Summertime in Tucson

Summer in the Sonoran Desert means dramatic monsoon skies. This is the view from my front courtyard of rain falling at sunset over the Tucson Mountains. Below is the morning view of the Catalina Mountains turning out of my neighborhood after a night of storms. Our monsoon season is June through September.

Summer here also means it's pretty standard to have highs in the triple digits. No one even blinks at 102 degrees. I don't have my own pool to cool off in, but luckily my friends in Sun City often invite me to join them at their beautiful community pool.

They also invite me to play Mahjong at one of their community rooms, which is a good way to pass a few hours inside in the heat of the afternoon. Half of us here don't even live in Sun City.

New version of mom, dad and Juniper

I'm also continuing to churn out snow people ornaments. I decided to make a more put-together version of my daughter without the wild hair! While I was at it, I gave her husband a hat and shortened Juniper so she looks like the little kid that she is. And I put stars in her hands, because what toddler doesn't want to hold stars?

Before version with a frazzled Julia

I took some of these to my favorite quilt shop here, which carries a lot of the wool that's used in them, and asked if they'd be interested in me teaching a two-hour class in making them. The owner said she didn't want to add any more wool classes to their schedule, which really surprised me since it would only be two hours and only for the Christmas season. I've taught many different sewing classes in Kansas, Texas, Illinois and Washington over the past 35 years and this is the first time I've had a class proposal turned down! There are some other quilt shops here I could try, but I've sort of lost my momentum.

Have a colorful day

The Snow People Family

I'm working on this year's Christmas ornaments for the family -- The Snow People! (I will not call them "snowmen" because that eliminates half of the snow people population.)

I started with little Juniper. Her favorite color is blue, and she has blue eyes and curly blonde hair that I made with French knots. For the bodies and scarves and hats I used scraps of felted wool.

Then I made her mom and dad. Jade's favorite color is blue and Julia's is yellow. I didn't intend for her hair to stick out in all directions, but I decided it's rather appropriate because she's usually frazzled. Every time I see Jade his hair is either a different style or shaved off, so I left him bald. Maybe I'll give him a hat.

Picking out the colors of scarves from my felted wool and buttons from my button collection feeds my need to play with color!

This is my son and daughter in law, who don't have human kids but do have dogs. They've been together a long time and get along so well that I had to give them matching hats and scarves.

I forgot I had the dog buttons but I found them when I was rummaging around in a bin of buttons.

Here are the grandmas! That's my mother on the left in dusty pink and blue and me on the right in purple and screaming green. My hair is made from the perfect ball of salt and pepper pearl cotton.

And I didn't have to buy a thing, thanks to my stash! A stash is always a good thing for crafters.

 Have a colorful day

Staying home

 

Stormy Tucson sky

Since my post Monday about the Spokane fires, I decided to cancel my trip there and to Gig Harbor because of the ongoing fires and toxic smoke. 

I'll take our monsoon instead. This was our sky Monday night, along with a blaring warning on my phone about dangerous blowing dust on the highways and thunderstorms.

I didn't encounter the dust, but my car was rocking and rolling as I drove home and debris was skittering across the road! The skies were beautiful and dramatic and we got a little much needed rain.

The fires are still raging in Spokane, 65,000 people are still evacuated, my daughter's neighborhood is still safe. But they've arrested someone and charged him with starting one of the fires -- unbelievable and so heart breaking to think all that loss could have been prevented.

So now I have an empty schedule for the next two weeks and will sew. I just made this year's Christmas ornament for Juniper. Her favorite color for the moment is blue.

Have a colorful day

Heartbreak in Spokane

I'm watching coverage of the devastating fires that broke out Saturday in Spokane, Washington, where my daughter lives, thinking that this is a living nightmare. My daughter's neighborhood is safe for now, but 65,000 other residents have been evacuated, 700-1,100  structures have been affected and there is still zero percent containment of the three fires.

They broke out Saturday and high winds whipped them through bone dry vegetation, across the Spokane River and into neighborhoods in northwest Spokane. (My daughter lives in the southeast.)

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ash, and the flames continue. 

Residents reported that it took four, five hours to evacuate because of thousands of cars trying to get out at once.

Power was turned off to parts of the city over the weekend, forcing those residents to choose between opening their windows to lessen the stifling indoor heat while temperatures outside were around 90 or keep the windows closed because outside air was filled with ash and toxic particles. I think some power is still turned off.

Thousands of firefighters have been deployed from across the country and Canada. Fighting this monster is the number one fire priority in the nation because so many neighborhoods are in the fire's path rather than it only threatening open land. It's burned more than 8,000 acres as of Monday morning. Today on the news, a fire official said it's likely to continue burning for weeks.

Somehow, this Little Free Library survived while the woman above stands before the destroyed house that had been her grandmother's. 

A small bright spot is that donations for the victims have flooded in. My daughter responded to a call for pet food, toiletries and clothing, but when she tried to drop them off at the Red Cross they turned her away because they were flooded with donations. She was able to leave them at another drop-off spot, but it too was overflowing.

I have plane reservations to visit her in less than two weeks, but I'm not sure if I'll go. The air quality across the city is dangerous and fires might still be burning. I'm also planning to stay at a rental because my daughter's bathroom is torn up for repairs, but I'd rather free up that rental for a displaced family.

More fun pouches

As our triple-digit heat continues, I'm staying inside and sewing more zipper pouches with clear vinyl fronts for gifts. I bought this Seattle fabric when I still lived up there and I have a huge amount left! I made a bunch of masks out of it during Covid. The white and blue dotted zipper borders are the Seattle rain.

I bought this sweet bird fabric even longer ago -- probably before 2010. I've been using small pieces of it over the years for various projects.

I screwed up the way I applied the bottom zipper border of the bird pouches, so I covered up my mistake with some animal trim. As you can see, I have no shortage of trims to choose from. lol

I've been using some of these in my travels for charger cords and meds and they're much more fun to look at than the Ziploc bags I usually use.

And I certainly have no shortage of fabric! I should probably start making bigger pouches next. 

Have a colorful day

The Texas Rangers are blooming!

 

Every summer since I moved to Tucson I wait for that magical moment when the Texas Rangers detect just the right amount of moisture in the air to make all the plants in the same area burst into bloom. In my yard it happened a few days ago.

Here are some from the last few years, all in July when the monsoon usually kicks into gear.

Texas Rangers, also known as Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), thrive on our summer heat. They bloom during our summer monsoon season, which runs from mid-June through the end of September, but most of the blooming I've seen is in July.

You can find these big purple bushes all over town, in parking lots and yards. They can grow from 3-8 feet high and 4-6 feet wide, but some of the one's I've seen are wider.

The one above is in a Walgreen's parking lot and the one below is in my front yard. They're so spectacular that sometimes I pull my car off the road to get a picture.

Finally, I came across this fancy beverage in a purple glass in my photos while I was looking for the Rangers. It goes well with them!

Have a colorful day