Fiber and Pulp

Imposed Quiet

My friend Barbara sent back the photo I mailed to her (instead of to myself:) - here is an overall shot of that African fabric hex quilt I'm working on making. Maybe you can get a better view of the assorted prints this way? :)

Today is a day 'off' and I'm taking advantage to the hilt. I find myself very worn down by all that is happening in my life ... so I have given myself permission to do nothing whatsoever if I so choose today. I've been mostly sleeping and reading (with a few minutes thrown in for bathroom visits and eating). Cold and gray and wet outside sure doesn't incline me to attempt any going out! :P

 

If I can muster the energy later I might work a bit on hand embroidery. I brought home two pigment-dyed sweatshirts I found in my office (archived with the accessories to turn each of them into a jacket) - Skip very kindly pre-washed them for me (my husband is such a good guy, he does all the laundry 'cause up and down two flights of stairs is just too much for me:). I need to get them done fairly soon - I am finding that my poor body is getting cold much quicker without that sixty pounds of fat insulatation. :P

 

:) Linda

Highs and Lows

This photo was taken yesterday afternoon on my walk to get lunch. I hope the butterfly's angle doesn't make you dizzy. :) I always notice butterflies (when I was really, really little I thought they were flying flowers:) and I see them all too seldom these days. This one is a tiger swallowtail (I _think_) and the impatiens it was busily feeding on are in a big flower box in front of my shop (well, down the sidewalk a few dozen feet, in front of Print-o-Stat). I _had_ to take a photo, I see so few of these nowadays.

I remember as a small child in the summer seeing swarms of them, especially when I was in the mountains in Virginia with my grandparents. We used to spend a month or so every summer with my Dad's parents at their farm 'down on The Pound.' One of my grandmother's favorite things to do was 'visit' - we'd set out around mid-morning or early afternoon to see someone she cared about (cousin, friend, aunt) nearby...always on foot.

The best place to spot butterflies was in the woods farther down the holler than grandma's house, on the way to see Aunt Cindy (actually my grandfather's great-aunt). There was a place where the footpath followed a creek and there would often be butterflies swarming on a particular area of muddy bank. I think they were sucking up minerals of some kind from the soil? I just remember that the bank would look like a flower bed filled with hundreds of wings in all kinds of colors. :) 

Must be the wretched heat makes me think about cool woody shade, eh? :) Actually, I have been somewhat enjoying the weather this summer. We've had quite a lot of rain which pumps up the humidity unpleasantly - but the flowers and trees are more lush than I ever remember them being. The days that are 90 degrees or less feel pretty good to my joints and muscles - which is a vast surprise to me! Losing some of the, um, extra insulation on my body has had more than one benefit. :)

I've been trying to sew quite a bit the past week or two - it keeps my hands and mind occupied and prevents depression from setting in. Today and tomorrow I am 'off' and at home so I've been trying to do a bit of housecleaning (taking a rest and blogging while sitting:). Our poor house is a messy, dusty home I'm afraid. :P I can only breathe so much dust in one day - so cleaning has automatic closing times (when I start to sneeze and wheeze, cleaning's done!::).

:) Linda