Fiber and Pulp

All the Flowers

Forsythia

Japanese Cherry

Pear (probably Bradford)

Some kind of Winter Berry

Nandina berry?

Everything is blooming at once here in Columbia! I have seen but been unable to photograph other flowering trees - Star Magnolia, Chinese Cherry (probably Kwan-Yin), Plum ... This is the time of year when every outing is a delight for my eyes. :) The two red berry type bushes above have been beautiful all winter - but are especially visible for some reason now that my spring-oriented eyes are paying attention.

We've had mild temperatures with blue sunny skies for the past few days - a delight to my heart. Even just doing my normal outdoor chores has been wonderful - filling my bird feeders, sweeping our deck, taking out the recycling and trash - such joy. :)

I have been doing hand applique but forgot to take any photos of my work. Maybe I'll think to do that tomorrow.

I did take a photo of my progress on the jigsaw puzzle I'm working (slooooowly) at my brother's place:

The entire perimeter is complete and I've now started in on the flower garden situated in the front bottom area, to the lower right of the string of quilts airing on the dock. I bought this puzzle at the Iowa Quilt Museum when Kevin and I visited last August and am enjoying putting it together. Eventually, once I complete it, I intend to frame it to hang in my sewing room. :)

This past Sunday afternoon was the monthly meeting of Sew&Tell at my friend Barbara's house. I managed to take one photo of a finished quilt, made and shared by Amy S:

If I understood what Amy told about this piece, these fabrics are all Liberty of London 'Hello Kitty' commemorative prints. Kathy is pointing out the cat-themed quilting pattern from the back on the lower photo. 

Life is flowing along gently this week. I'm not getting a lot accomplished in my textile work because of soaking up sunshine and spring-ness ... just blissing out. :)

:) Linda

Early, Sunny Spring

Today I saw my first blooming Forsythia bushes for this spring. Lovely, bright yellow and happy.

The plum trees are flowering now, too. Bright pink and cloud-like.

In our side yard, the Vinca minor is also shining bright blue and wide-eyed.

Every spring day brings new blossoms and color. I adore this time of year! Every season has its beauty but spring is my most favorite time - the earth smells of new life and sunshine is doubly precious after the winter gray.

This has been a fairly quiet week. I took my brother grocery shopping today (on Wednesday this week instead of our now-usual Tuesday afternoon). For our own household, we are still buying our groceries online for delivery ... but I took advantage of my shopping trip with Kevin today to buy some snacks we can't find easily at the warehouse store as well as some sushi for lunch. Yum!

If the weather is nice tomorrow, I intend to go back and take Kevin out for a walk around his neighborhood in Wilde Lake Village. He does not get enough exercise and, like me, he is getting older. Being male, he has more morbidity risks as he is now in his 60s - exercise is good for both of us. :)

I spent some time Monday and yesterday making applique shapes for a secret project block. I managed to get them all pressed and ready to sew down by last night ... and applied the bias wreath vine ... but did not do any sewing today. Shrug. I am reading Faith Hunter's new novel, Rift in the Soul, and enjoying it immensely. I've read most of what Hunter has written and enjoyed it all - my personal recommendation, especially if you like fantasy and complex character development. 

 

:) Linda

Spring Rain

My daffodils are in full bloom now. Their radiant yellow faces are bowed down with the weight of the days of rain we are having. I'm sure the grass and trees are delighted but the flowers look sad. :) I have also seen plum trees blooming here. We have segued from late winter into early spring with more flair and earlier than most years!

I have been living quietly since I last wrote. Well, there has been some fiber excitement ... Mimi's Grad Class met (without Mimi who was at a guild retreat), with all the usual show and tell beauty. I have had two Sewing Together Fridays - one at Springwater Designs and one at Barbara's house. My current carry around work project is this Loose Ends vintage applique baby quilt top. Yesterday at Barbara's I managed to finish the applique for the third corner medallion of the top:

The blue lines you see denote the embroidery that I will do after I finish the applique for the whole top. This kit is circa 1940. It was started by a now-97 year old lady who can no longer finish it; her family has asked for it to be completed and I volunteered. I will be getting lots of practice at needle-turn applique as I work on this! :) You may have to embiggen by clicking on the photo to see the cupid's body which the quilt designer has designated to be done in white (on a white background). I may have to embroider the edges of that to make it visible in the final quilt.

At my machine, I have managed to complete making my large Apple Core units. Here are the last two I pieced:

There were a few 10" squares left of my original batik layer cake when I finished those two Cores. I decided to cut them into one-fabric units as a negative (resting) space for the eyes in my final quilt. So, from 40 ten inch squares I managed to piece/cut 32 Apple Core block units. 

Now I am debating exactly now to finish this project - whether to piece dark 'between' shapes or use a more traditional layout with stained glass style sashing. Hmmm. I think this might require some hands on sampling to decide (unusual for me, but I _am_ trying to improve my design skills:).

In home life, Hugh and I have completed our kitchen replenishing purchases with buying a new Crock Pot - the one I've had for 30+ years developed a crack through the side of the crock and was in danger of breaking ... so I bought a new one. Ceramics apparently cannot be recycled so I expect to use the cracked crock to make a nice flower pot of some kind and recycle the electric holder unit. The temperature controls have been upgraded - the new unit has a computer controlled thermostat and can be programmed to keep the food warm after a timed cooking. :)

Today we are trying out the new crock pot by making a traditional New England corned beef dinner with potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage. Yum!

Oh, we also used a recipe for my mother-in-law's carrot cake to bake on Thursday. Was delicious!

:) Linda