Morning Glory Studio

a new library...

                    

                    Yesterday, after a nearly three years' wait, the doors to our brand new, state of the art library opened. It is a grand structure, three levels with a terrace that overlooks the adjacent park - where I often walk on my daily outings. I can easily see that I may be spending some of my afternoon quiet moments on that terrace, especially when the weather permits. 

The community was all out and very impressed...to say the least. The photos are two of my favorite happenings from the event: the top is of 2nd & 3rd grade school students,  members of a steel drum band. They were so intense as they played...and they made great music.

The second is of two little girls, probably not quite 2 years old, sitting in a little well, both reading Show Me Happy ... and probably wondering what the heck was going on...Too cute!  I'm going to have to take (bébé ) Chris there, soon.

Looking forward to checking out the resources soon.

Cheers~

quilter's reveal ...

 

    Every two years, my quilting association challenges the membership to make a small quilt that will be displayed during our biennial quilt show.  Our theme for the 2017 show: our favorite season or birthday month. Today was the reveal and this was my entry: "Lily's Pi - 3.14.15,"  made in memory of my mother, Lillian - or Lily as I called her when I was little.  She was born March 14, 1915 or pi: 3.14.15 and were she alive, she'd have been 100 last year. The iris - or  fleur de lis - is her birth month flower. 

I made the background fabric using the kanako shibori technique, hand stitched an outline of an iris and stenciled the fleur de lis using gold acrylic paint. I really enjoyed making this piece and think I'll frame it - it's small, about 15 x 16 inches. The piece is wonky because it is made intuitively...

Looking at the blog calendar on my sidebar, I see it's been 20 days since I posted...I knew I'd been quiet but was surprised at for how long it's been. I have had a busy month - a lot on my plate with not the same amount of energy on tap...life is looking much quieter on the horizon so I'm planning to be more present, i.e, resume posting on a regular basis...and catch up with you! And oh, yes, share my September learning...

Cheers~

 

 

 

 

   

ten on tuesday | "labors of love" ...

 

(My, Dolly's & Kayla's feet on our photo scavenger hunt)

   

        For the last, unofficial gasp of summer and thanks to Mother Nature, we had four days of near perfect weather: mid-80s and low humidity, even with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hermine churning out there in the ocean, generally ruining everyone's last-of-the-summer fling at the beaches. I'm not sure when we've had such pleasant weather and I enjoyed every moment.

For this week's Ten on Tuesday prompt, Carole prompts us to share how we spent the Labor Day Weekend :

Friday, Saturday was shred/recycle of hazardous waste, etc at the city's trash collection site. I thought I might just get my act together so I spent a goodly portion of the day 1 -weeding files...a task I'd been delaying all summer long ... 

Saturday, we ran errands:  2 - shred; 3 - the bank; 4 - grocery shopped (at two stores) and 5 -Norman made a great spaghetti sauce for ...

Sunday, my niece Cissy and two (of three)  daughters - Dolly and Kayla - and the bébé Chris gathered for the afternoon. Norman and the bébé entertained one another while the four of us did some 6-  journal writing.  Since this is Learn Something New Everyday month, I gave each niece two journals: a small one to note daily learning and a medium sized one for writing personal reflections and thoughts. They seemed to like the idea  - so we'll see. We also went outside for 7 - a mini photo scavenger hunt... and got promptly bitten by who-knows-what? We all had a good time and had plenty of good food ...

Monday, I spent most of the day  8- creating and stitching  a project that has been in my head since May 2014! and   9-playing If/Only with my friend Pat. This was the first time since May we'd spent a day stitching- each of us in our respective home sewing spaces - checking in via phone every hour and a half or so to share what we'd  accomplished ...

And over the four days, 10 - I read a bit, watched tv: news, baseball, movies and managed to knit a few more rows on my ever-growing poncho - just about 5 inches left to knit ...

How did you spend the holiday weekend? 

Cheers~

FriendStitchin' Sunday & LSNED* 2016 ...

 

       

 FriendStitchin' Sunday      

    Last Sunday was our monthly Friendstitch gathering; t'was good to have my friend Pat back from her month-long July study program in Nebraska. She'd missed two of our Baltimore Album Quilt classes so she's been playing catch up with her blocks...I think she's made considerable progress (bottom left photo) especially compared to me: I hit a slight brick wall with the block I'm currently working on so I set it aside and returned to my Flower Garden borders (top photo) ...the photo shows the bottom border in progress stretched out on the bed -  the quilted bedspread is not quite the best background ... 

For the past year plus Pat and her daughter Margaret have been making a delightful Sue Spargo wool quilt (bottom right), embroidered with all sorts of fun animals found in South Africa - Sue's native country. The quilt has been a labor of love (much like Pat's and my Crimson Tweed wall quilts we each stitched several years ago!)  - and they are beginning to see daylight!

Theresa, the consummate knitter (middle photo) among us is as busy as ever:  one for you and one for me...

LSNED* 2016 

    It is September and since 2007, I've participated in LSNED - Learn Something New Every Day: a month-long series of daily journaling prompts designed to encourage participants to stop and contemplate each day's lessons learned.  I'm not sure if this year's prompts are repeats from last year, or if they will be different...and of course, one doesn't have to stick to the prompt - what's most important: the learning journey.

Last year I shared my dailies, usually grouping  3-4 days' lessons in one post. I'm thinking I'll continue that practice, starting with a Monday 5 September post... To read what I learned last year, you can start here ... I think, upon rereading, I may be repeating some lessons - just sayin'.  To be continued...

Enjoy the weekend and I hope if you're on the east coast of the States, it's not too soggy...

Cheers~

 

collecting August ...

            I am delighted that August is over for another year! It was a H-O-T one, to say the least! Perhaps not a record setter, but surely close to it.   A bit of captioning for the photos:

• 1 : a sunrise
• 3 & 4: finishing up the Double Wedding Ring quilt
• 6: I finally got around to clearing up the counters - has only been on my list for months
• 7, 14, 21 & 28: photos of "this tree" showing, each week, bigger spaces of sky as the season draws nigh...
• 8: a cousin, daughter of my sister's and my first cousin, was in town for the weekend so we gathered here and of course, had to take a group selfie, guided, of course by the selfie queen...
• 10 & 26: pics of my knitting...my watch the news and/or a baseball game activity...
• 11: "dark early" as my friend Mary likes to describe the wee small hours of the morning...
• 14: We went to an annual summer gathering; Norman decided he'd "dress" for the occasion; he looked rather spiffy, I must say...
• 20: a selfie of me behind the wheel of my car...as much time as I spend in my car, I had very few photos...
• 24 : selfie of Kayla and her "bestie;" they're super excited that they have several classes together during this, their sophomore year in high school...
• 25 : selfie of Chris and me; she took me on a tour of the Capitol building - House only side - (House staffers can only tour House chambers and the same goes for Senate staffers - only Senate chambers). T'was interesting, to say the least...
• 29: another selfie - Nordstrom's women's lounge has a great full length mirror, as witnessed...
• 31: I love ornamental grasses and this clump is particularly full this year; look closely and you can see a bit of  red flowers, nestled in.

I made a conscientious effort to take and include more pics of people in this month's collection. Think I succeeded. I am delighted that September has arrived: my favorite time of the year and my agenda is full! Stay tuned~

How was your August? Are you ready for September, too?

Cheers~