A long hot humid summer

Just in case you haven't noticed, the front door is red!I have wanted a red door for some time and so early last month I made the leap and shopped the local home stores and bought primer and paint. The original color was the same as the shutters, a faded teal. Looks really pretty good from this distance don't you think?

This is closer of course and boy the red is really standing out! The color, by the way is Martha Stewart's Lady Bug Red. Hm mm, there is something really familiar about this shade of red.

Oh, my gosh! Of course, it totally matches my husbands car. The jeep!!! Oh well, it is really red and there is nothing I can do about it, or more to the point, there is nothing I am willing to do about it. After one coat of primer and three coats of paint, which is still not enough when viewed close-up, I am done. It was a hot humid day. Each coat taking twice the predicted time to dry. Do I have painter's remorse? Of course. The last time I trusted my own judgement, well I don't remember the last time. So the door is red. Want to make something of it? Just kidding!

I also thought I should share more of what is going on, on the porch, front and back. We moved into this house almost eight years ago and I knew immediately that wicker was going to be the material of choice for outdoor furniture. This swing is on the front porch and when the weather settles, I love to read and swing, drifting an hour or two away.

Lots of chairs needed so these two rest to the right of the front door. haven't decided on a table yet, but will soon. I love the idea of simple outdoor rooms.

Around the corner, a great comfortable rocking chair. This corner is special because in mid-afternoon the sun is blocked by a red-bud tree and a beautiful Japanese maple. It will soon have a light blue green table re purposed from an old rusty milk can. That is where you will find me reading and enjoying my flowers most afternoons. Well, when I am not swinging.

This is my back porch. The furniture represents the first piece purchase almost eight years ago. We arrived here in mid-November. In between days and weeks of unpacking and assimilating ourselves into the community, I would take breaks and place myself in the little rocking chair to read and regroup. One afternoon in particular stands out as pleasurable in a big way. It was November after all, but there was a warm, not hot, not cold summer like rain. The water came down gently and was so soothing. If it wasn't 101* with a heat index of 106*, I might be there even now.
Another angle on that same corner. We have beautiful trees. can you see the park bench we have placed under two of them?
Last is the wicker on the deck. My husband is trying to refinish that deck, but have to wait for cooler weather. The humidity has prevented us from using the deck much. The cushions have lived in storage much of the summer because until a couple of weeks ago, a sunny day would turn into a dark stormy afternoon soaking anything in it's path. I hope you have noticed the cushions as we go. Every two years or so, I have recovered them as that is about as long as the fabric lasts in terms of color. This was one of those replacement years and I hit the lottery when it comes to this year's choice. I love the polka dots. My best find for this ever. If the heat is bad where you are, please take care. Mowing the lawn is not worth heat stroke. You are important to me and I suspect many others. More soon.

Just Look at What I Found Today!

Today I ran away for a day. I left a note and promised to be home by dinner time. I had lots of well loved company the last few weeks and all that goes with that, such as house cleaning, painting where necessary, meal and event planning. I should have been at home today washing the bed linens, towels and anything else I could find. However, I spent the morning walking two miles at the mall with Danny, returning a really cute blouse that was after all too young for me, and picking up books saved for me at the local library. Then I spent the rest of the day in some of my favorite antique stores. I bought two quilts today and am sharing my favorite with you now. I made a rather low bid and the owner split the difference with me so it was a win, win for both of us. For those who don't already know, I offer the name, New York Beauty for this quilt. I suspect that if you are here reading, you already know that.

Above you can see the right side and upper edge. So if you look at the right side of the picture you can see a chunk missing near the bottom edge of the corner block. Not unusual for a quilt this old.

This picture shows two patches of red apparently used to cover two holes. A quick examination of the fabric feels like there are two oval holes under the patches. There are identical ovals of white on the back. I can only guess that the holes were trimmed out to remove a stain? In any case I may try to find a better match of fabric and piece red and white together to better hide the repairs.


