For the first time in a long, long, long time, on Sunday we woke to sunshine that spilled over into Monday. A relief, a blessing, a celebration! So I spread this quilt top out on the lawn and snapped a picture.
I love how this fun polka dot border sass-i-fies this quilt. Now to baste...Peter got here safely for the weekend. Gretta was up for her day off. Recent bit of earth projects...set up japanese beetle traps, ordered lady bugs (to fend off aphids), pulled up the rest of the old carpet and now the upstairs has a whole new look, put up the kids' old blackboard in the breezeway for fun messages, scrubbed the porch floor, weeded between downpours, deadheaded lilies, ate lettuce from the garden...
Saturday night we were wowed by the K-12 performance of the King and I at the Chandler Center for the Arts.
Batman and Gretta left Sunday morning. And on Sunday night I finally got to see the inside of the Braintree Hill Meetinghouse. I saw a hand lettered sign on the road. "Concert Sunday at 6 PM" it said. So I went. The evening sun was slanting in the open windows. No electricity or plumbing. Wooden pews with little swinging doors for each. Timeless, I think. And oh, the music! Teens from the Village Harmony camps. American shape note music, some clogging and Georgian Polyphony. It was magical, spirited and just plain amazing. Go to www.villageharmony.org
And I've had some more fun with color play. I've been cutting pictures from magazines for ages. Mostly from my guilty indulgence of an occasional British version of Country Living magazine. I arranged them on poster board and hung them up to create some relief from the wood panelling. Here's two, side by side.
A close up of the "naturals".
Even closer.
And a closer of the "pastels".
Henry has discovered two robin's nests in the crabapple tree right outside the kitchen window, with babies. He sits on the windowsill and chatters at them and flicks his tail. In the evenings he moves to the front window and watches the barn swallows swoop and careen. There's a flock of goldfinches that skitter among the monkshood and out over the meadow, too. He is one sleepy cat at night. And my elusive brother Nelson really is coming to the states for a visit. He lives in London. I love him and miss him. Not sure where we'll all get together...but it's something to look forward to.
Life is good at our bit of earth. Hope you are soaking in these longer, gentler days, too.
Gosh you have been busy! I really like the quilt, reminds me of a summer sky.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to Country Living(British one) and have for years, I love it! The articles and photos are fab. I try to be hard with myself and not keep them but rip out bits I like but find I have more and more excuses to keep the whole magazine these days!
Love
Lyn
xxx
Lovely post, karen.
ReplyDeleteThe concert, the meetinghouse, Henry and the birds, the efforts you make for your family, the lovely quilt top, the collages....
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it all!
I, too, love to cut pictures and words from magazines when I'm done with them. i make little collages in a sketchbook and love to look at them again and again.
Karen you soon finished your quilt. You actually inspired me to have ago at making my first quilt, which I did at the weekend. Not bad but room for improvement next time. It is more of a ground sheet really. I also made my second wigwam for my grand children and my nieces children who will be visiting in the summer holidays. I have taken pictures but need some time to download and also get back to work on my own blog. Other things have taken a priority lately. So many things to do and not enough time to do it in...... Sue.
ReplyDeleteso good to hear from all of you!
ReplyDeleteLyn-I know what you mean about these mags! They are so lovely, but I'm afraid the sheer weight of them will collapse my floors! So I snip and recycle...
Judy-it would be great fun to see your sketchbook collages someday.
Sue-Hooray for you! Your first quilt! Can't wait to see pics on your blog. And don't forget to breathe between projects. It helps!