photo tour

7.21.2009

I had a lovely week enjoying a visit with my best friend Anna, who I haven't seen for a very long time (so long, in fact, that in the period since I last saw her my family has acquired 2 dogs, 1 child who is now 3 years old, and moved across the country--needless to say we had quite a bit of catching up to do). We enjoyed road tripping, swimming, movie-watching, and general girly chatting/dishing/giggling over fashion magazines, etc.

We also spent a fantastic afternoon here, wandering, people-watching, and smelling the roses, so to speak.

















The textures and sculptures at the gardens were at least as fascinating as the flora. I was especially captivated by the Thai Pavilion, with its dragon-scaled roof and gold leaf ornamentation. I could have stayed there for hours, gazing into the fountains, watching the ducks, and dreaming about the pavilion's long voyage across the sea. So relaxing.

Where have you traveled this summer? Hopefully you have seen some lovely and new places, whether far away or close to home.

Happy exploring,
Kim

I suspect

7.01.2009



That I may need to move someplace sunnier. I'm one of those folks who notices a distinct downturn in mood when it's cloudy outside, and we have had nothing but dreary, overcast days for the past week. You'll notice that I mention the weather quite frequently in my posts. It doesn't help that I sew in a basement room, and have but one window, that faces....northwestish? In any case, I don't get any direct sunlight down here, which is not only depressing but downright awful for taking pictures. Which is why I haven't yet shared my latest apron creation. (I will, soon...right Mother Nature?)

I needed a little bit of faux sunlight to perk me up this week, so I did what anyone else would do--I did some flickr-surfing. And I found this fantastic quilt. I think I gasped audibly when I first saw it. And I knew I had to make one. Had to as in I was going to be obsessed with this idea until I started making a string quilt of my own. And it had to have white center strings because that is completely brilliant.

After staring at my fabric stash for a moment or two, I started grabbing print after print. I think half my stash was on my ironing board at one point (it now lies in gloriously high piles on my cutting table). A little confession: I've always been terrified of scrappy projects. My brain has a serious problem with putting any old fabric next to any old fabric. Everything has to match, perfectly. I truly envy people who can throw a pile of random fabrics together and it ends up looking fantastic.



So this was also somewhat of attempt to just let go.



Except that I couldn't.



You have no idea how not-random these quilt blocks are.



But I'm okay with that. That's just the way my mind works I guess. In any case, I sure had fun creating a bit of sunshine on my own. And I have about 44 more quilt blocks worth of sunshine-making left to create!

Hope the weather is better wherever you are...
Kim