Anna Scott Graham's Blog, page 26

Home again

The photo above was snapped as my hubby and I entered the San Francisco Bay Area, such a lovely weekend spent with family, celebrating Christmas. Suddenly all that hustle and bustle is over; we're back in Humboldt County, where rain fell this morning, high winds experienced, but no loss of power. I've spent today doing laundry, catching up on Christmas cards delivered in our absence, also sewing together a quilt back. Small steps in returning myself to the routine and maybe tomorrow I'll incorporate some editing, woo hoo!

The end of the year is nigh, hard to believe 2023 is nearly done. I filled in a second paper calendar this afternoon, which will hang in my office. In reading over letters enclosed in holiday cards, I caught up with several families, lives busy with various activities. Now back at home, I inhale the familiar and embrace tasks basically forgotten while I was away. Granddaughters have a way of doing that, hehehe. I read many books, played board games, did art projects, baking special treats, taking walks.... It was a welcome break from what I usually do and my husband said the same, stirring up the monotony of our typical habits.

Not that I am weary of writing or sewing, merely appreciative of shaking up the status quo. Perhaps the end of the year brings a need for change, days dark and brief aching to lengthen and brighten. I have a couple of quilts on tap for immediate attention, which first means fabrics to cut, lol. Books also fill my head, manuscripts to read through and revise as well as an idea requiring much consideration before I start writing again.

Yet for as much as I love the things I do (and do the things I love), time for reflection is so necessary. Time with beloveds, away from all that is familiar. Yeah I ate a lot of gluten and lactose, but my shoulder felt better and I slept pretty well. I read a memoir and some poetry amid all the children's literature, always good for expanding my breadth as a reader, which enhances my writing. I don't know what 2024 will bring, but I'm ready for it!

Colours bright and beautiful

A new quilt top, especially one so vibrant and spacious, makes me giddy! Mostly made from Anna Maria Horner's Fluent collection, it's splashy and busy and makes me want to sew more quilts with large prints. I have heaps of four and a half inch wide strips tucked away, might cut some of them to seven and a half inches in length and see what comes of them.

Christmas is almost here, another reason for joy! We'll be away, spending time with our eldest daughter and her family. I'll be pondering the purpose for the season, as well as reveling in familial thrills; my granddaughters and I will make white chocolate candy this weekend, a family fave since their mum was four years old and in preschool. Her teacher, Ms. Lilly, gave us the recipe, and here it is, easy to make and better to eat!

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1.5 cups Peanut Butter Crunch cereal

1.5 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1.5 cups mini marshmallows

1.5 cups (or ten ounces) salted mixed nuts

1-1.25 pounds of white candy bark

Line three or four baking sheets with wax paper. In a large bowl combine first four ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl, melt white candy bark according to package directions. Pour melted candy over combined ingredients, stirring to coat all bits. Drop candy by clumps onto wax paper and let harden. Store in an airtight container or storage bags. Makes about three quarts.

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Wishing you all a marvelous, peaceful weekend and a most happy Christmas Day!

Quilt and novel finishes

For my youngest granddaughter, with special thanks to my better half for his participation in the photography department.

Wow, what a couple of writing months it has been! Quilting excursions too, but writing is far more draining, probably because I don't make super-futzy quilts lol. Okay, EPP quilts are pretty involved, but their pace is so much slower than a novel, I don't feel the truly overwhelming sense of AHHHHHH that a book's completion provides. But with the last two quilts of 2023 washed, dried, and gift-wrapped in addition to THE END being ethereally slapped onto my Word document, my goodness I'm feeling....

Um, how do I feel? Well, my right shoulder is bothering me, so I'm not doing any hand-sewing at the moment. I'm pretty full, as we went out for a celebratory breakfast this morning after I finished my novel, and I'm in a chatty blogging mood, although my thoughts are kinda scattered. This book ended up pretty long-ish, currently at 137K. That's a hefty first draft, and I have no immediate idea when I'll open it up again for a second look. Probably not until after Christmas, in that I don't want to start the read-through, then go away for a few days. Better to let it sit in my hard drive for awhile, allowing the noveling fairies to work their magic, haha. Future Me rolls her eyes, but Past Me smiles widely. She's in a jovial mood, Christmas less than a week away.

