solace for today

light and dark have played together since the beginning of time.

decay and newness can be held at the same time.

grief, anger, frustration…they can lead us to action and change.

this is something that may be easier to embrace in the days ahead.

for now…find some beauty and sit in her midst.

please do not forget to let your own light shine.

keep thoughts of faithful friends close to your heart.

remember to look up.

nourish and hydrate.

the sun will come up tomorrow, no matter what.

dearest ones, it has been a day. know that i am here, holding space for all of us to just breathe. xo

summer solstice on the hill

Drifts of daisies, devil’s paintbrush, buttercups and red clover speckle the meadows. Lupin are making a last splash amidst the medians on I-89. Most of the flowering trees have turned their energies to starting fruit on their branches. The lightning bugs have begun their evening flights of fancy.

What a treat to spend so much of yesterday caught up in Mother Nature’s rhythms. The certainty of her planetary cycles is a welcome respite from the current chaos we find ourselves enmeshed in.

On Sunday, Batman and I edged, weeded and mulched the peony crescent. It was so satisfying to use our homemade mulch, chipped with the help of an attachment on Batman’s tractor.

Last night, early in the evening, I wandered out to the peonies, clippers in hand and harvested a bowlful of blossoms.

I brought them in, pulled the petals off, rinsed and drained them. Then I poured boiling water over them, covered the bowl with a tea towel and left them to steep overnight. The scent in the kitchen was intoxicating.

Batman and I had strawberry shortcake for supper, because what else would one have for supper on the solstice? We used King Arthur Baking’s recipe for lemon cornbread biscuits, here. Of course we had them mit schlag and berries from the farmers market. The biscuit recipe really is amazing.

We ate generous bowls of deliciousness outdoors as the bonfire was lit. Rain was in the forecast, so we got started after the sunset, but before it got dark.

I made a daisy bracelet and took this photo for Maggie, who was very curious about my wrinkly skin when we were together last week. :-)

You may be able to see the sheets of rain coming across the valley in waves as it hits each mountaintop along the way. We stayed outdoors as long as we could and then tumbled in just as the downpour began. We need the rain. It was a celebration of hope and renewal.

This morning I got up early and made five jars of peony jelly, using this recipe that I found on the website of the Alaska Peony Cooperative. (Did you know there was such a thing? I did not!) I’m not convinced I’ve got things just right and am waiting til later this morning to check the jelly out. I still have much to learn in the world of making preserves!*

It’s still raining and so I will spend some time in my sewing studio today. I have some new and fresh inspirations I want to play with.

I hope you were able to find some time to celebrate the solstice, friends, wherever you are. I know things are topsy turvy in the Southern Hemisphere. That has always fascinated me…how we are all rooted on the same planet, but can find ourselves in different seasons and time zones.

Oddly, I’m not a huge fan of the summertime. Her blazing heat and glaring light challenge my northern soul. But each year I try to find her pleasures…lovely gardens filled with bounty, quiet evenings on the deck with a breeze off the mountains, more social time wrapped in the freedom of being outdoors, farmers markets, festivals…and dye season!

Sending love, sending hope, sending hugs…to each of you, dearest ones. xo

*The peony jelly was a success! It jelled nicely and it’s got a complex and delicious flavor. :-)

a winner :: an adventure :: and some curiosity

A WINNER Hello friends! I have been away for a week and I returned to find some very lovely comments and emails about my last post. Thank you for your generous kindness. I picked a random winner and Martha will find the “imagine” banner in her mailbox next week. I’m so glad to know its gentle message will be hanging in a home far from Vermont.

Whenever I do a giveaway, I end up a bit sad that I cannot offer something to everyone. I’ll continue to do an occasional giveaway in hopes that someday will be your lucky day. xo

The Ambassador Bridge, an international suspension bridge across the Detroit River, connecting the USA and Canada.

