Photo Op?

Thank you, blogger, for finally cooperating! I guess I cannot complain for you are free!!

This piece was done on Habotai with Pebeo Setacolors...reminds me of a tropical sunset (or sunrise?).



This is on a piece of cotton that I had previously printed some gold leaves on. We pinned a few leaves to this one, and a few old, dishevelled feathers to the top piece. By the time we got them out in the sun it was almost 4:00 PM, so the sun wasn't too strong.
Gail provided me with great comfort and diversion on an otherwise sad day! Thanks Gail!!

Sadness and A Heavy Heart

The morning was lovely: sunny, warm but not hot, and "Barker Baby" and I set out on our early morning jaunt through the neighborhood. We wanted to get done early to beat the heat, enjoy breakfast and then get half of the house cleaned before meeting my friend Gail for lunch. We were 2/3s finished when we spotted what we thought was a black piece of fabric or clothing in the gutter of the little side street next to a fairly heavily travelled road. The black moved and then a lovely little Black Lab puppy lifted her head. AWWWWWW! She was darling, but most afraid of Baker, my 70+ pound white Standard Poodle. As commanded, Barker sat down quietly while I introduced ourselves to the pup. She was just as darling as could be, but didn't move. Well, you guessed the rest of the story...she had been hit by a car and couldn't move. UGGGGGHHHHH! So Barker and I ran the 2+ miles home to get a vehicle in which to pick her up. Craig's only words to me as he left to prepare lunch for the homeless were, "Take her to the Humane Society, we don't need another animal". I got her home, gave her a bit of food and water (it has been very hot here of late and she was obviously dehydrated), and then called my Vet. Funny how she also told me to take her to the Humane Society! So, off we went. She was darling and the only time she even wimpered was when I tried to roll her onto her back so that I could inspect her tummy for cuts or abrasions....she had none. There was no blood, but she obviously had been hit. I spoke with the director of the "pound" and he said that they would keep her until Friday and then, if no one had claimed her, euthanize her. Sadness and a huge lump in my throat. Late this afternoon he called me back and said that she not only has a broken leg but most likely a broken hip and did I want to pay for the repairs (roughly $500)? I cannot. A heavy heart. So, unless someone claims this darling black baby by noon tommorrow, she will be euthanized. I am so very sad. How can people let their dogs run loose...especially little pups (she can't be more than 2 months old)....and how can someone hit a dog with a car and leave it there to die? I am so sad and so very angry!!!

The only bright spot in my day, was having lunch with my friend Gail. Afterwards she came back to the house and we played around painting a few pieces of cotton and silk. Here are the two that I kept:

Well, dear darling blogger is not letting me upload any images right now, so I will close and try again in a few minutes.

Sailor's Delight

Regatta #2: Sailor's Delight"

This has occupied my time for the past 24 hours or so, off and on, dogs permitting! It is done in hand-dyed silks, with a hand-dyed cotton backing, and measures roughly 12.5" x 17.5".

Kristin and Dave left the beach this morning and were coming here to pick up Marley this evening. We were having Craig's "famous" smoked ribs, his "almost as famous" cole slaw, lima beans, and Tabboulah a la Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. I was in a quandry as to what to serve for dessert, until I found her recipe for Lemon Cake in "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" I had always wanted to try it, so I got started bright and early this morning:

First I had to prepare the pans, preheat the oven, and then zest the lemons. Phew, now that was a task, since I needed 1/3 cup of lemon zest total!

The recipe also calls for 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Boy that Ina is some task master, isn't she? So, I squeezed and squeezed!!

Ina requested that I use 4 extra large eggs, but since we had only larges on hand, I added another.....beating them in separately after creaming 2.5 cups granulated sugar and 2 sticks of unsaled butter. YUMMMM....sounding good, eh?

Here are the two cakes, all mixed up and ready to pop into the oven!

While the cakes were baking, I made the syrup that eventually got spooned over their tops while they cooled: 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar.

