Oh the shoes!!! and progress on the bright blocks

I got this sweet little book at the Library the other day and I can only call it eye candy for the shoe lover. Every page is filled with beautiful pictures and some of the simple ideas are fun. Like embellishing flip flops with ribbon, beads or flowers. Most of the shoes are seriously theatrical but just stunning to look at. Fun.

These are a few of the blocks I made yesterday with the brights. I'm really enjoying this very much. It's very liberating, cheerful, and relaxing.
I have just come from my work-out at Curves. My right knee is still bothering me but I took it easier today on pace. My natural pace of walking is rather fast and I find that I zoom in and plow ahead too fast. I must relax and enjoy the journey more. Funny thing today though. I got on the first machine and looked across the room only to see my next door neighbor on one as well-we both had a good laugh about that. Joan is a lovely woman who was friends with my late MIL Dot. She's probably in her 70s and going along pretty well. Gives me hope
Well, not sure I'll post again till Monday. Lots of stuff to catch up with in the house and I have to strike while the energy level is high.

color riot-get out your sunglasses

Look at the difference in these pictures!! These are the same blocks-wahhappend?? They really look moe like the ones on the right.

I'm experiencing a burst of energy and it's affecting my color choices. I really want to work with brighter and happier colors-reflection of attitude..maybe...probably. Whatever is causing it-it's fun. I found a PP pattern for pinwheels on a Carol Doak program I have and printed out some yesterday. When I was choosing fabric I kept on going to the very bright happy stuff. and thus you have this riot of color. I have a lot of fat quarters of this bright hand dyed looking stuff (maybe Cherrywood) it's made to look almost like suede and I love this stuff. So I pulled out that and some of the wilder stripes I bought not knowing what I would do with them but knowing I had to have them-they are cotton happiness. New box of crayons. I like this. I know these colors are startling to some people but I see them often on sites like Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey and JuJu. I really have fallen inlove with this palette. When the Kaffe Fassett fabrics first came out I was taken back by the fact that I liked them-liked them very much. This is not the type of fabric that I have bought in the past-but that's just it...I think that there may be less of that traditional fabric for a while for me.

Some years ago I had a wonderful woman who was counselling me through a rough time and knew that I had these artistic tendencies. She asked me what I would do if I had all the room, supplies and time I wanted. We discussed that all of the things I usually did were very small and precise. Sort of constipated art(sorry but that's the best description I can think of)by someone who is trying to break free of what I have been taught is right and what is within. We discussed several people who I really find wonderful, and to me, worked in a large format-sometimes with intense, vivid colors-Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero-then the grand sweeping American landscapes of Edward Hopper Charles Demuth, Winslow Homer, and so on. I wondered what it would be like to just go wild with abandon-art wise. Anyway, this is by way of saying that I think I'm moving into a bit more of a free and easy approach to color and having fun with this thing called being creative. Joyous-if you will. Huh...whoda thunk...joyous.

what's this you say? Well, I've shown the geese on black before but yesterday Rian mentioned and showed the gorgeous fabric she has dyed to make vests with geese on black. I really must do something with these blocks sometime soon.

I took a day off from Curves-I go back tomorrow morning. I can't tell you how much I ache in places I didn't know could ache. It's o.k. though-I feel like I'm doing something good-having a hard time with my right knee though. All the machines there are great and they feel good even using them but the in between where you jog or run in place(that's walking in place for me)is bothering my knee. I think I'll just take that aspect a little slower. There is a woman at Curves on Wed. who I would guess is 10 years older than me and a tiny bit of a thing. She doesn't just jog in place-she levitates and bounces and dances-good grief she puts everyone in the room to shame-I want to be her when I grow up

quick ideas for a good read.

Get yourself these books-borrow them,buy them, whatever. Eat Pray Love is the best book I've read in a very long time. I could hardly put it down. It's about life after emotional disaster. I wish this book was around a couple of years ago. It's up-lifting and beautiful. The author makes you feel like you are having a chat with dinner and wine. I can't believe how good it makes me feel to read it. I no longer belong to the church I grew up in for various reasons which I won't go into here but I am a woman of deep and abiding faith. After Sept. 11th 2001 my faith was shaken to the core along with many others. It left me emotionally bereft and in a kind of suspended animation I have never felt before-even when I was in the throws of depression years ago. This book addresses that in the most interesting way. It's really like having a conversation with a friend who has hit bottom and is talking about the journey back. Good reading.