She's excited to share quilts with the granddaughters, as they chose the fabric over summer, and they don't know the quilts are done, hehehe. Past Me is far more hyped for the holiday than Present Me, while Future Me shows little regard for all the fanfare, preferring to quietly contemplate whatever it is that Future Me finds so engrossing. She knew I'd write books one day, she was aware of the whole sewing gig, as well as who would be dwelling on another plane at this moment in time. I don't need her level of awareness; I'm grateful just to be done with my book today.

I really am thankful, in that my goodness I was ready to wrap up this novel! It's been coming for a few days, and I didn't write yesterday with the knowledge that perhaps today would end the tale. Which it did, great! Sort of strange to not write with only one chapter remaining, although I wasn't one hundred percent certain of that, but I was eighty percent sure. Okay, eighty-five. That's pretty dang certain, let me say, and tomorrow morning I can wake up and not think, "What will happen to my cast now?"

(But I might start to ponder the next installment of this series, lol. And is Future Me smirking from her quiet corner of the room? I think so!)

For our eldest grandgirl; what will she think of all the Pikchus?

As for the quilts.... I think they're adorable, Pikachu included. No hand-quilting on these, but plenty of machine quilting so they will be durable for a long time. Lots of simple four-inch square patchwork, a couple of prints shared between them for they are sister cozies and will probably be swapped by my grandgirls over time.

Goodness, is it really just Tuesday? I feel like it's Thursday at the very least. But that's a blessing among many, in that now the rest of the week is free for....starting another quilt! But not another book, lol. Yes, I have another quilt on the design wall, pictures of it soon. Since I'm not hand-sewing in the evenings as my shoulder mends, I needed something to keep me busy. Large rectangles will make for a quick finish, well a fast quilt-top completion. I don't plan to actually wrap up this blanket until early next year, but that's fine. The usual maddening hustle and bustle has kept itself to a minimum this Advent season and I have reveled in being able to breathe without deadlines hampering every step. I need to remember this next fall, perhaps I'll set a reminder to make certain I don't extend myself as I used to. Past Me stops smiling, giving me a look that says, "What's gives huh?"

I smirk back: "You'll know soon enough."

Meanwhile Future Me giggles uncontrollably in the corner....

Following one's heart

Fascinating from the back, as though a map to an unknown destination.

It was an early start today, half a chapter written, then texting with my youngest daughter and enjoying photos of her sunrise a few hours east of us. I woke to clear, starry skies, but clouds have since moved in, rain forecast for the next few days. Maybe in a few days I'll have completed my novel; it's VERY CLOSE to being done, but I said that in a recent post, The End dangling like a carrot merely an arm's length away.

Meanwhile I've been stitching together Cornflower blocks each evening. The photo above was snapped last night, what I see as I sew. MANY papers to remove, but I'll deal with that later, lol.

I'm also working on another quilt, hehehe, more about that in a day or two. And the last ones for this year are washed and waiting to be given to my granddaughters on Christmas, which is just a little over a week away!

I considered today's title right after reading through the seventeen hundred words written over an hour ago. As I began this morning's chapter, my thoughts were a little scattered, but I didn't overthink what was streaming from my brain onto the document. I merely hoped it made sense, in part for having gotten up after only five hours of sleep, and for tackling a somber incident within the novel. But I've been at this long enough to just follow the muse, not fretting the outcome. And upon reading over those words, I was pretty pleased with said outcome, half a chapter left to write after I eat some breakfast.

Much about this time of year is hedged by plans; with whom to celebrate the holidays, what to buy as gifts and for stocking the fridge if parties are scheduled. There is so much to consider, as though December is one long bash with the occasional moment to snatch some sleep just to keep up with all that seems important according to culture, social media, advertising agencies, etc. However those external elements need to be silenced because outwardly December is merely another month in the calendar, and inwardly depending on one's personal beliefs it carries far deeper meanings than online retailers and typical expectations can temper. I'm ready, well almost, for Christmas in the prep stage. We're celebrating the holiday with our eldest daughter, so other than traveling, I don't need to worry about doing more than spending time with the grandgirls, their folks, my beloved, and whoever else graces their home.

But the inward reflections are more important, although time for musings seems squeezed, yet I'm trying to rectify that, and maybe I'm doing okay. Usually I'm pushing to finish Christmas sewing, but the quilts are done, hurray! I mailed the last packages on Friday, a big win. We brought over two wheelbarrows of firewood so we're not having to gather it in the impending rain. The typical sense of rush rush rush is absent this year, and I am very grateful for the calm. It's a little strange, I admit, but definitely necessary.

