Thunderin' Thursday

As you all may or may not know, here in the southeast we've been suffering with high temps and relatively low humidity, and NO rain for most of the summer. Our friends Joe and Sue are out of town and asked us to water their plants this week. We had about 1/4" of rain on Sunday, so I held off until yesterday and went over yesterday afternoon to do my watering. Everything looked good, but I watered anyway, and then we had a few pitiful sprinkles in the evening. This morning was overcast and very, very muggy. Barker and I walked, had breakfast and then I got busy making a little purse to take into the Quinlan Art Center's Gift Shop. They have been selling my hand-dyed silk scarves for a couple of years, and want to carry my little Sowz Earz purses now too! Just as soon as I put the finishing stitches in this little bag, the heavens let loose!


Poor Barker is terrified of thunder, so he was cowering everywhere. If I had been wearing a skirt, he'd have been under it, I swear! Poor guy!!! I have also been doing some more Complex Cloth exercises out in my studio, so I had to brave the thunder, lightening, and deluge to go close up shop and rescue my one last piece of dyed silk.

So, here's the back of this little Sowz Earz:




And for those of you who want to see the lining, here it is:



Normally I only free motion quilt the top layer, but this time I decided to quilt the lining too. I think I like it.....a lot. As you may or may not be able to see, there is a little magnetic closure. There are also two inner pockets for credit cards and a few $$$$.

Hope you've had a great day!

PEACE

Catching Up

The weekend of entertaining was a blast, but I've gotta tell you, I was worn out by Sunday afternoon....even took a nap, which is unheard of for me!!!

Our friend Bobbie brought me this adorable balloon on Friday night, and it is still flying high over our livingroom:

On Saturday morning, I was busy making batch #4 of sorbet.....lime, this time:

I think it took 10 limes to yield the 2 cups of juice necessary for this particular sorbet recipe. Here it is in the ice cream maker:

One of my favorite things to do before a dinner party is set my diningroom table. Of course, with back-to-back affairs, I don't get to enjoy the 2nd night's setting for very long. Here it is:

I love my chicken plates.......a friend found them for me in Myrtle Beach, SC several years ago, and I use them just for special events. I'm using my funky citrus-stamped napkins, to tie in with the sorbets. I like to entertain rather informally, but also like to use my silver and crystal....why not!!

I decided that I wouldn't bind the table runner in the traditional manner after all. I used Gerrie's technique of satin stitching, although it didn't work as well as I would have liked on this piece. I got many compliments on the table runner both nights, which made it a lot of fun.

We spent last night at the condo in Atlanta....just wanted a change of scenery. When we got home this afternoon, there was a package in the mail for me from my new friend Provie in Daphne, AL. She had emailed me last week and said she was sending me a few "chachkas". This had been a new word to me and many others at our Pamela Allen class . In case you don't know, chachka is the Yiddish term for an inexpensive, showy trinket. Provie makes and sells incredible assemblages. You can see Provie and some of her work here.

This is an overview pic of my chachkas:

and here are a few closeups:

Provie does a lot of religious pieces, so that explains a few of the above.

I will use a lot of these guys on one of my Pamela Allen pieces:

Look at these, aren't they just a riot:


And last but certainly not least, these little gems:




Thanks Provie! It was great being with you, and so much fun to open up my package and find these chachkas!!

PEACE

What's for Dinner???

I spent the morning preparing some dishes for our two dinner parties. Until I "found" fiber art, I spent a lot of time cooking, and it has always been a great love. I especially enjoy making desserts, and at one time, cheesecakes were my specialty. Now that I'm a bit more health and weight conscious (read, boring) I shy away from all of that extra fat and calories. This morning I made a yummy watermelon sorbet and this afternoon I made an equally delicious red cherry sorbet. Tomorrow morning, I'm planning to mix up a lime sorbet. Seems to be a trend here, huh?



These are soybeans, aka edamame:

Our daughter Kristin shared an incredible Edamame Salad with us earlier this summer, so I decided to prepare it this weekend. Here it is completed:

As you can see, it has naval oranges, red peppers, red onions, plus a few other things in it. Here's the recipe:

1 pkg frozen shelled edamame

2 navel oranges

1/2 C diced red onion

1/4 C minced red bell pepper

3 T rice vinegar

2 T canola oil

1 t soy sauce

1/2 t each grated orange zest and grated ginger

1/2 C cilantro



Cook edamame according to pkg directions.

Cut oranges into sections.

Combine oranges, edamame, onion, and bell pepper.

Whisk together rice vinegar, canola oil, soy sauce, orange zest and ginger.


Pour dressing over veggies, toss, add cilantro, and serve. ENJOY!!

I also made Gerrie's Wild Rice and Green Bean Salad:

We were serving seared Ahi Tuna this evening, so I made a Citrus Salsa to accompany it:

We had a fun evening, company was great, conversation was scintillating.............and dinner wasn't too shabby either!!

PEACE

Lemons and Melons and Limes Oh My!!!

We are having a couple of dinner parties over the weekend, and I decided that since it has been so bloody hot here, I'd make some cooling sorbets for desserts. YUMMMM! So I began this afternoon by making the lemon sorbet. I just love citrus!!! Here it is swirling around in the ice cream freezer.

