A Bried Break From Quilting

July has been a marathon of quilt making-- all from scraps and I'm not done yet, not by any means. I'm working on one right now that has made a good dent in my 5x5" charms collection.

But all fabric and no nature makes June a narrow minded woman. We had a wonderful refreshing shower one morning last week.

 I looked out the window behind my desk and saw these leaves with globules of water (click on the picture to make it bigger). They just hung there catching the light. A little portion of my brain has been trying to find a poem in their tenacity but I haven't found it yet. I took a few photos so I could continue to look at them.

I am often much influenced by what I am reading. Right now I am dipping only a few pages at night into my bedside book, the biography of Leonardo di Vinci by Isaacson. Everything fascinated him, I know he would have sketched such a sight and wouldn't have stopped there. He'd think how to paint  the leaves, he'd think about gravity (before Newton), he'd consider the surface of the leaves that somehow capture the drops ... I can't even go on trying to understand his amazing mind. But knowing about his constant curiosity and search for understanding literally everything, I am reminded to pay attention too. 

Yoyo weather

This is a wonderful photo from the local newspaper of the marshes hereabouts -- sans snow. The snow is disappearing again because it's raining again and the temperature is in the low 40s. The weather swings from day to day, sunny but very cold yesterday, gray and wet and warmer today. Who knows, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny ... I'll take what I get. And if it's nice enough I'll go walk someplace. If not, I'll carry on with the projects in the sewing room and the writing project here on the computer.

A recent discussion on another blog about dressing differently when one gets older was on my mind today as I carefully checked out the racks of end-of-the-season clothing at a store in the mall. I saw many bargains, some things I'd have snapped up ten years ago, just my style, fun to have and to wear. Sigh! today I pass by. Not only would many of those garments look unattractive on me today, I simply don't need them. Some are too dramatic, some are too tight fitting, some are too glittery, and some have too deep a neckline -- not so much because of modesty but because I no longer put up with the mild discomfort of being a bit chillly for the sake of looking a bit sexy. I found a cornflower blue, totally simple, totally classic cashmere turtleneck. That was my only purchase after over an hour of combing the racks.

Many other women claim not to enjoy shopping. I don't understand where they're coming from, never have. For myself, I love to see what designers, even unknown peons working for minor brands, come up with in line, embellishment, fabric, fit. Maybe it's because I began sewing for myself with I was in high school and was always fascinated by what a seam could do, how a textile could drape, how colors work together.

My quilting attitude is much the same. I can play with line, color, shape, embellishment. My favorite quilting is scrape patchwork quilting when I can make fabric/color choices each time I add a new square or triangle or piece. The spirit of play captures me. Maybe the people who hate to shop are the people who most enjoy quilting from kits; they feel safe with the choices of others. They make beautiful quilt, often more successful than mine. And I think they feel great pleasure doing so. Likewise I feel great pleasure in my spontaneous way. Takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.