Here they are, all syruped and cooling! I'm exhausted...time to go do some sewing, until they are cool enough to add the glaze.

Aha! Finally!!! Looks pretty delish, huh? Well, that's what Barker thought too!!! He only managed to eat about 1/4 of one of the cakes before I caughthim....BUSTED!!!! Fortunately there was plenty remaining for us for dinner, plus a few extra pieces for my Mom and her tablemates at "The Big House".

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend Gail Racy for lunch. She does the most incredible Chinese Brush painting and has three of her pieces on display at the Quinlan Art Center's newest show, "People, Places and Things".

Beautiful People

I woke up this morning with that old Melanie song "Beautiful People" running through my head. Do you remember it? I think it was on the same album with "Brand New Key"...did she have any other albums?? I haven't thought of that song in years and years, but it was playing through my mind this morning because this arrived in yesterday's mail:

My "blogger friend" Gerrie sent this to me for my birthday! I remember when she made it and posted a picture of it on her blog, and I just loved it....and now it's mine! WooHoo! Thanks so much Gerrie...I have always admired you and your work, and feel so fortunate to have gotten to know you over the past year! Thanks for making my day and week!!!

Yesterday....

Yesterday was a fun-filled day for me. I walked Barker and Marley at home early in the morning and then we got cleaned up, packed up and set off back to Atlanta. Our Atlanta silk art group was having a noon meeting, and it was a great session. We just formed this past winter, after several of us met at a Susan Moyers workshop here last September, and realized it would be benefitial for all of us to get together and share our knowledge and work. There is a core group of four of us now: Gail, Katie, Martha and myself, but we have been attracting new members every month. Yesterday our little group had doubled in size with Diane, Rhea, Elaine and Rob joining us! WOW!! Alex Bailey, the Jacquard rep came and spoke to us for a bit, and passed out a bunch of free samples. YEAH!! Come back anytime Alex! Everyone brought something for "show and tell" (the pictures I took are all blurry...sorry ladies!), and afterwards we went on a field trip to Mingei World Arts, a wonderful Decatur shop that features all sorts of stamps, tjaps, beads, silks, etc. It was a lovely day, and I treasure these silk artist friends of mine!

When I was inspecting my garden early yesterday morning, I was greeted by this:

Anyone know what it is? It came as a freebie with a huge order of bulbs several years ago, and I've forgotten the name now. It doesn't "bloom" every year, but when it does, it just amazes me! The color is incredible, and its size is quite awesome as well. If you know its name, please share it with the rest of us!

I just glanced across the room and this is the view:

I think the boys have settled in for the morning, don't you?

Enjoy your day, wherever you are and whatever life hands you!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Now that is what I've always heard! Our kids asked us to dogsit for Marley this weekend while they are at the beach, so this morning we drove down to their home in Ormewood Park and picked up Marley. Of course "Uncle" Barker was more than happy to have the company of his little nephew, but let me tell you those two boys just wear me out!!! Here are a few scenes from our drive home to Gainesville:

The Atlanta "Downtown Connector" in midmorning traffic. Not too bad really, considering.....!

Barker is playing the role of Goldilocks here...trying Marley's bed on for size! I think it's a tad bit too small too Barker!!

Marley doesn't care, he's just along for the ride, so to speak!!

After an exhausting stop at Sam's to buy cups for the homeless shelter, Barker settles down into his regular seat.

..............and Marley is in his bed all comfy and cozy.

And now Barker seems to have the best of both worlds...if I had a panoramic lens, you could see that Barker is still half in his seat!

On Being the Birthday Girl....YEAH!!

