Ag Literacy: A Summer Outdoors

Our kids are at an age, 4 and 9, that being more intentional about agriculture and food literacy is a current parenting goal. Even though we live on a farm, our farming enterprise focuses on row crops that don't allow for involvement by the kids. We undertook two projects this year: chickens and a vegetable garden.

In March we obtained fifteen chicks a few days old from a nearby Extension program that hatches eggs in elementary classrooms across Lincoln, Nebraska. The lived in a washtub in the kitchen for a few days before moving to the garage, then a chicken tractor and finally (finally) a rehabbed chicken coop. Really, you haven't lived until you've put a metal roof on a chicken coop in a blizzard ....

This first batch of chicks ended up being ten hens and four roosters (one didn't make it). We encouraged the kids to play with the chickens.

While George was busy planting our field crops and making sure all his clients had the parts they needed to get their crops planted, the kids and I built raised garden beds using an Ana White tutorial. We planted a mix of seeds and seedlings focusing on "things interesting to a four and nine-year-old" like purple bell peppers.

Both Anne and Henry were fully engaged in the garden and chicken project stepping up to help with weeding, watering, and feeding. The first egg and the first tomatoes were pretty exciting days!

As spring turned to summer, we added broiler chicks to the poultry enterprise. These fast-growers had very different behavior than our soon to be layers! Anne did end up taking a pen of three broilers to the fair and earned a purple ribbon.

Henry's highlight was a plant we found at the local farm store labeled, "World's Largest Tomato." No other cultivar information was included but Henry decided early on that this was his tomato. It was a relief when we were able to pick a tomato about the size of a softball late in the season. Henry got a little creative in watering ...

George spent many evenings rehabbing the farm's old brooder house to make a suitable home for our layer hens. It needed moved, a new roof, repairs to the sill and lower siding, among other things. George was able to get the building frame and siding in great shape, but we ended up putting the old roofing back on so the hens and one rooster could move indoors during the first snow storm of the season. The chickens are happy but will be getting nesting boxes, light, wood shingles and a few other things in 2019.

Girls, Inc., Plus-Block Quilt

One of my quilting friends in the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild was approached by Omaha's Girls, Inc., about providing quilts to a new facility they will be opening in early 2019 for girls who have aged out of the foster care system. This was a project I was happy to contribute. Early in the year I told Kim I would make a quilt - one of seventeen or so to be donated.

I went through my stash and selected a stack of fabrics I thought would be fun and appreciated by girls in their late teens and early twenties. I opted to make a giant plus-block quilt to highlight the fabrics.

The quilting and binding were done by Jillian Hoistad of Lincoln, Nebraska. She did a beautiful job, and I'm so glad she could be a part of this project. She has an amazing heart and was very excited to be a part of something that will empower girls.

Anne's First Quilt

Anne decided to make a Lisa the Unicorn quilt from Elizabeth Hartman for the fair. Like most of her patterns, Lisa is a little intense to cut out as it has many unique pieces. Anne got a little overwhelmed and a few weeks before the fair, we decided it was not realistic for her to finish it.

She had been playing with my scrap basket all summer and began organizing pieces into strips. With some encouragement, she assembled an improv top for a quilt for her American Girl Doll. I may have bribed her a little by promising Minky for the back if she finished the top before she went to a week of summer camp. While she was gone, I sandwiched and quilted the piece (acceptable for her 4-H level for someone else to quilt it). She finished it with a facing when she got home.

The county fair 4-H judge was not impressed. She pointed out nearly every aspect of the quilt as something she did not like - the colors, the fabric, the design, the size, her seam allowances, it should have a hanging sleeve, the facing, the hand stitching on the facing. Honestly, the only thing she liked was the quilting, which she was aware that I did. One of the lessons of 4-H that is sometimes hard for youth to learn, is that the result is one judge's opinion on one day. Usually judges provide constructive criticism to help youth understand that decision and provide a learning experience so the next project is better. In this case, every statement started with "I don't like ..." Had she phrased her opinions using elements and principles of design or quilting procedures from the project manual or acknowledged that she read the one-page narrative Anne provided, I would understand. Yes, the quilt could use more contrast. No, it isn't the most complicated pattern ever made by an nine-year-old. The hand stitching was pretty awful. As a 4-H judge who has been through judge's training in many disciplines and taught it, I was frustrated with this judge's feedback. (And, I've shared my frustrations with the 4-H staff in my county office.)

