WIP Wednesday

I think we can all agree that I'm not a great photographer, but here is how my pieced "Summer Woods" (working title) turned out. I wanted you to feel the lovely blue of lake and sky, the bright flashes of sunlight through the tree branches, the coolness of the green foliage and the surprise of summer flowers. The kind of woods I'm talking about aren't in abundance here in So Cal, so this is a composite of memory and emotion.

I've always felt at home in the woods and have experienced a special kind of peacefulness there. (ok, ok so these days I'm more of a lodge kind of gal, but I still love to walk in the woods even if I don't sleep under the stars anymore.)

There will be more subtle handwork and machine quilting to add texture. I'm happy with my progress.

WIP WEDNESDAY

This is the finished quilt I will be donating for a recovering female soldier. I actually finished it last summer, but not in time for the original occasion I had in mind. It has been in the closet for a while but not in use. After a wash to freshen it, I think it will be perfect. Debra is sending one of her pretty labels for the back. The quilt with stars has been set aside for a time, so I'm glad I thought of this one.

Here is the WIP part of my post. My pieced abstract landscape is coming along slowly. I am still fiddling with the arrangment of the blocks, and also working out what form the lower center of the quilt will take. I'm leaning towards more flowers. I'm also wondering if maybe I should make the quilt smaller, using just the upper portion with the tree blocks. Right now it doesn't flow the way I want it to. I guess that's why it's "work in progress".

It's Been a Bright, Bright Sunshiney Day

The weather has been nearly perfect this week. Lots of sun, at least inland, and warm but not too hot yet. Temperatures are supposed to improve for the coastal dwellers this weekend, and there will be a little more sun too. Sunshine on the coast is kind of iffy in May and June in California.

The weekend is almost officially here, and I hope to get back to work on my current piece. On my lunch hour I ran up to the fabric store (yes, it is dangerously close) and picked up some more "sky blues" just to be sure of enough variety . I picked up a nice King Tut multi-colored blue thread as well.

It seems that even with the best of intentions I am too busy or too tired to get back into my work room at the end of a long day. A little time is better than none, though, and this morning I found myself wide awake at 3am. I decided to go to my room and work for a bit, and so I did, getting back to bed and to sleep for another couple of hours at 5 am. Waking up at 7am, I had the fastest shower in history and made it out the door to work by 7:35am. Maybe this will be my new pattern, after all, it's not like I'm sleeping.

They say It's Your Birthday

My birthday was on Sunday June 10th. Here is a picture (sorry, not a good one) of my birthday presents, which I chose for myself .Not pictured are some discharge and dyeing supplies from Dharma. I have some big plans for my upcoming time off!

I had a fine day with my family and went out for a delicious seafood dinner at the Fish Market. They have the very best wonderful fresh seafood, hot sourdough bread, and a New England clam chowder to die for. We had a nice little bottle of Pinot with our dinner and walked along the water afterwards. Lovely, lovely. I am a lucky woman.

On Monday I took a birthday holiday and spent hours in this room, completely lost in the joy of designing and making this.

Still a work in progress, but I have so many ideas on what to add next. So far, I am delighted, it's just what I wanted it to be.

Amy's Baby Shower

On Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my neice Amy. Here you see the centerpiece we made. Every decoration is useful, as is the "cake" itself.

Here are my lovely guests. (I took this picture, so I am not in it.) I had loads of help from my SILs Jane and Judy and my other neices Carrie and Colleen. All I had to do was clean and decorate since Judy and Jane prepared the food. It was a lot like having a catering service, except better.

This was the most touching gift. The pretty little sweater and booties were made by great grandma Clara as a gift for Barb when Amy was born. Here, Amy's mother Barb passes it on for Clara's great great grandchild to use. It is still lovely and soft and in wonderful condition. Barb also prepared a beautiful gift basket full of baby things. The basket itself was originally a gift from Amy's grandma Adelene. I'm sure they both were with us in spirit that day. I loved that Barb thought to do these very special things.

Here are the tables set and ready for the guests. You can see all the little "baby baskets" we made for serving lunch. Besides the chips and salad cup, we had a chicken salad wrap tucked into the basket.

Dessert was coconut cupcakes made from scratch. Delicious! The little pacifier decorations on top were not edible, so we had to warn our guests to remove them. As far as I know, nobody ate one by mistake.