A tunic sewn for a granddaughter who will be 9 this week!

Can't help but think how much I will enjoy seeing her in it later this summer when they come to visit! They are in Colorado with other relatives now, hot air balloon rides for the adults and horseback riding for the children.

Perfect birthday weekend! [Below the granddaughter helping with her baby brother!]

Next is our cat, Shadow placing herself right in the lens....she settled in here as I was trying to photograph the "Just Breathe" quilt which is pin basted and ready for quilting. I think I will try a combination of machine quilting (with my classic Singer 301) and hand-quilting (in the center of the blocks).

I have just posted some artwork here.

I received this "pass it on" blogging award from Loretta at Pomegranates and Paper. I thank you, Loretta!

I am unable to decide to just whom this award should go....any of the wonderful blogs in my sidebar are deserving....and many others, too! If you feel that you have a "brillante" weblog, please add this award to YOUR blog!

Incidentally, Loretta has re-started her "List Friday" and this week we are to list books we are reading this summer. She has a wonderful prize to give away too!

(So use the link above and leave her a comment!!!!)

Cheerful bouquet of blooms from the garden.
It is pouring rain now, helping to grow more flowers and maybe even a tomato or two.... I will spend a quiet day with several library books.
I am reading another Hamish Macbeth mystery, and a John O'Donohue book called
"Eternal Echoes".
I also brought home a novel by Tracy Chevalier, "Burning Bright" about William Blake and London in the late 1700's, an Alexander McCall Smith mystery novel "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" (love this series about Botswana and the #1 Ladies Detective Agency!), and a "Harmony" novel by Philip Gulley who writes about the imaginary small town of Harmony, Indiana.
Sometimes I do check out more that I can read....but we can renew on line with our own personal public library accounts! Or I can return them and get them at another time.
Today does seem to be a good day for reading...of course I have a quilt top to baste and I could begin sewing a wedding quilt for a nephew....but first reading. I need to finish the Hamish story. Off to extreme northwest rural Scotland now!

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Here is a book just coming out this month by a local author. I have read the rave reviews!

The book is "The Word Diet" by Rhonda Bell Holmes. It is a thirty day journal/guide to creating a more fulfilled and faith-filled life. I will have to find it at our local Barnes and Nobles soon. (It is already available on-line with Barnes!)
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Good news just came in the mailbox.....I sold this watercolor painting at a local gallery! Nothing lifts my spirits as much as making and selling my art!

Evening folk concert in the park

Our trip to the gardens yesterday afternoon did not work out so I have no photos to show you now. Maybe next week.

Last night we attended a free concert in the park nearby. It started right after an evening summer shower which produced a beautiful rainbow (of course I didn't have my camera this time) in the dark sky looking east past the gazebo where the band was finally able to set up.

The band, Big Smith from Springfield, MO was here to play, donating their usual fee to our local "Peace at Home" shelter. (Formerly the "battered women's shelter").

They are a modern "hillbilly" family band and the music was wonderful! You can listen to them (filmed indoors a couple of months ago) here on You Tube.

( Photo above from web images...but it is our park. Photo by Slaid Cleaves.)

I always love to watch the crowd....at first it was a bit sparse, but as the weather cleared and the music began, people came drifting in. Carrying their own chairs or blankets, there were some with picnics and ice chests. Dogs of all sizes and breeds (a darling chocolate lab puppy just down the hill from us was getting acquainted with a year old baby girl who had blue eyes and the beginnings of a head full of red hair.)


I always notice the large percentage of redheads in this crowd, Due, I think, to generations of local people of Scotch-Irish descent. ( some of course are not "natural" redheads but many are!)

We are a university town so the crowd is diverse and interesting.... "old hippies", real bohemians (?), dread locks below the waist, faded denim overalls with new tie-dye T-shirts, even a pair of star-spangled boxer shorts worn with red white and blue cowboy boots (both on a slender female "of a certain age"), interesting hats, sandals. I love the long flowing skirts and sleeveless dresses some of the women wear!
Sometimes I spot an family quilt brought out to use for a ground cover (they are enjoying it and I enjoy getting to see it!). Frisbees are tossed nearby....
Fire-flies come out as dusk approaches....but more clouds were approaching too!

