06 07 2011

So many things crossing my mind and i am so grateful, cause it means i still have one!
and what is that MIND…..mind-body, the brain, the aggregate of central nervous system pathways, the muscles and tissues in which and upon which those nerves operate….the chemicals and electrical impulses that make up the vast messaging system which coordinates action and thought and vice versa….thought is the action of the brain, the action and interaction of chemicals AND stimuli.

Dogen says,- to study the mind is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to perceive the self in all things.-

Can one be a buddhist without a fully functioning mind….i can be in a wheelchair and be buddhist, but can i have advanced alzheimers, or vascular dementia and be a buddhist…? which is to ask really, can i have a practice and alzheimer’s too? The question is NOT, can i be a buddha and have alz or vascular dementia too? A prior question might be…are people with advanced dementia of any kind, anything at all but a skin bag?

I would say this is my koan right now, but that would mean it is a burning question that i must answer…and i am not sure i will ever have an answer…..nor am i sure that even if i do answer it, even for a moment, that it matters ….why would it not matter??? or maybe better to ask, to whom would it matter and why?

One thing i know , right now , and for sure…..with a mind-body and mind-awareness i can have a practice; which right now means being MINDFUL, not only as a coping mechanism for functioning, but as a way of being able to operate with compassion for myself and the world.Right now, pay attention! Right now, and now and now!

Dilbert

I have found some links by plugging -Buddhism and Dementia-into google. This is one that i am exploring now-
perhaps you will find it interesting.

http://tinyurl.com/3g77spo

Here’s another-
http://tinyurl.com/2dsanpw

05 30 2011

More catching up with photos from a guild workshop…

This was actually quite fun…the teacher ran us through the Road To Camp Gravatt by Bonnie Hunter. The directions on Bonnie’s site don;t really give you yardages since she uses scraps to cut individual pieces but the teacher was able to give us some approximations.

You can find the quilt that Bonnie did and her instructions here.
You can download the instructions we were given here
You click on the star that says “”click here”” and the insructions open up in a pdf that you can save.

This is the teacher, on the right, in the back with Shirley L. Shirley is person who does the gulid quilt for the raffle held at the show.

This is the quilt that the teacher made from the instructions , i think it’s really pretty. She told us she did not have to size up one block!

This is Pat, my tablemate on Friday. We had such a ball and she is such a lovely lady.

And here are some of the quilts the teacher brought for her show and tell…super nice quilts.

I dont know everyone’s name and this is not all the folks that were there, but i was having such a good time i forgot to take pictures all the way through!

Next post will have more pictures from the next day…it was really cool that some of us were able to work on both of the days since there was space!

05 28 2011 #2

I composited the rest of the pics from the guild meeting…learning as i went, as you will see!

05 28 2011

looks like some catching up here is in order….

so, here it is…number 1 post today….lol…not sure how many i’ll do today to catch up on the news in between, but here goes. The last quilt guild meeting(April 27th) that i went to had a lovely program given by Shaffer’s Country Quilting.We did small mug rugs using black wool on the top with a bit of wool applique.Lots of fun and boy did they have a great selection of samples for us. It was eye candy heaven. Here are some pics of their display…

When i finish my little mug rug and get pictures taken of it, they will get uploaded.

In the meantime, we were all having fun in the usual way…chatting, eating, etc. One of the founding(or at least one of the first members of the guild died over the winter and her son has been bringing her quilting stuff to the guild for us to sell or give away…whatever seems most appropriate . Sally made many many small vests from cotton and they were lined as well. I bought one from the this table that you can see in the back of the room….

The one i bought is a blue and black print….all kinds of little quilt blocks printed on it. It really doesn;t fit me, although of course i can get it on…and will start wearing it as quilt guild meeting when they start up again in the fall. Long ago when i was a more active member of the guild we made a quilt for Sally. The intention was to make a quilt, give it away to a member, then start on another one…some members of the guild went into uproar mood cause Sally was picked as the first one and they felt that we should havehad a big vote and maybe it someone would not like it etc etc….so we never did any others(what a shame) but when sally died, she chose that quilt as her shroud!her vest has a lot of meaning for me.

Here are some members of the guild and shots of the library that gets set up every meeting…and of course the EATS! how can you have a guild meeting without food!

Sue and Gladys(on the right) have been long time members. Gladys used to run the boutique the guild had in the corner of the space where the Guild show is held.Did a great hob of it too!

This is Eleanor…a retired nurse ( i hope i am right about that, at any rate, she worked in one of the local hospitals) and was our membership chair for a few years….what a sweetie!

This Debby(wiht the longer hair) who runs the Saturday sew In’s. Once a month on a Saturday guild members can actually get together and sew on whatever they want…it’s a great time and the hall is rented for all day so you can come at 9 and stay till 4, or come later, and stay till four..lol…four is the end of the day.

Here’s Joy, doing the block lotto. Block lotto is one my favorite things as this is the only way that members have to be part of quilts that other members may make…..as most block lottos go, so too this one….Joy decides on a block and presents it with the pattern and any fabric suggestions she has…we all take a copy and make (if we want) one or more blocks. The names are put in a basket and one is picked. The winner gets all the blocks.Here’s the block that was made last month—pretty isn;t it!

I don;t know the names of these two ladies but check out those smiles! Beautiful, and they are selling show pins. our pins are usually very nice looking and well made and they sell well to the members and also to those attending the show.AThe show is always in OCtober and is at Brady’s Run Park in the Lodge building. There is a terriffic kitchen too in the lodge and we make and sell food. I will be volunteering to help in the kitchen this year.

This is Karen F.(on the right) and Ellie H….they are two folks responsible for introducing the idea of having a show in the first place. Kudos many times over for their dedication to making it not only happen that first year, but in convincing us it could be done.Ellie has made some award winning quilts and has one published as well. She loves feedsacks and at one time had a trememndous collection. Don;t know if she still does.Elli’s quilting cannot be pigeon holed..she is an amazing designer and quilter….i’ll have to see if she has any pics of her quilts i can show you…

karen is also a phenomenal quilter and introduced our fairly traditional quilt to the idea of embelleshing and small quilts. She is also , like Ellie, a very generous and kind person. Curretnly she teaches us how to use EQ 6 and 7 on one Tuesday evening am month.Folks meet at the local panera bread with their laptops and get lessons!

Three more members….darlene was in charge of the two day workshop that i went to. Pictures and accounts of it will be in a future post…..

the photo above is mary and the library. It’s quite a good sized librAry and she does the hard job of schlepping it all in boxes to and from the meetings…she deserves a big thank you for this!

thenextt bunch of pictures are of other members, not all of whom i have names for. It’s been a long time since i was actie in the quild and there are new members.

there are more pics of members but i am now pretty tired…so will have to make another post for them….later…lol….and will make sure i have the little mug rug to show as well!

04 24 2011

On Sewbuds we are doing a cq rr. The blocks that get sent around can be brand new, or already worked one. The way we are organizing it is that all blocks just keep going till the owner decides it’s full. When she pulls it out of circulation, another one can go in, and at any time a new person can jump into the rotation, as long as there is a month’s notice so that we can adjust the rotation .

This is Cris R.’s block. She did the cross stitched pansy and the blackwork butterflyl Take a good look here cause they are done on 14 count waste canvas but look smaller to me..perfect stitching.

This is Susan N.’s work on the same block:Her stitches are so even and perfect too….and i love the thread. She said that it was SassaLynne thread.

And the next o scan is my work. I added a little bit of a piece of lace to the top patch and put down a string of pale pinky-lavender beads. Susan sent me the lace. The long seam is also a piece of lace that i cut into small sections in order to scallop it the way that you see it here. Originally it was a straight piece of lace on one side and scalloped on the other. Using laces is a bit of a stretch for me.