Stitch Exchange

 I've been working on a project with a friend from northern Minnesota. She suggested a stitch exchange to collaborate our stitching. My package of meager offerings left in yesterday's mail.

Souvenirs

 I'm not one to purchase "stuff" on my trips.  Unless it is fabric, beads, or some original local artwork. Or maybe something that just catches my eye at the moment.  I'm long past bringing home gifts for family.  Instead, I collect sand (didn't happen on this trip) and tons of photos.  I've been trying to shoot manhole covers from around the globe. I like this collection - no dusting or figuring out where to put it! Somehow I missed taking one in Vienna on this trip.  Oh well...

Vienna / Friedensreich Hundertwasser

 While at the art museum with the sole goal of seeing Klimt's "The Kiss" (which I did see!), I saw another painting that caught my eye:

I wasn't sure why I had to photograph it, but the next morning I found out why!  As we were leaving town, our tour guide decided to make one last stop.  The apartments designed by Hundertwasser were on our way to Prague.  As we walked into the area, I saw a poster advertising the museum with his art and recognized that my previous day's painting was his!  

#100 Days / Day 18

 I am leaving on a trip with my niece today and will be indulging in self care for a week.  Soul cleansing!   As I was packing, it occurred to me that I could work on phone and app cleanup during the week.  The last time I looked, I had over 4350 pinterest pins!  I think deleting and reorganizing will count for a day of SDC.  A day of deleting photos will also count as a day (I started this task last week, but didn't get very far). 

It will all look fresh and more manageable when I return, right?

#100 / Day 17 / Spirals...

 Paper.  Too much paper! When I started this SDC project, I knew that one of my biggest issues was way too much paper in my stash. I decided to break it down into smaller units and spread cleaning over the 100 days. A stack of never been used spiral notebooks has now grown to a collection that my sister (a teacher) said that she would be happy to take to her classroom.  She also asked for pencil.  I probably have a few of those too!  

This doesn't seem like much, but every little bit helps.  A stack of scrapbook paper is also leaving my stash - I am hopeful that the art teacher at her school will take it.  

#100 Days / Day #15 / Sand collection

 My collection of sand began over 30 years ago when I decided to keep a jar of sand from my son's first sandbox.  Silly, right?  In time the little jars grew to a rather interesting world wide "souvenir" of sorts.  Friends and family bring me little packets to add when asked about what to bring home from a trip.

Today was the day I set aside to gather up all my little bottles and jars for display in one place - my island art cottage.  Cleaning off the shelves of an old bookshelf took as much time as my search. And I'm not done yet.  Cold weather snuck up on me before finishing. Each jar is labeled with where it was collected.  As I am writing this the phrase, “like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives” keeps running through my head! 

Just a few pics for now.  Most of the sand is still in boxes waiting warmer weather to finish this SDC project.  

#100 days / Day 16 / Don't laugh... aspirin!

 I'm pretty good at pitching old medicine and out of date products.  When I was cleaning out my aunt and uncle's home a few years ago, I was shocked by what I found.  Medicine dating back years was stored in the closet.  One bag alone weighed over 12 pounds! I don't remember how many bags I filled, but it was well over 5 bags.  

Anyway - I keep up with mine and when my cardiologist told me that I should quit taking a baby aspirin each day, off the shelf it came to be "gifted" to my mother.  Not a huge dent in my cleaning, but gone and to be used instead of thrown away.

#100 Days #14 / Helen

 Part of my Swedish Death Cleaning is to organize my photos and genealogy collection.  For today I picked my grandmother, Helen Nelson.  She was my father's mother.  

Grandma is the person who taught me to quilt.  She also was a gardener and farm wife, with long days of hard work.  She was stern, but also enjoyed a good belly laugh.  There are many questions I would ask her now, but in youth we just don't know to ask.  I have her diaries, but entries are brief and factual statements about days events like, "planted 2 rows of beans today".  Quite different than the pages of ramblings my readers will endure in my journals!

#100 days / #13 / Sofa

Swedish Death Cleaning continues! 

This weekend my nephew let me know that the house he and his soon to be wife put an offer on was accepted!  I am so happy for them.  I sent a picture of our sofa in the basement and they will take it.  Not that we needed to get rid of it, but when the opportunity arises, let the item go...

ps...

i tried to give the piano to a friend, but she declined.  will keep looking for a good home

#100 / Day 12 / Blues

 This project has been going on for a long time. My early morning stitching of little bits was finally sewn together into a quilt top this weekend!  There is still work to be done to finish, but for now the pieces are organized and I can do a major cleanup of blue fabric and threads around my studio.