Yesterday Deb R mentioned she liked my barely visible mug, so I thought I might blog about my mugs (reaching????). Anyway, some people collect plates, others collect spoons or thimbles. When I go somewhere, I buy a mug. I still miss our “doorway” in our old house in Arlington, Virginia (moved out of there in ’97). The previous owners had enclosed and weatherproofed the back porch into a family room and moved the door in the process. The old doorway remained, and they had put maybe 5 shallow shelves on it, which they used for canned goods. I doubled the number of shelves, and since it was out of the way, used it to display our mugs. I LOVED that, and am still wishing for a house where I can do something like that again…cut out some drywall and finish the cavity between the studs and add shelves.

Today’s mug is one I bought in Friday Harbor, Wash., where we used to live. I don’t usually go for porcelain or fancy “artwork,” preferring hand-thrown mugs from artists and crafters. But for some reason I loved the lush, ripe fruits on this one. Here is this morning’s first cuppa:

The cactus on the windowsill is in a Peter Rabbit planter….the year Joshua was born (’93) was an anniversary year for Peter R., so lots of cool stuff. I wanted the planter so much I ordered the flowers from FTD just to get it! And I still love it. The floral tin is nearly ancient…bought it in London when on a semester abroad in 1978. Still holds tea!

I remembered! The day begins, blearily, at about 6 a.m. I get dressed, wake up Joshua on my way downstairs, hit the on-button on the computer on my way to the kitchen counter, then turn on the hot water kettle for tea. Then, I make the kids’ lunches, Joshua’s breakfast (Eli’s bus comes an hour later, so he gets to stay in bed another hour!), then roust Joshua again in time to eat something. Today he had the last egg, bacon and toast. I’m still trying to shed some of the extra weight I put on 8 years ago when preggers with Eli, so I fixed the first oatmeal of the season.

While Joshua’s eating, I sit down at the computer, and this is pretty much my world’s view . Paul walks the dog and Joshua to the bus stop (just a stone’s throw from our house) while I get 25 minutes alone with the ‘puter ’til time to wake Eli. Then, repeat the breakfast and bus thing. I can’t face the idea of food too early, so I usually eat along with Eli, who loves to watch Tom and Jerry (way more than modern cartoons) with breakfast. Today, it was unbelievably blustery. They say this isn’t Hurricanes Wilma and Alpha, but that they are off the coast interacting with a high pressure system that is bringing in strong winds and rain. Here’s a view of our sky this morning. Now, I’ve dithered away too much of the morning updating the website, blogging, catching up on e-mail, working out a t Curves, etc., so I’m going to work in my studio….

OK, so I’m a totally biased Mom, that’s my job! Eli came home from 2nd grade today all excited to show me his pillow…a croissant shaped lump about 5 inches long. The kids had colored on paper with crayons, ironed them onto white cloth, then made little pillows. He informed me he knew a running stitch, a special knot, and instructed me (!!!) how to sew it just so, leave an opening, turn it, then close it up, but Mom…what’s that other stitch called?

He was so excited, he did two more drawings which he promptly carried up to my work room and asked to turn into a pillow, so we did! That’s the square one with the flame / rocket / sword / doo-hickeys on them. The school pillow is on the left, the pillow made at home is on the right.

Then, because the little bug is the cutest thing on feet, as I was going up to tuck him in he announced that all his critters could share the two pillows, which he had carefully laid out on the foot of his bed. He usually sleeps with one or two critters (though he’s been known to smoosh as many as four or five onto the pillow next to him), and most often it is Lexie, the dalmation (usually found clutched under his arm…I warned you he’s the cutest thing on the planet!). If you look closely, the two pillows he made are tucked in there amongst his head.

Well, I’m just a chatty Cathy today aren’t I? The question is, will I remember tomorrow is self-portrait Tuesday, or forget like the last umpteen weeks?

