July pleasures

Good morning, friends, and happy July 4th weekend to you! 

It is a gorgeous weekend here. Last year at this time, when I’d just moved to the island, I was warned that June would be solidly cool and rainy (which it was) and summer would begin on July 5th, as dramatically as if a summer switch were flipped on (which it did). This year, though, June was a mix of drizzly, overcast, and clear sunny days, so it has felt like summer was easing in earlier and more gradually. This holiday weekend has been ideal. I’ve been watching early morning kayakers and mid day water skiers on my little lake, and I’ve had perfect late afternoons on the deck with a book and a cold drink. This feels just the way summer should be.  I apologize to my friends in Sonoma County, who have been sweltering through a heat wave. 

This week has been about home stuff. My wanderings have been limited to a few trips off island for medical appointments (my hand/wrist fractures are healing nicely, thank you, and Miss C’s eyes have been checked and new glasses are on order), with a bit of furniture shopping thrown in. 

I decided that I have been dissatisfied with the family room because my Healdsburg furniture is just too big and too dark for the space.  After much online perusing, I came to a vision I wanted to have in the room and I’ve been excited about creating it. No, this photo is not the vision, but it has that comfortable airiness I’d like to achieve. (This is from the beautiful home of blogger Kari from Thistlewoodfarms.com.) But gosh, the furniture offerings in stores are so beige! And gray! I’ve found sofa and chair shapes I quite like, but the fabric offerings are so drab. Even with leather, the options are extremely limited. I’ve found upholstery options I like online, but I’m quite apprehensive about ordering a sofa or chairs sight unseen and, more importantly, “unsat.” Amazon, Home Depot and other inexpensive furniture options make me wonder about long term durability with daily use. 

I will digress to ask if any of you have had actual good experiences with a white or cream couch without having to do weekly slipcover washes. I’ve looked at Pottery Barn couches but I’m wary. We spend a lot of time in the family room so the furniture gets heavy use. We occasionally eat in front of the tv, and yes, I’ve been know to spill my coffee or red wine. The dogs are not on the furniture, but they have been known to rub against it, and I don’t like the thought of grimy streaks around the sides and edges of white furniture. Sigh. So I’m researching and poking around.

Meanwhile, I’ve made exciting progress in the sewing room. I’ve been struggling with my well-loved portable design wall which works great in some situations, but has been constantly in the way in my funny room. After a bit of research from quilters who have had happy results, I ordered felt tiles from Feltright.com. The tiles come in lots of colors and shapes and the site even has a design area where you can plan out your design and audition colors. I ordered a variation of their “Quilter’s Star” design in light gray and white. I wanted something neutral that would not compete with whatever pieces I had up, but that would also look good when it was empty. The tiles arrived on Friday, and on Saturday I went to work sticking them up. 

The trick is to start with a level block and work from there. And voila, finished wall! 

These tiles are smooth so pieces need to be pinned. But I did that before anyway, as I’d had too many times of finding a carefully laid out design in bits on the floor after the dogs had rushed by the portable wall.  Look, here it is in use already! 

And what is that work in progress, you ask? 

It is a kit quilt I bought a while ago on a big sale, because I love how the star blocks have a firework-ish look to them and it just looked so fun and festive. The pattern is called “Holiday Americana Merry Making,” designed by Jocelyn Ueng of It's Sew Emma, and it’s available as a kit here. Don’t let all the triangles daunt you. The blocks go together quickly with half square triangle units. Here is where I am as of this morning: 

Perfect 4th of July weekend sewing! 

Later today I expect to be out on the deck with the novel I’m reading, The City and the City by China Mieville. It is an unusual story about a murder that has been discovered in a place where two cities overlap and are, for political reasons, treated as invisible to each other. The novel has quite an interesting premise, and is billed as science fiction, fantasy, crime, and speculative fiction. Miss C actually told me about it after she’d listened to an online review, and I was sufficiently intrigued to borrow it from the library. If any of you have read it, I’d be interested in your thoughts. 

In case you are worrying about the baby bunnies in my yard, I am happy to report that my lawn has been fully mown and no baby bunnies (or parts thereof) were found along the way. I expect to see them scampering about one morning soon.