fancy that

The English language is riddled with expressions. We say them without a thought to origin. They tend to shift over time too, as some fall out of common use and new ones appear.
There are some expressions that just hang on though. They are very old, hundreds of years old and the meaning of the original words have changed completely. The words mean something new now, but the expression somehow retains the original nuance, the original usage.
Fancy that!
When we say 'fancy that' we are really saying 'imagine that,' because a fancy was 'an imagined thing' once upon a time in old english. Think of the words, fanciful and fantasy.
My grandson must have heard that expression. He used it at the right moment and with very similar wording but the meaning became fresh and new.
"How fancy is that!" he exclaimed.
How fancy indeed!

in practice there is

There had apparently been a run on black thread at my local quilt shop, but they were still able to find me three spools in just the right weight made from happy cotton plants grown under ideal conditions in a foreign country and shipped by camel.....I produced my bank card and hastened homeward.
That meant that I was ready, but ready for what?
If you are learning how to do something, and you do it a bit at a time, isn't that called practicing?
i squinted at my special thread.
I squeezed my special black quilt batt.
I looked at my special quilt top. 
Then I strung new black thread in and out and all about my sewing machine.
I took a firm grip on my quilt and a firm grip on my courage.
I practiced texture first.
And then filler designs.
Then I practiced wild flowers and the odd leaf.
I have reached the outer border and have started to practice feathers.
I have practiced enough feathers to generously cover two large geese and the end is not in sight.
I practiced yesterday and today and I'll be practicing tomorrow too.
We had a speaker at Guild once who admonished us to "practice on something that matters."
It makes a difference apparently,
to our motivation,
to our artistic effort,
to our stress level. .....
It makes me think of something Yogi Berra once said,
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

taste of summer

We had ham for supper last night.
Ham,
moist
and salty
and crisply sweet.
Tossed salad with marmalade dressing bittersweet,
Marinated beans,
and creamy potato salad;
the taste of summer.

path of thought

Have you ever noticed how memories link arms. How one thing reminds us of another and then another.
Following the rabbit trail of thought back to its beginning can be very funny.
"Why did you think of that?" my husband will ask bewildered as conversation takes an unexpected direction and I trace it back over hill and dale to the source.
Thought leads on to thought.
In that way we are a little like Hansel and Gretel, memories recalled with the help of the smallest crumbs, the path of thought revealed.

entire orchestra

I rose before the sun this morning.  All was gray, the distant hills hidden by mist. The neighbourhood seemed to be holding its breath; a giant black and white photo.
And then a bird took wing.
A band of cloud lightened and brightened as pink as cotton candy and right on cue, an entire orchestra of birds burst into song.

taking a run at it

I baste. I have basted. I will be basting.
Basting a quilt is like a hurdle in the path of a quilter.
We have to take a run at it.
We clench our teeth, we're up and over and hit the ground running.

We always stand at the starting block with hopes high.

Planning a quilt is sheer pleasure.
We dream, we draw, we shuffle through pictures and take mathematical leaps in the dark.
It is all exhilarating stuff.

And making a quilt top is a joy.
We smooth out the silky folds of delicious fabric.
We snip and slice and stitch.
Magic emerges under our fingers.
We shake out the finished top and toast the day we learned to quilt, the day we learned to sew, the day we were born on this good earth.

And then we fold the top up and think about basting.

We plan the backing.
Repeat steps above.....

Then we ponder basting.
We worry about basting.
We remember basting.
And at last, thankfully, we remember quilting.
We think about the joy of The Complete.
We think about our next project.
We baste.
It goes lickety split.
We wonder why we waited so long.
Quilting beckons.
And the finish line.
We are sprinting now.
We can feel the wind in our hair and hear the distant cheering.

not alone

New Years seemed to slide by this year almost under the radar.
There was no drum roll.
Nor fireworks either.
The old year just seamlessly transitioned into the new.
One moment I had my foot in 2013 and the next I was perched at the brink of 2014.
I usually love beginnings.
There is something so irresistible about a clean slate.
I love the vantage point that this time of year provides too.
There is value in glancing back at lessons learned, and hope and anticipation in gazing ahead.
Somehow though, this past year seemed full of lessons half learned and gazing ahead seemed counter productive.
I think that is one of the lessons I have learned though.
I've learned that life is full of lessons that need to be learned.
I've learned that it is an ongoing, forever sort of process.
And I'm thankful that I am not alone in this, that I am surrounded and upheld and loved by the Shepherd who leads beside still waters and restores my soul.