Andrew's View of the Week

Spring has Sprung

Posted on 03/12/2026 by Andrew Reynolds

I still haven’t managed to motivate myself to do much writing this year. Next week I have a sermon to write for church, so I guess I’ll be doing some writing for that.

But mostly the weather here has become warm, the snow is melted and next week we’re in for a heatwave. That means I’m out in the garden starting my spring projects including this:

and this:

I’m tearing out a raised planter bed I made about five years ago. It’s kind of falling apart and had tree roots growing up in it so it’s time to replace it. We’ve also learned that here you need deeper raised bed boxes for the kinds of veggies we like to grow. Once the demolition is done and the area cleaned out, I’ll be building a new planting box for this area. It will be deeper and wider.

In the shop I finished a cutting a batch of 15 rabbit napkin rings — well actually the pattern calls these Easter Egg holders, but I’m going to use them for napkin rings:

I’m thinking I’ll get some more wood and making a few more so I have three sets of eight. The plan is to keep a few for our table and sell the rest at the church’s quilt sale this fall. The rabbits pictured here still need some sanding and some kind of finish.

That’s it for this week — if you need me, I’ll either be writing or out back avoiding writing by building a planter box.

Posted in General | 9 Comments

Sunday Quilting

Posted on 02/08/2026 by Andrew Reynolds

This week I’ve been in the quilting room. I was going to do more woodworking but somehow I’ve managed to injure my shoulder and now am on a course of medication and physical therapy. Working at the sewing machine doesn’t hurt as much as the woodshop this week. sigh … oh well two more weeks of PT and we’ll see if it’s fixed.

I showed a picture of my bunny rabbit napkin rings last week, well here some placemats I’m making that the those bunnies might sit on someday:

Here’s a close up of one:

There are eight of these in total, each one a slightly different combination of colors. Right now I’ve only finished the tops. Next step is to square these up and add backing and a layer of batting. Then it’s a bit of quilting. Then I can think about making some napkins and I’ll have interesting table set. Maybe for an Easter dinner table.

That’s it for this week. If you need me, I’ll be at PT.

Posted in quilting | Tagged quilted placemat, quilting | 31 Comments

Just Finished — From the Shop

Posted on 01/30/2026 by Andrew Reynolds

Around here it’s been too cold to do much outside so I’ve been in the shed doing some scroll saw work. The shed is my only heated woodworking space and it’s limited to small tools, like my scroll saw and marquetry work. Here is a fun projects:

They are bunny rabbit napkin rings. I’m cutting these out of some poplar I salvaged from an old drawer. I don’t remember where I got the pattern, but I’m planning on making about 15 of these. I’ll make some napkins to go in them and likely sell them at the church’s autumn quilt sale.

Here’s a more difficult project I’ve been working on:

This is a filigree cross and I made two by stack cutting:

This second still has the pattern attached. Basically you stack two pieces of wood together and cut them as a unit — kind of a two for one sale, cut once, get two. The wood is a walnut veneer over an MDF core. It’s cheaper and more stable than solid walnut (it won’t warp due to humidity changes).

I’ve made these before and I just love the pattern. This is the third set of these I’ve cut. I wanted to have these done by last Easter, but now they’re just in time for this Easter. I still have to get all the pattern and tape off these and make stands for them. No idea what I am going to do with them. I might give them to friends and I just might keep one for me.

The first time I cut this pattern was just after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and I found the process of making them to be meditative and reassuring. The second time I made these was at about five years after radiation treatment when the docs declared that I was in remission. Over the last few years there has been a concern that I might be heading for a recurrence so I decided it was time to cut another set.

It takes about 50 hours to cut the pattern — there are a couple of hundred holes — I tried to count once but lost track around 70 holes. Each hole is very small and I have to work with a magnifying lamp and very small blades. Still, I find the process to be prayerful, meditative and oddly relaxing.

And so far there is no medical evidence that my prostate cancer has recurred, but the doctor does have me on a close watch. So much fun.

Anyway that’s if from the shop — if you need me I’ll be in the shed trying to find that block of maple I bought to make the bases.

Posted in woodworking | Tagged cancer, filgree cross, health, Prostate Cancer, quilts, scroll saw, wood working | 36 Comments

I Wrote a Poem

Posted on 01/19/2026 by Andrew Reynolds

It’s been a long time, but I finally finished a poem.

Those Shoes

Art pointed them out to me.
Art the poet, the old redwood tree, the old wisdom whispering in the wind.
Art as in a man, a creative spirit, a muse, a disturber of the peace.
Art that creative discipline that evades me most days.

On a low black stool, lit by the amber light of the old windows.
Light that can only have come through a bright sun filtered through that special amber yellow glass that inhabits buildings built in the 1920s forming shafts of light creating a monochrome kaleidoscope dusty spotlight.
Light made from memories of Sunday School classes.
Light hiding a child’s game of hide and seek in our Sunday best.
Light of that clip-on bowtie that I lost to my youth.
Light filtered through the cigarette smoke forbidden in the halls of a Methodist church.

The stool I didn’t see until Art pointed it out.
I saw the harpist put it there, in the light.
The harpist who had just played in the Christmas cantata.
The harpist who’s notes I had barely heard through the headset in my audio booth.
I regretted not pointing another microphone her way.
I regretted not having a control to make the sound look like the amber monochrome kaleidoscope spotlight shining on …

Her shoes.
Black high-heeled ankle boots with a touch of lace at the top.
Worn for the performance but now abandoned.
Not seen but needed for the formal concert.
Now cast aside for the comfort of white running shoes as the harp glides by in a wheeled case.

Around the room, musicians put instruments away, talk and greet audience.
I don’t speak, my hands just moved over the recording controls trying to capture a moment.
The music around me is never the same as it is in the headphones over my ears.
I feel the need to apologize to the harpist, the percussionist, the second violin section — your music was in the air but my net could not capture it.

Then there is the monochrome kaleidoscope dusty spotlight shining on a pair of black high-heeled ankle boots with a touch of lace at the top.
Abandoned, set aside, as the music flows from crescendo to memory.

Art, the muse, the disturber of the peace, touches my arm.
“There’s a poem.”
He points to the shoes.

Now I regret not taking the picture when instinct told me to.
Now I regret that I only have words to describe the poem my eyes saw.