More vegetables and a quilt . . .

I took the time to photograph my vegetable share this week -- red kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, zucchini, radish and buckwheat sprouts and garlic. Next week I will start getting fruit and flowers as well as vegetables. I love the taste and smell of fruit that has a chance to get ripe on the tree or vine. I will have to use up the rhubarb in my garden while I wait for my fruit shares to start.

I also got my first package in the quilt block of the month program that I joined. I ordered it from Keepsake Quilting. I need to felt the wool and then I can start assembling the first block. I am pleased with the colors. The pieces are blanket stitched onto the background and will form a full size bed quilt when it is completed. I can either put it in the sewing room/spare bedroom or add more fabric around the edges to make a Queen sized quilt and put it on my bed.

Long and Short Stitch

It has been a week since I last posted anything to this blog -- since then I finished some samples for last week's Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge. For this stitch, I went back to the grid of a piece of 18 count mono canvas and tried different orientations and combinations of long and short stitches using Appleton wool. The small medalion has long and short stitches rotated in different directions with double cross stitches in the center and long stitch accents.

This finished piece contains some other grid based applications of long and short stitch in different fibers -- I used a shiny rayon for the pot and cotton floss for the child's face. The hair is also a variation of long and short stitch in Medici wool. This canvas was painted by Sundance Designs. I normally have it hanging in my sewing room. I think that I completed it 18 years ago when I was living in Arizona. It is interesting that although I learned to embroider through crewel work and have quite a few books about crewel stitches and surface embroidery -- the completed pieces that I have are primarily needlepoint and cross stitch designs that are based on stitching over a grid. Maybe my mathematical background makes me more comfortable with order.

I have been making other needlework plans for the summer and recently purchased some Koigu sock yarn and yarn called Sea Silk dyed by Handmaiden to make a shawl. I tried to use a toe up sock pattern for the Koigu yarn but even after searching the internet, I could not figure out how to cast on and get started so I am going to go back to socks from the top down. Being left handed makes it even harder to follow a diagram when the written instructions don't quite make sense. The shawl will be based on a scarf pattern in the summer issue of Interweave Knits.

1000 hits . . .

My stat counter says that I have had over 1000 visits to my blog since May 6 when I turned it on. Now that does not mean that 1000 people have visited my blog -- it counts everytime I visit as well as when anyone else does -- but it is kind of cool. It is also fun to get comments and feedback on my blog. Most of the feedback comes from people who visit to look at the needlework and the less conventional pieces from the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge, needlepoint pieces, and free embroidery generate the most comments.

Today I am not at home so you will be treated to more pictures of flowers from my garden and some reflections on modern art rather than photos of needlework. The photos of needlework will return. The roses in the previous post are carefully nurtured each year. The galardia in the picture volunteered from seed that traveled from a larger planting. It grew without encouragement or coddling in an unexpected place.

I found another unexpected treasure at the public library -- a book called Pictures of Nothing by Kirk Varnedoe. It is a series of illustrated lectures on Abstract Art -- the discussions of ways of seeing and conveying meaning with a work of art are challenging and interesting to read and have led me to wander to some new locations on the interet. I visited the Richard Serra exhibit at MOMA -- there is even a web version. Jackson Pollock at the National Gallery illustrates the development of his abstract, poured paint style. Even some cool looking fiber art by Susan Taber Avila found by googling "abstract fiber art".

The dogs and me . . .

Two members of my family are on the way back from West Virginia where they spent 3 days whitewater rafting, horseback riding and playing golf. My daughter went to see Nancy Drew with her friends, and the cats are in hiding which leaves me with two large dogs who think everything I do is interesting. (Can you tell that they have pretty boring lives?)

My accomplishments for today include finishing Part 2 of the Chatelaine Elizabethan Sweetbag, doing most of the laundry and weeding the flower garden. I also cleaned out the refrigerator and am making dinner -- since both involve food, the dogs were very interested.

Instead of needlework photos that I have posted elsewhere, I am going to treat you to some pictures from my garden. The roses have not been taken over by black spot or baked in the sun yet.

We also went to see Garison Keilor last night at Ravinia. The girls got bored but I enjoyed the show -- I have listened to him on the radio for over 25 years. they did love Jon Troast, one of the guest performers. This is the second time I have seen Garison Live at Ravinia and the first time that we sat in the pavillion. The girls planned the picnic -- peanut butter and jelly or ham sandwhiches on white bread with grapes and potato chips. We went out for ice cream afterwards. So if you were listening to the live Prairie Home Companion show -- we were there!