I've got some yummy watermelon "slush" (pureed watermelon, sugar, lemon juice and a dab of Vodka) chilling in the fridge, and it will become sorbet later this evening. YUMMMM!!! Tomorrow I'll make a dark cherry sorbet, and if time permits, I'll make a lime/basil sorbet. Come on over, there should be plenty to go around!

I finished quilting the complex cloth this morning and have set the table for tomorrow night's "do":

Don't tell anyone, but I haven't bound the darn thing yet! I'll get to that next week for sure! I found some yellow Gerber daiseys while I was out shopping this afternoon, so they have gone into the white container in the middle of the runner. Makes it all look rather festive!

While setting the table, I realized a bit of synchronicity in my diningroom. Here is a lovely silk wedding kimono that C brought back from Tokyo:

Here is a closeup of the embroidery on it:

Look at the crane!!! Do you remember the crane that I had foiled into the complex cloth? I never even thought of it until I was setting the table!! C and I both love birds (and I really love cranes), so it is not too surprising. I will make more good use of that crane stencil!!

The most amazing thing happened this afternoon....it rained!!!

This is the view from my sewing room. When I was out shopping, my car thermometer read 102. YIKES!! After the rain, it was a cool 84. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Look at this poor little Canada Goose, out there in the rain all by her lonesome:

The dove babies are born!!! I cannot get a good shot of them, but it was so much fun to watch the parents feeding the babies this morning! I'm glad that I spotted them before they fledged.

My heart goes out to those in Chicago and Finley, Ohio who have been hit by the terrible weather. Hope you are ok, in your corner of the world.

PEACE

"What Will You Do....

with your one wild and precious life"...... Mary Oliver

I've begun subscribing to the Textile Arts Resource Guide and find it rather interesting. Today's post is about Mary Holdgrafer, a breast cancer survivor and quilt artist. I like what she has to say and I love her work. You can visit her website here. Ooodles and ooodels of food for thought.

Did you ever have the feeling that you were being watched? I've felt that way for the past couple of days, and during my lunch today, I figured out why. A mourning dove Mama is sitting on her nest high up in the river birch tree outside of windows overlooking our diningroom and my sewing room. I've been reorganizing my sewing room, and have moved the table that houses my machine so that I am now in a direct line with the dove's nest.

I've zoomed in on Mama on the nest, and if you look ever so carefully you can pick out her tail over on the right side. Normally she is looking right down on me, but of course she would not, could not cooperate when I had the camera ready!

While Mama Dove was watching me, I was quilting away on my complex cloth. Thanks for all of your positive responses to that piece...feel like I'm finally getting somewhere! I can't wait to do some of this on silk!! WooHoo!! Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the quilting...it's slow going, but I've decided to let the piece guide my hands, and so I'm not putting too much thought into it.

PEACE

Complex Cloth

While on vacation I was reading Jane Dunnewold's "Complex Cloth" and wanted to do some of the exercises in the back of this wonderful book. (Actually I had read that Karoda was doing them, so this spurred me on!) I had already dyed a rather long piece of cotton to use as the back of new table runner for my diningroom table, but it was just a blah navy and white. So, as Ms. Dunnewold instructs in lesson 1, I discharged it, using Clorox. I wasn't too successful with that, and I'm not sure why, but I will do that part of the exercise again someday soon. Then I went ahead and overdyed the piece with some yellow. Here is how it looked after being washed:


The next step was to stamp the fabric with fabric paint. I had made a wonderful stamp, if I do say so myself!, in a class with Rayna Gillman last Fall, so I used that stamp and some red fabric paint. Screenprinting was the next step, so I grabbed my trusty screen (constructed in that same fabulous week of classes with Rayna), added some blue painter's tape to the top, and screened with gold fabric paint. Here's the result:
I was really, really in love with this piece by now....couldn't believe the depth I was getting and how easy it was!! Here's another shot of another part, just because I was so in love with the piece:

The final step was to foil the piece. I had gotten some neat tricolored foils last year and hadn't had a chance to use them yet, so today was the day. Here's what I got:

I don't know about you, but I really l ike this piece a lot! It's a shame to put it on the bottom of my table runner, so it may just become the top!

Thanks, Jane Dunnewold.........I'll be back to lesson 2 in a couple of days!

PEACE

2 Days in Heaven

I've just completed two wonderful days of classes with

Pamela Allen

and I feel like this

It was so much fun, and I learned a tremendous amount, but most of all I've come away with a feeling of being liberated!

Yesterday's class was billed as making 6 quilts in one day....how daunting is that! After lunch and a quick "quiz", we were begging for mercy, so Pamela relented and did some critiqueing of our work. Then we were up for one more quilt (so we made 5 total) before going home. Today we got to do "It's My Quilt"....and boy was that fun and interesting!

This is my table and some of my tablemates this afternoon, with Pamela cracking the whip at the head of the table.

