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My Winter Project

November 29, 2012 at 9:17 am by Claudia

I’ve been measuring and planning for my big Winter Project.

This quilt top, assembled 3 years ago when I was working in San Diego for an extended period of time, needs to be transformed into an honest to goodness quilt for our bed.

My grandmother was a quilter. She spent hours making quilt tops from scraps with beautiful hand applique. Then she would spend the winter sitting in her rocking chair, hand quilting her beautiful work. I seem to remember that it was one quilt a winter, but I may be wrong. There were four of us kids and we each had more than one of her quilts. So did my parents. We still use one of my childhood bed quilts here at the cottage. It’s a heavy weight and perfect for napping in the chillier winter months.

So, though I vowed I would have my next quilt machine quilted, I am going to bite the bullet and hand quilt this one.

The truth is, I like hand quilting. I love the rhythm of it. I love knowing that every stitch on that quilt top is mine. There is a distinct difference between the look of a hand quilted piece and a machine quilted piece and I prefer the hand quilted look. And the end result is all mine – for better or worse.

I suppose if I was churning out a lot of quilt tops, I would be sending them off to be machine quilted because there’s only so much time in a day! But one top? I can handle that. And before you suggest it, I don’t particularly like hand tying a quilt – it seems to me that after all the work involved in assembling a quilt top, it should be finished in a stitched design – even if it’s a grid. (Which I think I might do with this one.) So stitches it is.

I have to find a backing fabric that I like and some batting. That’s next on the list. Then the whole thing will be basted together and my hoops will come out.

I’m looking forward to it.

By the way, my blogroll is still here, if you are a reader who likes to use it. It’s now a link up in the navigation bar.

Happy Thursday.

Music Hath Charms…

November 28, 2012 at 9:07 am by Claudia

As someone who is very musical – I play the piano, I have sung professionally onstage and off – I sometimes find myself missing music. Since I seem to like quiet more and more as I get older, I often work in a fairly silent atmosphere (save for the sound of traffic outside my window and Scout breathing heavily as she sleeps.) The sound on my laptop is muted. I don’t like being greeted by music when I click on a blog because it is usually not my taste and I find the sudden intrusion of someone else’s choice of music jarring. All this is to say I like quiet.

But I love music. And sometimes, in the midst of stress and worry and things to do and errands to run and bills to pay, I realize that I haven’t been listening to my favorite music lately. And that ain’t good. So I get out my earbuds and listen to my playlist, either on my iPhone or laptop.

And I feel better.

Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage Breast – William Congreve

It does, indeed. Why do I forget to treat myself to music’s restorative powers? Does that ever happen to you, my friends?

iTunes has a category that lists the “Top 25 Most Played.” I thought I’d share 20 of them with you.

Some of these you may be familiar with, others may be new to you. At the very least, it shows that I like a bit of everything.

A few notes: (1) the version of Both Sides Now I am referencing is the newest version, which you can find on YouTube. It is simply breathtaking. An older, wiser Mitchell who has lived a long life since she first recorded this song, sings from her gut in her now husky, cigarette-smoky voice. I cannot listen to this without crying. (2) Nancy LaMott was a cabaret singer who had one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard – crystal clear, beautifully nuanced. She died much too young from cancer at the age of 43. This particular version of Out of This World by Harold Arlen and So in Love by Cole Porter is stunningly beautiful. Here is a live version of her singing this at the Algonquin. (3) Yes, that Don Sparks. My husband. This is my favorite of all the wonderful songs he’s written. Here’s his ReverbNation website and if you scroll down the list of songs (all worth listening to) you’ll see I’d Sing You. It makes me swoon. While you’re there, check out Dreams (written about my parents), I’ve Got a Love, Don’t Tell Me Heart and Say It Twice.

What music is on your ‘playlist’ – whether it is online, on your CD player, or your iPod? What changes your mood, what gives you peace or joy? What do you find yourself playing most often?

One other note: Singer Fiona Apple just wrote a letter to her fans explaining her reason for postponing the South American part of her tour. She wants to stay home with her beloved dog, who is dying. This is one beautiful letter.

Happy Wednesday.

Adding A Dash Of The Unexpected In Your Home

November 27, 2012 at 9:25 am by Claudia

Not long after Don and I moved into the cottage, we went to a local auction. We saw this:

A wonderfully vintage and battered display rack for, of all things, chains. Both of us are drawn to things with interesting graphics and a touch of the industrial.

This large piece had graphics, all right. We looked at each other and bid on it. Why? Who knows. No one else was bidding on it with any degree of enthusiasm. We had no idea what the heck we would do with it. It was one of those moments where we threw caution to the winds. We got it for $20.

Immediately, my mind started whirring. What could we do with it? We had to do something.

I call my decorating style Christmas in Connecticut for a reason. I like vintage, eclectic, overstuffed and cozy, just like the furnishings in all those wonderful old 1940s-era movies. But, to be perfectly accurate, it is Christmas in Connecticut – with a dash of funky.

I like surprises in my home. The unexpected. I want visitors to think they’ve figured it all out and then discover something totally offbeat.

I had an idea. I trotted off to the store, bought a length of wooden dowel. I measured. I cut. Couldn’t have been simpler, really.

Then I added these:

And we had our funky paper towel holder.

Here it is in the kitchen. Now, I understand it is not everyone’s cup of tea. But we like it a lot. And we use it all the time.

These two photos show it in the context of the whole kitchen. I love the contrast between the cream colored table, the wooden chairs, the white of the hutch, red shades, doily swag lamp and the metal/industrial look of the paper towel holder.

It’s a surprise. A cozy cottage kitchen with a sudden dash of hard-edged/metal/industrial. And, I don’t know about you, but I love a happy surprise. I like to be kept on my toes.

Have you added a dash of the unexpected in your home?

Happy Tuesday.

My Winter Project

Music Hath Charms…

Adding A Dash Of The Unexpected In Your Home

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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