Maybe that calm has permeated my noveling efforts; the book will end when it does, and that's fine too. Futzing around with a new quilt is merely to keep myself active. Maybe I'm subconsciously coming to terms with growing older and not having the energy to do a million things all at once like when I was younger, ahem. Past Me and Future Me are conspicuously silent on this, and that's fine. All I know is that today is a week out from Christmas Eve and other than wrapping up a novel, little else feels pressing. I'll light an extra Advent candle tonight, a pink candle symbolizing joy, how totally apt for all that waits. Recognizing and embracing life's joys is imperative, despite all that seems dismal and insurmountable. Maybe we need to be reminded how vital are our lives without the trappings of commerce and expectation.

We are here to love and care for each other. May this week bring you these gifts, and the opportunity to share them!

Truth be told

Truthfully this peanut butter cup was my dessert this evening.

The end of my novel is starting to coalesce in the prepping of the last big showdown. Will this character do the right thing or won't they.... Or for this author, more is the query: How will said character react to an unbelievable truth?

Some realities are easier to acknowledge than others. Part of writing this story is juxtaposing what seems possible with what is wholly improbable. Love smooths the way for skeptical minds, so does faith. At this Christmas time of year, faith is preeminent alongside a fable that appeals especially to children, but carries far into our culture regardless of faith or skepticism. Jesus and Santa fill hearts and minds in December, but I skipped over Christmas in my book, already enough to consider.

Fiction is a flexible thing; truth can be bent, broken, put back together. Truth is fluid, or it's the steel backbone supporting the entire plot. Truth between my characters has become a breaking point, also a manner to reunite. I didn't mean for this novel to end in this exact manner, but a surprise character introduced early on has become an anchor, while another character had been larger in my mind than in the current story. The truth of this tale is that love matters more than the differences which divide people. And that a human being is a human being is a human being. Even if they possess an alternate viewpoint from the majority. Or come from a different planet. 

Editing on the fly

Rows of straight-line quilting, oh yeah!

Hopping back into my novel has taken a couple of days. The chapter I wrote yesterday ended on quite a revelation that I wasn't quire prepared emotionally or backstorily within said chapter to reveal, ahem. Yet the word count is pushing 120K, whoa! And while it's a first draft, I didn't initially envision this tale to get much beyond the 120sK, although it's fine that it will, and boy let me tell you, it will. How much it will is yet to be determined, but if today's chapter is any indication, there's not much left of this yarn to spin.

Which is GREAT because 1) The end of the year is nigh. 2) I'm ready for an extended writing break. 3) We're going away for the Christmas weekend and I'd LOVE to be done with this book before that. 4) Um, all of those combined lol!

Of course, as my dad often said, you can want in one hand and cry in the other and see which gets full the fastest. Oh my goodness, I was a young teenager before I truly understood that homily! Tears won't be necessary, because if I don't wrap up this book next week or the week after, it's not going anywhere. I'll keep plugging away until IT IS DONE, hah! Today was a good example of flexibility. I knew yesterday after the post-writing read-through that some editing would occur before I added another chapter. I had a busy morning scheduled for today, but enough time emerged for a couple of new scenes and a couple of paragraphs excised. (I spent the morning making a big pot of sausage and green bean soup and I won't need to cook until maybe Friday!) After lunch I wrapped up the day's rewrite, pleased for how the chapter now flows. Then I started machine quilting what will be the last sewing project of the year, WOO HOO! Yet still on my mind was that altered chapter, and how even in a first draft there is time to rearrange the plot's direction.

Are there rules to writing? I suppose; sentences usually end with punctuation, paragraphs are normally indented, dialogue set off by quotation marks of some sort. Yet writing is also a whimsical journey into one's psyche and heart where regulations don't apply. The soul cannot be restricted, nor can the story from which it springs. I'm grateful to have enough noveling experience to take a day to regroup characters that suddenly got way too far ahead of where I wanted them to be. Sometimes the cast makes the big decisions, and that's okay because ultimately this author controls the delete button, heh heh heh. Today was one of those days, no idea what tomorrow will bring (other than maybe completing the machine quilting, lol).

Wait, one more

Looking at this again, I may overhaul the entire thing. Lol.

Isn't that often the way, in quilts or novels; the end appears on the horizon, a joyful swell of anticipation and relief that said project is ALMOST DONE. Almost is a word fraught with uncertainty, because until something IS DONE, it's not finished. This is what I thought days ago after completing the forty-second block of my quilt. Number forty-three is nearly wrapped up, and here's its little tale.