Yesterday was my birthday. Ordinarily I wouldn't publicize something like that, but I had such a great time, thanks to family and friends, that I am still celebrating it in my mind! Craig and I went to the early church service at "home" and then we set out for fun and frivolities in Atlanta. There was a bit more synchronicity in my life yesterday: at church I saw my friend Mary Jane, who also oridinarily attends the later service. She allowed as to how she was there early so that she could go to the bead show in Gwinnett, which just so happens to be on our way to Atlanta. Sooooo, of course I had to stop at the bead show too! It was great fun, and I did a bit of birthday celebrating right there! A girl can never have too many beads, I've been told by my friend Diane, so I'm trying in vain to catch up to her...no way I know! We took Barker to Chipotle's for lunch and then met up with Kristin and Dave. Their neighborhood was having their annual block party, so we visited there for a bit and then Kristin and I took off to do the tour of homes (South Atlanta Neighborhood Development). Here are a couple of my favorites:

This home is owned by one of Kristin's former neigbors, Maura. When she and her husband got divorced, Maura bought this lovely older home and renovated it. It is beautiful inside and out. Maura is also a Master Gardener, so her backyard is just a treasure! I enjoyed meeting her and hearing all about the reno. She has also worked her magic on another house two doors down, but I did not photograph it.

This is a new home, built in 2003, in a new neighborhood with shops, restaurants, townhomes, and free standing homes, such as this one. I was most excited about the turret room in the upstairs left, but regretably that was not on the tour. Boo!!

There were a total of 10 homes to view, and they were a wonderful mix of quaint older homes that had been lovingly restored and new homes with old home charm. I had a wonderful afternoon with my daughter!

Later we went back to Kristin and Dave's where they cooked us dinner: a yummy Mexican style stuffed peppers, delish Spanish rice, Margaritas, and then sinfully rich coconut/lime homemade sorbet with fresh sliced strawberries for dessert! What's a birthday girl not to love about that???

This morning Craig, Barker and I have cruised the Midtown 'hood.

This wonderul lace cap Hydrangea caught my eye.

We have bee watching the careful renovation of this lovely old Craftsman on Myrtle. I wonder if it was nearly this grand when it was first constructed? Can you see the red front door and sidelights? It will be charming when completed.

And last but not least, here is another of my favorites along Myrtle. I wish that the beautiful front garden showed up better in this photograph.

Thanks to one and all for my birthday wishes...you all made it even sweeter for me and I love you!

Smooth Sailing

Yesterday I had another wonderful incidence of synchronicity and it pushed me more than I could have imagined! I had been struggling with a wall hanging that I knew what I wanted to do with but just couldn't "get there". After Barker and I walked, I tuned into Simply Quilts and there was Laura Wasilowski demonstrating her technique for "Flowers of the Field"! So, since I had already done the lazy girl dyeing method a la Melody Johnson and I had purchased a whopping five yards of WonderUnder the day before, I got to work.! Here is the result:

I am pretty pleased with it, although if I were to do it again (and I will!), there are changes I will make! I have also been in touch with Judy Coates Perez and she has helped me enormously with my machine quilting on silk, advising me on fibers, needles, etc. It really does take a village, doesn't it? I think I will add a wavey border to Smooth Sailing, but that will have to wait until I pick up my wavey blade at the condo.

OK, now it's time to go play in the dirt...I have clematis, day lilies and hydrangeas begging to be planted!

AAAAARGH!!!!

Now that I have reread what blogger posted to my blog after I had so carefully written and proofread it twice, I see that part of my last paragraph has been eliminated. It should read as follows:
"I detest
coffee, but adore the steamed milk. So my friend Chris at the local coffee shop turned me on to steamed milk with flavorings. (He has since sold his coffee shop and the new owner can't quite manage to make me my steamed milk withoug adding coffee, so I have been forced into making my own at home!) I love this drink: nuke the mug of milk for 2.5 minutes on high and then stir in a dollop or two of the caramel flavoring and you are good to go! YUMMMMMM!

then comes the photo, and then "Bon Appetit!" follows.

So Bon Appetit and Bon Soir!!