We had decided to enter her quilt in the Nebraska State Fair Open Class show prior to the county fair. It was a better experience not only because of the appropriate feedback from the judge, but also because Anne had a wonderful moment with some of my quilt mentors who took the time to encourage her and give her feedback that will make her next quilt better. Thank you for great mentors!

2018 Fair Quilts

For awhile now, I've shown quilts at my local county fair and the Nebraska State Fair in the Open Class Division. In 2018 I finished a couple of quilts that had been in the works for awhile and included a class project and my one and only entry in a Project Quilting Challenge.

Make It Fun Quilt
The Make it Fun quilt was begun as a part of the Improv Sampler Quilt Along hosted by Patty Dudek of Elm Street Quilts in 2017. Each block was improv-pieced in response to her weekly prompts. The blocks were showcased in previous posts: 1 and 2. I designed the setting. This quilt was special and then Marsha Gormley Swanson of Dog Ear Creek Quilts added her magic. It was fortunate to win the best of its lot at the Saunders County Fair and was named the Best Improv Quilt at the Nebraska State Fair in 2018. It also hung in the 2018 Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Lola the Llama
Using one of Elizabeth Hartman's adorable patterns, Lola the Llama is Kona and batik on linen. It was quilted at David M. Manglesen's in Omaha. It was begun for my neighbor's baby who is now two but should have a llama quilt to go along with her real-life kitties, dogs, horse and herd of goats. Hopefully I'll finish her sister's quilt soon so she can have it. Lola earned a blue ribbon at the Saunders County Fair and hung in both the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show and the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
I was fortunate to participate in a workshop with MJ Kinman at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum early in 2018. MJ guided us through creating a gemstone quilt using a freezer paper template piecing method. I quilted it on my Pfaff. My mini was finished just in time to hang in the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show. It also earned a fifth place ribbon in the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show.

Nebraska Home
Kim Lapacek's Project Quilting challenges have caught my attention for quite some time. I really wanted to dive in this year but life got in the way. This was my lone entry for the first challenge: Hometown Proud. Since Nebraska, in some ways, is one big small town, it seemed apt to try out Cassandra Beaver's raw edge appliqué meets quilting via many stitches. I was pretty pleased with the effort. The Saunders County Fair judge wasn't as pleased. :) It received a red ribbon in its class.

Upcycled Picnic Blanket

One of my quilting mentors, Dorothy Heideman Nelson, has encouraged me for a couple of years to enter in the Textiles Open Class show at the Nebraska State Fair in addition to the Quilt Show and I finally had a project in 2018 I wanted to make and enter. One of the challenges is that the entry cannot be eligible for the Quilt Division.

When planning a denim upcycle night for my 4-H club, I found a post on Pinterest that was a denim quilt I wanted to make. Simultaneously, I had been looking for projects to use the feedsacks chicken feed comes it. It is a woven plastic, much like a lightweight tarp. Thus, the upcycled denim picnic blanket was born. By sandwiching two sturdy layers without the batting in the middle, it would not be a quilt by definition and only eligible for the Textiles Division.

As the blogger describes, I cut six- and two-inch strips of various shades of denim and used a 60° angle ruler to join pieces to make strips. I happened to have one pair of red denim capris that had an unfortunate incident with a purple crayon in the laundry to add some accent to the blues.

The top was sized for four chicken feed sacks cut open and stitched together. For added interest, I rounded the corners. The binding is a raw edge denim strip.

It earned a fourth place ribbon at the Nebraska State Fair in the Open Class Textiles Division in an upcycling class. It took me a bit to find it in the show because it was hung with the feedbacks facing the viewer and the denim "quilt" hiding in the cabinet. :)

A Modern Mini Swap Between the Omaha and Lincoln Modern Quilt Guilds

I am a member of two modern quilt guilds - one in Omaha and one in Lincoln. Having access to two (actually four, two of which are modern guilds) groups' activities makes it more likely I'll get to some of them each month with family and work commitments. Each guild has meetings most months with educational programs, show and tell, and connecting with other local quilters plus an assortment of classes, workshops, outreach events, and sew-days.