AN ADVENTURE We loaded up the pickup with bins of 1980-1990’s era Playmobiles, Legos and marble works. Batman had refinished the bunkbeds from our own kids’ era and we loaded those up too, along with an assortment of other childhood treasures. We spent our 43rd wedding anniversary on a 13 hour drive through to Detroit. :-)

Oh, the fun we had, gathered with all four kids and three grandkids.

On Friday, Batman painted Flora’s new bedroom and we set up her new “big girl bed”. We made another visit to Fish Eye Farm, to pick up a CSA share. Early on Saturday, we visited Eastern Market, Our mission is to nourish a healthier, wealthier, happier Detroit, as we have been doing since 1891. Later in the day, we celebrated Hannah and Loren’s baby shower. On Sunday we went to the opening of 4 1/2 year old Maggie’s art gallery, in her apartment. Photos, above. On Monday we celebrated LIndsey’s birthday with a cruise along the Detroit River.

Another day we trekked out to Ann Arbor to the WE Upjohn Peony Garden at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum at the U of Michigan. You can read all about the amazing work that’s being done to study this gorgeous flower on the linked website. (And right now, our peony bed here in Vermont is spectacular!)

A carousel filled with roaring tigers.

Tuesday night found us watching the Tigers play the White Socks with eight of us supporting Maggie’s first baseball experience. What a hoot! Maggie made it to the seventh inning stretch when she realized how late it was and decided it was time for her to go home. She was ready to go back the next day for another game.

The Tigers were Batman’s childhood team and he remains loyal to them all these years later. What fun to have some of our kids in the Tigers’ neighborhood!

There was amazing food all week, some homemade and some ethnic take out, which is hard to find on the back roads of Vermont. We also made a pilgrimage to Sister Pie, one of our fave Detroit landmarks.

We had some quiet time with little Theo and his mama and papa on our way back east, and ended up pulling into our driveway last evening.

What a privilege and joy to be able to spend time with family and friends far from home. It reminds us of how precious these connections are. And spending time in and around Detroit continues to inspire and challenge the way we think about equity, inclusion, diversity and belonging. There are so many connections to this work, no matter where we live. And so…

SOME CURIOSITY Juneteenth’s coming up this weekend and I am learning more about this holiday each year. There are many events scheduled here in Vermont, one of the whitest states in our nation. I’ll be listening to some podcasts in the next few days to open my heart and brain to more learning. Maybe you have some curiosity too?

Now that we’re home from our adventures, I’m looking forward to time in my studio, refreshed by a break in our routine.

I hope you are able to find refreshment, friends. Maybe it’s a break from your routine as well, maybe it’s just a walk around the block or out in the woods. In any case, wishing you a wonderful weekend…full of curiosity and fun.

love always, me.

"imagine" :: a giveaway

the blue color here is slightly distorted.

As a child of the 1960’s, some of my strongest memories are infused with images on my family’s small black and white TV. Our bravest Americans were assassinated onscreen, protests of all sorts were caught on camera and inequities were challenging the status quo all over America.

Despite the time and energy many of us have invested in doing what we can over these many years, here we are again. Or better put, still. These are tough times to navigate, friends. Often it’s hard to know how to say something meaningful.

But friends, there’s music. There was music then, so much amazing music. Music to inspire, to resist, to pull people together. And there’s music now, too.

I head to my sewing studio to find sanctuary, calm and restoration. As I thought of the invitation from the Chandler Center for the Arts and their call for submissions for their area artist exhibit, I felt moved to bring John Lennon’s timeless anthem Imagine to life with this textile piece.

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one.

