Barn Burner

Here's where I am with my barn:

I'm so much happier with this project than I was with the last one.  It's not an expertly done project, by any means, but it doesn't turn my stomach when I look at it either.  I think I'm getting close to being ready to do the thread work. I ordered some Shiva Paintstiks that should come any day, and I'm thinking of using them to do some of the shadows under the eaves of the buildings. I want to stitch vertical lines on the barn, with one horizontal line near the roof to show the division in the boards. I'm going to stitch horizontal lines on the red part of the other building. I want to do some thread painting with green thread in the grass and use some gold thread to make some of the weeds and brambles in the grass. Also, I'm going to add a tree stump where the leafless tree is in the picture. Oh yes, and I still need to add the chimneys on top of the buildings.  I might decide to add a few flowers too.  Not sure yet.  It's all an experiment.  I like using the 505 spray instead of fusing things down.  It's allowed me to move things around, and that's been very helpful.  I feel less anxiety about it because I know nothing I do is permanent.

I read over the lesson on adding the thread from my Quilt University class, and I have a question out to the instructor.  She tells us to use tear-away stabilizer on the back, which was a very helpful suggestion.  There is no mention of quilting, however.  I'm thinking that maybe this project will be "embroidered" with thread rather than quilted.  Although I could probably add some quilting in the sky if I wanted to.  I'll have to wait and see what she says.  Of course, it's my project, I can do whatever I want.  I wonder if any of you art quilters out there have suggestions.

Today is Mike's and my 36th wedding anniversary.  Here we are on our wedding day.  We look like little kids!  My mother made my dress and my veil.  She was a wonderful seamstress.

This morning we were thinking of the substantial amount of water that has flowed under our wedded bridge through the years.  We started out with him in school in Phoenix.  When he graduated, we moved to Oregon.  We had three babies (one died in infancy).  We raised two boys to adulthood with all the joy, trials, tribulations, and soccer games. 

They have grown from boys to men right before our eyes, and they are both people we are proud to know.

We both earned master's degrees.  We've owned three homes (one at a time).  We learned to scuba dive.  We've traveled to Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean.  We've held many jobs and known many people--some still physically present, others present only in our memories.  We've lost loved ones, parents, and siblings.  We've gained a lovely daughter-in-law.  Fortunately, the good in those years far outweighs the less-than-good.  Tonight, we'll celebrate as we always do, with dinner at a nice restaurant, and we'll talk over old times and dream of good times yet to come.

Just now I was looking for quotations about marriage to finish off this post.  I liked this one:

Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes:  in the sense that almost certainly . . .both partners might have found more suitable mates.  But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.


~~~J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), Letter to Michael Tolkien, March 1941


At times I have fantasized about how different my life might have been if I had made different decisions, if I'd never married, if I'd never had children, if I'd chosen a different career, if I'd agreed to date that boy back in high school who was so heart-breakingly smitten with me, if a different boy hadn't broken my heart and had chosen me over another girl.  But I always come back to the life I live, and I know it's the very best life I could have chosen for myself.