A few of us are in both the Lincoln and Omaha Modern Quilt Guilds. The leadership of the two guilds decided this year to host an activity to bring the guilds together. That sew day included a mini swap to help members from one guild get to know members of the other guild on a more individual basis. I was fortunate to be paired with someone that I recognize but don't really know.

My swap partner is a great quilter who is inspired by zentangles. She lives in a mid-1900's house and loves all things Mid-Century Modern. This quilt was adapted from a photo I had found on Pinterest (unfortunately without attribution). I paper pieced it using Kona Solids from a paper template I drafted in Adobe Illustrator. Few colors seem more mid-century to me than aqua and orange.

I was not planning to be at the swap day but I was able to show up for an hour or so. Nancy loved her quilt, and I'm pretty excited about the mini she made me - it was actually similar to one on my short list to make for her!

Chicken Taco Bowls

We like all kinds of tacos, burritos, rice bowls, and quesadillas. To keep things interesting, we are always looking for new, quick filling ideas. With a hectic work, school, and activity schedule, a slow cooker filling would provide a quick dinner at whatever time everyone got home to eat.

A quick inspection of the freezer yielded three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Once defrosted, they were seasoned with Penzy's Chicken Taco seasoning. As I've mentioned, we love Penzy's. Whether I visit the retail store about an hour away or order online, I always find high-quality, interesting seasoning mixes to try. There have been few that have not made the regular rotation in my kitchen. The Chicken Taco is one of our favorites. I now buy it by the bag for a big jar instead of the little sampler sizes. It works great mixed with some rotisserie chicken for a quick taco filling or as seasoning for chicken fajitas. It is also a great seasoning for carnitas, other pork and vegetables. The seasoning mix doesn't have any salt so I can control the amount of salt added, too.

The night I made this chicken taco filling, we ended up with a cancelled soccer game. While the kids played elsewhere, I made a big pan of fajita veggies and a pot of rice. Not only did dinner get more interesting, but I was able to make a few taco bowls for lunches later in the week and beyond. These taco bowls freeze well for future lunches or quick dinners, too.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Filling

3 lbs. Thawed Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts

4 tbs. Penzy's Chicken Taco Seasoning

1-2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1 lime

Put the chicken in the slow cooker. Sprinkle the seasoning on top. Pour the chicken broth over the seasoning and chicken. Set the slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours. I have a model that lets me set the cooking time and automatically switches to a warm setting until whenever someone turns it off. I love this! With this feature, I set the time to the low end of the range as the warm setting will continue to cook a little bit. A typical work day for us is usually about 11 hours of total slow cooking time.

To serve, shred the chicken and mix in the seasoned broth. I smashed the chicken pieces with a tongs to shred. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. When I slow cook with a pre-made broth, I always wait to season with salt until the end. I find that even the low sodium brand cooks down and concentrates the salt flavor. Juice one lime over the chicken.

Serve in tacos, on top of baked potatoes, in a rice bowl or in quesadillas. Leftovers can be refrigerated for three days or frozen.

Fajita Veggies

3 large bell peppers - we prefer red and I'm always tempted by the big bag at Costco

3 large yellow onions

2-3 tbs. olive oil

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

2-3 tbs. Penzy's Chicken Taco Seasoning

Cut the peppers into strips, and finely slice the onions. I prefer the pieces of peppers a little bigger and the onions a little finer. Preheat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the vegetables. Cook over medium-low to medium heat for twenty to thirty minutes. Stir frequently, being sure to scrape the bottom. I like a flat-edged wooden spoon for this. If you notice some areas sticking or over-browning, add a little more olive oil. Midway through, I add a cup or so of low-sodium chicken broth and the seasoning. This steams the vegetables and helps adhere the seasoning to them. When the vegetables are all soft and have a little color, they are done.

WIP - National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge Part 2

As I mentioned earlier, I started the year with the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. In the earlier post, I shared that blocks three and five were done, but not photographed. Here they are:

Block six was still in-progress as of the last post, primarily because I changed it a bit to allow for the continuous stripes of the fabric in the bounding square set on-point. I am positive it would have been easier to just follow the directions. Here it is:

Block six and some other commitments in my life led me to set this project aside for a bit. Hopefully it will be a late 2018 or 2019 finish.

