Yellow and gray, black and white and orange too....milkweed and daffodils!

It is still March, a month which always makes me love yellow! This crib quilt was strongly influenced by one I saw on Pinterest.....

 

 

 

It also picks up all the colors of our daffodils, right outside the door!

 

 

 

So, no wonder, with these colors and images in my subconscious, I fell in love with this Abstract Expressionist painting at Crystal Bridges this week!

 

"Milkweed" by Lee Krasner, 1955.

 

My friend Sandra met me there and we toured the "Van Gogh to Rothko" exhibit. Before we left, Sandra took my photo near the painting. The scale is larger than you might think!I look at this painting and at photos of milkweed (also known as butterfly weed because monarch butterflies hatch out on it and feed on it as caterpillars!)...... The seed pod stage of the plant definitely relates to the paintng!

[I think this caterpillar would blend into my quilt design very well!]

 

Lee Krasner was a woman artist, brilliant in her own right and a great mentor for her husband, Jackson Pollock.

 

 

An early self-portrait, 1929.

 

With her husband...

 

 

Another later self-portrait.

 

An abstract painting/collage by Krasner....similar to the one I saw.

 

 

There is a recent biography of Lee which has good reviews!

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One more yellow image for March.....love this quote!

 

 

Spring break then and now! Making plans...

Years ago, my daughter's first spring break....we drove north of Little Rock to see the daffodils at Wye Mountain. These were planted years ago and have naturalized, spreading more every year! I did an earlier post about this in March of 2008.... In case you remember! LOL!

This year, she is far away and planning her own Spring Break trip with her 4 children, hubby and nanny!
No, they aren't coming here, but to Virginia to visit godparents! A good thing!

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The warmer and longer spring days led Mr. P and me to make a trip to nearby Eureka Springs on Saturday....hope to have more photos (of daffodils and old barns) to post soon, but for now, I'll just show my choice of shoes for the day.
My red and purple Mary Janes! Ever the child at heart, I love these (and my red cowgirl boots too!)

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Further plans for this week include a trip to a newly opened local tea shoppe! I hope to enlist some friends and maybe some of their grandchildren to come too...

I will try the matcha.....and perhaps bring some home, as I have been seeing recipes for coconut ice cream with matcha, gluten free mug cakes with matcha....!!!

 Matcha mug cake recipe is HERE! [Photo from A Calculated Whisk]

Matcha is finely ground green tea leaves from Japan. It has 10x the antioxidants of most tea!

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W are trying something new in the laundry....instead of detergent.

This laundry ball goes inthe wash with the clothes....and supposedly make the water molecules so efficient that suds are no longer needed. My first load is in the dryer...have my fingers crossed!

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I am now crocheting a striped blanket. I had all this yarn left from a granny square delight last year!

This is easier than all those granny squares! And no joining together to finish!


More needlework...
I recently picked up this "Lorna Doone" quilt ( from a kit using Kaffe Fassett fabrics,,,except for my own choice of border and binding!) from long arm quilter Sonja Koch.

Now I am sewing on the binding! A colorful batik which should wear well. (Not sure I really like batiks with patterns like this....so much like tie-dye! but it works here!) Below, you can see the floral striped backing too.

Here is a photo of a kindred spirit....I just love this! Her life may be hard, but she escapes into beauty!
gotta love those chickens too!

Heavy frost and new kitchen range....

Monday night we had a heavy frost warning......I covered my plants...

Tuesday morning at 9:00 before going to work, I went out to uncover and see.... First of all, the water in the birdbath was frozen over. Frost was on the cloths covering the plants.

 

 

Lots of little flower sprouts survived, I will have to thin these, LOL!

Tulips were not damaged! In fact they look better than ever this year, they were planted several years ago!

The lilac bushes are wonderful! For years, they did't get enough sun and never bloomed. After an ice storm several years ago took out a couple of trees, the lilacs are getting better each year, too!

So, I found a bouquet this morning.....maybe a painting soon....

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Remembering back to Saturday, I had a wonderful b'day celebration with my good friend, Sally. [It was Sally's birthday we were celebrating.]

Sally, I and 2 other friends went to lunch in Siloam Springs, AR. The restaurant is 28 Spring. Very nice!

