Sewing again!

Cutting table is right inside the front door. Why not?

I FINALLY got back to sewing this week, after almost three months of having my sewing room packed up for the move. It was the last room I unpacked because I knew it would take a lot of thought to find places for everything, and I ended up spreading it out over three rooms of my new house.

Machine, ironing table, design wall,
books and beads are in a bedroom.

Fabric is on shelves in living room.

My first project in the new space was colorful masks for my daughter, who has to wear them all day for her job at Trader Joe's. I gave away all of my elastic when I was packing because I hadn't used it in so long, then the virus exploded and I wished I had kept it for masks. Instead, I cut up an old T-shirt for stretchy ties. Later, I decided to convert them to ear loops. I used produce bag twist ties for the nose pieces.

When I was unpacking, I discovered some white dish towels that I had planned to embroider many years ago, so I started on one to use as a gift. The arthritis in my thumb still hurts a lot, so I only hand stitch a little at a time.

I also set up a little area in the cutting table room where I can look at decades of old photos, which are in about 20 boxes. I can see spending many hours there on winter evenings, although I've already spent quite a bit of time in the rocking chair reminiscing with 30-year-old photos.

The other exciting news here is that I got a bougainvillea! Hot pink! I've always wanted bougainvillea but never lived anywhere before where it would grow. I moved my TV/embroidery chair so that I can see it when I sit there.

We've just entered a weeklong stretch of days above 100 degrees, so I'll be spending more time in that chair in the air conditioning (paid for by the solar panels on the roof) and less time outside.

 Have a colorful day

On a dark desert highway ...

I couldn't resist wearing the T-shirt and taking a walk down a "dark desert highway" by my house.

I don't like the way the telephone poles and wires stand out against the sunset, but they do add a certain desolate feeling that goes with the mood of the song.

The sky was crazy that night, with swooping grey clouds and a fire on the horizon. It was warm, almost 90 degrees, but with that "cool wind in my hair" it was comfortable.

Click here for an Eagles performance of "Hotel California," the dark desert highway song: video

The last photo is from my front courtyard the next night. (Those are the same telephone poles.)

Have a colorful day

Unpacking the little quilts

Last Saturday I showed you how I dealt with all of my big quilts, and this Saturday I'll show you how I store my little ones. They all fit in this plastic bin, but I wanted to get some of them out where I could enjoy them.

So I pinned a selection on my design wall, a piece of two-inch insulation board covered with grey flannel on one side and black on the other. I can easily change out the quilts as well as move the design board if it's in the way because it's so lightweight.

Most of these little ones are beaded and are either mounted on mat board or framed.

This pink one is called "Saying Goodbye." The one below (detail) is called "The Watcher."

I originally matted and framed the beaded heart, but the editor of the book I made it for suggested wrapping it around a stretcher frame to update it. The book is "Creative Quilting With Beads" and was published by Lark.

Here are some of the framed ones. I had a spiral theme going on during that period.

I made the little Southwest log cabin after a friend gave me the saguaro cactus beads and challenged me to feature them in something. That was long before I moved to the land of the giant saguaros.

And here is the roof of my Tucson house, complete with a dove.

Another friend made this little quilt. It's so true!

Finally, a sign of our times:

 Have a colorful day

Coffee with my sisters

Kathleen, Terry, and me eight years ago.

It's been years since I've been together with my two sisters, but this morning we had coffee together  across the miles. I was sipping my coffee on the front patio when Kathleen texted a picture of her coffee cup on her deck back in western Washington:

So I texted a picture of my coffee from my patio in Tucson:

Minutes later, Terry chimed in with her latte from the balcony of her new apartment in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The wonders of technology!

A little quilt made by Karen from my STITCH group.

 Have a colorful day

Tackling the quilts

After putting it off for weeks, I finally decided yesterday to get my quilts out of the moving boxes and back onto their pool noodles on the storage rack.

It got worse before it got better, with quilts piled all over the floor while I decided how to group them on the noodles. I roll about six on each noodle, right side out so they don't wrinkle. I write their names on an index card that gets slipped under one of the fabric ties that holds the roll together.

I really like most of them, but some of the old ones from 30 years ago are just blah and I don't know what to do with them. I decided to fold them up and pile them on top of the rack for now.

Here are some of my old friends, who I haven't visited in awhile.

About 20 years ago I bought some batik fabric with purple people on it and that started a series of Purple People quilts. This first one is "The Purple People Celebrate Summer," from 2000.

The next one, which was accepted somehow into the big quilt festival in Houston, is "The Purple People Come Out to Play."

I cut out different shapes from the top rainbow fabric, faced the openings with black and let the facing roll forward so it's visible, inserted yellow fabric into the holes, and had the purple people climbing out.

Then I went through a Petroglyph People phase where I made petroglyph stamps out of foam trays and sponges.

Then I went through a brief silk organza phase, where I hand-painted the transparent silk and made sheer quilts.

Then I started a fragments phase, which I'm still in sometimes.

And here is "Big Blowsy Flowers," which I made because I wanted a quilt with big splashy flowers. It made it into the AQS show in Paducah ages ago and then went into the closet, but now I've decided to hang it in the guest room.

I finally got everything rolled up and labeled ...

... and onto the rack in the sewing room.

Then it was time for a colorful lunch.

And then the mailman delivered a package from Julia with these colorful presents (mostly chocolate)! 

Have a colorful day

Notes from the desert

As my friend Judy from Flagstaff said,

"Two out of three ain't bad."

I'm still unpacking, and the sewing room is a jumble of boxes, but I did arrange most of my fabric on these shelves in the living room. 

I've started walking early every morning to beat the heat and came across the intersection of Desert Sky and Heavenly Sky! I wish I had that address. Here's the heavenly desert sky from my front courtyard:

I'm also loving the desert plants, like this big prickly pear that covers the front corner of my house. The hummingbirds have been hanging out around the blossoms.

This yucca is in my back yard and I think it's glorious!

Here are some photos from my walk this morning, about half a mile from the house. It's not at all like the gentle flowers that filled my walks back in Gig Harbor, but the desert has always called to me more than any other environment. I finally feel like I'm home here, as hot and harsh as it may be.

Have a colorful day