Color and lines 2

I added some thread lines.  I sewed it here and there, sometimes I tied it.

And now it looks like this and I am happy with it.

Riot of color

My workroom is a riot of color right now.

I did a little more on my green lime stack quilt.

You can see where I pinned the new pieces on.  I still need to fuse them in place.

Here is how it looked before.

I started another strip quilt.  This one is quite small.  I drew lines on the photo.  I want them to be stitching lines but I am still working on how to actually stitch them.  I think the piece is too fragile for machine work.  Maybe I will try couching.

Here is how it looks without the proposed lines.

Fountain in February

There isn't any water in the fountain yet so I used rocks and chunks of glass to hide its stark concrete look.  The chunks of glass are leftovers from John's stained glass past.   The glass sparkles like water.  Another satisfying rinky dink project.

I ordered some of this fabric

I've had pretty good luck ordering fabric online.  Mostly it looks as good or better than its photo.  Not always, but mostly.  This is a Michael Miller batik and that line is pretty reliable.  I am anxiously awaiting its arrival.  Fingers crossed.

Decidedly spring!

It was such a beautiful day today, in the low 60's and sunny.  John painted the garage.  I gardened some.  We went for a walk and ran some errands.  And then we had grilled hamburgers for dinner.  Yum!

Is it done yet?

I am still loving this fun piece I've been making.  It's all about the interplay of colors, how they affect each other and how I like it.  I am happiest when I don't try to figure it all out ahead of time.  I like putting pieces together and adding bits.  Since this piece has no function except to look at it, there's no need to make it sturdy or washable.  There's just adding lines and colors as I see fit.

I did extend it a bit, added some stitching and I fused it to batting.  The batting is pinned to a piece of foam core stuff (they sell it as insulation at Home Depot).  I like it on the off white background of the batting but can I accept batting showing?  And do I want to mount it on the foam core?  Most importantly, it makes me want to make another one.

Here it is, propped up against my design wall.  The fabrics include hand dyed pieces from Vicki Welsh, Laura Wasilowski, Frieda Anderson and me along with some commercial pieces from Island Batik.  The pieces from Frieda are silk and they shimmer but that is not so obvious in my photos.

And here is a detail that shows some of the stitching.

I hung it in the bathroom for now.

Valentine's Day in the park (with hellebores)

There were lots of people enjoying the park and even some having picnics.

Laurelhurst Park has some nice plantings of hellebores.

I love this soft yellow best.

The wonderful scent of  daphne wafts through the neighborhood , including our own front porch.   It's so nice to sit in the sun on the porch and enjoy the daphne.

Catherine Creek Dream Date

For our anniversary we went on another dream date hike on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge.   It was a sunny warm day and the grass widows are in bloom at Catherine Creek.  It was magical!

It was so bright that my camera, at least with me operating it, could not capture the beautiful fields of grass widows.  However, I found a great photo of how they looked on Oregon Hikers.

And here are my photos from our glorious hike today.  The flowers don't show up as well in my photos but they are EVERY where.

That's Oregon across the Columbia River.

Update:  These photos, posted on Oregon Hikers, were taken on the same day I was there.  They show the flowers much better than my photos.

source

And this is a great closeup from jdemott's trip report.

Our 34th anniversary

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary.  We were married on Friday the 13th, 1981.  Here we are looking young and hairy (hairy was in then).

We made pork buns and chocolate chip cookies to celebrate.

It's spring!

It's definitely spring.  Things are growing and blooming.  It's a touch early so I hope we don't have a cold spell to set things back.  But in the mean time...

Coffee on the porch with the scent of daphne

 And blooming things

A favorite hellebore or two

Our new manzanita, already flowering.