Masks

I wonder whether there is a quilt in here somewhere.  Masks.

There are surely lots of masks out there.  I need to think about this.

First Days of Summer

Here are the characters in the Hampster Balls at Newport on the Levee:  Aaron on the left, Aunt Sarah in the middle, and Nora on the right.  If it's your birthday, you get a free turn in the hampster ball, so remember that.  My hope is that by the end of the summer the kids will be tired of the hampster balls, but I doubt it.

Gardening at Gran B's.  I suspect this may be a one-time occurence for these two, but who knows.

Selection of yogurt at Orange Leaf is serious business, involving tiny sample cups to see what the new flavors taste like.  And then, probably, choosing chocolate.

Aaron was out of school last week and Nora's last day is tomorrow.  Let the fun continue.

Gardening

One of the things I love about moving to a new house is watching in the spring to see what kinds of flowers the previous owners planted.  I think I've mentioned before that the only surprise in my current house was - peonies.  And some ground cover and some old-time out-of-control shrubs..  The peonies were their prettiest this spring, probably because I was diligent about weeding out honeysuckle and other unwanted things.
 

When Sarah and Winnie were here, we went shopping for some nice plants for my front yard garden.  I'm already wishing that I'd written down the names of all the plants, like the one above with the delicate white blooms. 

On Monday the whole family helped plant and mulch.  I can't believe that I let the grands load mulch with a shovel and pitch fork, but they were so pleased with their "work" and were closely supervised.  Now it's time to put in annuals and veggies, as well as to spread more mulch. 

I've been longing for a privacy fence to replace the old chain link in the back of the yard, but I'm realizing that I can accomplish the same thing with grasses and other pretties.  And I'm thinking that a shade garden would be a lovely thing to add.  I'm pretty darn excited about the possibilities.

Featherwieght

Thanks to a South Asheville neighbor, this sweet little Featherweight now lives at my house.  The neighbor had the machine in her car, ready to take to Good Will, for a couple of weeks. She drove around with it but just couldn't bring herself to leave her grandmother's sewing machine at Good Will.  Sarah and Winnie were walking up the street and the neighbor asked whether they sewed, and Sarah said that her mother did.  It needs just a few tiny repairs, otherwise it's in great shape.

The serial number tells me that it was made in 1956.  It looks totally at home in my house, built in 1953. 

Busy Week

It's been a busy week.  Sarah and Winnie came to visit and to celebrate Sarah's 40th birthday.  Along with the happy busyness of visiting, Reds game, birthday party, and landscaping, it was also the last Sunday for my church's much-loved pastor.

Among the gifts for the pastor family, I was asked to make a wallhanging, shown above.  It's called Roots and Journeys and represents the roots we put down and the journeys we take throughout our lives.

 

 

Bright colors seemed appropriate for a family that includes three young girls.  The machine quilting is dense, both for contrast and to help the fine line piecing lay flat.

 

As always, there is a period of readjustment following the fun of a Sarah/Winnie visit.  The house and my life are too quiet. 



Reds Fan

My grandgirl Nora is usually a little reserved,

but that doesn't apply to Reds games, when she gets ever so happy

and does some serious cheering.

Her brother did some serious cotton candy eating.

It was a great night at the ball park, good weather, full stadium, Reds win, fireworks-watching from the bridge.

Maple Helicopters

Yesterday Carrye and I worked on her blog and now she's ready to start posting again.  You can find Carrye's blog here.

When I left her house, we admired these little maple "helicopters" outside her door.  Each one must feel so hopeful, hypothetically, to grow into a tree.

Occasionally, I finish an intense project, followed by a frenzy of cleaning and doing laundry and dishes plus picking up things that have flown around my studio.  In a few hours . . . that's going to happen.