Snow day and Kahlua cake!

Monday was a snow day here in western Washington. A few inches closed everything down and I was forced to stay home and bake a chocolate Kahlua bundt cake. It was rough, but I did it. 

The cake batter had 3/4 cup of Kahlua, espresso, chocolate, sour cream ... As soon as it came out of the oven I poked holes all over with a skewer and drenched it in a syrup made with another 3/4 cup of Kahlua, sugar and a whole stick of butter. OMG!

It didn't come out of the pan too well, but it tasted great.

Well that didn't go well.

The snow was pretty and it was so peaceful looking out the windows. We're in for more snow starting tomorrow. 

I also used my snow day to cut out more wool for my Fresh Cut applique project. 

My friend Sherry, who helped eat the cake, gave me some beautiful locally dyed wool that she bought at the Sleepy Valley Quilt store in Port Angeles. Don't these pieces play well with the other colors?

 I also can't get this song out of my head. It's the snow day announcement sung to the tune of "Hallelujah" that's been making the rounds on social media. These guys are really good!

watch

Have a colorful day

Keith visits!

My son, Keith, escaped the polar vortex and flew out from Madison, WI, where it was in the minus 20s, for a wonderful visit over the weekend!

Even though it rained on Friday, it was a relatively balmy 40-something so we walked a good hour on the Cushman Trail in Gig Harbor. It was peaceful and quiet, with a steady but light rainfall and only a few others on the trail. We geared up for rain, so we stayed comfortable.

On the Cushman Trail with Keith.

Saturday it was still raining but colder, so we headed over to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, where it's always cozy and colorful.

To get to the museum we walked through the outdoor Bridge of Glass, whose walls and ceiling are filled with glass artist and Tacoma native Dale Chihuly's wildly colorful pieces.

Inside, we sat for an hour in the Hot Shop. Here, the glass artists were making a version of the big piece in the foreground of this photo. A commentator explained the process and answered questions, while the action was also shown on a big screen.

Then we spent a long time in a moody exhibit by Preston Singletary called "Raven and the Box of Daylight." Before Raven released the Daylight, the world was dark and rainy (like winters here in the Northwest). The exhibit was filled with sounds of rain and ravens, and visitors cast eerie shadows.

We had fun with our shadows: 

With Keith at a Preston Singletary exhibit, Museum of Glass.

Afterward, we tried to catch the sunset at the Fox Island Bridge, but discovered that in the winter the sun sets behind trees instead of over the water. All I got were the soft reflected colors of these clouds in the east.

I guess a lot of families would go to the movies on a rainy winter evening, but we're nature lovers so we went down to the harbor for Pier Into the Night. This event is sponsored by Harbor WildWatch and has divers taking videos underwater and showing their discoveries in real time on a big screen up on the pier. Mostly they find crabs and cell phones.

We capped the night off with an excellent nature film called "Mountain" on Netflix.

Before he took off this morning, we did the obligatory pose in front of my favorite quilt. It was a great weekend!

Have a colorful day

Making space for goodness

Mt. Rainier as seen from Gig Harbor yesterday.

Yesterday was a glorious sun-filled day in Gig Harbor, so Nancy and I walked the waterfront and drank in the sunshine and blue skies. It was a well-needed break from the grey and rain that we'd been experiencing, and today is shaping up to be another beautiful day.

Looking up from the patio at Suzanne's Bakery.

Last week's yoga wisdom from Saralynn was an ancient mantra, which she sang at the end of our practice.

"Hari om tat sat"

She said it roughly translates to: 

"Erasing pain and suffering,

Making space for truth and goodness."

Next up, the truth and goodness part: morning yoga with friends and getting ready for a visit from my son, who I haven't seen in a year! Yay! He lives in Madison, WI, where they have bitter cold today, well below zero, so Gig Harbor will feel downright balmy to him.

Have a colorful day

Sew Day color

This month I hosted Sew Day, and we talked, sewed and ate for six hours! It was productive and encouraging and generally great.

Nancy and I were both working on the same wool applique block from Sue Spargo's Fresh Cut book. That is Sue's version on the right, Nancy's in the middle, and mine on the left. I love Nancy's and decided that mine needs more contrast ... maybe some bright coral on the orange flower and some contrasting stitching around the purple vase.