Even with the large diverse crowd, we saw few people whom we knew....Mr. Pear, outgoing as always, engaged our local mayor and his wife in a delightful chat just as the storm clouds returned and the concert broke up because of rain, thunder and lightning. Still it had been a fun and relaxing evening!

[Note: all photos are from Google "images" ....I didn't have a camera with me!]

"Wondering"........ (not worrying)

I realize that since I started blogging, I have done less art. [However, I do love posting my art! Seeing it on the screen is very rewarding!]

Now, to get back to to my never fully developed drawing skills (I spent years making quilts and sewing rather than drawing and painting), I am doing some art journal challenges and more practice. We are doing a weekly self-portrait. It is to be included in our journal. This is mine from this morning. I think I have captured my mood, though of course not truly my "realistic" appearance. (we won't go into that...LOL!)

I try to do daily morning pages and the weekly"artist date" from Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way".

Today I am going with a friend, Paula (of the wonderful foxglove garden) to visit fellow quilter/gardeners in our area! Fun!

Below is another page from my art/collage journal. [ Using an add for exclusive drapery fabric...]

This page reminds me of my daughter in her white anklet days! She IS growing her travel website/blog into a wonderful business by reaching for those stars!

Quilting and talking with friends....
a cool summer afternoon, we enjoyed having all the windows open to catch any breeze!

Today, my little helper "Shadow", sitting here on some fabric, and I are working on a new quilt top..... (sorry that the photo is not in focus...can't totally blame the moving kitty for that!)
This is a layout of some of the scrappy, wacky blocks which will be trimmed and sewn together to make the quilt top. It is called "Just Breathe" and is in a book called "Tried and True" from quilt designer Sandy Bonsib.

I have made this quilt before and shared the pattern with several friends. I recently gave my finished "Just Breathe" quilt to my brother for his birthday. So time to get into my stash of fabrics and recreate it!!!!

Yummy Yogurt Cake




- 2 eggs-
(1 cup) plain unsweetened yogurt
(1 cup) sugar [I used a scant cup....saved some to sprinkle over the top before baking]
(1/3 cup) vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract-
1-2 cups blueberries, blackberries or other fresh fruit (or frozen berries) [optional]
1/2 c sliced almonds [optional]

Preheat the oven to 350° F, line the bottom of a round 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together -- don't overwork the dough. Line the prepared pan with the fruit if you are using it...or you can add the fruit carefully after the batter is in the pan. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the top with almonds and dust with sugar. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.



I found this recipe while reading through the earlier posts on Caroline's blog. She referred to a recipe from Chocolate Zucchini's blog. This cake is so easy, not overly sweet and good anytime day or night! LOL!

A new project!



This old suitcase has seen better days....the inside was musty and fabric faded.

Thinking that doing an "altered suitcase" would be fun, I resisted passing it on as a donation. I pulled out one side of the faded fabric and cardboard.


This revealed an old page of newspaper from 1946.
The "Evening Bulletin" from Philadelphia. Ladies wool coats were on sale for $12.00, shoes for $12.95 and furs for $169.00.
The news of the day was an article that the reigning "Mrs. America" was giving up her title in order to be home with her family. [ Her husband was proud and happy.] Also a personal note about a veteran's wife who was granted a divorce. When opening their holiday mail, she found a note to her husband from a girl thanking him for the black chiffon nightgown...

So, I may start some collage and decoupage on the outside, will try to work the old newspaper into a collage in the interior....should be fun. I'll post more photos as it evolves!

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Working on the outsides of the suitcase.......both sides started. One side says "My Wish for You"...."Life's Journey" and "Enjoy", the other side has antique manuscript with "Principles of Music" and a girl with a recorder or flute-type instrument. ("Thanks, Gemma" for the book with those images!) I am using a tacky craft glue to hold this on....after I have every thing glued on, I plan to use polyurethane varnish to seal it, as it will not be "tacky" in our humid climate.

Home again, home again....