The other book is one I haven't read yet but have on order. It's a fascinating look at a whole other worlds thirty stories up in the air inthe Redwood tree canopy. The guy was on NPR discussing it and my husband said it sounded fascinating. I read the Times review on Sunday and even though I'm far from a tree hugger-I can't wait to read about this newly discovered little micro-planet way up in the trees.

I'm off to exercise now- see you later.

Ahoy Babes,

Here I am with all my friends standing watch on the topside. Hey-where are you guys???

I have returned from Curves with lots of energy and feeling superfantastic. made it through the workout and the stretch and with only a bright red face to show for it. After about an hour and a cold shower-I went to the grocery store to get more salad fixins and such-stopped by to pick up some futomaki for lunchmmmm and home to drink lots of water and collapse in a heap of virtuousness. I am now the good me.

Seriously-the woman at my local Curves is a gem. She walked me through everything including the stretch with great humor and sweetness. I could have stayed another half hour. It was, dare I say it, fun. It played out at the grocery just like I imagined. Everytime I looked at something really forbidden I thought about how long it would take to work that item off my large belly bits.

I stopped at the Library to see my best friend-who it turned out had a day off and appears to be hiding somewhere-I'll root her out later. Picked up an old copy of Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking-fun book. and the new Nelson DeMille-love him. Well I've done more than enough for the moment-Good Book, futomaki, cold iced tea, feet up. See you tomorrow.

the gardener was here-quilty purses & little beasties

Here are some purses I made with Japanese fabric and a small piece of Kaffe Fassett. I'm deciding what I want to do with these-they are too big to group together for the 12x12 piece so I may make some more and just make a random wallhanging of purse prettiness. Lord knows I need some girly stuff around here. I really need to get much more familiar with my machine and all the stitches I can do. The handles came out kinda crappy. I may applique some handles on over what's there.

Just call me Lady Chatterley(heh heh)My own sweet gardener was out & about with lots of Pansie prettiness-actually I think these are viola but I'm calling them my pansies and that's that. Roger came home from a Friday trip to Lowes with a trunk full of these babies and a truckload of thistle seed for the goldfinches. They are happily twittering outside the window. I can report that we have gone directly from the first few days of warmish spring to full-on summer. It is currently 78 degrees. Not complaining but could we work up to it a week or two at a time?? Tomorrow is my first day at Curves-pray for me. Today I went to Target to get some exercise pants and tees. I hope this old creaking body doesn't just give out. On Saturday I didn't measure how far I walked on the treadmill but instead measured if I could exercise for 30 min. straight. I made it to 33-yay.

I may have mentioned before that I love to feed the squirrels and chipmunks in my yard. This is great fun but I pay for it this time of year and here's how. Saturday-Roger planted the flowers and by this morning the squirrels had dug up the entire plant plugs and laid them neatly on the dirt. Who says they aren't funny? I came home and there they were-pansies-sideways in neat little piles-not eaten or disturbed in any way. Just lying on there little colorful sides. As I was backing up to the house to empty the car I saw in the rear-view mirror bushy tails ducking under the porch slats. Wise guys! I think they're pissed because all winter long they sunned themselves in the empty flower boxes onthe railing and when Roger put the flowers in he put a moth ball under the dirt at each corner cause they really don't like mothballs(who does) And so...it is war.

One last thing before I go for a walk. Rian asked about the sweet potatoes. They are like having candy for dinner. All you do is get yourself some good olive oil-brush the halved potatoes with it and sprinkle cinnamon very lightly and salt-grill cut side down for 15 min. and turn over for another 10. when they are done you can see the potato bubble a bit. Get a plate and fork and have dessert for dinner. With the plain Yukon Gold potatoes or red bliss-I mix a little Lawry's salt with the olive oil and grill the same way. Heavenly.

I'll be back with updates on my pain tomorrow-wish me luck

This is not my picture but it was so pretty that I blatantly swiped it from Google-I hope they don't arrest me....