The show comes down soon and I want to spread a tiny bit of hope and love and comfort today. I’m not sure what else to do at the moment…IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TOSS YOUR NAME IN FOR A CHANCE TO FIND THIS imagine banner IN YOUR MAILBOX, leave a note in the comments below or send me an email at sewandsowlife(at)gmial(dot)com. I’ll leave this giveaway open until next week…say Friday June 17th at noon EST.

maker’s notes: fusible transfer paper for the letters, raw edge appliqué and quilting done using my sewing machine, vintage linen napkin purchased at our hospital’s thrift shop for the base, cotton quilt batting, letters cut from linen dyed with homegrown indigo.

hello june

Sometimes it just feels right to put on my rubber boots and go out to wander. My lupine patch out in the scrubby meadow persists and I’m fascinated by how perfect drops of water form in the center of the leaf whorls. I let myself imagine that I meet Miss Rumphius out there and invite her in for tea. (This afternoon I read about the real Miss Rumphius .)

Vermont’s state flower, red clover, has begun to bloom too. I remember planting scads of clover seeds in anticipation of our daughter Gretta’s wedding. We hosted everyone up here on the hill on a perfect summer’s day.

I’ve sort of melted into the landscape and the memories it holds. It feels like a good place to be these days, friends.

One way to preserve this lovely sense of calm and sanctuary is to dye with plants that grow from the land we walk on. I dyed these vintage linens with birch catkins which hang and sway in the spring breezes before they drop to the lawn. Freshly rinsed, this piece will dry on the line in the shade and wait for some stitching.

Per my last post, I’ve been working on less “news” and more inspiration…

One of my “internet crushes” is quilter Grace Rother, who I’ve mentioned here before. Her recommendation of the podcast Abolition is For Everybody has caught my ear.

Two of my faves, Jess of Public Library Quilts and quilter Zak Foster recently had a heartwarming conversation about “sturdy traditions” at the SEAMSIDE Project. You can hear it here.

Jess and her friend Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh wrote a piece about sharing cross cultural traditions in a piece called Quilts and Carpets: Our Gifts For Kin. It’s via a new-to-me website called Reasons to Be Cheerful. What a treasure trove of delight!

Emergence Magazine is another online treat. Creating connections between ecology, culture and spirituality, it’s an editorially independent initiative of the Kalliopeia Foundation.

Sooooo….that’s all I’ve got today, friends. Just sharing a few things that may refresh you, inspire you and comfort you.

A gentle reminder, posted in our kitchen, from young Benjamin Franklin’s “Virtuous Life” questions.

may musings (this is a long post, you may want to brew some tea) xo

lilacs blooming on the hill

crabapple blossoms, for just a quick few days before they shower the lawn with pink petals.

forget-me-nots, planted here in vermont to remind me of our first, sweet neighborhood in chicagoland.

lily of the valley along the stonewall. i used to read books in my grammies lowry’s patch of lily of the valley, under her lilac hedge when i was a kid. those two scents will forever remind me of spring in a magical childhood place. and of her dear presence in my life story.

The scents!

Lily of the valley. Lilac. Freshly cut grass. Cotton sheets dried out on the clothesline. Freshly spread manure. The garden beds after a soft spring rain.

The sounds!

So many plants abuzz with bees. The spring peepers as dusk falls. The coyotes out in the meadow at night. The birdsong, especially the swallows as they stake out their nesting spots. Tractors tilling neighboring fields. Chainsaws clearing trees downed over the winter.

The wildflowers!

Trillium. Columbine. Soloman’s seal. Marshmallows. Trout lilies. Primroses. And all the tiny violets and other sweet things in the lawn.

Eating!

+++Fiddleheads! We tried fiddlehead soup this year. (Be sure to research harvesting and cooking fiddleheads before you try anything! There are safety precautions to be aware of!)

+++Rhubarb! Stewed to eat with homemade yogurt (using Deborah Madison’s recipe.) Or baked into this delicious recipe!