Here are the results of yesterday's post lunch pop quiz:

Pamela instructed us to switch seats and tables with our classmates and in fifteen minutes we had to construct a small quilt with a bird in it. What fun!!! I'm a real bird lover and spend a lot of time watching birds, but do you think I could cut one out in any way shape or form? Lordy, was that a challenge for me!!! When the time was up, we made a small wall quilt with all of our new quiltlets.

Here is the first piece that I did yesterday. It had to be in all black and whites, with shade gradations. I was nervous as all get out, stressed by all of the Atlanta morning rush hour traffic on my way to class, and then even more on edge when I realized that Pamela and my classmates would be critiqueing each piece. After the initial few seconds, i didn't mind a bit, and then craved each critique session that we had, because everyone was so kind, complimentary, and had such great suggestions.

If you get the chance, treat yourself to as many days of classes with Pamela Allen as your calendar and pocketbook will allow!

PEACE

A Day with Joni

My friend Joni and I go waaaay waaaay back....in fact I think I've known her for over 25 years, and we try to get together quite often. Her daughter is getting married next June, and she asked me to help her find some things for the wedding. I knew just the place: Gail K's on Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta! Joni and I hadn't been together for about a month, so we had lots of catching up to do on our one hour+ ride into town. While she was shopping for the wedding, I browsed around in the sale bins and came up with these two beautiful pieces of silk:


I just love them both. Then I started checking out the buttons and came upon these glass ones from Germany. Gail herself waited on me, and told me that few shops in the US stock German glass buttons, Hungarian (or was it Czech?) being the norm. I wish you could really see the irridescence in these buttons. They are phenomenal up close and personal.

When I got home this afternoon, I started going through another bag of stuff that my Mom had saved....whatever for? She is very sentimental, so I know from whence I got it! Here's a little heart pendant that I have plans for:



And then there were these two old pocket watches, one with my maternal grandfather's initials engraved on the back, and the other with those of my Daddy:

I just love these guys and know that I won't be able to part with them either!

It is very warm here, in case you didn't know. When we left Atlanta this afternoon, my car thermometer read 111! YIKES!!!! By the time we got back to Gainesville, it was registering 102. I thought perhaps it was stuck, but then it went up to 104, so it was indeed operating. I think Big Al may just be right about this Global Warming thing. Lemme see, how many more days does W have in office?

PEACE

Bloggers I love to know

I am a huge fan of Emily Parson....love her quilts, her sense of color, and all of her sewing tips. So I was browsing around on her blog a few weeks ago and came across her market bag tutorial.

Emily had developed her pattern using cute dishtowels. I decided to adapt her pattern and use some coordinating home dec fabrics that I found on sale. I made this one this afternoon, adding pockets both inside and out:

I forgot to mention that these guys are reversible! Aren't they cute!!!! Thanks Emily.

I made the one below before we went on vacation, and used it almost daily carrying my "stuff" to and from the boat dock. That was when I decided that I wanted pockets, just to keep the little guys, like pens, pencils and cell phones, organized and off of the bottom of the bag.

I am also a fan of Joyce DeBreuil, and while catching up on reading her blog yesterday afternoon I was shocked and pleased to learn that she had nominated me for the nice blogger award.

The award states: "This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also, for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

I hope this isn't a cop out, but I feel like every one of you who reads and comments on my blog is a recipient of this award..........so consider yourself tagged and head off to name your 7 others! Thank you Joyce!

That's it for today. Hope you've had a good one too.

PEACE

reblog

I think I've just invented a new word: reblog. Have you heard it before? If so, speak up, or I'll think I'm a very inventive soul!

In an effort to fix my faux pas of last evening and keep you up to speed on our vacation at the very same time, I'm reloading the pics from the post that went to Martha's blog site last night. Now how did that happen???

Here's the favorite mode of transportation, with, coincidentally, some of my most favorite people on board:

Ben, Ann-Marie, Heather, Teresa and Catherine

This is a better sunset photo of Kristin and Dave during our Bridge Break.

This is the Rockywold-Deephaven Regatta, held every Friday during the summer camp season. It was a very calm afternoon, which meant for a long, slow race. Dunno who won, do you???

Pictured above is the very lovely and oh-so-sweet Teresa in the most adorable bathing suit of the season!!! She's a great swimmer too!!

And here's Teresa with her Mom, Ann-Marie, and her big brother Ben. They were just the best-ever houseguests! (and did you know that Ben is writing a book, actually, a series????)

And here's a shot of the giant Peach along I-85 in Gaffney, SC. It sort of reminds me of something else, but I'll let you figure that one out for yourself!

Ah yes, we were almost home! WooHoo!!!

Now the above are two leaves that I rescued from mud and dirt near our cabin at Squam. I should have spent my week harvesting these guys, as there were plenty and I know that I pay a ton when I order them online! They looked so delicate and so gorgeous. I want to make some similar using the washaway Solvy. Aren't these just knockout???

And last but not least, yours truly and the love of her life, taken Saturday morning (C was down to the dregs of his clean clothes - notice how he's really stylin') at just about 8:00 AM. Isn't that a wonderful view of Squam!!!

OK, that's it for now. I'm going to head on over to Martha's blog and see if I can't erase my last night's entry before she finds it.......shhhhhhh, don't tell her!!!

PEACE