When I dream about what retirement will look like, I imagine no alarm clocks, slow mornings and the freedom to choose how to spend my time. Alas since this is well in my future, I try my best to incorporate at least a smidge of this dream into my regular worker bee life. Working from home is a total life changer for me; one of the biggest gifts being a slower start to the morning. With no commute, I am able to enjoy a slightly more leisurely pace. What this means in actuality is that I can do my morning meditation while still in bed, drink my coffee out of an actual ceramic mug (instead of a travel mug) and eat breakfast at a table. If all goes well, I have almost a half hour of downtime which I enjoy with knitting, crossword puzzles and music before duty calls. My morning routine accounts for seasonal adjustments and since it is summer, often my free time is spent watering the garden. In the winter, I light candles and make it extra cozy. After decades of rushed mornings, early work arrival times (5:00 am, anyone?), challenging commutes by bus, bike and car, I relish — and maximize — the extra time I have to start my day.
Our house just went through a big change when one of our gorgeous maple trees in the front yard was cut down. The funky tree was close to 90 years old and covered in wood burls. It was so unique and individual and I loved it. But it wasn’t healthy or safe. And in an area experiencing extreme drought, having an unhealthy tree created an unnecessary hazard. As sad as it was to let the tree go, all of the wood was given to an artist who coveted the tree for decades. So the upside is that the tree will now live on in various forms for hopefully another 90 years. Yet there is now a giant gap in our yard where the tree used to live. Which means that in the summer, we lost half our shade. This has particularly impacted my sewing room and specifically what times I can sew. Now mornings are the optimal time to spend time sewing.
While it is lovely to sew in the mornings, workday mornings are not the time for immersive and complicated projects. This is relaxing time, not problem solving time. That time comes when I log in to work. My most recent finish was this table runner for another family member who loves cardinals, aka “red birds” in Johnson family lore. I only had so many leftovers of the Charley Harper print fabric and I used every last bit of the cache, except for one square inch. Combined with a half yard of black fabric, I gave myself a creative challenge to make it work with what I had. For the batting and backing, I utilized um, end cuts, from larger quilts that were long arm quilted. I don’t make a lot of table runners but realized just how perfect the longarm batting and backing trim is for a project of this size. Hmmmm, more to come. The Quiltunes motto is “no scrap left behind!” and this project sure delivered.
I recently revisited The Singles soundtrack and film for the gazillionth time. Both the movie and soundtrack are total comforts to me. Top tier favorites. The film is so nostalgic and personal and will always remind me of my first experiences in Seattle. The music is the same. So many of the bands on the soundtrack became massively popular right after the film and it is charming to see a young Chris Cornell (RIP) and Stone Gossard. One band that never got all the accolades and fame of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains is Screaming Trees. Awesome band name right? (And ties into my lament about the maple too…) Screaming Trees is underrated compared to some of the colossal bands on the soundtrack and I know there are loads of musicians who were nonetheless influenced by their sound. One interesting thing I just learned is that the band was formed in Ellensburg, which is very close to where I live. Central WA can rock!
The view from my sewing room is so different now and it will take some time to adjust. The shape and uniqueness of the burled maple provided me with a lovely view and good inspiration. I am a treehugger and trust me, that tree had soul. As our arborist reminded me, we did the right thing by saving the tree and gave it a whole new life as art. I am reminded of this when I look at some of the spoons my husband has carved from the branches. It is still alive, just in other forms. And so it goes. The view changes, the room changes, and habits change. That is just the way life evolves and if we can make art from the leftovers, well that is even better.
Quiltunes 