+++Fresh chèvre! Our dear neighbors down the road made a new batch of chèvre and rolled it in the first dandelion petals of the season. They delivered the goat cheese with freshly baked sourdough ciabatta bread. SO GOOD! My gram used to dig the first dandelion greens of the season, steam them and eat them with a pat of butter and splash of cider vinegar. There are so many “spring tonics” we have lost track of over the years. It’s so fun to see some of them coming back. Here in Vermont it’s traditional to plant your potatoes when the first dandelions bloom. :-)

+++The farmer’s markets have been full of delightful treats. It’s been so fun to wander their stalls, basket in hand, renewing acquaintances and bringing home things fresh from the earth.

birch catkins, picked up off the lawn and brought in to the first dye pot of the season. vintage linens went in, i’ll share the results next week.

Recreating!

Once in a while Batman and I try to keep a day or two free of volunteer responsibilities and take a bit of time to do “retirement” things. Last week, we went down to South Royalton to check out a new-to-us food truck, Carlita’s Cocina. It was amazing, including some of Batman’s favorite carbonated beverages from his days of growing up in Latin America. After lunch, Batman cast a few under the bridge into the First Branch of the White River. I sat in the sunshine on the rocks and read a book. It really was blissful. I would like to do this more often. (If you are a vegetarian, you may want to skip this part…) On the way home we stopped at Roma’s Butchery, a woman owned and operated butchery, selling local meats. What a treat to have access to meat that is grazed on pasture and raised humanely and harvested compassionately.

we thought of you, kristen and gary. xo

Reading!

My goodness, I have been on an Amor Towles binge! I started with A Gentleman in Moscow (his second book), went on to The Lincoln Highway (his third book) and ended with Rules of Civility (his first book). I love Towles’ writing and each book is very different from the others. My Fave? Hands down, A Gentleman in Moscow. But don’t let me sway you. Please let me know if you have read any of them and what you thought of them!

I also read Pauper Auction written by fairly local author, Mary Kronenwetter, which I found to be fascinating. The author did some major research into old New England ways that I was not aware of. Always learning.

Now I’ve got my nose into Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss, another gem.

I found most of these titles via our public library, and am glad that we can wander in its quiet space once again. (I still wear a mask whenever I go inside anyplace.) It was lovely to sit and read Cook’s Illustrated in the squishy leather chairs after such a long absence.

Thinking about!

Holy smokes, friends, if you are still reading, do I have something for you to ponder!!!!

I had the most wonderful massage the other day (such a luxury!). As I described the horrible kink in my neck, Missy and I spoke a little bit about how stressful the world is, and of how the 24/7 news feed can be overwhelming. I do try to limit my exposure to the news, especially because it doesn’t seem like “news” to me anymore. How many more wars and mass shootings and inappropriate behaviors can be called “news”?

Missy stopped me in my tracks when she told me she checks the news once a week.

I am still thinking about that. And wondering if maybe I want to be like Missy.

If I can reduce the frustration, anger, anxiety and grief I experience while consuming “the news” might that provide more energy, hope and clear thinking for the small bits of good work I try to do in the world?

How about you friends? What do you think?

xo

P.S. Just saw the “news” . Thank you Sen. Chris Murphy (D) Connecticut for asking, “What are we doing?” Indeed, WHAT ARE WE DOING?

another collaborative quilt

Gretta, Lindsey and I hatched a plan in the early winter, to make a quilt together for Theo. It took us a while to come to consensus on the fabrics and pattern, but once we decided, we kicked into high gear.

We bought a bit of three different Charlie Harper prints and filled in the rest of the fabric with bits from our stashes. Here you can see the praying mantis, the luna moth and the nesting birds that we chose.

We picked “stacked coins” for our pattern and decided that each one of us would make a stack, sewing some of the Charlie Harper fabric and bits from our own stashes. That way we would have a cohesive colorsheme, but with some individual variation, too.

Here’s a text message from Gretta, showing us her completed stack of coins, posted from Ypsilanti, MI. My stack went out to Detroit via the postal service.

Thread, backing, quilt top and batting… ready to quilt.

All three of our stacks ended up in LIndsey’s sewing room, where she put the quilt top together, using the lovely KONA solid cotton that she and Gretta shopped for. We ordered the ferny/seaweedy fronds designed by Dear Stella from Gather Here, (after much deliberation.)