What does Modern Quilting mean to you?

One of the modern quilting e-zines I read is Jessica Skultety's Wonky Press. She has a great mix of current activities, trends and movements in the online modern quilting community and her own personal project accountability. Each issue has at least a couple of links to works I'm really glad to have found. If you haven't yet checked it out, visit her site, The Quilty Habit.

In a recent issue, she asked readers to share what modern quilting means to them. It prompted me to reply. My contribution follows.

Modern quilting encompasses a methodology, an aesthetic and a community. The best modern quilters are technically sound quilters who are skilled at knowing when to adhere to age-old rules and when to toss them out the window. As someone who isn't particularly adept at following rules, this is part of what draws me.

Modern quilting formalizes improvisational piecing, wonky lines, "made" fabric and other techniques that quilters have been doing for generations. The aesthetic of modern quilting is what I feel is most defined - the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting. I would add asymmetry to this list. While quilters have been gathering for centuries, The advent of modern quilting in a time when social media has exploded has allowed quilters to identify a global community no longer limited by face-to-face interaction or geographic proximity. That said, modern quilting has also brought together new groups of quilters in communities around the world.

I am a member of two long-standing general or traditional guilds. One is small and based in my local community. The other is larger and meets in a nearby city. I am also a member of two modern quilt guilds, both in nearby cities. I am one of the youngest members in my two general guilds and solidly in the middle in my two modern guilds. The modern quilting community has been more inviting to new and younger quilters than the traditional quilting community has seemed to be.

In the most recent issue, #59, Jessica printed my response! It's always exciting to see something you've written in print. Thank you, Jessica!

So, what does modern quilting mean to you?

Modern Quilt Guild Swap

One of the few perks of membership in the greater Modern Quilt Guild in which I participate is the annual MQG Swap now in its second year. I was paired with Linda McLaren aka the Quilting Biker from Ontario, Canada. She is a tremendously talented longarmer and quilter.

At the time I was making my mini to swap, I was also experimenting with a simple loom I had gotten Anne for Christmas a couple of years prior. I decided to bind and finish one of the woven quilts I had made as a part of this experiment.

I used fabric from a MQG Michael Miller Challenge for the back and as the guide for my quilting. Knowing that this mini was for a talented machine quilter - which I am decidedly not - was a little intimidating, for sure. (Photo credit: Linda McLaren)

Here is the finished mini I sent: (Photo credit: Linda McLaren)

Here is the beautiful mini I received. One of the things I love about quilts is that I receive quilts outside my typical colors, fabrics and patterns. I love when my partners experiment as I have often used swaps as motivation to try something new. Linda knocked it out of the park!

WIP - National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

I've had a productive few weeks, though I haven't shared much of it, yet. One of these projects is the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. This free quilt along is a series of nine blocks constructed primarily with half square triangles and flying geese. They are deceptively complicated. I think one block has 81 pieces! I've made a few modifications, but, other than being a couple of blocks behind at this point, am excited by the challenge. Gina Perkes of the Copper Needle has designed nine excellent 16" blocks.

One of my quilt goals this year is to make a couple of quilts to live on our couch. This will be one of those quilts. Because I knew it was staying home, I cut into a layer cake I've had for awhile now of the first Cotton + Steel line by Melody Miller. It was a little scary, I'm not going to lie. I've opted for Kona Steel for my background.

I've managed to take pictures of blocks 1, 2 and 4. I also have blocks 3 and 5 complete, and block 6 is in-progress. This is one that I am modifying slightly. It has a great square set on point that separates the inner and outer parts of the block. The original pattern makes this box with a lot of smallish half square triangles. I'm not intimidated by the HST's, but I do have a striped fabric I'd like to fussy cut and use to frame the inner part. I'm pretty sure this has been more work than just following the directions would have been. Blocks 7 and 8 have been officially released and block 9 was leaked. Hopefully, I can have them all complete by the end of next weekend.

I've also played some with designing a setting for the blocks. The nine blocks on their own are a little smaller than I'd like the finished product to be. I'm up to six variations in Illustrator and about a dozen pictures from similar quilts done by others and shared on Facebook or Instagram.

This post will be linked to Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal. I'd like to finish the top by March 31.