PS—remember that quilt on his bed. At LONG LAST it is almost time that I can share Bedtime, my quilt that got into this year’s I Remember Mama exhibit….you’ll recognize the quilt and the blue walls…..

Disclaimer: if your name is Kate and you’re part of Frayed Edges, do NOT scroll down and look at the picture in this post!

OK….three friends and I formed a mini-art-group in January, and promptly got our first show at a coffee house near Deb’s house, thanks to Kate’s meanderings in Brunswick. Over the course of the year we meet once a month, and DebB has blogged about our meetings (with lots of fun photos). Lately, we’ve been doing “books” for each other. Each of us picked a size and a theme, and of course I’ve been horrid about keeping photos of what I’ve done, what’s in my book, and so on. Well, I’m trying to correct that, so here’s a first….

This month it was my turn to do pages for Kate’s book. Her theme is “hands,” and the size is 9.5 x 11 inches (or so). Her book hinges at the top, like a steno pad or tablet of paper. I’ve done the first side of the page, and have a fun idea for the second side (though which will be the first page and which the second is still up for debate). I liked the heart in hand block I did for Tristan and Jon’s wedding so much (if you’re curious check the posts for Aug. 28 by clicking on the August 2005 archive tab in the sidebar to the right), that I decided to do a variation on the theme for Kate. She and a friend, another Kate if I have it right (and given my memory for names, that is by NO means a sure bet), started Kitchen Table Cards . Their company is geared towards adoptive or adopting parents, so I wanted to make a page along those lines (and if they like it, they can even use my page for a card).

This time, it is a grown-up hand reaching down to a small child’s hand that is reaching up. Like Tristan and Jon’s quilt, both hands have hearts, and this time the stitching that outlines the hearts is the color of the other hand—because the love makes each a part of the other. Inside the heart is another stitched heart, and the word love repeated to fill the space. Behind the hands is the pineapple, the traditional symbol of welcome and hospitality even back to federal times. And quilted into the background are the words : The pineapple is the traditional symbol of Welcome and Ohana means family (thanks to watching MANY episodes of Lilo and Stitch the series and the movie!).

Now, if I ever get enough time, it would be fun to do a bigger heart in hand quilt jazzed up for the 21st century……

What FUN! I got to teach my new Machine Applique with a side helping of Hawaiian class this past week at Quilters’ Cottage in Camden for the first time. I was thrilled that we were able to go through all three techniques—fused and satin stitched, freezer-paper underneath (to be removed when applique is done) and fusible interfacing underneath (remains in the quilt) using the gingko pattern with I developed to teach the class, AND still have enough time to go through the basics of cutting out a Hawaiian-style block.

The first photo is Sally’s blocks….I love seeing other people’s color selections on my patterns…colors I might or might not use and see how the pattern looks that way…way fun!

The gingko leaf pattern is for a 6-inch block…that way not a lot of time and materials invested if the student doesn’t want to finish the series (though they seemed to!). In the second photo, Pat is completing the statin stitching on her fused block…bold red thread with a pale gray and black combination, and she has a really cool red with kanji on it for the inner border on the wallhanging (pattern on my website, just scroll down)…it’s going to look awsome!

Then, I got to show the ladies how to use my freezer-paper snowflake technique to cut out a Hawaiian design, using the optional itty-bitty rotary cutter (the one with the blade about the size of a dime). My Hawaiian style patterns–Halekala–teach how to do that, but basically instead of folding fabric into 8 layers (remember cutting snowflakes in grade school from folded paper) and then–ouch on the aging knuckles–trying to cut through eight layers…well, even with new, sharp Gingher scissors, my hands would ache. So I trace the pattern onto freezer paper, cut that out, iron it to the applique fabric, then cut around the freezer paper. This works for either fused OR turn-under applique (hand or machine). It requires cutting each edge, but I’d rather spend more time and not have my hands ache for days than try to cut eight layers at once. Anyway, I’m hoping the class fills up in Bangor, because I’d really like to do a lot more with the Hawaiian style patterns.