Comings, goings, and happy wanderings

Hello, friends! Happy June! 

I hope you are starting your summer off with fun and relaxation. Here on Whidbey Island, the weather has been mostly gray and drizzly but this week there has been the occasional bright blue sky to hint at summer weather to come. When I moved here, I was told by more than one Islander that summer weather starts on July 5, as if the weather gods flip a switch. That proved to be true last year so we will see what this year brings. 

I’ve had a lovely week. My longtime friend Moe came up from Southern California for a visit, and that was really fun. We met in our college dorm just about 50 years ago, which is utterly shocking given that we are both so young and as silly as ever. Today she ferried off the island to accompany a mutual friend on a road trip to Minnesota. I am traveling vicariously with them by following them via the “find my friend” app on my phone. I have her permission for the virtual accompaniment, of course.

We had a fun time while she was here. We had one brilliant sunny day and ventured out to walk through Meerkerk Gardens, a lush rhododendron garden in Greenbank. I’ve been meaning to visit, so it was the perfect time to finally take the morning to wander through. We strolled on gravel paths through groves of huge redwood and cedar trees, with lots of blooming rhododendrons and azaleas and other flowering shrubs. We came upon several ponds as we wandered, and admired the many well-placed benches for resting and appreciating the views. When we were standing in the meadow with the gorgeous water view up there, I wanted to pinch myself. I feel so very lucky to live here in this beautiful place.

There was even a treasure hunt so we kept watch as we wandered. This fairy and her toad were one of the treasures we found. 

Of course, there were lovely flowers and lush ferns, and surprising shapes and colors to see. I don’t know what this bush was (I think some variety of campanula) but I love these little striped flowers. 

 Before and after Moe’s visit, I made good use of my time at the sewing machine. I got a lot of sewing done while listening to the trial news out of NYC. I’ve had the fabric cut for a “Swoon Sixteen” quilt for some time, and I got the blocks all made this week. Now I’m waiting for a particular sashing fabric to arrive to I can get the top together. Maybe I’ll call it “Justice Prevails.” 

A friend of mine is expecting a baby girl at the end of the summer, and she is decorating her nursery in a strawberry theme. Well, that means a strawberry baby quilt, of course.

The pattern is called “Strawberry Social” by The Pattern Basket. Aren’t the berry blocks just adorable? The little stem part looks tricky but was clearly described and illustrated in the pattern. After the first test block, it was an easy few steps to follow. Isn’t it such a pleasure to work from a well-written pattern? 

I’ve got all the berry blocks done so tomorrow will be assembly with white sashing to create a field of floating strawberries. I’m looking forward to doing some swirly quilting on this.

Speaking of sewing, Moe was fascinated by the longarm and played a bit doing some test sewing. Moe was a “hat writer” at Disneyland for quite a few years — you know, one of the folks who’d stitch your name on your Mickey Mouse ears in bright gold chain stitching. So she got the hang of it quite quickly. We decided that we will plan a quilt retreat week at my house soon so she can make a top an then quilt it herself on my longarm. 

I’ve got a pleasant mix of leisure and household tasks to do this week. Getting the septic system inspected. Meeting a new lawn mower guy, as my current guy is leaving the island after finishing his tour of duty at the naval air station. Meeting contractor #2 to fix a ridiculous problem that contractor #1 created when he built a gate. Assembling some new furniture for the back deck, in anticipation of sunny days to come. 

I’m liking retirement. How did I ever fit work in? 

Hello, friends! It’s been ages since I blogged, and I have missed you! This rainy Sunday morning seemed like the ideal time to catch up a bit. That is the view from my bedroom window as I write this. The rain is falling steadily. I know that some, hoping for a sunny, summery Memorial Day weekend to start off the summer, are disappointed. Me, I love rainy days so I am clearly living in the right place. 

Rainy days are perfect for what I call “slow sewing”… that sort of sewing that involves lots of pieces and careful matching of parts and seams. I have “Swoon 16” in the works and will be working on it later today.

I did officially open the deck for the season about a week ago, and I am looking forward to lounging and reading out there soon. But not today. And, I should add, it started raining about 3 hours after I took this photo so I had to quickly cover everything up again.

I’ve had a busy few months, which is in part why I’ve not posted. A few weeks ago, I was in Northern California to attend my regular quilt retreat and to work with my sister on getting my dad’s house ready to sell. 

The drive to and from Sonoma County was beautiful - everything was lush and green and blooming. I listened to engaging audio books on the way — “Listen for the Lie” by Amy Tintera on the way south, and “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett on the way home. Both were wonderful. I think I’d like Meryl Streep to read aloud to me every day. I now have two excellent fabric store stops on the way, for a perfect stop to stretch my legs and look at pretty quilty things. I can highly recommend Sisters Quilt Shop in Chehalis, Washington and Sew Simple in Redding, California for enjoyable road breaks. 

