I look for you in winter...

Autumn nearing winter... nothing has been checked off my lists, but beauty, creativity, and love are all at hand.  Good weeks.  Cool air.  Readying. 

Feist, The Moore, Seattle

Music reaches places other things can't (John Goldingay).  Some shows draw you in, intimately.  So much more than an album, or a tour and top hits.  A wholeness, an eperience pairing the heard with the seen.  Feist is good for that... embracing the artistry of the sum. 

A return to the south, family traditions, familiarites.

Hand and foot may not be all together creative (though we were all wearing cross stitched "foot" holders made by great aunts and grandmothers connecting us to our creative, sassy, card loving predecessors), but the time spent with precious people is affective... infective.  Living on the other side of the country from the people that make up so much of who I am can slowly weaken.  Even small amounts of time with them is so strengthening. 

Early, quiet mornings.

Cold mornings are preparing my heart for this darker season.  Waiting.  Preparation.  Anticipation.  Hopefulness.  Celebrating with and and sorrowing with.  However faint the whisper seems, we can await the putting right of things.  We started by getting our (little baby) tree from a local non profit that strives for compassion and community.  Grateful for the season.

It was just like Christmas.

 
Low - Just Like Christmas
Mindy Smith - I know the Reason
Sleeping at Last - What Child is This
Sufjan - Star of Wonder
Feist - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming

all things will unwind...

Here's to restful weekends made of almond meal blueberry/banana muffins, creativity put to action, long walks and some of the best music in one of the most beautiful settings. 

I woke up Saturday morning, whipped up a variation on the recipe I posted last week, made some tea, and kicked my home-body self out of the house.  My first meeting of the Seattle Modern Quilting Guild and I am ever so thankful.  A start on a project I've been thinking about for a while and time spent with other creative women was much appreciated.

 

Starting on my list - what I had down as a cross front pillow is actually called a plus quilt.  Some day I'll talk like a real quilter.  Maybe.  Anna Maria Horner fabrics... squares laid out and ready to become more.  Stacks and squares lovely in their own right, becoming something altogether different as the whole. 

Local quilting group = score one for Seattle.

Score two comes in the form of a 3.25 mile walk from our house, to dinner, to beautiful St. Mark's cathedral for My Brightest Diamond, and home again.  I'm head over heels for the way we can walk to our dinner and walk to our shows.  Fifteen minutes to walk home gives you space and time to unwind, to digest, in a way that a 5 minute (or less) drive can't.  Time to mull over the melodies, bold composition... that voice.

Shara was delightful.  The setting, dreamy. 

 

Our leaves have turned, our valley is awash in colors we hadn't seen her wear until now.  As Shara serenaded - all things will unwind.  These trees will soon shed the leaves hanging on tightly and bare the hope of winter's rest and another spring to come.  In the mean time - creation.

Almond Meal Honey Blueberry Muffins

The ever-growing list of recipes I've marked (pinned) wasn't exactly on my list, but I can check one off and keep it in the stack of things to become regulars.  I fashioned these Almond Honey Blueberry muffins after a recipe for Chamomile Honey Almond Meal Muffins.  They're grain free and gluten free, helthy, and pretty delicious. Definitely follow that link through to the Roost blog though, she has lovely style and some really exciting gluten free/grain free recipes that I can't wait to make.

Almond Meal Honey Blueberry Muffins

(Baked at 350 for around 30 minutes, served with a bit of cream cheese)

• 2 cups finely ground almond flour (I used bob's red mill while I wait to find a coffee grinder to mill my own...)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 TPSP Chia Seeds (could leave these out)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• Blueberries (I basically took a spoon and dumped some blueberries on the top of each muffin cup and pushed them down into the top of the batter) 

Here's a peek at the small crewel project that I started a while back in a class.  Really nice to have something other than crochet to pick up, spend a bit of time with , and set down.  Once I finish this kit I may try to get a bunch of crewel yarn and try out some free form...

May not have gotten much else crafty done this weekend, but we planted a TON of bulbs for spring (surely planting in hopes of a later bloom still counts as creating), moved the washer/dryer, and enjoyed a great walk over Capitol Hill just in time for a lovely sunset and lovely dinner.  Here's to things in-progress!

Autumnal Lists

We've been having this late bout of charming weather... crisp days with clear skies. Walking around our city this time of year is, well, hard to describe. A short walk on Capitol Hill to grab some lunch... deep breaths, wandering eyes, yellowing leaves, turning ivy. This city can affect and infect.

There is this impressive ivy that grows here, with big leaves like an oak tree. It covers portions of the highway walls, turning my drive over Mercer Island into a place that sparks imagination instead of traffic frustrations. Each new variety of tree that haven't existed in any of my past homes has it's own special beauty in the way it's leaves turn and fall. Graceful.


People mostly correlate beginnings of things with spring, but autumn is deeper for me. Brand new but reminiscent, beginnings in the endings and hope in the promises. I'm urging some of this autumnal spirit in my day to day will help to inspire some new projects. Until then, I'm making a few lists to help get me going. Hopefully month by month I'll be able to see these things I'm imagining and planning in my mind turn into something tangible.

Big Crafty Projects

Cog and Wheel Quilt

Whit's Knits: Striped Cotton Cowl

Small Crafty Projects

Finish the crewel project I started in a class a few months ago

Chunky Circle Scarf

Mug Rug for my desk

Hexagon Pillow Front

Cross Front Pillow

Wardrobe Projects

Anna Maria Horner Socialte Dress

DIY Blouse Copy

Amy Butler’s Liverpool Dress

simplicity 2892

Other challenges I’m undertaking and hoping to adopt full time:

I’ve always been sensitive to scents, face products, lotions, laundry detergents, etc and lately it’s made me consider a little more seriously all the chemicals in the products I’m using on my body. If I'm concerned with the types of things I ingest - I should also be concerning myself with these.

Going Shampoo-free.

October 23^rd I left the shampoo where it sat and washed my hair with baking soda dissolved in water, wondering all the while if it would be enough to zap all the coconut oil I’d put in my hair overnight. Sure enough – hair not oily, nor dry, no smell. Need to pick up the apple cider vinegar for “conditioner”. Maybe I should try to calculate the difference for what I would have spent on shampoo/conditioner if this goes well…

Adopting the Oil Cleansing Method.

Switching out face wash and all those types for a mixture of sunflower oil and castor oil. Face massage in the evening, with a little steam, wipe and go. First use Friday October 21st. So far so good...

With reason to make and to share

There was a time that writing was a large part of my interaction with my experiences, a way to digest. Yet here I am, with this aversion to maintaining this record of sorts. So I will consider it less blog and more record. Less hope to be read and more hope to be held accountable. I've all these ideas and tend to get distracted from finishing many of them. I've books unread, recipes unmade, and projects on the shelf. I'll try this again... to record the things I'm creating, dreaming, cooking, enjoying, and journeying.

Lets review.

My husband and I undertook this blog to share with our family near and far. He's since taken his thoughts to another page and I'm left having last updated 22 months ago. Such shame! We've since made the decision to move cross-country from Chicago to Seattle, made the three day drive with all our worldly belongings, traipsed from house to house before buying a lovely home and beginning to make our life here. We arrived in Washington last autumn and are now spending our first autumn settled into our new home. So much time was spent in transition that it seems I've forgotten I can actually take my spare time and make real those things i'm dreaming up. So here I am! With reason to make and to share.