Linda J. had two show and tells. The quilt above is one you already saw in my STITCH post, but now you can also see the fabulous print on the back and a detail shot. It's HAND applique!

She also showed us this lovely, peaceful green and brown top she's working on for her son and his wife.

It's from a pattern by Mieke Duyck and was in an old Quiltmania magazine. (I don't have the date.)

Next is Nancy's coffee quilt, which we passed around years ago for a round robin. She's finishing up the binding and the sleeve. I still haven't quilted mine.

Linda P. was working on this very colorful, sweet bird table mat in wool applique.

Linda P. also made this great suede bag from a skirt that she thrifted!

She made it just the right size to hold her bobbins of thread that she uses for applique projects.

Linda J. finally caught the wool applique bug and was working on this fun winter table topper. I think I'll make that pattern for next Christmas. Carolynn and Linda P. have already made it.

And of course there was the food.

I let Costco do the work for the first time ever, due to my tiredness because of sleepless nights because of the stressful situation I've mentioned in earlier posts this year. I did bake a Texas chocolate sheet cake, but I didn't get any good pictures and now it's history. We had tortilla rollups, Mediterranean crunch salad, fruit and cheese.

Have a colorful day

Color therapy

Notepad, pencil, wool and glittery thread from the Quilted Strait.

The pencil says, 

"Fabric can't solve everything ...

Wait! Yes! Yes, it can!"

I'm planning a new quilt for the new year, and these are some of the colors I have pulled. It's for my daughter, and she's given me a bright palette to work with. I picked up this package of pinks at the Quilted Strait in Port Gamble on Sunday ... because you can never have too many hot pinks and oranges.

This is the pattern: Baby Domiciles. Julia has asked for white backgrounds and bright, clear houses.

Here are some photos she sent me of her favorite colors. She said she didn't realize that they were all solid colors, but that she must be drawn to them because they are calmer than busy prints. But she did approve of the package of pink/orange prints. Yay!

So I pulled out some more from my stash, and this is what's going on now on my cutting table. I've mixed in a few pieces of raw silk in saturated colors to add a little movement. I love the way silk shimmers without being gaudy. I also added a few pieces that I painted and a bunny print because she has three bunnies.

When Sherry and I went to the Quilted Strait, the sun broke through the clouds and we had this beautiful view from our lunch table.

After lunch, we went back to the fabric store (it's a 50-minute drive so we had to make the most of it) and she found this sunshine panel with one of my favorite sayings. 

And speaking of shadows and the sun, did you see the lunar eclipse a few nights ago? I watched off and on for an hour.

Have a colorful day

Balance and time

Two days ago I hit a wall. 

I knew it would happen eventually. I'd been running on adrenaline since the Christmas Eve nightmare discovery of betrayal -- trips to a lawyer (my first ever), a financial guy (my first ever), a mental health therapist, texting, messaging, talking, walking with friends and family. 

I was having panic attacks, getting by on four or five hours of sleep, losing weight (not a bad thing). I was bombarded with advice, warnings, do this, do that. I finally crashed and did nothing on Thursday except for a long-scheduled annual physical. Miraculously, my blood pressure was good.

The next day, I received two messages that spoke directly to me. Jillian's Friday yoga message was about balance and it being sometimes absolutely necessary to "shut down, kick back, and do nothing."

I took this photo of balanced rocks
years ago in Sedona.

And right before yoga, I received a text from my daughter in law, two lines from the poet Mary Oliver:

"Things take the time they take.

Don't worry."

Me and my beloved Sedona rocks and sky.

A friend in San Francisco read my cards over the phone. If the cards are right, I will come through this to a place of strength, happiness, creativity, serenity and all good things. This High Priestess card may inspire a quilt. Here's a detail of one of my older quilts titled "Other Worlds."

Tomorrow is a trip with a friend to my favorite out-of-town quilt store for color therapy and planning my first new quilt of the new year. 

p.s. Another quote from Mary Oliver from a comment that Gerrie just left. Thank you, Gerrie. It's right on:

"Someone I loved once 

gave me a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand

that this too, was a gift."

Have a colorful day