And more wool embroidery

I thought I was done embellishing the wool Imperial Blooms blocks, then I decided the leaves needed  more stitching. That's what I did this week. 

Now I'm waiting for the Kaffe fabric that I ordered for the border to arrive, then I can finish the top. I looked for border fabric at all the local quilt stores and couldn't find the perfect print. I had a small piece of the perfect print in my stash, but not enough, so I was lucky to find it online at Island Quilter!

This last picture is the wool appliqué that I'm working on as part of our Wooly group's block-of-the-month.

Have a colorful day

Colorful clothes from Julia and Judy

I love colorful clothes, especially ones from back in the day, so I decided to show you some that my daughter, Julia, has found and is selling in her Etsy shop at DesertSpringVintage.




I especially love the embroidered details and shisha mirrors on this striped dress.

I wish I was still skinny enough to wear this gorgeous orange skirt. It reminds me of a sunny, summer day.

Now I could fit into this caftan.

But here's one that I will wear, and it just arrived from my friend Tie Dye Judy in Flagstaff. It's a long, loose rayon dress from Dharma Trading that she dyed beautifully. You can look at more of her work at www.tiedyejudy.com. You can also email her at judysalloriginals@gmail.com

So here's to all my girlfriends

who love to dress colorfully!

Have a colorful day

Feet and Forks take on Vancouver

Last week, the Feet and Forks walked and ate our way through Vancouver, B.C., for four days of fun! It was my first time there, and I loved it.

What struck me first was the concentration of sleek, high-rise apartment buildings surrounded by greenways. Vancouver is the fourth most densely populated city in North America, after New York, San Francisco and Mexico City. There are more than 5,400 people per square kilometer in Vancouver.

Historic houses are protected among high rises.

The buildings are a nice mix of old and new, with a preponderance of nautical-inspired buildings with architectural elements hinting at ships and ocean waves.

City planning has encouraged the growth of high rises over urban sprawl, and it's evident as soon as you arrive.

After the architecture, the next thing that struck me was the incorporation of greenways into the city. We walked for miles along pathways bordered by trees, gardens and grass. Separate paths were designated for bicycles, making walking easier and safer.

On our first full day there we walked almost seven hours to, through and back from Stanley Park. It's one of the largest urban parks in North America, with 1,001 acres.

View from the restaurant in Stanley Park.

Another prominent feature is the water. Vancouver is a coastal seaport, and everywhere you look are ships, seaplanes, water taxis, kayaks and other watercraft. After our second day of walking (estimated at 10 miles), we took a cute little water taxi back to the center of town.

View from inside the water taxi.

View of Granville Island Public Market.

Sign on Granville Island.

What about the food? Yes, we ate ... and ate and ate. We got great deals on happy hour appetizers and we found a plethora of bakeries. The 24-hour bakery Breka was my favorite. I wish it was here in Gig Harbor because I'd be there now!

I'm still dreaming of Breka's raspberry jelly doughnuts.

Cold drinks tasted great after hours of walking.

Granville Island Public Market overflowed with fresh food!

And last but not least, Vancouver has a shrine to two of my favorite musicians -- Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. It doesn't open until June, so I could only pose outside. I'll be back.

Have a colorful day

Eating at Sew Day

Linda J. served us a hootenanny for breakfast at Sew Day today! A hootenanny is a big pancake baked in the oven, and it tasted absolutely delicious. Served with turkey bacon and a fruit salad, it was a great way to get started. The breakfast table, below, was colorful, as usual.

After breakfast, we all sat around the dining room table doing hand stitching. Four of us were doing wool appliqué and Linda was doing regular turn-under-the-edges appliqué with cotton. I didn't get good pictures, which is why I'm focusing on the food and the garden.

Carolynn, Linda P., Linda J., and Nancy at lunch.

Lunch was on the patio, celebrating the return of the sun and warm temperatures after a long, grey winter and spring. Everything was blooming and looking beautiful.

Okay, to make this post a little sewing related, here's a chair and foot stool that Linda covered after taking a class at a local fabric store.

And here are some very small buttons that Nancy bought over the weekend at Button, Button in Vancouver, B.C.

 Have a colorful day

Why I whip stitch wool appliqué first

Just embellished a flower pot with perle cotton cross stitches and outlined it in a chain stitch. Next, I'll add some veins to the leaves. Everything is whip stitched down in the bunny block below, awaiting embellishment. 

Why whip stitch?

A friend recently brought up the subject of whether whip stitching wool appliqué pieces is necessary or if it makes more sense to just tack everything down with embroidery stitches or other means. Here's why I like to do a tiny whip stitch first with one strand of embroidery floss:

* It holds everything very neatly in place, with no pokies.

* It allows me to embellish with embroidery without having to worry about catching in the edges of the appliqué to hold them down. I also don't have to worry about being stuck with appliqué pins.

* It tends to "gather in" each piece so it looks almost like trapunto, especially after it's surrounded by embroidery.

* Most important, to me, is that it's mindless and meditative. I love whip stitching as much as I do embellishing. Sometimes the mindless, no decisions needed part is even better than thinking about how I want to embellish.

Not trying to change anyone's mind, just offering my reasons for loving the often overlooked little whip stitch.

Have a colorful day

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope you're all having a Happy Mother's Day. My mother is in California, so I talked to her on the phone and then went back through my photos to pull a few of my favorites of her. She loves doughnuts, which is why she looks so happy in the first photo. The second one is of her and my dad celebrating her birthday.

I did get to spend the weekend with my daughter, who drove six hours, mostly in the rain, to see me! My son is in Wisconsin, so that was another phone call.

Julia and I went to the botanical gardens in Tacoma this weekend.

Keith and his wife, Rachel, in Florida.

And of course, Julia brought my grandchildren home for the visit -- Bunners, Charlie and Bailey got a lot of snuggles all weekend.

Last but not least, the guy who made it possible for me to become a mom:

Revisiting our marriage site.

Have a colorful day

STITCH and pink projects

Lemon squares, strawberries and grapes await.

I hosted STITCH yesterday and got photos of color in my kitchen before the meeting but ended up not getting pictures of all the colorful, inspirational show-and-tells. 

I kept wanting to take pictures, but I didn't want to interrupt the flow by asking people to stop while I clicked. Pieces get passed around and then quickly tucked away, and before you know it the next person is up. Now I'm kicking myself because there were so many exciting pieces. Oh well, next time. It was a nice, relaxing meeting with good friends and sunshine.

I put out some flowery placemats that I made decades ago and clipped some lush, pink rhodies from the yard.

Continuing the pink theme, here are the two wool appliqué blocks-of-the-month that I'm working on for my Woolies group. I'm whip stitching the pieces down and then I'll embellish them with embroidery and beads.

Have a colorful day