I had laid out the blocks, as pictured above, but one was missing. Literally moments before snapping that shot I had four spots left and four blocks in my hand. Then suddenly one had slipped away! Frantically we looked around, and for twenty minutes I was convinced another block would need to be stitched. Fortunately I had eight extra squares, an idea for the inner petals, and the assuredness something appropriate would turn up for the center octagon. Picking up all forty-one blocks, I stacked them in order of rows, deflated to think about basting shapes, then sewing another block together.  However, as I stalked past the sofa, there was the errant block, blending into the quilt underneath it, draped over the back of the couch. Okay, I though, then grimaced, wondering if the missing block would fit where I had left a place for it, although I couldn't immediately lay it on the floor to check. I pulled out my phone, examined the photo, then sighed. Too many adjacent blocks with low volume squares would require me to rearrange the blocks, but if I used the extra squares and made a new block.... Voila! I could employ the errant block on the back, use up those spare squares, and we could all live happily ever after!

New block! A mashup of collections, but this is a scrappy quilt, hehehe.

After our guests left yesterday morning, I cut fabric for the new block, then spent much of the rest of the day stitching. I'll probably finish it tomorrow, as I still need to cut fabric for the outer diamonds (as well as scrounge up eight more diamonds, lol). Then will begin the slow process of sewing blocks together, basting more squares (didn't I just write all about this procedure?), sewing those squares onto the rows.... Funny how some quilts (and books) JUST DON'T WANT TO LET GO OF THEIR CREATORS, AHEM. Yeah, occasionally a project wraps its arms around (and teeth into) us, unwilling to be cut loose. And at times these needy projects aren't ones that drive us (or me) to distraction, but those I love, ones I have savored, projects that have given my soul such pleasure that perhaps subconsciously I'm not ready to cut the cord. Did I really need to sew one more Cornflower block? Couldn't I have immediately displayed all the blocks again, refitting that missing one into a better slot? Yeah, I could have. But something about these blue squares demanded inclusion. I acquiesced, and in a few days maybe I'll proffer another shot of said layout. In the meantime, I have hand-stitching to sort, a lap quilt to bind, another in desperate need of a back. The holiday season is full of crafty notions, certainly no shortage of those here. On this fourth day of Hanukkah, enjoy the lights that signify God's blessings, as well as this second Sunday in Advent, celebrating the peace of God's love.

42 blocks

Eeep, what a fabulous stack of fabrics and paper pieces!

We're enjoying a marvelous visit with guests; plenty of walkarounds when the weather is dry, and copious stitching while the rain falls, which was the case yesterday, allowing me to complete the last Cornflower quilt block! Jodi Godfrey's pattern calls for thirty-six blocks, but I went further, upping the total for an additional row. I have truly loved making this particular English paper pieced design, and can't wait to start basting squares so I can sew the whole thing together!

When I think about how this quilt began, I return not to one moment of, "Oh yeah, now I'm going to make this pattern." This quilt began far more whimsically, in that I had sewn together a few blocks for the fun of it, set them aside, then maybe two years later in going through my assorted EPP blocks, I decided to go further with this design. A kit was ordered, then began the serious but not speedy work to make this quilt happen. It's definitely scrappy, although some of the blocks feature this or that collection or designer. Many are wholly random, all have a green perimeter, mostly because when I started, green batik jelly roll strips were prevalent in my scrap stash and this was the perfect way to employ them.

The last dozen or so blocks feature autumnal Art Gallery fabrics and William Reue's Architecture School collection; this is a quilt for year-round use! I can't wait to see how the green accents the black squares; I have two different fabrics for those squares, both with a space/constellation theme. I don't have a timetable for this project's completion, but it will probably be done by next fall. Making blocks is easy and portable. What awaits are many hours of EPP laying over my lap as stitch by stitch the stack above turns into a cohesive whole. Which is very similar to how sentence by sentence paragraphs are formed, scenes written, a novel emerges.

Creativity is a life-long process, taking parts of myself and transferring them into stories or quilts. And sometimes quilts are a story in themselves, each basted square like a chapter in fabric, perhaps telling its own small tale shaped as a diamond, octagon, petal, or square. How fabulous are the myriad manners of expression, the colours and prints a word or nuance waiting to be savoured!

Deciding what comes next

 A 2020 finish for my eldest that turned out far more beautifully than I could have dreamed; The Seedlings Quilt, pattern by Jodi Godfrey.
 

