reconsider the set up and see how I can make it work. If no one connects with me, then it will simply work as is.

Blogs have taken on various faces over the years, and have different reasons for being. I am going to work on the intention I have for mine, and want to simply say that its not a journal or diary as such. It is or can be a stepping stone for anyone who reads it to measure their own deep.

I need a place to express my deep, and this is the place I am choosing for now.