I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Monday, June 22, 2015

Summer Solstice ~ Welcome Summer



Hi! It's June 21st, summer solstice, summer begins---but the days grow shorter---too soon, too soon. Summer arrived in perfect fashion today...a hot billowy wind, an afternoon by the pool, a very fast rain squall.





raining so hard we can barely see the beach


and... and then!---

a rainbow. I do love a rainbow. A double rainbow!


\



As the storm moved east, a new rainbow formed, a full arch, with a faint second hoop above.





It was very hot, the flea market was a waste of time and gas. But I was tempted and went ''just to see". Mo got a new baby pool.






He isn't sure.




Maybe he likes it, maybe not. But it cooled him down.


Here are my recent quilt blocks:

This is from Primitive Quilts magazine. It's a sewalong in four parts by Jan Patek, called Spring Break.
photo from PRIMITIVE QUILTS

I am renaming it Summertime. Mine will have a lot more blue, deep raspberry rose, bitter yellow. Celebrating Mo's and my anticipated many and happy summers together.
The kitty sells it, right?


magazine photo


This is my central medallion.


And I started my baskets for the next round, but got sidetracked this week. My baskets will have stars and the branches will have a bud, you know how much I hate leaves.


The blues in the corners will be in the cornerstone double nine patch blocks. No stars, because I don't want to hide this beautiful blue print [can always add them at the end].



The machine stitched blocks, the cornerstone double Nine Patches, were planned to be worked on today, as we were supposed to have monsoon rain, from TS Bill. Up from Texas, paid us only a brief visit. So we had instead an outdoor glorious type of day. This is my new little beach sewing kit. Love the happy colors.


All that was missing was the pool boy with pina coladas, too bad.

And here's an update on Pokeberry, also by Jan Patek. These are my May and June blocks.





The quilt is put together in large segments so the berries can be sewed onto relatively small sections at a time. I hope to complete the upper right corner including the berries, in July, and the bird tree, plus the eagle sub, this antique T block.


I promised my blog friend Cathy I'd do a little page here to show how I get sharp points on my stars. Me, of all people! Self-taught but it does work. Prob get that up by Wednesday, I hope.



I ordered the books Album Quilts of the Ohio Miami Valley [not right title], one by Rose Cummings, one by Anita Shackelford. [Lori of Humble Quilts and friends are making it now, or have just made it.] My friend BJ and I may work on these quilts together after the first of the year. We both have pioneer family roots in that part of Ohio. I know I'll do the quilt in the original red/ green/ cheddar/ tan---but wouldn't it be amazing in all blue /  indigos?! BJ and I both collect new and antique indigo fabrics. A quandary. I don't think I could manage two.
The rain has gone, the sun is out...Mo and I will take a long evening walk to celebrate this best and longest day. I hope you too had a wonderful day.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach





















This is the jimson weed or datura, in bloom. Pretty but toxic.



7 comments:

  1. I love what you're doing with your Summertime quilt! So cute.......And your Pokeberry quilt blocks are awesome! Mo may not like the pool but at least he got in......he is adorable as usual. I have 3 doxies and they avoid water as much as possible! Looking forward to the tute on the stars.....thanks

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  2. The pool is perfect! I hope figures out the best way to cool off.
    Your pokeberry blocks are wonderful. So is your medallion, which is so YOU!

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  3. All of your quilt blocks are quite lovely. That's a whole lot of cutting and sewing. That Mo is just as cute as he can be. I could use a kiddie pool over here. :) Awesome rainbow pictures. Have a good week. Tammy

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  4. Loved the medallion block, but all are lovely.

    I really envy your sense of color and style - you do truly put amazing things together!

    Hope Mo doesn't bring in too much water when he is done in his pool!

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  5. Wow, you are just cruising right along on all your quilting projects!! The pokeberries colors are so pretty. I love that you got Mo in the summertime quilt, too!

    Great shots of the rain and the rainbow. Doubles are so incredible, you just have to stop and admire one.

    Mo is so funny, he looks so puzzled by the pool at first. I'm sure he'll be very happy to have it! My brother had a terrier in Florida, and he'd get her a small hard-plastic pool and dump an ice-cube tray in it. The terrier liked to chase the ice cubes around until they melted (or got eaten) and then brother would add some water to play in. Repeat every afternoon. The dog loved it and my brother got a kick out of watching her 'kill' the ice.

    Spook is content to play in the bathroom sink and kill the ice the icemaker spits on the floor sometimes!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Lots going on with you! Love the Summertime quilt especially. Great colors.:)

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  7. Ooooh, rainbows! What exciting weather you are having.

    I hope it takes awhile for me to start noticing that the days are already growing shorter. We were in Palm Springs and I didn't even realize it was Summer Solstice. It sure felt like summer. The car said it was 112 degrees. I think the car was exaggerating for dramatic effect. It WAS stupid hot, but it's a dry heat, so it's sort of tolerable. Having a pool nearby helped. I would be thrilled to have Mo's pool here at the house. I've considered getting myself one like it, but even that little bit of unnecessary water usage would make me feel guilty during this drought.

    Hah, enjoyed the story of Mel's brother's dog chasing ice around an empty pool :)

    Kel

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