The top and backing arrived via the USPS here in Vermont and I added batting to the formula. I basted and quilted it in my studio and sent it back to Lindsey. She sewed the binding to the front of the quilt.

In April, Gretta, Lindsey and even Hannah took a turn at sewing the binding onto the back…and I finished it while staying at Hannah’s at Cranbrook. Sewing is not really Hannah’s favorite thing to do. She did a great job and was such a good sport, and now her love is stitched right into Theo’s quilt.

Here’s the finished quilt, spread out on Hannah’s floor

And here it is, draped over the fence in Lindsey’s backyard after being washed and dried…to give it the gentle puckering that we all love.

When Stewart (Theo’s papa) was a little boy he was an avid junior entomologist, so we kinda loved the bug fabric for that reason. Young Stew was in absolute heaven when the cicadas had one of their epic hatchings while we lived in Chicagoland.

The quilt was gifted this past weekend, at Theo’s shower in Ohio, which had been postponed from earlier in the spring. I was sad not to be there, but the kids shared a video and photos, which were so thoughtfully sent.

So friends, that’s the story of another fun Reed family collaboration. I find such happiness working on projects with my loved ones, especially when we are so far from one another most of the time.

Dearest ones, let me leave you with this image. I took this picture on Saturday afternoon, up on our ridge, on our way home from the farmer’s market and running errands in Montpelier. This was another reminder to me that life is filled with blessings if we just stop to notice them. Keep your eyes open, friends…may you find things that cause you to stop, notice and fill you with peace. xo

a birthday bunny

sitting in the sunshine, the glorious sunshine, stitching the head together.

half a bunny, with whiskers.

liberty of london scraps for her dress.

rosy cheeks and a pink nose.

at the last minute, i gathered her sleeves at the wrists.

so many fun places to play…on the threshold of the hoop house, amongst the daffodils, hanging on the clothesline and scoping out the raised beds.

…and sitting on the garden bench with a pal.

Well friends, sometimes we just need some fun, am I right? Thought you might enjoy seeing what I made for a certain someone who turns two this week.

Do you know Alicia Paulson’s delightful blog Posie Gets Cozy? I think Alicia’s was one of the very first blogs I started following years ago. I ordered a bunny kit from her and stitched it up for myself, the pattern is here. Then I went on the make a fox for Gretta, a cat for Dawn and a bunny for my Mumsie

It seemed like it was time to make another critter, and I’m hoping little grand daughter Flora with enjoy finding this latest version on her doorstep soon. All of my daughters are fans of Liberty of London fabric and whenever we use this precious fabric in a project, we are sure to save every little bit of leftover scrap. I had made a sun bonnet for Maggie when she was a toddler and saved the leftovers. Now her cousin will have a bunny dressed in that very same fabric. xo

“toot toots” made by batman for the birthday girl. (sailing on watery linen, hand dyed with home grown indigo.)

Lindsey has an app on her phone that allows her to see which freighters will be passing along the Detroit River each day. She and Flora will sometimes go to a playground along the river and wait for a big ship to pass. Flora points her finger and says “toot toot” as it chugs by. When I was there in April, we actually saw a pilot boat in action. It came along the river in the opposite direction of the freighter, turned around midstream and pulled up along the freighter matching its speed. The pilot grabbed a ladder and swung himself up onto the freighter. At that point, he took over the piloting of the ship, as he knew the local waters better than the captain of the freighter. How cool is that? (Maybe you already knew how that works, but it was a fun new piece of learning for me.) :-)

Today is what I call “Crayola crayon Spring Green Day.” When we woke up, the birches down at the bottom of our meadow were nearly bare. This afternoon, the leaves have begun to pop out and you can watch the explosion of color happen from hour to hour. There’s a day each year that feels this way, that spring has finally spring for real. It’s 87 degrees up here on the ridge…a crazy blast of heat that will last for a few days. Then, blessedly, temperatures will return to normal.

