Summer 2026 project

 

I've been having fun making vinyl-fronted bags for this year's summer project, picking out lots of different fabrics and colored zippers. Since it's too hot to do much outside in Tucson when the triple digits hit, I have a different gift project I work on every summer.

I'm giving the sea star bag to Juniper, along with the start of a shell collection for her.

Here's the pattern, although I'm diverging a bit from the directions (as usual).

I make a quilted panel for the back of the bag then choose contrasting zippers, zipper borders and bindings. Lots of different colors!

And I'm not done yet! I could make hundreds of these and still not make a dent in my fabric stash. I hoped to sell some at the gallery where I have my spirit dolls, but she already has some similar vinyl bags.

I didn't sew yesterday because I was invited to spend a day at the Sun City pool, which was lovely and so relaxing. Even though it was hot, the water was cool and there was a nice breeze so it was perfectly comfortable. After about two hours bobbing back and forth and chatting, there were lounge chairs in the shade when we got tired. Here's the view from my chair. I wish I had bought a house there when I moved to Tucson, but the thought of selling my current home, buying another one and moving is too much for me.

Have a colorful day

Summer Solstice quilts

"Light" with layers of hand painted fabric 

and sparkling gold thread

I always try to post on the solstices, but this year I've been tired -- probably from our triple-digit heat -- so my post is late. I decided to show some of my quilts featuring the sun for the summer solstice.

I'm offering a few for sale. If interested, email me at: sherriequilt@yahoo.com. I have to start finding new homes for my quilts because I must have at least 100 rolled up in storage in addition to the ones hanging all over my house! 

"Beach Houses" (39"x54")

You can't get more summery than beach houses. Here's my version, with houses floating on a sparkling sea. I painted the fabric and machine quilted it with gold thread spiraling out from the sun. This one is hanging in my entryway.

"Here Comes the Sun" (25"x19") $200

I worked on "Here Comes the Sun" during one of my Sedona hiking vacations. This one is also hand-painted. I heavily embellished it with beads and embroidery, which just about did me in because of my arthritic thumbs! It's hard pulling that thick embroidery thread through all those layers of fabric. It's for sale for $200.

"Photosynthesis" (14"x11") $50

After I finished this little green piece with a yellow beaded sun I had trouble naming it, until I thought of how green plants use sunlight for nourishment through photosynthesis. So that's the title. This one is for sale for $50. It's stapled around a frame.

"Canyon" (24"x29") $300

This big orange sun heats up the desert rocks, so I called it "Canyon." I used a lot of layers of transparent silk organza that I painted and held in place with big embroidery stitches. That took a lot of time, but with every stitch I rejoiced in the colors! It's for sale for $300. 

"Linda Visits Tucson" (20"x16")

"Linda Visits Tucson" features a photo printed on fabric of my friend Linda who was visiting from Washington. We were at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It had been raining that morning but when the sun came out everything sparkled!

"Other Worlds" (45"x18") $300

And finally, "Other Worlds" was inspired by a photograph from the Hubble telescope. I tried to bring the swirling energy of the universe to mind with this quilt. For sale for $300.

Have a colorful summer!

Back to sewing

 

I settled into my big cushy armchair yesterday planning to spend many enjoyable hours hand stitching these 20 pockets onto an envelope quilt for Juniper. I'm using this pattern,  "Letters From Home" by Crimson Tate.

I had already pieced and (minimally) quilted the whole thing, with the blocks looking like this:

I could have stopped there, but I wanted to add a pouch to each envelope so she can tuck little notes or other treasures into them, like this:

But within minutes of starting the hand stitching my thread had twisted and knotted several times, then I stabbed my finger. I cut off the knots, rethreaded my needle and started again but the same thing happened. I decided this was not going to be enjoyable, so I machine stitched all the pockets on and it was much more fun.

 

I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics for the outside and inside of the envelopes, trying to pick bright colors Juniper will like. I could probably make a hundred of these quilts with fabric from my stash and still not run out!

I found background fabric that says "Create Your Own Sunshine," which I love. Juniper is my sunshine.

I've been sending her postcards and letters since she was born and my daughter is saving them for when she learns how to read, but in the meantime she looks at the pictures. I hope she'll put them into this quilt when she's older, but for now I envision her tucking her little toy treasures into the pockets.

My daughter sent a picture of her this week playing with the neighbor kids. You know she's having a great wild child summer from her untamed hair, bare feet and elbow bandaid!

Have a colorful day

The monsoon started!

Tucson's summer monsoon has arrived right on schedule. Actually, a day early. 

The "official" monsoon season here is June 15-Sept. 30, but this year the clouds and rain rolled in on June 14. Often, since I moved here six years ago, the rain hasn't started until July.

It makes for some really dramatic sunsets. I took all of these photos this week from my front courtyard. The light is incredible!

We need a spell of very hot days to get it started. I'm talking 100+ degrees. Then, shifting winds and high atmospheric pressure bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, swirling up from the southeast instead of the routine weather that comes from the west.

It pelts the desert with hail, roars with thunder and crackles with lightening. What the desert can't soak up turns dry washes and some streets into raging rivers, bringing both relief and flooding and in the last few years tornadoes. It's the favorite time of year for a lot of desert dwellers, and you see kids dancing around in the rain and adults sitting on patios watching the show. I've had so much hail in my yard that it looks like snow and my back yard has looked like a lake.

The first day of this year's monsoon its winds tore down a corner of my shade sail. When I got up the next morning it had torn down two more, so I took the whole thing down for the season. It's too hot to eat at that table anyway in the summer.

Average monsoon rainfall is about six inches, and a good pounding brings the temperature down by about 20 degrees. In the old days, it would rain every afternoon like clockwork with a quick hard downburst, but now it's much more erratic. And the few tornadoes we've had since I moved here were unheard of in the past. Climate change. 

Have a colorful day

Show us your flowers!

 From my daughter in Spokane, eastern WA

I asked my far-flung family to send pictures of flowers this week from their parts of the country for a colorful post, so here they are! I hope you enjoy the little tour.

The first two are from my daughter's yard in Spokane. The house is over 100 years old, and the flowers that came with it are old-fashioned roses and peonies.

______________________________

My daughter-in-law in Madison, WI

Farmers market flowers from my son.

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My sister in Pt. Hadlock, western WA

Wild rose

Washington, with its long hours of spring and summer daylight and wet spring, is lush with flowers. I really miss them since moving here.

Dahlia

Poppies

Poppy

Not sure what this is

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My brother in Solana Beach, CA,

near San Diego

My brother planted three colors of hibiscus ...

... and a desert rose, among other flowers.

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My sister visiting Minneapolis, MN

Lots of shade plants on neighborhood walks ...

... a front yard wildflower garden to attract bees ...

... and irises.

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Dave in Gig Harbor, western WA

Wild irises growing by a spring that his cats like to drink from.

My sister in western Washington just posted some flowers on Facebook under the heading of Celebrating Spring. Spring? I've been sweating out summer for months! Here's next week's Tucson forecast:

Me, in Hell

(June in Tucson, AZ)

Meanwhile, this is the year I finally gave up trying to keep flowers alive in the pot by my front door. It faces straight west into the hellish afternoon sun, and the shape of the courtyard turns it into an oven. So this week I pulled out the third coral fountain (a "hardy" plant that supposedly thrives in our sun) that died in that pot and replanted it with a metal Kokopelli stake and rocks. Take that, Arizona!

I also dressed the front door knob with a sleeve so I won't burn my hands anymore on it when the sun moves to that side of the house. My neighbor told me about them. Everyone who buys a house here should be given one by their real estate agent, along with a car windshield shade.

Have a colorful day