more creative life — A journal of everyday adventures in quilting, writing, cooking, and living.

On the Other Hand, Who Really Needs a Bed?

November 19, 2011

When the Big Dog was handing out the brain power, Marcus was off in the corner, sniffing around for a treat, and missed all the action. So it has failed to dawn on him that when he drags all his beds into the living room, he won’t have anything left to sleep on in the [...]

Read the full article →

Finding Inspiration

November 18, 2011

In my creative life, I work mainly with words and with fabric. I often get inspired by just looking at the fabric on the shelves in my quilting room. I have this bookshelf full of fabric positioned so I can stare at it while lounging on the couch. But sometimes it’s rewarding to get out [...]

Read the full article →

Love of Bed

November 17, 2011

Marcus has several beds. Officially, he is only allowed to have one bed in each room, but unofficially, he is always trying to consolidate his beds onto the rug in the living room (also, coincidentally, his favorite place to vomit.) While I was making dinner tonight, he managed to pull one of his beds out [...]

Read the full article →

Fear of Bed

November 11, 2011

Usually Marcus loves his bed more than anything (except food.) He lies in his bed all day and only comes out if it looks like a walk or a ride in the car is being offered. Sometimes, though, Marcus gets afraid of his bed. He will sit in front of it, whimpering, until the noise [...]

Read the full article →

I Need Some Sparkle

November 10, 2011

I saw these boots when Basketball Girl and I were shopping for a (drab) pair of navy blue khaki pants for her to wear to school. (School uniforms! Who picks out those awful polo shirts, anyway?) Don’t you think sparkly boots like these would improve a school uniform? On an unrelated topic, if you’re a [...]

Read the full article →

The Dog Really Did Eat Her Homework

October 29, 2011

We came home from dinner tonight to find that a thief had hit Basketball Girl’s school backpack. Here’s the crime scene: Based on the forensics, we think the burglar was looking for a pack of gum when he tore up her field trip permission slip, visible on the right side of the photo. And here’s [...]

Read the full article →

Object of Mystery

October 16, 2011

The garden got a good weeding yesterday, which exposed this bowling ball. Why, you might ask, is there a bowling ball hidden under the licorice plant in my garden? The answer is that this bowling ball is one of the many things someone once thought would be good to throw over the edge of our [...]

Read the full article →

Mother Church of Handmade Gone Bad

October 14, 2011

This is my friend Mary, who hosted Sunny and me when we visited Portland, Oregon last weekend. Sunny and I were there to visit Reed College, a (very expensive) school she might attend next year. So don’t be surprised if you see me standing at the bottom of a freeway off-ramp with a hand-lettered cardboard [...]

Read the full article →

Winging its Way to Germany

October 4, 2011

I finally finished the thank-you gifts I’ve been making for the families who hosted our Eurythmy group last summer during our Germany tour. This morning I took my pile of packages down to the post office. This rag quilt is going to Gröbenzell, near Munich, where we stayed for several days. The instructions for filling [...]

Read the full article →

Just Because it’s Beautiful

September 28, 2011

I went to a couple of quilt shows this weekend, and as usual saw that just about every other quilter in the world is better at quilting than I am. Look at this detail of a quilt by Judy Mathieson, who was the featured artist at the first show I visited, and you’ll see what [...]