Remind Me Never to Complain about Rochester Weather Again!

Another beautiful day but it never gets boring!






Well, after much struggling, I decided that I had to hand quilt my 30's "extreme" sampler, so I began last night. Because of rotator cuff problems the last time I did a massive quilting effort, I am taking Jane Townswick's advice and using very short threads and additionally I am propping up my quilting arm and using forceps to pull the needle through the tough areas. I may regret this as there are soooo many pieces and the quilting will be in the ditch for the most part! I just couldn't bring myself to machine quilt it even though it would be a lot faster. It just didn't feel like the right thing to do with this quilt. Now to just figure out how to get the sashing quilted in equal distances without pencil lines.....masking tape just doesn't seem to be doing it!




Well, due to my schizophrenic nature, I am also working on finally finishing the piece I started in the Pat Pauly Slash and Burn workshop from a zillion years ago. Of course, it is taking a very different course than originally. It all looked like background to me and I have already slashed from what I had. I have gathered a grouping of fabrics that I think will form the nucleus of the new piece which will be a bit representational (as usual) but pretty abstract (I am thinking, but who knows what the fabrics will tell me to do once I start reassembling).

This is the biggest piece I had done. I have actually already cut that into about 4 pieces as I didn't like the big blocks of the light color -- just wanted them smaller.
This is the pile of fabrics that I took from my stash to "enhance" the idea. The oranges will be my foreground somehow.



Weight Watchers is going very well. I went to Applebees for my favorite meal for which I had budgeted quite a few "points" (Sante Fe Chicken Salad). Upon getting there, I looked at the WW's menu and discovered a dish with lo fat cheese and no fat salad dressing. So I got them to substitute those in my regular salad (which was not on the WW menu) and reduced 5 points out of the meal (for anyone who has done WW, you know this is a huge reduction!). I was very happy to say the least as it tasted just the same to me!!



Weight Watchers is MUCH easier than it was 20 years ago when I last went. Besides the program being more of a learning experience, the food that is available now with the new health consciousness is fantastic!! It has taken some concentration to shop with my little points converter but as I said a "learning experience".


Of course it just wouldn't be my blog without a few flower pictures!!

These are our azaleas which we moved from the shade to the sun last summer and for the first time, we have blazing color!!


These forget-me-nots actually cover our front lawn now and Warren won't mow the knee high grass until they are starting to droop (much to the neighbor's dismay).


These were also "volunteers" like our forget-me-nots. Our neighbor gave us the seeds from many of her columbine last summer. I do love the flower!!

New Yellowstone Piece

After a day at Marcia's on Thursday, I finally got really started on the second of the Yellowstone pieces.




The first one was started in the class I took this summer and I really like it but made choices based upon the fabric I bought with me plus a little I purchased at the vendors. This time I decided to go bigger and more detailed and use more variety in the fabrics.



I began the same way by drawing a cartoon from the same picture I took at Angel Terrace at Yellowstone.


It follows along on a theme I seemed to have developed which is trying to bring beauty to things that are inherently not considered attractive which includes the forest fire, rusted truck. I took lots of pictures of dead trees on this trip and I think many will find their way into pieces in the near future! The fact that I live in a heavily wooded development probably is a significant influence here.

My father was a naturalist before it was stylish and taught ecology back in the 30's and 40's. As a child, one of the super big treats was to accompany my father on his Saturday "walks" which were down the railroad tracks and into the undeveloped areas near where we lived. He would find cocoons, tadpoles and I grew up with beautiful butterflies hatching and watching tadpoles turn into frogs in our back room. We grew most of our own fruits and vegetables despite living in a heavily developed suburb of Philadelphia. The town permitted my father to farm a 1/2 acre plot next the railroad tracks that remained undeveloped until I went into college when it finally became parkland. I think it was in the genes as his family had farms and came from English farming stock although it was two generations away from him.

Anyway, below is the current status of my newest Yellowstone piece.







I have also included a shot of my very favorite piece I have purchased from Priscilla Kibbee. It is a hand embroidered piece on hand woven fabric from Guatemala. I can't help myself when Priscilla brings back all these wonderful textiles and trims from all over the world.
See her blog at www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com. She has fascinating pictures from her many travels around the world. I'll post some molas I have purchased from her as well at a later time. She actually bought them from the Kuni Indians off the coast of Equador in her last trip -- amazing hand work.