I came home in a tow truck, up the new interstate through the beautiful hills and mountains on Northwest Arkansas!

This trip could have cost more than flying.....thank goodness for insurance covering the tow charge!

This interstate has many high bridges (see photo) and a short tunnel. The scenery was even better from the high cab of the tow truck. I could see the gurgling streams and winding roads below us.

I have always felt, when going through the tunnel, that the climate changes dramatically and that I am entering a different "zone". Sort of like "Brigadoon"....but that is only my imagination.

Our area is changing and growing rapidly with world headquarters for Walmart just up the road (I try not to shop at any Walmart stores, BTW)....inspite of all the new arrivals, we still have cool breezy summer mornings and plenty of "local color".

I will be home now to enjoy those as my car will be at the dealer's repair shop until they can get to it later in the week....so time to garden, read, sew and do art. Next week, I may be going back to work....

My new garden flag which says "Welcome" when the breeze blows. (Of course, having hung it out, I will have to be hospitable to most who drop in on me! LOL!)

And while dealing with my broken down car, I found a "greenman" planter on sale!

He rode home with me in the tow truck and is now adding his happy spirit to our backyard!

Enjoying a lovely day in rural Clark County Arkansas!

My sister-in-law's green thumb and recycling genius are in evidence here!

[Besides the flower and vegetable garden, chickens are a big part of the outdoor scene.]

My SIL says that these wonderful canna lilies are for the hummingbirds!

While our eyes are feasting on the flowers, (and "yes" I will be painting some of these!) we are feasting on fresh produce from local garden patches...summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra. Life is good!

The passing of a peaceful spirit......



Visit the memorial site here.

My peaceful world this week.....



(newly painted front door)

I am reading a "Hamish Macbeth" mystery by M.C. Beaton called "Death of a Cad".

We discovered Hamish Macbeth DVDs at our local library when our friend Cheryl was checking out the series. It only ran for 3 years in the mid 1990's, we have seen them all...so now I have to read in order to visit the imaginary village of "Lockdubh" (Gaelic for "black lake") in northern most Scotland. Hamish is the laid-back village constable. The series is imaginative and "campy" and always graced by the beautiful highland scenery!

Thanks to YOUtube, you can see a wonderful moment from the series here.

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When not escaping into the pages of a book, I am in the process of finding a job.One I am currently interviewing with is a local Montessori school. Today, Caroline of Caroline's Crayons posted about her new job! [If you haven't visited Caroline before, you are in for a treat! Her former blog was Potato Prints.]

I found it quite synchronistic (may not be a real word, but I like it) and encouraging to read her post! I will be making a decision soon....one thing, the school is less than a mile away so I won't waste too much salary on filling my tank, (as I would have with the quilt shop 30 miles away who want me to come and work/play for them!) and I won't be tempted to spend said paycheck on merchandise if I am with babies and toddlers all day!

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One last thing, I will show more garden photos eventually...things are growing nicely now. Only problem is an uninvited guest....Mr. (Ms.?) Mole now plowing tunnels. I'm afraid this means "war"...and Mr. Pear will surely win!

(the door downstairs going out of my studio, also newly painted!)

[UPDATE: these three were just finished Saturday June 14th...one for daughter, one for a friend and the bright one for ME!!!]

Tunics for everyone.....

I have started sewing once again. This time making tunics for all the "dolls" I like to dress. This black and white with turquoise ribbon trim is what I wore to the birthday party last Friday night...

This scanned piece of fabric and aqua ribbon is for a tunic for my daughter, Laura, and of course, then granddaughter, Lilia, will be having a bright pink matching tunic for the "mother/daughter" look!

So (sew?) if you don't find me in Blogland this week, you may find me at my sewing machine (and serger).

I did make an extra tunic....these are selling for $170.00 in boutiques. I have it in my ETSY shop for much less.

Sanctuary.......

Outside, beautiful arched windows in an old Arkansas church....

and inside.... a curtain of memories.

[P. S. (added June 9th)... behind that curtain, the memories, the reason I was at this old church, was for a birthday party for my brother and a good friend of his....who has a home and artist's studio in the church building! ]