Sea stars (not starfish)

Today's dose of color comes from SEA STARS, which are commonly called starfish. They are NOT FISH, but they are common here in the waters of the Puget Sound. I'm learning more than I ever could have imagined about them -- and about sand dollars, tube worms, anemones, crabs, shaggy mouse nudibranchs and other intertidal life -- for a column I'm writing. (My other gig is monthly columnist for the Gig Harbor Peninsula Gateway.) I took the top picture at the Seattle Aquarium and my daughter took the bottom one at a nearby state park. That big pink one on the beach is at least 15 inches across.

Below is part of my latest quilt, called "Starfish Rising," which I labeled before I realized that I should call it a sea star.



And here is another detail, showing the gorgeous hand-dyed perle cotton thread that I bought some years ago from Laura Wasilowski of www.artfabrik.com. It languished in a basket until I recently started following Laura's "Thread-u-cation Thursdays" blog spots, featuring a different embroidery stitch to use on quilts each Thursday. Thus inspired, I pulled out her thread and started stitching.

Seabeck quilt retreat

Two weeks ago, I was asked if I wanted to fill in for someone who couldn't attend a quilt retreat at the Seabeck (WA) Conference Center. All meals provided, spacious comfy room, gorgeous grounds, wild and crazy quilters. What could I say?! So above is the side of the house where I sewed and slept with a little group from the Puyallup quilt guild. My machine was set up right inside the lower left window. We sewed and laughed and ate for days. Below are some of the crazy quilt blocks that I worked on.

Storm and red rhodies

It's gray, gray, gray outside. Whitecaps on the bay, above. Our neighbor Dick said, "Biggest windstorm since 1997, they say," as he settled into his chair by the fire with the newspaper and three content dogs at his feet.

I had popped over for a visit before the rain hit and to give his wife, Rosemary, a little coiled fabric basket that I made for her in the colors of the Norwegian flag. (They're Norwegian, as are a lot of folks out here.) She took me up in the attic to show me a family heirloom crazy quilt, then downstairs to look at a beautiful blue and white quilt on the guest room bed.

Here is the basket, along with some gorgeously huge red rhodies that brighten our living room. Rhodies grow everywhere out here.

I'm slowly getting the hang of this blog thing.

S

We don't need no friggin' rain dance here

"Rain Dance," by Sherrie Spangler; hand-painted fabric, machine quilting

Rainbow over our bay

The weather in western Washington in notoriously fickle -- rain one moment, sun the next. When the two coincide, we're blessed with rainbows. I took this photo from our back deck, looking out over Wollachet Bay. It reminds me of this little quilt, "Rain Dance," which I made years ago. Since then I've sewn on a shower of silver beads but haven't gotten around to updating the photo.

Under Construction

This art quilt and this blog are under construction.
I'll be back soon to fill in with some more color!

This is stressful

I'm just getting started. Bear with me. Going to get a mocha.