Category: Laura’s Sumatra (Page 6 of 16)

my mixed bag of ideas, reflections, happenings, commentary

Played Well with Orange

December 25, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

‘proud 2bee an honorary Manc’ quilt top wip

As mentioned in a previous post, I needed a diversion from my Goat Suite (Saga) and Puffin Grant related tasks. I pulled out my stash of 2½ x ? fabric strips leftover from decades of previous projects and delved into piecing a scrap version of the Dora Quilt.
Happily sewing together strips into blocks I discovered the fabric scraps ordered themselves into a cohesive quilt top based upon print design rather than color.

a sampling of calico type scraps – oranges galore!

design-print fabric scraps, with bee print in middle

design-print fabric scrap blocks, with bee print in middle

While I got to play around with color possibilities using the color orange, most of the oranges occurred in the calico/flower type scrap fabrics. No matter how I arranged the blocks, those calico/flower prints just didn’t ‘play well’ with the more abstract, thematic and graphic scrap fabric prints.

I preferred the non-calico blocks and focused on the bee print fabric scrap. Placing it in the center block of the quilt top, it will be the perfect resting place for my precious Manchester Worker Bee Badge* pinned in the middle once completed. A humble gesture by this everyday American standing in solidarity with those affected by that horrific terrorist attack – on children.

Kohl’s stock photo, not our bedroom!

Meanwhile, my taste for something orange had been awakened and needed to be satisfied ASAP. Instead of me creating something orange, I searched for something in a ready-made quilted coverlet. I found a luscious well-constructed one from Kohl’s. On sale, I also used coupons and Kohl’s cash and purchased it for a song…Extra bonus? It looks better than the marketing picture!

Through it all, the edits on the Goat Suite Saga vignettes are almost completed, the actual musical recording of my Goat Suite is ready to send on to be mastered, and the Final Report for my Puffin Grant got written and in the snail mail.

I am so ready for the New Year – how about you?

Note: Gonna be off-line for a while, so responses to comments might be delayed.
Will see ya in 2018!

* sent to me by my Manc buddy…for basic info on the Manchester Worker Bee as symbolic of the city and as honoring those killed go here

Peace Post: early christmas greeting

December 12, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

Manc worker bees & musician Minions united for Christmas Greeting: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Towards Man

Manc worker bee & musician minion Stuart – Christmas Greeting: Peace

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.’ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2: 13-16

Buon’ Natale, tutti!

What Brings You Joy?

November 24, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

Dear Readers: If you feel so inclined, please comment below.

What Brings You Joy? Boulder, Colorado mural

Near Central Park, Boulder, Colorado 2016

Plays Well with Orange

November 5, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

I tend to let loose with my color splashes in the fabric realm. Grabbing scraps and stitching them together with a rough nod to the log cabin process of construction is my usual modus operandi when in need of a creative break.

Orange Color Scheme Examples: Pastel-y/candy-ish Dora quilt and garish orange & black book cover

This time around my bottom line need to use up scraps in spontaneous quilted creations has been utilized in a very different way. I found a pattern (yikes, I haven’t used a pattern in years) that incorporated Charm Packs…and applied it for my personal use. I don’t own a single Charm Pack, but have plenty of 2½ inch strips of fabric from decades of projects that can be adapted for use in anything requiring 2½ x ? pieces. In this case, the pattern required 25, 5 inch square pieces of fabric cut in half…resulting in 2½ x 5 inch pieces to build a block as directed.
It’s been a long time since I colored within the lines. Continue reading

Bearing and Receiving Gifts

October 26, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Last week hubby and I drove up to MI to celebrate my b-day watching the big screen 30^th anniversary presentation of The Princess Bride with our middle daughter and son-in-law. Because it was showing on my real birthday date, it was like having a mini-family feast of words (we all know this movie by heart), laughter as well as food and table-talk.
The audience was an eclectic mix of elders (us), current parents of young children, 30-somethings (our kids gen), and college students…along with smatterings of other categorical diversity.

The favorite scenes for hubby & our kiddos always begin thusly.

I was a bit concerned we as a family would be disruptive to those around us during certain favorite scenes…where we’d play act and/or get lost in wild guffaws.
For myself, I cracked up at the usual places: “Bye, bye, boys!” – “Mawage…a dweem within a dweem…”
Oh, don’t even get me started!
Thankfully this eclectic audience also had certain specific scenes that caused the same type of potentially disruptive explosive laughter. In that respect, we truly were in it together for the fun of it all.