Quilting Influencer: Grandma Patent

I've been fortunate to have access to many talented quilters in my life. Some briefly for a class or workshop and others for more long-term, deeper relationships. One of the first quilters in my life was my paternal grandmother, Lorene Patent, or as my children called her, Grandma 'Tent.

For most of my memory, she was an avid hand-quilter. She spent hours and hours quilting nearly every day at home on family or customer quilts, at the local senior citizen's center for fundraiser quilts and at church on charity quilts. Her standards were exceptionally high. She was known to take out what she considered sub-par quilting done by others and restitching it to not let customers down. She was a retired elementary school teacher and meticulous in her record-keeping. She could estimate how many stitches were in a quilt based on the number of turns around the spool of thread the she used on the quilt.

Grandma was a Type I Brittle Diabetic. Her blood sugar was quite volatile. Her mortality was always at the forefront of her mind. When I was in later elementary school, she thought it was important for my sister and I to know how to do all of her various crafts so we could finish whatever she was working on when she died, particularly since many of her projects were commissions or work other people were paying for. I learned to hand quilt at this time, but have not done a lot of it since. We also learned how to cross stitch and embroider.

I made her this mini for her 96th birthday on February 2. It is made with half-square triangles and is based on a similar quilt made by a guild friend. It was a great project for the Prairie Point Quilters' Retreat. The solids are all Kona Cottons by Robert Kauffman.

I talked about Grandma in the past-tense in this post because she passed away shortly after celebrating her 96th birthday. Because I am the most avid quilter among her descendants, I received her collection of quilt design templates including many from her mother, a precut quilt kit from the 1930's or 1940's, her hand quilting hoop, and the last quilt she had started hand quilting. Fortunately, it was not a client quilt, and I will be able to keep it once it is complete.

Pizza, all rolled up

Thursday nights have become homemade pizza night at our house.  Awhile back I checked out Jim Lahey's My Pizza from the library and ever since, we have experimented with better than decent and sometimes darn good homemade pizza.  I especially like that I can mix up the dough on Wednesday night, just mix, no kneading, and after leaving it on the counter, have great pizza dough on Thursday night.

Sometimes I plan specific toppings, while sometimes, I clean out the fridge. Leftovers make great pizza toppings.  The version shared below is an example of both with a slight twist. Lahey recommends preheating one's oven to 500+ degrees for at least 45 minutes before baking your pizzas. This is great except when our un-air-conditioned kitchen is already over 80 degrees in the summer or a weeknight when dinner should be served before the kids' bedtime. I started making stromboli because it cuts my oven-on time to a half an hour to forty minutes.

Weeknight Stromboli
Dough:

• 500 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 g active dry yeast
• 16 g sea salt
• 350 g water

Yes, I prefer to weigh ingredients in a yeast dough.  With the variable humidity in our house, it is more accurate than volume measures.  It also gives me an excuse to pull out the cool digital kitchen scale my mother-on-law got me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.  Cover and let rise on the counter for 18-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Pat out or toss to make a rectangle (for stromboli).  Note, the dough is pretty wet so I use a lot of flour to prevent sticking to me and the work surface or pan.  Make a row of toppings down the middle of the rectangle.  Cover with both flaps of dough.  Tuck ends under.  Make a couple of steam vents.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and everything is bubbly.

The stromboli shown here is stuffed with homemade pesto, leftover Caprese salad with local fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes and some browned pancetta bits.  The pancetta had been procured specifically for pizza night.  Everything else was leftovers.

Look Both Ways, Don

My office lost its curmudgeon today. After twenty-five years of driving more than two hours from home to work and traveling across Nebraska, Don retired. He has dedicated decades to keeping Nebraska drivers safe, improving roadways and helping local public agencies solve big problems with budgets that are never enough. From my first day at my office, Don has taken me under his wing accepting my idiosyncrasies, teaching me, and supporting my growth in our field. We are fortunate he will still be doing some contract work in the foreseeable future.

I've known for awhile that Don was thinking about retiring. At the August Lincoln Quilters Guild meeting, I saw what I knew would be the perfect quilt. Tonya Alexander of Stashlab Quilts shared a quilt to be published in the Fall 2017 Quilts and More Magazine. The alternating arrows with the orange highlights was absolutely perfect. Arrow boards and signage are important parts of traffic control devices - Don's specialty, and orange is an important color in road construction.

