Quilts, Quilters and Quilting

It is still cold enough at night in our little camping cabin to use two of the quilts I have made, since it goes down to the middle fifties or cooler in southwest Missouri.

The first homesteading skill I was eager to learn was quilting.  So in 1986, I signed up for a class at The Great American Cover-Up in Plano, TX.

I made a sampler of several blocks, plus an extra block, and loved sleeping under that quilt until it was in shreds.  I still have the one extra block to remind me of the fabric and color combinations.

This week, I attended the meeting of the Joplin, MO Quilt Guild, Town and Country quilters.  There was a pot luck lunch and then a guest speaker, Jeanne Poore of JePo Designs, from Kansas City.

Raffle tickets for both the Joplin Guild Quilt and the Grove, OK Quilt were available.  I was astounded to learn that Grove has 168 members in their guild.

During the program in Joplin, I finished hemming a printed denim skirt I had made along with a matching jacket.

My next hand work project is sewing the “vine” to the borders of my first (only?) hand-applique quilt, “Birds of a Feather”.  I began working on it this morning while my husband read aloud for our inspirational morning reading.

We are looking across our meadow on a cloudy morning after a gentle rain, listening to the many varieties of birds calling.

Sharing the peace…

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Artist Manifestation

“Art has to be seen to fulfill the process.”  Pascal Campion

In my view, art has to be seen and produced by the artist to fulfill the process.

Once the artist is compelled to create the art, it can then be seen by others.

First it has to be seen and felt by the artist in his/her inner vision.

The steps to manifest it in a form that others can see it makes other demands of the artist.

Those steps are crucial in the artist’s development.

Then the artwork may be shared with others.

Or one other.

Or the artist may just enjoy contemplating it herself.

She may decide to share it with others, knowing that it has to withstand their opinions.

Since it is created from her own integrity, other’s opinions have no effect.

The artist’s statement is her own.

The artwork will evoke opinions.

It should.

That is another reason why art exists.

It is a creation by the artist.

And it evokes reactions, responses from others.

The response is personal to each of us.

It is the artist communicating through the art work.

The process of fulfillment takes place in each one of us.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

So Much Peace

If feeling and maintaining peace within oneself is an aide to world peace, then I am having the opportunity to experience a lot of it.

This is what the entrance to our land looked like last week, the second week of April, 2015.

The healing effects of living surrounded by Nature are astounding.

I can slow down.

My husband reads to me in the evening and in the morning.

We can get the little things done, over and over again, until the bigger things are done.

There is time to think.

Living without all the conveniences is not a problem.  It is a consideration.

There are ways to take tiny steps, over and over again until the bigger steps are done.

There is no hurry.

Little things are very much appreciated.

All the necessary conveniences are nearby.

I am astounded at the levels of deeper and deeper peace.

I am so very grateful.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

Eating Better, Eating Less

It has been a year and a half since I began to pay more attention to how I was eating and to change my practices.

I have never been markedly overweight, although since retirement, I have been much less active than when I was teaching early childhood music.

The food changes, however, have been significant.

I have been slow to embrace organic foods, but I have now done so as much as I can.

I began cooking from Nourishing Traditions and The Wheat-Belly Cookbook.

Using new cooking techniques and learning more about food have resulted in a much calmer stomach for me and a significant and sustained weight loss for my husband.

I feel better eating better quality food…a no brainer!

And I even feel better not eating chocolate!  (I know, its almost against my religion!)

I am calmer and I am satisfied eating much less.

I am amazed at the simplicity of the solution.

I’ve noticed that the organic foods I eat taste like food did when I was growing up in the fifties and sixties.

My mom simply shopped at the local grocery store.

But business has changed the nature of food.

And so my new practices are simply reestablishing the benefits I felt before food became big  business.

Today, we all need to be conscious of our food practices and observant about how they make us feel.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage