Embracing Creativity on Snowy Days

About a year ago, I joined a Rug Hooking group that meets twice a month. I had been working on a project that was causing me so much frustration because the wool had been felted down a little too much and had become very thick. Getting it through the linen my design was printed on was incredibly hard and really kicked up the arthritis in my thumb. (Arthritis? How can I be old enough for arthritis??)

Finally I decided to just put that rug hooking project aside for a time out. Eventually I will build up enough new wool to make it easier to work with and get it finished, but for now I’ve had enough. It’s a super cute design with sunflowers and a crow, so it will get finished eventually.

Fast forward…this lovely design with wool that will be much easier to work with arrived in my mailbox. How pretty is that packaging? I love the care that@mavisbutterfield put into the package, including a Harney and Sons tea that I have never had before, called Paris. I will be having a cup this afternoon when I work on this a little later.

We have been doing a lot of work in this old house and really focusing on getting all of the upstairs finished. Ken finished the our bathroom and bedroom that we have been working on for a long time just before Christmas. I am SO happy with how it all came out….I will share some pictures next week.

Next on the list is to give the room that we had been sleeping in a face lift. I have picked out some new bedding and a few pictures, along with the paint that we will use and this sweet little heart design will fit in perfectly.

It’s chilly, snow day here today, perfect for tea and hooking 🙂

Wind in the cave:
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.
Deng Ming Dao

Joy ~ a deep, internal, and lasting sense of well-being, contentment, and purpose that transcends temporary happiness.

I haven’t chosen a word in a number of years mostly because I don’t want to define myself with a just word over the year. This one word however just kept jumping out at me over and over these last few weeks. While I am still not going to define myself with a word, I thought that I would tuck this one word under my wing (if I had a wing that is..ha!)

Thinking about this word made me remember this book that I was gifted at my first Book Club Christmas zoom gathering. I have been a part of this book club since Covid and it gives me great Joy to meet with like minded friends once a month and discover new books that I might never have chosen for myself to read.
I will be diving into this book after I finish this month’s book club read.

And finally this past weekend, we headed up to Vermont to visit my daughter’s family and to deliver a mattress for my little June’s new big bed. Normally we stay with Ashley, but her husband has had to take over the guest bedroom for his new job, so this we stayed in at a nice hotel in Burlington.
This is what greeted me when we checked in.

~ 2026 Embracing Joy ~

Who doesn’t love bread?
During Covid, like everyone else I decided to learn how to build a sourdough starter and make beautiful loaves of bread. Well, that was the thought anyways. I bought 50 pounds of bread flour, all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I bought big bins to keep in my kitchen while I jumped in with both feet (and hands). There were SO many fails! Whaat? I used to make such beautiful yeasted breads, however this was not the case with sourdough at all.

Ey yi yi, no one ever told me about the HUGE learning curve there was to creating beautiful sourdough bread. Sourdough is a finicky girl until you get to know her…and it takes a LONG time to get to know her. The starter, the bulk fermentation, the proofing, the scoring, etc.,etc. I am 5 years in now and am finally getting to the point where I am getting good consistent results that I can count on.

Thankfully the internet with all of its flaws gives us so many opportunities to learn and I have learned from some wonderful bakers on Instagram and the links that they have shared. When my brain isn’t so tired, the next time I bake bread, I will share some of the links that really helped me along the way.

Why is my brain tired you may ask? I feel like I am on that same HUGE learning curve again learning how to use WordPress for blogging. I am so thankful that I was able to find a method to preserve the 20 plus years of blog posts from when I first started. Finding a program that I know is going to be so much easier in the long run with WordPress has helped me to become excited about sharing my small corner of the world again with you. I’m not going to lie though, the brain drain learning the ins and outs has been huge..LOL.

Thank you for hanging in there with me all these years and hopefully many more years to come!

Last August I did the one yearly yarn show that I still do these days. It’s called “Fiber Revival” and it’s held in Newbury, Massachusetts. In addition to the yarn sales, there is an old time baseball game, a beer truck and the beautiful fields of the Spence-Peirce-Little Farm. The weather is usually amazing and it’s a fun time to meet with old friends!

When I was dyeing up all of the yarn to bring with me, I tried a few new colors together…”playing in the depot”. It’s always a surprise because the colors do not always come out as I envisioned they would but a lot of times I end up loving them. This was the case with the color of the yarn on my needles. It made me think of the little cinnamon hearts that we used to eat when I was much younger, so I tucked a few skeins away for myself.

Recently the sweet Robin Red sock pattern came across my Instagram feed and I immediately thought of those Cinnamon Heart skeins of yarn I had set aside, cast the yarn on my needles and I am loving how it’s working up. The pattern is easy to follow along with and I can see a pair on my feet soon!

Right after we came home from Hannah’s wedding, (I’ll share pictures when they come in), we headed out to Western Massachusetts to visit a friend’s farm. Originally I met Barb as a fellow fiber vender at the various yarn shows that I did and we have kept in touch somewhat through FB. Barb is incredibly talented and her yarns and fiber were always top notch, coming from the beautiful Corriedale sheep that she raised.

Like the rest of us as we have gotten older, Barb started looking at different ways to keep her farm producing as working with animals and wool is hard on your body (this I know for sure!) She decided to grow flowers and in particular Dahlia’s, along with other various types of flowers. She is also teaching different classes in the studio she has across from the fields. Her fields of flowers are breath-taking.

How beautiful they are!!

We also were able to meet her three little rescue donkeys, such as treat! Mom is 27 along with her 2 daughters who are 25 and 21 and have lived on the farm now for a number of years. What sweet girls they all are! We had a great time listening to swing music, sipping wine, enjoying the beautiful scenery and spending time with friends. Thanks Barb!

Tomorrow we are off to visit nearby Historic Deerfield.
(please bear with me as I learn this new blogging software..ey yi yi!)