Bits and pieces

I haven't accomplished much lately creatively, but yesterday I did manage to sew this simple black silk top. I bought the fabric 15-20 years ago planning to discharge it with geometric patterns and then make it into a long vest, but that never happened! So I pulled out my trusty pattern that cuts the top in one piece, with a hole in the middle for the neckline. All that's required is sewing side seams and finishing the edges. 

I've been dawdling over another project because I'm worried that it won't work. I printed the door photograph on a piece of 8x10 silk shantung, with the texture running vertically like the grain of wood in the door. I want to float it in the middle of a big piece of fabric that I'll paint and then connect it all somehow with hand stitching. But I'm not as confident in my ability to mix the right paint colors as I used to be because I'm out of practice.

So the other day, instead of working on it, I hiked into the desert and sat for a long time looking out at the scene above. It was absolutely quiet except for some birdcall. I tried to listen to the silence instead of talking to myself about our troubling political climate and the things at home that need fixed like my doorbell chime that stopped chiming and my drip irrigation system that died. 

Today it's chilly and very windy and sky is grey, which always makes me uneasy. But there's rain in the forecast and we dearly need it. Our desert is in a drought, with this fall and winter being the driest ever recorded. The prickly pear cactus pads are skinny for lack of water, and some are falling over ...

... and a lot of the chollas are drooping.

But last night's sunset was spectacular, thanks to the clouds that are moving in. Always a nice way to cap the day.

I'm linking to Nina-Marie so you can see what other quilt artists are up to: niche-notions-quilt-shops-on-off-wall.html

Have a colorful day