My Day, My Dog, and My Drink of Choice

I have had a truly wonderful day, in spite of the fact that there was no, nada, nihil dyeing done and very little in the way of quilting accomplished! We spent the night in Atlanta last night because we went to the Braves/Marlins game (Braves pulled it out in the bottom of the 11th inning...go Braves!!! WooHoo!), and we enjoyed a lovely, lovely walk through Piedmont Park with Barker this morning. It is unseasonably cool here (Gerrie is getting all of the warm weather in Portland!) but I still managed to coax myself into a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved tee for the park trek. The squirrels were all out there to taunt Barker, but he did his level best to behave.

After breakfast we walked up to the High Museum and had practically a private showing of the Chuck Close exhibit, and then a very leisurely and blissful walk-through of the Gee's Bend Quilts. This was our second time to view the latter, so it was like icing on the cake!! I had an opportunity to really enjoy my favorites, and study others that hadn't totally caught my eye the first time through. Craig bought me "Art Quilts, A Celebration" in the gift shop, and that has just about consumed me for the remainder of the day!

As I write this, I am being eyed by:


You may notice the cute little feather roguishly attached to Barker's collar. That is his reward for having chased, but not eaten, the Canada Geese through our backyard and back into the lake! There are three couples with babies (let me see, that makes 21 geese all totalled I think) who are now pooping in our yard! We love to watch the geese and their goslings, but let me tell you, the poop is another story! So everytime Barker chases the geese back into the lake, he gets a feather...hopefully he will have a full headress in a matter of a few short days!!!

Which brings me to my drink of choice. I am by no means a "goody-two-shoes", but I thought I would share my favorite post prandial beverage with you. While in Tuscany a couple of years ago, I fell in love with the steamed milk that is on the top of I guess it must be cappuchino. I detest coffee, but adore the steamed milk. So my friend Chris at the local coffee shop turned me on to steamed milk with flavorings. (He has since sold his coffee shop and the new owner can't quite manage to make me my steamed milk withoug adding coffee, so I have been forced into making my own at home!) I love this drink: nuke the mug of milk for 2.5 minutes on high and then stir in a dollop or two of the caramel flavoring and you are good to go! YUMMMMMM!

Bon Appetit!

Ahhhhh.....relief!!!

Yesterday I taught my first quilting class....Cara Gulati's "Radiant Suns"! I wasn't at all nervous about it UNTIL the class started and then wham, it hit me: I was the teacher and they were depending upon me to impart all of the important information and entertain them for the next three hours!!! Everything went well and my students were a great group. Thankfully they understood all that I said, and grasped the concept of curved piecing in a heartbeat, so that made me feel very good!!! There were supposed to be ten students, but one had to sign up for a later class because her husband had just suffered a stroke. Poor dears, I hope they are coping well and that he is recovering nicely. Anyway, I thought it was tremendously sweet that since it was Mother's Day, there were actually two sets of mothers and daughters taking the class, and two others who were great friends but could easily have been mother and daughter. I think that the older of that two was 89 years old. She was delightful and, of course, a very knowledgeable quilter and seamstress! I had to be on my toes!!!! Two of my other students were also named Judy (one with a "y" and the other with an "i"), and they were really nice. Here are the blocks that were completed in class:




Although not yet squared up, they are all wondeful...and the fabrics those girls had brought to choose from were terrific!

So, thank you Wanda, Judy, Judi, Jenny, Patty, Thea, Anita, Thea and Nora for being such a great group on my first teaching effort!


Last night Craig and I went over to Kristin and Dave's house and then out to dinner with them to Dakota Blue in Grant Park. What a fun restaurant....and such yummy food! The Creme Brule for dessert was the best I've ever put in my mouth...and Lord knows I've tried my fair share!
The kids gave me this beautiful necklace for Mother's Day.

Isn't it wonderful? I can hardly wait to wear it!!! It came from Dazzling Designs, one of our favorite artsy jewelry stores located here in Atlanta. (Thank you Dianna, I think the hyperlink actually worked!!! :-))

Remember all of those polka dotted fabrics? Well, here is the wall hanging that they are now a part of:

I think I will call this one "Radiant Moons" since the blocks appear to be floating in the black polka dotted background. I have not quilted it yet, but am looking forward to that. Right now, this is the shop sample at Intown Quilters where I will be teaching the class again in late June.