Yesterday we drove up and over the mountains to Shoreham, where my friend Pauline has been growing indigo seedlings. Golden Russet Farm sits on emerald green swaths of farmland near Lake Champlain. I was delighted to catch up with Pauline, and buy some seedlings from her. I also bought a generous handful of asparagus cut from their fields that morning. It was a glorious day to be traveling in Vermont, and I must confess that we had maple creemees for supper.

Finding joy and happiness and hope is an act of resistance friends, may we all flex our gratitude muscles and carry on.

Where are you finding loveliness and beauty and gratitude, friends? Let me know in the comments, below.

xo

what a week

spring beauties

“In our time of disturbance and radical change, we are crossing a threshold, a portal, or an unseen bridge from one world to another. It could be said that the bridge is either collapsing beneath us, or being made as we walk together, in the long twilight hours when one civilization gives way to another.” -Geneen Marie Haugen

fiddleheads

“My heart is moved by all I cannot save:

so much has been destroyed

I have cast my lot with those

who age after age, perversely,

with no extraordinary power,

reconstitute the world.”

-Adrienne Rich

baby lettuces in the hoop house

“If you think you are too small to make a difference try sleeping with a mosquito.” -Dalai Lama

“Start acting like you are a member of a compassionate majority up against a desperate, fearful and shrinking majority. Because you are.” -Ethan Nichtern

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in the darkness for the light that is you.” -L. R. Knost

Dearest friends, I think I wrote this post more for me than for you. :-) This is a collection of words that pull me back to center when I feel like I am spinning out of control. Perhaps they will help you, too, as we sit in the midst of a maelstrom here in America. (I cannot even seem to type “United States of America” because for me, it no longer feels true.)

And I leave you with Corita Kent…”Doing and making are acts of hope.”

Let us pick up needles this weekend, and spades and hoes and spatulas and pens and paintbrushes and wrenches and hammers and clay and looms and…find some sanctuary from all that distracts us. And be HOPEFUL.

And keep on shining your light.

xoxoxoxoxox

giddiness

HAPPY MAY DAY FRIENDS! Some of us are partial to the tradition of dancing around the maypole, some of us celebrate workers all over the world…maybe you have your own version of May Day! In any case, I am giddy because spring has finally arrived on Braintree Hill. The sky is blue, the sun is bright and it’s 68 degrees! I am drunk with joy.

Today we spent some time at our local garden center and then we went to Creek House Diner for our very first maple creemee of the season. Until you have tasted a creemee you cannot even imagine the dreaminess of this dairy treat. We sent a “selfie” to our kids and they swooned with longing for their own creemees. We came home and washed the screens that had been stored in the woodshed over the winter. Each room now has a screen in at least one window and over the next few days we’ll install all of them. FRESH AIR in the house! Batman did a good bit of gardening, both in the raised beds and the hoop house. I put together a bouquet of Tête-À-Tête daffodils and Scilla and snuck down to our neighbor’s house and left it along with some blueberry muffins on their doorstop. Their goat herd has increased this spring with a new batch of kids and they have gifted us (now and then) with homemade Chève cheese and buttermilk made with goat’s milk. I baked the muffins with the local buttermilk. Outstanding.

I thought you might like to see our very own version of Dorothy’s Yellow Brick Road (above.) The coltsfoot is blooming along the side of the road and it really is dazzling on a sunny day. You can read about coltsfoot here.

Corazón and Wilma have been coaching me this weekend as I work to get a piece with a deadline finished up.

Here’s a sneak peek at the very start of the piece.

In an effort to keep myself working on challenges, I plan to submit a piece, invited by this call to artists. Gotta stay vulnerable in order to grow, am I right?

I sure do hope you are finding some simple happiness in the midst of these upside down days of 2022. Sending you hope and encouragement to do whatever small thing you can do to make this world a better place. xo