Fruits of Spring

A couple of weekends ago we took the grandbaby (ok, he's 11, so the babyhood has passed; maybe I should refer to him as our lovely grandadolescent) to Sweet Berry Farm to pick strawberries. Here's our haul:

We ate quite a few of these luscious berries and froze most of them. Last night, I finally had time to can some strawberry preserves:

And now, I'm off to toast some bread . . .

Namaste

I’ve been super busy. My mom invited me months ago to a yoga retreat at the Hindu temple and ashram, Barsana Dham, just outside of Austin, and the date crept up on me before I realized it. I considered bowing out, but I’m SO glad I didn’t. It was incredibly restful and energizing, and reminded me of why and how much I love yoga (not just as a physical exercise, but as a spiritual practice).
Here is the temple at Barsana Dham:



And a close-up of the temple’s beautiful gold doors:



This is my 80-something mother (still going strong, no doubt due in some part to her regular yoga practice):



And a less humble resident of Barsana Dham. This fellow sits on a picnic table for most of the day, looking at his reflection in the windows and preening and fluffing himself:



We started with early morning yoga sessions, but most of the retreat activities were talks and workshops. It was a wonderful experience, and I am grateful for the time I was able to spend with my mom.
Btw, if you are interested in reading more about yoga and meditation, this is a great site: http://www.swamij.com/index.htm

Sunny Delight

It was a gorgeous Spring afternoon in Central Texas, and I finished work early. Hmmm . . . what to do, what to do. Oh look! Spray paint!

 

And stencils:



And some canvas that I picked up who KNOWS when or where. All of that equals lots of fun:


 
 

I think I may make some canvas journals or journal covers out of this.

I also had a piece of muslin that I was using as test fabric; I think I’ll be able to cut some great little pieces out of this to reuse at some point.

Quilt As You Go

I seem to have a never-ending supply of scraps. This comes in handy when I’m reluctant to cut into my gorgeous “new” fabrics (although yes, I am fully aware that my kids would sell my gorgeous fabrics in a garage sale for nothing were I to head for the Big Quilting Studio in the Sky).
Anyway, I kept stitching the scraps together, then joining them with other fabric, until I had 12 of these 18” squares:


Around the same time, I ran across this “quilt as you go” tutorial, so I decided that would be perfect for my blocks. I do get tired of wrestling big quilts under the needle of my machine to quilt them.
This time, I quilted these blocks individually, then attached them together according to the tutorial. It was easier than I thought it would be, and I love the result.


Next up on the agenda: finishing up some old WIPs and UFOs, and working on some surface design techniques. But the next pieced quilt I make WILL use some of those gorgeous “new” fabrics!

Fun with Paint

I had some leftover paint that i needed to use up, so I created these monoprints on fabric:



 
 
I was also inspired by an episode of Design Matters TV to roll a very thin layer of paint onto a prestitched quilt sample piece (yes, this piece is truly ugly, but I’m only showing it here for the technique!). I added some highlights with Tsukineko inks. I think I’ll try this technique again with something more carefully stitched.



And, on a different note, I’m practicing pen & ink stippling:



I’ve been trying to either finish some old UFOs and WIPs, or to reuse them in new projects. I’ve been working hard to “let go” of supplies, old projects, and things that just aren’t working. Even after just a little of this, I’m already feeling “lighter,” so I think I’ll keep it up!

Eureka!

Despite my resolve, I haven’t been any better about posting.

But I did want to share a couple of discoveries with you . . . as always, I’m probably the last kid on the (blog) block to know about these, but you never know . . .

1) Google Reader. WOW! I love this thing. It’s easily accessible to me because I use gmail, but if you don’t you can probably find a reader that works just as well. I remember the days of having to check the blogs I follow manually to see if there were any new posts. Even then, I never made it through the list because I got distracted by their blog rolls, and I fell into the blog rabbit hole. No more! Now I see all the new blog posts in one easy-to-read list (I hope Jamie Fingal doesn’t mind that I’m showing her blog here in my list—I’m a fan!):



2) I’m also a long-time fan of the Kemshalls, and I just discovered their “Design Matters TV” videos. Access to the videos does cost money, but I think it’s reasonable for the amount of knowledge they share with their viewers. I’m having a blast watching the videos, and as always with Linda & Laura Kemshall, I’m inspired to create!

(Btw, I have no affiliation with either of these products, I just love them both.)

I hope to share pics soon of the various things I’ve been working on. Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that one of the factors in my blog-neglect may be my “new” camera. My old Kodak gave out a few months ago, and I replaced it with a Fujifilm Finepix. There’s just no comparison with the old Kodak, and I spend a lot more time photoshopping the pics to make them even presentable.

I kick myself for not following my inclination to buy another Kodak Easyshare.

Oh well; live and learn, right?

P.S.: Glancing through my blog, I see I included a recommendation for Google Reader in my last blog post; that's what happens when too much time passes between posts :-) At any rate, just take it to mean I love Google Reader TWICE as much as I did before!