On the left edge of this photograph is what I believe to be the the bottom edge of the quilt. If you take a look at the first picture again you will see that there are two sides of the quilt with this border. Quilts from this time period were often used on beds that were place against the wall so no need for a four side border.

This view gives you a small sense of the quilting. I have to say that this is a really beautifully made quilt. The piecing is really crisp and the quilting dense and lovely. The edges are pretty worn, but over all the rest of the quilt is in good condition. There are some stains, but I am reluctant to try to wash them away. I suspect that I will hang it above the landing upstairs. If that works out, I will post a picture so you can once again see how beautiful it is. The following quilts with the exception of the last one are quilts in the International Quilt study Center's collection. I hope you enjoy them.

This would probably be my favorite. It employs stunning pieced sashing and my own favorite, applique.

I love the red, white and green color choices in this one. It is one of the few I have seen in this soft color palette.

This quilt is on the cover of the book "American Quilts in the Modern Age". This quilter had no problem with color.

This quilt is also red, white and green, however the artist also popped in some yellow and voila, this quilt sings!
I end, appropriately I think, with this wonderful red, white and blue version. When Americans are feeling patriotic, or nostalgic, it seems we come back to this.
I hope you don't have the need to run away. This was only my second time in forty-nine years so I am feeling okay with it. However, if you do, I hope it works for you as well as it worked for me today. Two quilts in one day. Zowie!!!

I do sometimes cook

Last fall when I went to Philadelphia with my daughter, I certainly enjoyed the sights in the historic area. In walking distance, I spent my days absorbing our history while Kelly attended her writing conference. However, we did have almost a whole day at the end of the week before heading for the airport and home.

This was the day we had breakfast/lunch at Max Brenners Chocolate cafe. Yum! In addition we were in an area where a lot of high end boutiques and stores. What did we enjoy the most apart from lunch/ breakfast? William Sonoma! Sorry, we do not have one here. I cannot understand why but it is the sorry truth of our condition. That is where we found Kitchen Aids 90th anniversary limited edition, candy apple red mixer with a glass bowl! I really wanted that mixer. I think Kelly wanted it too. We both own a Kitchen Aid mixer, mine more than 35 years old, hers more than twenty. Three hundred and forty dollars. Both of our mixers are in great condition so no real excuse to buy one. Having said all that, I cannot express how thrilled I was to finally find the glass bowl in Branson at the The Tanger Mall! I am so excited to be able to see all of what is going on when I am mixing pastries, icings, etc.

Now if any of this sounds strange I will give a brief explanation. The women in my family play board games, do jig saw puzzles, collect cookie cutters and unusual baking pans and dishes, sew, love, love, love office supplies, and possess a gene for collecting vintage china and glassware. It could be worse I suppose. What if we had an affinity for trolls?

Friends

I have been thinking of friends a lot lately. As some of you know, I lost a dear friend a short time ago. It was a great loss to everyone who loved her. This resulted in my thinking about friends and I decided to share a little with you today. We moved from CA to the mid-west in 2003. My husband was two years into retirement so free to go. I am a quilter and was still working at teaching applique and hand quilting and can do this work anywhere, so I was also free to go. The incentive, our daughter and a beautiful five year old granddaughter. One day my husband said " I would rather see our girls every week and visit friends once a year", instead of the other way around. So we began the journey that led us here. There are no regrets but am reminded of loss when I come across something made for me by a friend. I am then reminded of a quote I read a long time ago and do not remember the source. A man leaves the place where he lives and "a woman leaves her friends." So, in the arrangement above I have made a circle. The cross stitch is my work and contains images I am fond of, a bird, a bowl of fruit and a home. Moving down in a clockwise motion, there is a tiny white oak basket made for me by my friend Karen B. It is absolutely perfect in every detail. The small quilt below was made for me in 1990 by another friend, Bobbi A. She moved first back to the east coast. Something about the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was born in Ca so I was somewhat immune but understand her feelings. The little quilt is approximately eight by ten inches. Picture if you can a 12 block quilt with two inner borders and a one inch outside border, hand pieced and quilted. Lucky me, but it gets better. All of the pieced blocks are made from fabric inherited from her great grandmother's quilting scraps. I feel better just looking at this evidence of dear friends.

