Ben & Jerry's to the rescue

I was slumped in front of the news in my pajamas last night. It was dark outside after another monsoon storm had blown through. I needed a pick-me-up and had a sudden urge to venture into the night (which I normally don't do) for ice cream. After a brief debate with myself, I sprung into action, hopped into the car and set off on my journey (all of 1.6 miles).

Wow! I was met with a huge almost full moon rising over the mountains to the east and a lightning show over the range to the north. Even better, the local radio station was playing the Grateful Dead, one of my all-time favorite bands. I thought, "I have to do this more often."

 

So it was appropriate to buy a pint of Cherry Garcia. And best of all, in addition to Ben & Jerry's ice cream being buy one get one free, there were pool noodles for 40 cents! I use the noodles to wrap my quilts around for storage, so I picked up a couple.

Back in the car the Grateful Dead were playing an extended version of "Eyes of the World" that carried me home surrounded by the moon and lightning and dark mountains. I had a long garage moment while I listened to the end before piling a bowl with ice cream and hot fudge sauce, polishing it off and calling it a night.

For those of you who don't know the Grateful Dead's music, it's a joyful mix of Americana, rock, blues, jazz, folk, bluegrass, reggae and world music with a psychedelic overlay. They're prone to long rambling jams that make you forget everything but the music. Here's a version of "Eyes of the World." Enjoy!

watch

Have a colorful day

Wrapping up the collages

Summer is over, so I guess I should wrap up these collages that I've been playing with during the past months when it's been too hot to go outside. By wrapping them up, I mean wrapping them around 11x14-inch canvas-covered frames and stapling the edges to the back. This is a big change from my usual method of quilting them and sewing a hanging sleeve on back. I want to see if it's easier to sell them (and for more money) if they're presented like paintings.

"Web of Life" is already spoken for by a friend in Gig Harbor! I used painting, stamping, rubbing plates with oil sticks, hand stitching and beading. I like how the sides look with the painted cloth continued to the back.

"Desert Monsoon"

"Protection"

I'm still fussing with this one, adding a beaded belly-button, some subtle stamped spirals, and bordering it with the herringbone stitch done with pearl cotton thread. 

For the labels, I'm trying something new. I printed them all on a piece of white cotton that I backed with a full page printer label. I bought the labels years ago for this purpose and forgot about them until a few days ago. Then I cut them apart and fused them to the back of the art with Heat 'n' Bond.

Taking a cue from painters, I only included the title and my name. Then I reconsidered and printed more labels with my email, blog site and Tucson, Arizona, like quilters usually do. I couldn't decide if I should include the year, so I didn't.

In other news, I stopped at Tohono Chul gardens yesterday to buy a gift and found a group of people watching probably a hundred butterflies fluttering around a patch of pretty blue flowers called Blue Mist.

And my little flower Juniper is now trying to pull herself up to stand. And she's crawling! I'll be smothering her with kisses in Spokane in nine days and I can't wait!!!

Have a colorful day

Petroglyphs, flowers and music

I finally got around to finishing embroidering and beading my petroglyph people after spending awhile choosing colors.

The hair was fun, with French knots for the cropped hair and the feather stitch for the wild one.

I decided that the female would have a green spiral, symbolizing new life that grows in the womb. The male has more angular lines and a tapering torso.

I had an exciting morning this week when I stepped outside for my early morning walk and saw that my Texas ranger had burst into majestic purple bloom overnight! So had all the other Texas rangers in my neighborhood.

These pictures are all of the one in my front yard. Its spiky branches sweep upward and are covered in tiny purple flowers.

Here it is behind the Talavera pot on my front courtyard wall.

And here's my other beautiful flower, little Juniper. I miss her so much! Her mom, my daughter, turns 36 tomorrow and I made her some pretty heart sugar cookies. (Of course, I had to eat the ones that broke.)

Now that summer is over and the weather is sort of cooling down (104 today), our outdoor concert season is kicking off and I plan to go to these two this weekend. I like going with friends to enjoy the cool(er) evening weather. We bring our folding chairs, drinks, and food to share and it's quite delightful.

Have a colorful day