OK, now it's time to pack up and leave the condo. I have all of my necesary supplies to begin quilting the charmeuse dragonflies for my friend Bobbie...so we need to hit the road!

Belated Happy Birthday Eva!

My Swedish cousin, Eva celebrated her ?? birthday last Friday, May 12th. Due to various and sundry reasons, including my internet being down for about 36 hours, I never had an opportunity to post this blog until this evening.
Eva came into our lives about 13 years ago when our daughter Kristin and I rediscovered our Swedish family, while Kristin was doing a genealogy paper in school. After my maternal Swedish grandmother passed away in 1962 my family had lost touch with our relatives in Sweden. It took a lot of work to "find" my family again, but it was well worth it. Eva, married to my second cousin Bertil, was the only one of my generation who spoke fluent English, and we became very close friends right off the bat! Kristin and I first travelled to their homes near Bastad, Sweden in 1993 and we spent a magical week meeting our family and being treated like queens in their homes. Craig, Kristin and I returned for another visit in 1995, and then when Kristin went off to college, Craig and I brought my mother to visit her first cousins and their families. These were trips of a lifetime for all of us, but most especially for my Mom! She met first cousins she had only heard about as a child, and she even got to see the house where her mother was born and raised! Eva had everything to do with making those visits so special...she would organize every detail, down to where we stayed, even stocking the cupboards and refrigerator with beakfast foods and snacks! Wherever we went, she carried along her trusty red Swedish-English dictionary, so that if there was even one word that we couldn't translate, it would do it for us!!
So, Happy, Happy Birthday Eva....we ALL love you!!!

1993: Anna, Eva, Maria and Bertil. Bastad, Sweden

1993: Eva and Maria Hagbjarn. Bastad, Sweden

I have one more lovely picture of me and Eva in a forest of rhododendron, but blogger won't let me publish it, so you'll just have to use your imagination!

Happy, happy birthday dear Eva!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday....she is 89 years old. She can't believe it, and neither can I...for if she is 89, I certainly am not a spring chicken either!!! Mom was in fantastic health up until a fall two years ago left her wheelchair bound. She is still sound mentally and in great spirits. I feel so fortunate to have her nearby.

We celebated the day by having her over for lunch. Craig grilled a steak (her favorite food and one she doesn't get to enjoy too often at her Assisted Living Facility) and sweet potatoes. I baked her a blueberry pie...another of her favorites!

She enjoyed watching the birds from our patio, checking out my quilts and my blog, and looking at my flower gardens.

This is Mom's high school graduation picture. She was and still is a beautiful woman, inside and out, as the saying goes!

Here she is with me and Kristin at Kristin's wedding in 2004. This was one of the last times she stood.

And here we were today after lunch. Can you tell she loves the color blue???

And of course Barker couldn't be left out of the fun!

So Happy Birthday Mom, and thanks for being who you are! We love you!!!

I Dyed on Monday

And I had such a great time! I followed Melody Johnson's (http://www.fibermania.blogspot.com/) "The Lazy Dyer" technique and found it so easy and fun! Tuesday morning I washed out my fabrics and here's what I got:

I used Dharma's Turquoise, Fire Red, Yellow (I think this is #3), and then a mixed combo of Turquooise and Yellow. These each are on Habotai. Aren't they gorgeous?!!

This is a scrunched combo of the red and turquoise. I really like mottled fabrics, so this is very appealing to me. This is on cotton, as is the one below.

Again, this is a combo of the yellow and turquoise, which is a yummy Spring green...just a tad darker than chartreuse. Here they are together:

I think these look good enough to eat, don't you?

The rest of my dyes should be arriving tomorrow, so I'll be back in the studio for more play, er work.....darn I hate it when that happens!!!