I'm not a scrap quilter. I have been collecting grays and low volume fabrics for awhile now, but I had almost no orange in my stash. Fortunately, about the time I was ready to get started, #grantyourquiltywishes started on Instagram. More than a dozen quilters, including one from Australia, sent me their orange scraps! I will need to make some great Halloween quilts this fall to use the remaining scraps!

I find scrap quilting frustrating. The amount of time it takes to maintain scraps in a way that is usable makes me a little impatient. It always takes me three times as long to select, pair and combine scraps than when I start with fresh fabric, too. This project would work with bigger, solid pieces or less variety, but it wouldn't be as impactful so I went with it.

To make this quilt more personal for its recipient, I also included fabric from a Type II safety vest. These are important daily wear for our clients, and, often, for us. Even better, the silver-gray stripes are made with retroreflective fabric that will reflect a flashlight or tv light just like a street sign.

A couple of my co-workers pitched in. One shared some fabrics from her stash and another made many, many gray strip sets.

As I was laying out the blocks on my design space, er ... bed, I found the larger, lap-sized quilt with all of the pieced squares to be a little overwhelming so I added some negative space. This has left me with a few blocks leftover to repurpose for a different project, but it also made for a quilt I am much happier with. I believe fully in the value of negative space whether it is in a quilt or on a page.

I was able to give Don his quilt last Friday during a potluck lunch. I was pleased that he seems to like it. It is a small token of appreciation for all that he has done for me and our clients. Enjoy your retirement, Don!

2018 Quilting Goals

I know. It's a few hours away from February, and I am finally posting my 2018 goals. They've been pretty well formed in my mind for awhile now, but I hadn't had a chance to jot them down here.

1. Quilt more. This is always a goal. I've got a lot going on and sometimes there aren't enough hands to keep all the balls in the air. While sometimes it seems like quilting is just another one of these things, it is also so very therapeutic and helps me process everything else. I'm not really an extravert nor an introvert rather somewhere in between and situational, to some extent. Quilting fulfills both of these needs. Four guilds - yes, four - cover my extraverted self. The actual quilting, for me, is an excellent introverted activity.
2. Document my quilting. I jump on and off the blogging bandwagon pretty readily. Life happens. However, this is one of few places I document my quilty work. Instagram is pretty complete, but the short format doesn't always allow for detail pics or the full quilt story.
3. Quilt for us. Last year quilting for others was a goal, and I was successful in donating three quilts plus gifting a couple. This year, I still have a couple of important donation quilts planned plus a few gifts, but we really need a couple of quilts that live here. The quilt I started over ten years ago for our bed is still in pieces in a Ziplock bag. We could use a couple of throws to live on the couch for cool nights - our house lives between 58-60 degrees all winter long. I've started the National Quilter's Circle Quilt Block Challenge and pulled fabric for the Bernina/We All Sew QAL. I've also been gathering supplies for Stephanie Jacobsen's Plus Block QAL, #plusblockqal. One of these (or two) may end up a donation quilt, but at least one is going to live on my couch.
4. Publish a pattern. I've been designing quilts for awhile now, but I have yet to actually publish a pattern. It's about time.
5. Finish. Finish. Finish. Last year's commitment to the APQ UFO Challenge was successful. I finished about half of the projects and made progress on all but two. I again have a list and am 1-0 as January's project was a finish (and it's already been gifted.)

FLW-inspired Tattoo

A late Christmas present to myself was a second tattoo. While it took me nearly two decades to decide what my first tattoo should look like, additional ideas came pretty easily once the first was done.

This tattoo is based on a stained glass installation Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Taliesen West. George and I both appreciate the architecture and design of Frank Lloyd Wright. (Image Source: Wright Design)

I have not yet been to Taliesen West, but the shape of the design appealed to me as its use of negative space is quilt-like. I did opt to change the color palette to cool aquas and purples. My tattooist took a little liberty with the arrangement of the panels to fit in the space requested. The tattoo is on my upper left chest in an area that can be shared or concealed by selecting a top.

I am thrilled with the work of Natasha Greenwade. She is local - in the little town near where I live. Her web site is a little out of date as she has closed her downtown studio and returned to graduate school. Here is the finished tattoo:

I'm already thinking about what to do next ...