You Have seen This Before

Okay, I know you have seen "In My Garden" before, but I am excited and want to share the moment. I have long admired the Vermont Quilt show and finally entered a quilt. While I have heard that more than ever this show features quilts that have been long-arm quilted, no problem there. There is room for all. However, this show has a reputation for traditional, hand appliqued and hand quilted work and I am thrilled to be a part of that. This show is not juried. They accept the first 200 or so quilts and the judging begins. There is no monetary reward, so the satisfaction is personal. The funny thing is that I have no idea for sure if that small blue ribbon is for first place or not. There are a few other things it could be. If you know or if you find out, I would love to hear from you. Please remember, all you traditional quilters, we haven't stopped making quilts, but we have stopped showing them in numbers to match the machine made work. I want to see your work. I dare you!

Just thought I would come back and bring you up to date on my quilt. I received an email from Janet this morning including a more recent picture of my quilt. I am so excited to see that there are now two ribbons on my quilt. According to Janet the second ribbon is for best Applique. it has been a great day. If I had not entered, I would not be feeling this way. Take a chance. The worst that can happen is that people like me will get to see your art. The best could be a day like I am having. Seems like a win win to me. Thanks Janet!

Danny and softball

Whenever I hear the phrase " The Boys Of Summer" I almost always think of my youngest child, Danny. Now of course Danny is not a child any more, at least not physically. He has competed in
Special Olympics since he was eight years old. He had a best friend whose name was Bryan. I believe they would still be friends if Bryan were still here. He passed away when the boys were in their early twenties. They really loved each other. They were brothers despite having different sets of parents! I remember attending their first Special Olympics competition in Oakland California. They were in the same heat for the 50 yard dash. The gun sounded and they were off running. Danny was way out in front and we all cheering, when suddenly, Danny looked back and saw Bryan pretty far behind. He stopped and cheered his friend/brother on. They crossed the finish line together. We could all learn from those two eight year old little boys.

Danny went on for many years swimming, running, bowling, competing in gymnastics. In his mid-teens he began playing softball and over time he gradually gave up the other sports and now plays softball with a group called Sporting Chance. The six weeks of play are somewhat stressful for him as they are often rained out. He is a regular and yes sometimes annoying weather man during the short six week season. He doesn't always play as well as he used to but wouldn't miss it for the world!

Now this week was so different. I have spent some quality time with him trying to convince him that he needed to keep both hands on the bat and follow through. Finally he seemed to understand and when he got up the first time (yes!) both hands on the bat and followed through. Base hit! In one hour he had two base hits resulting in two runs, as infielder he defended second base for two outs and caught a fly ball. Did I mention that he was so excited that he caught it with his bare hand? He did have a glove but forgot to put that hand up. He was so excited, he forgot how much it hurt and walked off the field shaking that hand and began laughing and laughing. He has got a lot of mileage out of his special "Day of Summer" this week. May your own Days of Summer be as much fun with far less humidity than my own and I hope you catch the fly ball of your choice.

I have always loved the clouds in the mid-west

I am completely without anything quilty to write about today so you will have to be content with my weather report. Whenever I have traveled in the mid-west to visit family or friends I have been overwhelmed by the beauty of the cloud formations. However this week we have been treated to some very unusual cloud formations. Undulatus Asperatus. I immediately had grave reservations as I live in an area of the country where tornadoes are pretty common. However, this is not the case with these clouds. Yay. The above picture was taken in Aurora MO.

I was intrigued with this phenomenon and so went online to see what I could and found this one in Scotland. It is rare and the last sighting before this week was in the fifties.

This one was in MO. Not my picture but similar to what I saw when I started down my drive way. As I turned south to go over the highway, I saw it again. I have to say that there is something ominous about these clouds. My husband said it reminded him of a scene in an old movie "Ghost Busters." I have to agree. I hope all of you get so see this wonderful product of Mother Natures art