Triangle madness and blog censorship.

Boy Oh Boy...Dog days indeed! We've been spoiled by the very sweet summer temps that have dissolved into the soup that is August. You can cut the air with a knife and a general lethargy has settled in around here.
I'm working on some doll quilt pieces that are gifts and so I have sewn up hundreds of triangles. Not sure what will become of them yet but it's a kind of mindless thing that makes me feel like I have accomplished something. They will be turned into little pieces soon as I have a couple of gifts due soon for various things such as friends birthdays and such. I used the half square triangle papers that I printed out from some on-line thing like Block Central a while back.
I notice that so many bloggers are either on vacation or just as out of it as I am so there isn't a lot going on. A few people, who are a lot more serious about their work than me have posted about wonderful things learned at classes. My good friend Gerrie took a class in Shibori dying last week. If you get a chance go and look. You have to scroll down a bunch but it's worth it. Gorgeous stuff. I am beginning to thing that Portland(Oregon) is the most amazing art mecca. In fact it seems that the left coast is an amazing place to be an artist in general. So many great art quilt groups and shows and classes Oh My! It seems to be a very nurturing environment for that type of thing. I'm a life-long New Yorker and I love it but what you have to do in order to get to anything resembling art in NY is a death defying feat. It's all much further in towards Manhattan and I'm, frankly, not up to it anymore. There is are a couple of guilds here on the island and they are big and eventful but the women I have met so far are not very friendly in general and they stick to a fairly traditional type of work. Independence is not nurtured. In fact the last quilt show I went to the members were trashing fellow members work as being "out there" as I was walking by. Not my kind of thing at all. Again, the Manhattan guilds are just too far away.
On a related subject, why are women sometimes so mean to each other? 99% of the bloggers I encounter are the most helpful and kind people but there seems to be the one or two factions who are waiting somewhere for someone to say the least little thing that displeases them so they can jump out of the bushes(anonymously_very brave) and bitch about it. What has happened to our sense of humor and ability to laugh at ourselves and be lighthearted. It's so bad that a couple of friends have removed posts from their own personal blogs rather than be slammed about something they wrote. In essence they had to censor themselves to please a few cranky witches. We are living in scary times when that happens.
Well, I need to get some laundry done and sew up some more triangles and think about what's up for dinner. It's almost too hot to grill anything-I may just make spaghetti and skip the grill. Hope everyone has a relaxing and pleasant day. Lets continue being nice to each other. There is something wonderful about the company of women and those similar experiences that draw us together.

More forgotten orphans unearthed & a walk in town

This blue piece is another tiny paper pieced doll quilt I made back in the 90s. The yellow one is, I think, the very first thing I ever tried to make. I had a bunch of 4 inch squares I got from some mail order thing and just put them together randomly. The blue log cabin has pieces as narrow as a half inch. I don't remember what on earth I was thinking but by the time I was finished I nearly lost my mind. It remains unfinished because the edges are so narrow I gave up. I will just put a pillowcase finish on it and turn it inside out to finish without batting. I've been sewing up a storm today using a print-out from the computer for half square triangles that finish at 2 inches. I working on a couple of gifts for friends. Just quickie doll sized littles.

The last picture below is of an old house that once belonged to a ship captain. They are doing a lot of work on it and it's next to the small shipyard near the other picture. Lots of machinery doing lots of work in the village right now.

Well I'd better get back to work but I'd like to say hello to Sonnja from the Netherlands who was nice enough to stop by and say Hi but has no blog address or e-mail. I think I'll take Angie's advice and maybe drop the little quilts in a tea bath just to see what happens. Nothing to loose. Thanks for walking and talking with me on this very steamy day. Hope it's cooler where you are.

A Little Finn-ish & Village stuff

I'm really posting these shots for Finn of Pieces from my Scrapbag. If you haven't seen some of the quilts that Finn has been putting together from orphan blocks that so many people have sent her go on over and have a look. I hesitate to call myself a quilter of any particular style. I'm into whatever floats my boat at a particular time. For a long while I made Amish reproduction type miniatures and wall-hangings. That came about because when I saw them in PA Amish country I fell in love and knew I couldn't ever afford to buy one. So I dove in headfirst and decided to try my hand. This, of course, gave me a new-found appreciation for the work done by real Amish women with actual needlework abilities. Awesome work and work I can only dream of since I also found that I'm just too lazy to make anything as perfect. I made a few that are just fine. People say they are very beautiful-my family loves them-but I know where the Amish leaves off and the Dee begins. Anyway, all of this is by way of saying that I really admire so many of my fellow blog ladies who pick a style and then go about perfecting it. Finn is one of these. She has taken these mismatched blocks so nearly child-like in their delightfully playful style and colors that are so far off the mark together that they come full circle to look wonderful together. That's a gift. That's a woman with a natural and playful talent. I look forward to seeing what she's up to daily. Here are a couple of simple things I did a long time ago-before I knew better and during a time when I just wanted to try stuff. The blocks are all very small-2, 2 1/2 inch or so. In retrospect, I wish I had known about more primitive work and tea dying because I now see what doesn't go with the casual doll quilt primitive look. Too bright borders for one thing! I should stick those in a tea bath and see what comes of them.

On another front-I sent out my crack photography team to the village yesterday(Hi Honey!) to take some harbor shots. It was a hazy hot day so everything looks like it's in the mist. He did get a good shot of the church where our Food Pantry is. It's a very pretty church and they are kind enough to let us use the basement for our needs. that little door thingy on the right side down low there...that's the Food Pantry entrance. Try lugging groceries down that thing sometime. It's better than a morning at Curves. Here's shot of the entrance to the park looking across Main Street. Lots of houses up on the hills overlooking the harbor.

Well, I have some cooking to do and the usual boring stuff around the house. I hope to get some sewing done tomorrow.