I had my friend, Liz took a photo for me, of my Thai beef salad.....which was gluten free (buckwheat noodles) I think!

It was such a warm sunny day, windy though.....we walked around the historic downtown exploring a couple of flea markets and some shops. We had heard, though, that the frost was coming...

 

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Out with the old.....has this range been here since 1970? Maybe. I finally bought a new one....and ....

I'd say there is enough dirt here to be from 40 some years ago. [Don't look if you only like clean and shiny!]

After a quick cleaning.....they tried to install the new range yesterday when they delivered it. Of course the last century cut off valve didn't fit this century's hose for the gas line.....so as I write today, a plumber is fetching the right valve and will soon have me "cooking with gas"! [ which of course brings to mind " fracking issues" ....sigh...]

 

I have a feeling that my spring project will be to repaint the cupboards inside and out.....and maybe give away some dishes!

Here it is finally installed!

 

 

Let's look at those lilacs again....enough dirty kitchen talk!

 

Sunny and warm..at last!

Photos from around the neighborhood this afternoon...

Someone has a young tree in blossom and lovely tulips, too!

A tulip tree in full bloom behind a vine covered mail box....and a red bud "bonsai"?

Then a whole line of springtime glory...red bud, forsythia and daffodils! I like the shadow of the bare tree branches too!

At home, my little garden angel stands near a newly opened miniature iris...

And a group of "pink" daffodils.....see the peach/apricot tones in the trumpets?

My main goal on this walk was to get a photo of this old truck.....to reference while I add a truck to the foreground of this watercolor....again, I see shadows of bare tree limbs.....

Here is the aqua truck to add to the art work....

Back later with results....? Hopefully!
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Meanwhile some of my grandchildren are on spring break at the beach.....in Florida.
Little Nina looking at the big ocean......

.....photo by my daughter ( whom I recall finding the beach at the same age...)

This little mermaid is now a travel agent. Find her at www.caribbeanjourney.com !

[I just posted some of my quilting history to my quilt blog...1980's Scrapbook  ]

At last, a warmer weekend!

After Mass today, we stopped by a store with a garden area......and some new gardens dreams were begun!

I tied up my wild curly hair because of the wind....put on old clothes and got the newly purchased seeds and plants around to the garden!

In the tradition of a real amateur (lazy?) gardener, ....these seeds were simply sown on the top of containers from last summer, after I pulled out the dead, dried remains of last year's garden dreams!

We will just watch and see if anything interesting grows and flourishes from these seeds!

I especially like the pink flower seed mix, which says that pink garden flowers represent tranquility and romance! A good dream!

On the other hand, the velvet red variety of 5-foot tall sunflowers, should make a striking statement! If they come up and thrive!

This basil plant can't go in the ground for a few weeks....we still have lots of freezing nights!

I brought home an unusual petunia...Which has blossoms that seem to be painted by a watercolor artist! ....And lemon yellow snapdragons which can take a bit of cool weather, (I may have to bring the petunias In at night for a while...or cover them!)

I'm trying to get this bird bath leveled...after planting some of the yellow snapdragons around the feet! I love blue and yellow together! Those broken blue tiles give me stepping stones and keep the bird bath from sinking into the soil!

Strawberries might work....?......worth a try! This variety, "Tristan", has intense pink flowers! Nice ground cover even if I don't get fruit!

Sweet mint was planted today in this large crumbling pot. The bottom of the pot is now a backdrop for the mint! A green man planter looks on! Mint will be great in the cucumber, yogurt, red onion salad which I love!

I think that about covers the new beauties. Some old friends from years gone by have come back, once again, inspite of the really hard winter which we have had....

Periwinkle or vinca is in bloom!

These hyacinths are attracting many bees, already!

Three kinds of daffodils are nodding their heads and bouncing in the wind....blurry may photos result...

 

These succulent "hens and chicks" survived all winter under the deck without water. Once I brought them out, a few weeks ago, and gave them sunshine and water, they have been very happy. (A gift frommy friend Gayle!

The lavender and the lemon drop are back!

 

So, after all the work involved.....a garden is a nice place to sit in the sun!