****Somebody PLEASE tell me how to do the hyperlinks!!!

Connecting the Dots

I was greeted by this in my garden this morning...my poppies are blooming!!!!! :-) I am so excited!!! You can see a bit of foxglove and roses in the background. A couple of my Japanese Roof Irises have popped, as well as the white rose campion, (from my friend Caroline, via friends Sam and Jane)...is that an oxymoron? white rose campion.....hmmmmmmm!

I've had a fun day, in spite of the below average temps here. The natives call this cool Spring weather "Blackberry Winter" because we always seem to have a cold snap just as the blackberries are blooming.

Dyed several batches of silk and cotton this morning...hopefully more about that tomorrow...and then I settled down to my sewing machine and pieced a few more of my Radiant Suns blocks, in preparation for teaching my class next week. It will be on Sunday, Mother's Day. Whoever would have thought that anyone would want to take a class on Mother's Day, but you know, most of my students are Mother/Daughter teams! What a GREAT, GREAT idea!! I hope that someday Kristin and I will take a quilting class together...then I will know that I have arrived....but I'm not holding my breath, Kristin!!!
So here are a few of the blocks, just placed together so you can get an idea how they are connecting:

Above is a "traditional" Red-Dark Red to Yellow combination of four blocks.

Remember my polka dotted fabric spree that I had a few weeks ago? Well, here is a combo from that little trip to Intown Quilters. I think this quilt will have to be called Radiant Moons, as the circles seem to be hanging in the dotted black. What do you think?

Here's another quadrant:

I love arranging the blocks like this...there is so much movement in them! Lake House has a huge assortment of dotty fabrics out right now, if you are interested....I have no affiliation, but I love the designs!!

And just one more:

This isn't necessarily how it will appear in the quilt but I just wanted to show you a few more of the fabrics. I think my favorite is the darker green, it has so much movement.....but I love all of the fabrics...I'm like a mother with 25 children, showing no favorites here!!

Good Night!!!

Dog Daze

We've been having such fun dog sitting for Marley. He and Barker keep eachother company...makes me think Barker needs a little friend of his own at home! NOT!!! Yesterday afternoon I got my haircut by Cindy the amazing hair cuttress in Virginia Highlands and then ran by my favorite Chico's. Here's what I got:

A cute, cute pair of white capris that have, what else: black polka dots!!!


A wonderful vest that is all different colors and has all sorts of stuff appliqued and sewn onto it.



This is a darling tee that appears to have an entire beach village drawn onto it. As you can see every so often there are bits of silk guaze that are semi appliqued onto the surface, as cottages, palm trees, beach umbrellas, etc. I don't know how well this will launder, but I'll worry about that later! I just love it!!!!

Here's the back, isn't it cute!!!

This morning we walked the doggies through the "hood" and checked to see if there were any yard sales happening. There were, and here is what I found:

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is having a wonderful exhibit of the mosaic sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalles(http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/events/EventView.do?eventId=58) and today I took a mosaic class there. We were instructed to bring a flower pot, some gloves and any bits that we would like to adorn our pots with. Well, everyone else brought these itty bitty pots, and in I walked with a monster! Oh well, dream BIG!! So, I was searching for bits for my pot this morning. I really like the black and white polka dotted yard sale find...it'll go well in the condo! My rather grandiose plan is to paint our coffee table and end table black and then mosaic the tops of both...won't that be cool? This is not an original idea, don't be too impressed. I took a class with Kaffe Fasset the other year and he talked about doing that at his house. Ever since then, I've wanted to try it! I think these pieces will work well in the condo.

See, here are some of the pots from this afternoon's class:

This is mine...as you can see, I have a ways to go!

This pot was done by the gal sitting to my left....I like her color choices, don't you?

The gal to my right was decorating this pot. She had brought in all these "finds" from the local Goodwill Store...aren't they great? So that gave me another idea...I have a huge bag full of my Mom's old costume jewelry, which I will add to my table tops!!

And last but not least is this cute trivet that another gal was working on. She was using old pieces of china that had belonged to her grandmother.