Happy Summer Solstice!

"May the longtime sun

shine upon you ...

All love surround you ...

And the pure light

Within you ...

Guide your way on ...

Guide your way on."

Those lyrics are from a song often incorporated into yoga practice, possibly based on a Celtic song. Whatever the origin, it is a beautiful way to mark the solstice today, the longest day of the year.

The nature photographs are all from my walk this week in the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island with the Feet and Forks. It is such a lovely, quiet, peaceful yet joyful spot.

"Summer Grass" by Sherrie Spangler

The quilts are mostly old ones of mine celebrating summer. 

"The Purple People Celebrate Summer" by Sherrie Spangler 

"Fragments: Summer" by Sherrie Spangler

I can't remember the name of this one.

Many yogis salute the summer solstice by doing 108 sun salutations, a series of yoga poses. Now I won't be doing that (don't think my shoulders could handle that many) but they will be doing it at the Y in Gig Harbor this weekend. I'll salute with my iced tea glass from home!

Why 108? It's open to interpretation, but here is one insight courtesy of the magic of the Google search: 

"Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.
According to yogic tradition, there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India. And there are also 108 Upanishads and 108 marma points, or sacred places of the body."

And last but not least, this is from our local weekly, and it is SO true:

 Have a colorful day

"Summertime" wool table mat is done!

I just finished my "Summertime" wool applique table mat, eight days after I started it! I wanted to get it done before the official start of summer, which is Friday.

It was a joy to stitch it with those bright, beautiful colors. Here is the pattern, which is also beautiful but I wanted a rainbow of flowers and a white background.

It's the perfect size for the yellow tulips.

I loved working on it outside this past week with my iced tea handy and my stitching needs in the little wool needle case I made that matches the table mat. (You can guess my favorite colors!)

When I wasn't outside, I mainly worked on it here, on the big table in my sewing room. It's my happy space.

My Sew Day group convinced me to leave the little purple petals unstitched, which gives it a whimsical touch. I finished it with a simple blanket stitch and decided not to embellish the rest with embroidery because I wanted it to be fresh and simple -- as opposed to most of my wool applique which is heavily embellished like a made-up bejeweled older woman.

Have a colorful day

Flowers, Sew Day, and Namaste

Me and my sewing buds: Nancy, Linda J., Linda P., and Carolynn.

Flowers, friends and food -- 

must be SEW DAY!

Today I hosted my second sewing group of the week, which gave me an excuse to bake cream cheese orange-glazed banana bread, lemon squares, and wacky chocolate cake. To make it healthy, we also had chicken Caesar salad, caprese salad, and fruit salad. And I got to pull out the blowsy flowery napkin rings that I bought on sale during the winter.

I set the dining room table because I thought it would be too chilly to eat outside, but by lunch time it was warm and sunny on the deck, so we ate al fresco.

My sewing buds bring to mind Friday's yoga wisdom from Jillian. She reread the meaning of "Namaste," which we say at the end of yoga practice:

"My soul honors your soul.

I honor the place within you

where the entire universe resides.

I honor the light, love, truth,

beauty, and peace within you

because it is also within me.

In sharing these things

we are united,

we are the same,

we are one.

Namaste."

Another flowery picture from this week comes from my daughter, who snapped Bunners (on the left) with one of the babies. "We are one!"

After Sew Day ended, I took a walk up the street to work off some of those calories. These pictures are from that stroll in the late afternoon sun.

 Back home, that sun worked its magic again.

 Have a colorful day

STITCH and Woolies

I went to Woolies on Monday and hosted STITCH on Tuesday, getting the week off to a great start. My napkins referred to all of the goodies we put out to eat at our meetings, including a banana cream cheese bread with orange glaze that I made and cinnamon rolls at Pam's Woolies gathering.

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera during a STITCH meeting is a losing prospect, sigh. But we definitely have fun!

At STITCH, Andrea pulled out a huge pile of glowing silk blocks that she started years ago. She's going to keep going and see where it leads. That's the Yoga Bunny that she gave me, sitting in the silk.

Multi-talented Anne showed us some luscious skeins of yarn that she dyed and spun! She used to be a professional weaver, then she switched to art quilting, and now she's spinning.

From Anne's wool we'll transition over to the Woolies meeting, starting with Linda's wool appliqué on a cotton background.

We challenged each other to make a wool quilt based on an illustration from a children's book, and Mary brought this beautiful piece that she made from a picture in "A House of Leaves."

Bobbie was working on a wool bird, above, but also showed us a wonderful cotton quilt top that she just completed. (Those white blocks are from the sun overexposing the photo.)

 Judy made this fun little pin cushion from wool ...

... and an equally fun little house.

Pam showed us a needle roll that she made, and I was most impressed by how she embellished the beige fabric on the outside of the roll with big running stitches and French knots.

And I started a table mat in my favorite colors. 

Here's the pattern, which is a little different from my version.

There was more shown at both meetings, so this is just a taste. A few hours after the STITCH meeting, the sun worked its magic on the leftovers and made the flowers and fruit glow.

Have a colorful day

Yoga bunnies and the Summer Pillow

I finished my Summer Patchwork Pillow today!

The yoga bunnies that Andrea gave me like it.

I made it from two packets of Valerie Wells charm squares that I picked up at the Stitching' Post when the Feet & Forks went to Sisters, OR. The chain stitching went really quickly.

And the diagonal quilting took no time at all.

First photo shoot was on the back deck with the Buddha statue from my daughter and a blown-glass corn necklace made by a friend.

Second photo shoot was on the couch, where Yoga Bunny finds peace and happiness in front of the sunny back of the pillow.

It was a good day, which I started by making French toast for myself. I don't think I've made French toast since the kids lived at home!

I had breakfast accompanied by Dr. John on Pandora. Since he passed away a few days ago, I've been listening to him a lot. I've always liked his New Orleans, loose, swampy, swingy, voodoo sounds, and what goes better with French toast than New Orleans?

Then I walked and snapped this photo of a peaceful spot in a neighbor's yard.

I'll end with another quote that someone shared on Facebook ...  good advice.

 Have a colorful day

Words for a good life

A good life is also a collection of colorful bobbins! Some of the ladies at quilt guild wore these colorful necklaces yesterday. I love them! They're thinking of making more to sell at our annual quilt show in the fall.

Today's yoga wisdom comes from Tammi, who reminded us as we started our practice that:

We can choose what

we let into our space 

and we can choose

what to keep out. 

And the ever-present Facebook wisdom presented this one, which reinforce's the yoga advice:

Have a colorful weekend