The plot for my current novel has been in my brain for ages. Sometimes books are like that, or story ideas, but not always do they come to fruition. This yarn was first spun well over a year ago in the guise of an initial chapter that went nowhere, or so I thought when abandoning it after just twenty-five hundred words.

Now many more chapters have been accumulated, the end kinda in sight, or it better be for how the word count has risen, ahem. The writing and plotting have been good, maybe why it's evolved into more than the standard 80-100K book. I'm fine with that, it is just the first draft. But now that I'm reaching The End, I'm starting to wonder how this tale will actually look once I get there.

Fortunately I have several days to ponder it, hehehe, as I'm taking off this week from writing to enjoy the presence of dear friends, how dang handy, lol! Or maybe knowing I wasn't going to write this week enabled me subconsciously to step back from what I had envisioned, which certainly still could play out, although.... Maybe it won't. Maybe a character I added very early on, which at the time didn't seem wholly relevant and was not part of my initial plot considerations, could play a pivotal role. Or another character closely associated with the story from day one might step up, surprising everyone (especially me). Or someone I haven't considered will spring out of the woodwork, throwing wrenches all over the place. The life of a writer can be truly shocking.

At least in the fiction, whew! Which is just how I like it, let me also say. Astounding events within my novels is enough excitement, other than the joy I'm anticipating in spending the coming week with some marvelous folks we've known for over twenty years. It's supposed to rain here much of the week, not sure what we'll get up to in trekking around the area. That's as much of an unknown as my novel's conclusion, but I'm not going to fret about it. Plot twists need to emerge organically; I've been in this noveling gig long enough to not overthink it. The correct pieces are in place for whatever is supposed to occur and the less I get worked up about it the better.

Except that it's one thing to talk about letting go of preconceived ideas, another to strip them from one's hands. Which is why I think a week away from the story is perfectly timed, not that I knew I'd reach this point in the novel when I started it, aligning to sharing this week with friends. Funny how life works like that.

Well, not funny, just blessed, grace in all manners on this corporeal plane. Accepting the grace, I can walk away from the prose, and maybe that's the key. One or more characters needs to accept the grace of inexplicable incidents that for better or worse are indeed true. Oh wow, that's awesome. I'm glad I'm writing this here so I can return to it, refreshing what might be the turning point of the novel. Or my life, if you know what I mean.

Machine quilting as the rain falls

The fun of machine quilting! And does it all come together FAST.

Not quite like making hay while the sun shines, but when the plumber turns off the water for four hours on a soggy day, this seamstress knows how to make do.

It's been a week full of anticipation, not for the plumber mind you, but for dear friends arriving this weekend. I've been sewing a quilt top, pictured below, that I didn't want loose on the guest room design wall, hah! I've caught up on laundry from our sojourn last weekend, tidying here and there, but yesterday having completed that quilt top left today and tomorrow wide open for the kind of cleaning that, well, I basically put off until right before guests arrive. Yeah, that was how I meant to spend today, hip-deep in dusting, mopping, etc, etc, etc. But when the plumber arrives with loads of enthusiasm to fix a few other issues, we said, "SURE THING!" The water was going to be off for four hours anyway, might as well knock off other things on the plumbing list.

But dang, my invisible cleaning service didn't show up today, insert BIG EYE ROLL HERE. Yet, I did get my youngest granddaughter's blanket completely machine quilted, WOO HOO! I'd considered hand-quilting some of it, but once I got going, and loaded enough bobbins ahem, it was a task meant for this day as showers outside seemed to work perfectly. Sometimes life is like that, the plumber shows up and the housekeeping agenda goes straight out the window. And I'm okay with that, on two levels, one being I am not Ms. Enthusiasm when it comes to cleaning house. And two.... I am totally on board with letting the day play out not as I thought it would, but as it was destined to go. Taking a day, an hour, a moment on faith; that kind of flying blind is right up my alley, especially if it means I'll mop (or not....) tomorrow.

Except when it's not, because sometimes the sewing machine is wonky and the quilt is difficult and the sun might be shining making me wonder why am I not outside in the bright beautiful day. Those are my late spring and summertime and early autumn ponderings. And yeah, it's not officially winter yet, but it's only a a few weeks away and it really did rain a lot today, and best to make hay when the precipitation tumbles. Or machine quilt when the water is off. Or whatever applies to your day when life takes a detour.