Holiday bazaar?

Here comes another fabric bowl. I can't stop sewing! I have so much fabric and it's too hot to be outside and working with my favorite colors keeps my spirits up while waiting for it to cool off so I can hike.

I'm sewing so much that I think I should have a holiday bazaar and sell some of it. But I wonder if enough people would come or if I'd be sitting here alone eating Christmas cookies. (I can think of worse fates.) And should I do one day or two? And right after Thanksgiving or the first weekend in December? Any suggestions?

When I lived in Illinois and Washington, I took part in a lot of group holiday bazaars with other artists, but I haven't found a group here. So I'm thinking of having one by myself -- lord knows I have enough stuff to sell! I would deck the house for the holidays and serve home made Christmas cookies and beg my friends to come and to bring their friends. 

My favorite item to make is the zipper pouch with a clear vinyl front so you can see what's inside.

I've made two with my chocolate fabric. I could put Hershey Kisses in each of them!

I have a stack of microwave bowl cozies, but I don't enjoy making them as much. A lot of gift stores here carry them for about $8 to $12 each.

Travel tissue cases are a breeze to whip out, so I could sell them for just a few bucks. I keep them in my purse, backpack and car.

 I found two wool needle holders that I made as samples when I taught how to make them in Gig Harbor. Might as well sell them.

I also found a pile of lined gift bags that I made a few years ago and sold. (Thank you again to all of you blog readers who bought some!)

And snow people ornaments!

So much fabric. I could sew the rest of my life and not run out.

Well, back to the bowl.

To see what some other fabric artists have been doing, visit Nina-Marie at:  /

Have a colorful day

September

 

It might still be in the 100s here, but that's a cider donut with my coffee! And nothing says fall like a cider donut, which my friend brought back for me from Apple Annie's orchard.

September is also the last month of the Southwest monsoon season, and we've been having some breathtaking sunsets! We've also had quite a bit of rain, which is good for the desert. I took these photos from my front courtyard -- best sunset view I've had of all the places I've lived.

I'm looking forward to cooler days so I can start hiking again without having to be on the trail at dawn (which I have not been doing). That should happen by October.

Meanwhile, my kids up north are having a more seasonal end to summer. My daughter has picked the last of her raspberries and my son and his wife did their annual trip to Lake Michigan, where it was cool enough for a fire. No fires here in the desert, except for the sky!

Have a colorful day

Monsoon and a mountain escape

We've had some wild monsoon storms the last few days in Arizona. We desperately needed the rain, but not the damaging winds, which toppled big trees in downtown Tucson last week. Here's the view of rain falling over the Tucson Mountains from my front courtyard. The last few nights we've all been waking up to thunder, lightning and steady rain.

 

But the monsoon really hit the Grand Canyon (five hours north of me) hard over the weekend, with a raging flash flood tearing through some of the most popular hiking areas, ripping out bridges and buildings. Dozens of hikers had to be evacuated by helicopter, about 15 are still missing, and there have been two confirmed deaths so far. The water pipeline that supplies the tourist hotels and restaurants on the South Rim was destroyed, so those people also had to leave. It's not known how long they will be closed.

 

Meanwhile, it was over 100 degrees all last week in Tucson, so four of us went up to Mt. Lemmon to hike where it's about 20 degrees cooler at almost 9,000 feet.

It's a whole different world! So green and cool with massive evergreens instead of the desert's giant saguaros. This is a Douglas fir below. I couldn't get the whole tree in one picture.

Little berries and mountain wildflowers added spots of color to the green. The red berries are on a mountain ash and the white ones are snow berries (if my iPhone is correct).

Delicate yellow columbine was plentiful, as were the daisy-like fleabane flowers.

The orange one is a blanket flower, in the sunflower family.

This tiny white flower with delicate purple lines is a Richardson's geranium. The yellow one is a golden columbine.

This stump was also a work of art! Hikers have decorated it with sticks, pinecones, moss, rocks, and even a penny deep inside the hollow area. I wonder if any little forest creatures seek shelter there.

It was a very short hike, but the elevation made it a little tiring so we were glad to get to the Iron Door for cold drinks and lunch. Then the short hike back to the car was all downhill!

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Fresh from Apple Annie's

Over the weekend my friends and I made the two-hour drive east to buy fruit and veggies at the Apple Annie's farm in Willcox, AZ. It was 107 at home but "only" got up to 99 degrees in Willcox, which is higher in elevation. 

As soon as we parked in front of the tractors, I knew I had to have Debbie and Jan pose in front of them for the blog and they cheerfully obliged.

Jan even scrambled up into the giant wooden chair for a photo. And she didn't even roll her eyes like a lot of my friends do when I ask them to pose at a corny spot!

My haul was corn, apples, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peppers and an Asian pear.

Their sweet corn is famous, and so are the peaches and apples. Unfortunately we were a little late to buy fresh peaches, but we did each get a piece of warm peach pie. And I bought four varieties of apples.

There was a line at the roasted corn station, where you slathered your ear with melted butter and then chose from dozens of shaker jars of seasonings. I wasn't going to get any because it was so hot outside, but I'm glad I did. And I sat at a picnic table under the misters so it didn't feel too bad.

The pepper choice was amazing! I got a big poblano and a sweet red bell pepper. I'm going to roast them in the oven and then stretch them out over a few meals.

There were bright, beautiful flowers, and the fields stretched forever toward the mountains.

On our drive home we headed toward monsoon clouds that would soon cover Tucson, but we only got a few sprinkles on the drive. It was a fun day, but I was sapped by the heat and collapsed on the couch as soon as I got home. A few hours later I was microwaving the corn in the husks and sampling one of the crisp apples. Excellent!

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And one more thing -- bowls!

I have a friend whose beloved purple fabric bowl that she bought at a store years ago is falling apart, so I made her another one last night. It took a couple of hours.

Purple is her favorite color, and I just happen to have a large stash of purple fabric.

That got me thinking about all the bowls I've made, gifted and sold over the years. They're mostly fun to make, and definitely mindless so there's no stress except when you start to raise the sides. That's not so fun.

I joked that this giant yellow bowl was so bright that I had to put my sunglasses on to take its picture!

I've done a lot of different endings, but buttons are a favorite.

And given that I'm going to be sheltering inside in the AC for at least another week, I just might make a few more in between working on my wool Christmas tree quilt.

Here's one of my old blog posts about the bowls: bowls-of-bunners.html

Have a colorful day