While in California, I had a lovely time with my sister and friends. It is an odd thing to dismantle your parents’ longtime home, I must say. One of my tasks was to pack up my dad’s collection of metal die cast cars. My dad and brother, both hardcore car and racing fans, had big collections and they have been an omnipresent feature of life with my parents. Packing them up was emotional, to be sure. It was also amusing. My dad had a love affair? Obsession? With Ferraris, and with red race cars in general … and as a result had quite a few in his collection. How many red race cars does a collector need?

I was happy to be in California just when my longtime friend and quilting inspiration Janet Shore celebrated her 100th birthday. I’ve known her for 20 years or so, and I’ve been amazed and inspired by her curiosity, enthusiasm, and genuine interest in other people for all of that time. Her family threw a big party for her, and it was a lovely afternoon with quilters and quilting icons from all over California in attendance. 

I was so happy to see Janet, especially as she looked happy and healthy.

My regular quilt retreat at the Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg was fun as always. When I first started attending — also 20 years ago — Caroline was in early elementary school and retreats provided a big block of time where I could focus on creating and getting things done. Now that I’m retired (yay!) I have a lot of creative time, and retreats are about catching up with treasured friends. So, despite my having packed three separate quilting projects and my watercolor kit, I got only part of one quilt sewn, and did one small painting, and spent the rest of the time visiting. It was lovely.

Speaking of visiting, I had a happy 24 hours with fellow Twelve by Twelve artist Brenda Gael Smith who was in Washington for a brief visit. We reminisced about our Twelve by Twelve experience, how it was blogging that introduced us to each other initially, and marveled about how far reaching that project has been. A few months ago, a collection of our quilts was made part of the permanent collection of the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska and has been on display there. We truly had no idea how big our challenge project would become and how far our artwork would travel. 

Meanwhile, between the usual life chores and managing the endless paperwork connected with my parent’ estate, I’ve been finding a lot of time for quilting. I had fun making two quilts for WAIF, Whidbey Island’s animal shelter network, which were recently auctioned at its big fundraising event. I had such cute dog and cat fabric that I had to make a dog quilt AND a cat quilt.

I really had fun giving each cat its very own face.

And there has been “fast sewing,” too — quick but fun projects for gift baby quilts and donation quilts. 

It’s amazing how much one can get done when work isn’t getting in the way.

 

September, already

 

 I am sitting at one of my favorite spots, Freeland Park looking out at Holmes Harbor. It is a lovely September day -- a light breeze is rustling the grass and small waves are rippling onto the rocky beach. 

On Wednesday afternoons, I drop Miss C at the Cat Cottage for her volunteer afternoon, and I typically do grocery shopping and run other errands. If there is time left, I come here to walk along the shore, look for pretty shells, and just enjoy the salty air and peaceful view. Now that I'm work-free, this midweek break is not quite as precious -- I could come here at any time, now. But still, something about sitting here, listening to the water, reading my novel, or just staring out across the harbor still feels like a precious gift. 

 I am making excellent progress at getting the last of the boxes unpacked, and the workshop organized. I have mentioned, I think, that my house has a partly finished room, accessible from the backyard, which had formerly been a carpentry workroom for the previous owner. I have installed metal shelving racks and am using it as an extra storage space for quilting and art supplies and workroom for bookmaking and other activities. Suffice it to say that I am well equipped. 

 

 

I showed you last time the Crossed Canoe top I made from blue, green, and turquoise batiks. I loaded that onto the longarm and quilted horizontal wavy lines to add to the watery look of the quilt. It was fast and fun and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

 While I was unpacking the remaining boxes in the workshop, I came upon a big bunch of leftover parts from quilts past. This was a timely discovery, as I had just watched a video from Just Get it Done Quilts on Youtube about creative ways to use leftover quilt blocks.

With the leftover Crossed Canoe blocks and other batik scraps, I put together another top that is ready for quilting.

 

 

I'll quilt the same wavy lines on it -- that went so fast -- and both will be donated to a local cancer unit that provides quilts to its patients. It was very satisfying to use up every single block and a bunch of scraps. 

Then, I came upon a bag of left over baby four-patches I'd made a few years ago, for this quilt:  

I made the blocks as leader-and-ender sewing over many months, so it was no surprise that I ended up with a bunch extra. 

So one batch of teeny four patches became this quilt top, just 24x30 inches to fit the top of a NICU incubator.

 

 

 And another pile became this little top, the same size and for the same purpose:

I'll load them on the longarm side by side once I find the right backing piece. I'm sure there's something suitable in my stash. 

It's been funny, how satisfying it has been to use of leftovers. 

I even finished a quilt this week! I quilted the scrappy trip around the world with an overall feather design, which looks especially lush with the wool batting I used. This is already draped on the end of my bed, to pull up for added warmth as these fall nights start to get chilly. 

It is simply amazing how much I can get done without work getting in the way.