Tall Tales from Kansas

Season #3 of the Block Studies Collective with Tara Faughnan has begun. Above is the palette for October. Don’t you just want to dive into it and roll around in all the color? Then maybe run your hands over the fabric to see which shades tell you they want to play together?

We started with cutting a bunch of strips and then the placing/sorting began.

For my first block (the one on the right), I didn’t plan at all, just pulled colors so I could see how they would look next to each other. I have yet to sew the completed sections together – there may be more sections added. The one on the left was a more deliberate attempt to try combinations. I hated it at first. Now I love it. Especially since I added that cinnamon border around it.

This bundle of mini-skeins of yarn came up in an e-mail from “Dances with Wool” – a yarn store in Richmond that I make it a point to visit when I go see brother. The pattern for the hat was a suggestion for a way to use it. Don’t I want to make a hat like that? YES, yes I do. I started working in some of the ends as I go. Best not to save all that for the end. A very enjoyable project.

What is it about making stuff? Such an absolute joy to see something, or think about something, or get inspired by what someone else has done… and then tell yourself you can do it, you should do it, you will do it. We are moving into the height of sitting in front of the fire season, the cozy/warm time of candles, and of course creating. Do tell what you are discovering, trying, diving into, this fall. One of us may NEED to try it too.

It’s time to slap a bunch of stickers on a new planner for the year. I try to keep appointments in my phone, but I am a paper planner person from way, way, way, back. They are a record, along with my journals of lots of stuff I may want to look back on.

While sitting on the back patio at Moss Cottage last week, it was essential to try my hand at some drawing. Hats are hard. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But that is no reason not to try them. Heck everything seems hard when you don’t do it that often. Hard does not take the fun out of it for me.

The November palette for block studies is below. Again, a wonderful collection of shades, tones, colors. One of the things I love about the format of this class with Tara Faughnan, is that you have a whole month to do things with no timeline, deadline, or due date. Work at your own pace.

Creativity in the kitchen is calling me too. I have a serious hankering for pumpkin bread. Can you imagine how good that will smell baking while I sit at the table and knit? Yes, me too.

Finally, because I have been meaning to do this for days, how about a fall mini flower arrangement comprised solely of the succulents and other plants out back that are showing off their fall colors? This falls into the category of “easy does not take the fun out of it for me”.

This morning, when I sat down to do a read through of this post to check for typos etc I got a a message from Nancy with a link to a podcast. https://thetelepathytapes.com/podcast/the-telepathy-tapes-s2e03 With a title like The Consciousness of Creativity: Are ideas alive and do they choose us?, how could I not immediately listen. I am adding it here because it was intriguing, reinforcing, and informative. Plus, it is perfect to go with a blog post about “making”. This was one of my takeaways: Creativity is our birthright, we can all make art and become the best version of ourselves doing it. Powerful stuff. Let me know what you think if you listen.