Finally handing off our Mother/Daughter Quilt project! (started 2003, finished 2017)

Now we also went up to MI bearing gifts. We filled our Camry’s trunk with some special items gleaned from Dad’s estate and the finally finished Mother/Daughter Quilt Project.
My Michelle’s favorite color is no longer pink. She has grown up, become a confident, professional woman and married a fine young man. But our Mother-Daughter Quilt still speaks of the ties that bind: times past, present and future; the good times and the bad; what it means to love and be loved; forever and always…Amen.

Our Quilt Label - start 2003 finish 2017

Our Quilt Label (start 2003 – 2017 finish)

Belated Blogiversary: the fourth

October 12, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

South Carolina Tulip Tree Leaves

Sometime around the end of August, beginning of September, my 4^th blogiversary made an uneventful appearance.
It came and went.
Meh, life goes on.
(Evidenced by these few fall photos)

Colorado Aspens, Rainbow Lakes

I’m noticing many blogger-buddies are entering into their own 4^th and 5^th years of regular posting; with plenty of re-decorating, re-purposing and de-cluttering of earlier website/blog incarnations. I say: Good for you, guys!
Me? I still can’t figure out how to update my 3.6 WP to 4.8.2 WP without losing precious data that’s supposed to be ‘forever’ on this ole internet superhighway. Case in point: just using that terminology shows how long I’ve been on-line. You know, back when it was only universities and ‘professionals’ that truly surfed the net along with doing all that research, networking and exchange of ideas/ideals. (remember the LuteList, anyone?) Continue reading

Totality: South Carolina 2017 (poem)

October 5, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

note: In light of unresolved disaster needs in Puerto Rico and the devastating shootings in Las Vegas, I have no words to write on those subjects…too overwhelming. I tend to express myself through musical phrases rather than sentences; poetry rather than prose.
Heartfelt condolences to all affected in both places.
And
RIP to both Tom Petty (fav rocker) & Red Miller (creator of the Broncos Orange Crush that took us to our first Super Bowl with quarterback Craig Morton – remembered with fondness)

Seems like 2017 has a backlog of compositions in various stages of emergence; here is a recent poem on the beauty felt during a more glorious occasion, as promised.

Totality: South Carolina 2017

poem by Laura Bruno Lilly

Coronet spills

fire cream

Crown

Daytime bathed

in Twilight

Moonglow

Air embraced

standstill sun

Conversion

Seed Quote, by Hope Jahren

September 22, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

A seed knows how to wait.

Most seeds wait for at least a year before starting to grow; a cherry seed can wait for a hundred years with no problem. What exactly each seed is waiting for is known only to that seed…

A seed is alive while it waits.

Every acorn on the ground is just as alive as the three-hundred-year-old oak tree that towers over it…they are both just waiting…the seed is waiting to flourish while the tree is only waiting to die.

When you are in the forest, for every tree that you see, there are at least a hundred trees waiting in the soil, alive and fervently wishing to be.

Each beginning is the end of a waiting.

We are each given exactly one chance to be. Each of us is both impossible and inevitable. Every replete tree was first a seed that waited.

From: Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren

Fatal Family Ties: Hugo, Matthew, Harvey and Irma

September 8, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

In these days before Irma’s impending impact upon this evacuation city of Florence, South Carolina, I have been overly sensitive to the fact that we will not be here during her arrival. Instead, we will be ‘going through Irma’ while driving on-the-road to Colorado.

Already this town’s hotel rooms are filling up with evacuees from Florida, leaving less space available for later local evacuees coming from areas such as Myrtle Beach.

Irma is a very real threat, especially in light of Harvey’s tirade. Residents here are keenly aware of the dangers ahead. Yet our own prepping for it involves continuing with our travel plans. A form of voluntary evacuation, if you will – though hardly intended as such. Also as of this writing a new twist has been added to the mix: a resemblance to this area’s worst hurricane on record, that of Hugo in 1989. Hugo landed inland and did his damage as if the midlands of the Pee Dee were the Carolina coastal lowlands. Continue reading

August 25, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

Jill Weatherholt – writer, author

A few months ago, Jill Weatherholt asked if I would like to be a part of her Summer Spotlight series, so of course, I said “Yes”.
Please go here for that special article and while you’re there, maybe have a look around her blog. Enjoy!