Wednesday on Whidbey

...aah, the daff's are here...

Red & White Revisited

Remember when I posted the info about the red & white quilt show by the American Folk Art Museum this month? Being on the 'other coast' it was out of my reach, but I was hoping many other 'someones' would get there.
 Well, here's a post from Natalya Aikens, who attended & then posted her photos over the weekend.  Many thanks, Natalya--always love to visit your blog!

Spring Break

the train view

It takes a long time to get here--and not much time to use up, right?!
Jim & I went to Seattle for a very brief--but very fun!--visit with 'the kids'.  Took the train both ways--such a lovely water view!

And the sun was unexpectedly our friend.  And also, suddenly, the flowers have popped with the little bit of sun warmth.  The market is so lovely with it's overhead row of daffs greeting us all.  Of course we had to get a family shot with the pig! (how much like tourists can we be!)

Market flowers...

and more market flowers!

Today I'm off for the spring guild retreat at Warm Beach.  Four days of gabbing, laughing, sewing like mad, sleeping little & enjoying the grounds.  Back on Sunday night--and school starts again on Monday. Whew!

I don't know who Frank is, but I love his truck!

Wednesday on Whidbey

These two bright little additions were unveiled during Mussel Fest with the opening (reopening?) of a historic building downtown following a significant renovation project.  

It was great to see the building, which was originally the town firehouse, respectfully restored & now back to work--housing the Chamber office, among other things.

Wednesday on Whidbey

I love glass...

Chase the Blues Away...

oh yeah!

We had a rare treat last Friday!
We used the Valentine's gift for my sweetie: tickets to see James Cotton in a lovely theater in Mt.Vernon. What an amazing musician with a great band, too! (Joe & Amy: he's back in Chicago in November...)

With 67 years of performing under his belt, he's had an amazing list of collaborators & mentors (including long runs with Howlin' Wolf & Muddy Waters), and a long list of accolades (including being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame & a Grammy).

at the 2010 Chicago Jazz Festival

His voice is gone now, but that doesn't seem to influence his ability to play all night--no question about the tag "Superharp".
Definitely jump-around music!

Wednesday on Whidbey

...guess there's a reason we're called the Emerald State...

Round Robin Update - the next installment

I'm nearly caught up on my monthly Round Robin projects--and good thing, too, as there are only two remaining after these two.

(Reminders: each has a 'before' & 'after' view, and any can be larger if you click on the photo.)

Kathy has a nice eye for traditional quilting & embroidery, so for her project she started with the nicely embroidered red work strawberries.



Remember the little pinwheels I was in the midst of?
Well here they are, completed and in the newest border, along with a great red & black batik that blended nicely with the previous addition. This piece is getting fairly large--it was over 50 inches when it went on it's way. One more person needs to do her magic before it comes back to Kathy. She thinks this will make a nice table-topper when it's finished--I agree! (I also hope those white/light corners have more embroidery added--but by a braver soul than I!)

When I got the pictures ready for this post, I realized the similarities in these two pieces with the flying geese around the square on point.  I had not really 'seen' that until now, as these two are so different from one another!

This is Lynn's--and started with her lovely appliquéd ginkgo in Asian prints. It, too, has only one other player yet to make an addition after mine, and is also getting fairly large--it's just under 50 inches. This piece has some really interesting embellishments including beading on the center flowers, painted ginkgo on the silk border near the middle, and some little rhinestone flip-flops added near the green triangles!

I really like all of the individual items--but something about the color combination puts me off a little. Is it just me?  I think it's because the purple silk 'reads' almost pink from a distance & then some of the painted ginkgo are very bright (shamrock) green. It has some lovely attributes, though, and Lynn will finish it beautifully when she gets it back.  Anyway, I added only a top & bottom border--don't ask me why! It needed a little more detail after those nice expansive stripped borders were added, so I tried to replicate the 'on point' look of the center piece. Asian fabrics are so fun to work with, and the purple/green combination is delightful.  It's now heading to it's last contributor before it returns to it's rightful owner.

Wednesday on Whidbey

Another arctic blast worked it's way through Puget Sound this last week, 

bringing a surprising amount of snow & very cold temperatures.  

Even my poorly attended garden looked like a wonderland with it's white frosting!