Rayen

May you find a little fountain of inspiration today.

Another lot of vintage brooches arrived, and are much prettier than I expected. I'm already seeing a little art quilt for my favorite person with this delicate pin. Or maybe a bag. I wish we could bring back the brooch as wearable jewelry, but I haven't seen a woman wearing these since my teens (the only jewelry I wear is small stud earrings.) Oh, well. Making them into art is almost as much fun.

I took this pics to show my favorite person, but since we've had a lot of growth in our gardens I thought I'd share them with you, too. The strawberries (front) are still hanging in, and even produced one flower this week. The cucumbers (back) are doing great. I have to start drying the chives and parsley from our container plantings this week. The oregano is still slowly coming back but doesn't have a lot of leaves, so I'll leave that alone. All I can say about the pole beans is wow. And wow again. They've doubled in height in the last four days. We'll also start picking our radishes next week, as they're almost ready to harvest. No sign from the broccoli yet. These little newbies are probably the brussel sprouts I told my guy not to plant (I'm the only one who eats them, but he wanted to give me a treat.)

I did something extremely difficult for me the other day, and got through it successfully, so I decided to do something nice for myself. Usually I opt for some vintage fabric, an hour of slow stitching, or re-reading one of my favorite books, but this time I went with purchasing a mystery box of three books. I like surprises, so I didn't request any specific genre. In my order I did list my favorite book, beverage, color and five of my favorite things for the seller. It will be interesting to see what arrives, and I'll show you when it does. I'll also read each book and write up a review of them. Should be fun. :) Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay

I recently acquired some lots of pretty vintage brooches as inspiration for a mini art quilt series. I'm not one to wear jewelry, but the important women in my life always liked it, so it brings back good memories. My mother collected and wore cameos all her life, and my grandmother always wore a brooch to church. For a few years now I've been using brooches as bling for my crazy quilt totes, and that naturally progressed into embellishments for my art quilts. Stay tuned to see what I do with these.

For my own amusement I finally took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator Personality Test. My results were INTJ, which is apparently the rarest personality type among women. Most of what they say about this type does fit me in the same way certain zodiac sign traits do, although it makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Being labelled with words like mastermind and architect is very flattering, but not especially applicable in my case. I'm a decent problem solver, and I like to work alone, but both are really job requirements. Work the same job all your life and you become adept at such things. As for the rest of life I think I'm just as clueless as the next person.

Things are going pretty well with the second planting in our little raised bed gardens. Our strawberries (these are the original plants from last year) are hanging in, although they don't much like the hot weather. The cucumbers will need a string frame to cling to pretty soon. Transplanting the original herb plants we wanted to continue kind of wrecked our oregano, but it's slowly coming back. The chives and parsley are thriving. We should start eating fresh radishes in a week or two. These are super crisp and juicy, but not too hot, so we love them. The pole beans are shooting up like crazy. I expect we'll be having these with Thanksgiving dinner.

Sometimes I just want to work with silk. I like the weightlessness of it, the gossamer shine, and the transparency. It feels like a whisper against my fingers. Slow stitching on silk is perfect for vintage silk threads, which have a tendency to snap when pulled through heavier, stiffer fabrics. I have a small collection of spooled silk threads that are about a hundred years old. I love using them on my art quilts. All of these pics are from the same art piece I stitched a while back. I need to do more of this.

Ten Things I Like About Fall Backyard Burns: We usually start up the fire pit in October, and on good nights with no wind have small burns with the trimmings from our trees. Those quiet, cold nights sitting and watching the flames are always wonderful. Baking: I always bake more in the fall because of holidays, birthdays and the general need for more substantial meals and snacks. I like baking a lot. Cooler Season: While summer will always be my favorite season, after a long, wet, hot season like we just had I really don't mind things getting drier and cooler. End of Hurricane Season: I'm able to relax a little more once the storm season ends. Halloween: I love handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Come to my house, I always have plenty. Making Stews and Soups: Summer is too hot here for heavy meals. I look forward to making bean soup, beef stew, chicken and rice soup, ham and cabbage, etc. again. My Favorite Person Returns: She will be coming home towar...

Trying to communicate visuals in prose or poetry is difficult for me, probably because the thesaurus in my head only works when it wants to. Also, I know way too many words for one particular thing (I used to read synonym books for fun) so when it does there's a flood and my thoughts get log-jammed. To help me focus I keep a writing visual journal with my favorite words, phrases and poems that describe colors and other visuals. These pages are for the color white and the concept of winter, which I'll be referencing in my next project for work. My favorite person always invokes winter for me, as she wears white particularly well, and she was born in mid-winter. I copied a poem by Robert Frost that makes me shiver every time I read it for the feel of winter (sunbeam on the page courtesy of my office window.) This kind of journal is fun to keep, and always helpful. I even use it for quilting inspiration.

I snapped this pic two days after we brought the puppies home. I took this one about a month and a half later. They grow up fast.

Often when I embellish an art project I have no idea how it will turn out. I just put my faith in what feels right. Often I see negative space as an opportunity for embellishment, which sometimes turns out interesting results. Beading is my primary embellishment material, but sometimes I simply embroider with an interesting thread. Now and then something wonderful happens, which makes it even more fun.

I lost my sunglass case last week, so I considered buying a new one. Then I remembered this little art embroidery piece I made last year. It was one of those magazine projects I try out now and then -- and was just about the perfect size for a quilted case. I trimmed off the bottom of the piece to get it to the right size, and then grabbed some complimentary fabric and batting from my scraps stash. I handstitched a little quilt out of that, which reminded me of why I didn't care for this project -- the fusible web holding the fabric together made it hard to get my needle through it (same thing happened when I originally embroidered it.) On the plus side, it made it very stiff and sturdy, which worked nicely for my case. I turned it outside in and sewed up everything but one end to finish the case. I liked the end result a lot. Thrifty/easy alternative: find a nice-sized quilted pot holder that is a rectangle shape, fold it in half long ways, and stitch togeth...

May you bloom today.

I think I'm drawn to old or unwanted things because I like to give them another chance to be useful. Recycling or repurposing old things is a habit of mine that started when I was too poor to buy new. I turn used wall calendars into pocket folios, and junk mail into junk journal pages. I save gift boxes and cover them with little quilted pieces to make new gift boxes or use them for storage. I love old brooches, and frequently use them as embellishments in my art quilting. Almost anything old can be transformed into something new; even an incomplete deck of cards can become a tiny smash book. All you have to do is use your imagination.

The long, hot, wet summer has resulted in a lot of lichen and moss growing on our trees. This is why I really have to watch the puppies and what they pick up when I walk them outside. The deadfall with these growths look like they come from another planet. I don't know why I'm so fascinated, but I keep taking pictures of the most interesting pieces I find. Weird, but beautiful.