Three Appetizers and a Main Dish

Golly, I just have so much to say that we better sit down for a full course dinner here.

 

Appetizer #1 

The joy seems to have settled into my bones. Last night, I noticed how absolutely thrilled I was when Himself came home from work. Just that very thing...that the weekend begins with the sun still in the sky and the grounds deliriously green, that he walks into the kitchen, gives the dogs their treats, and gives me a kiss hello. (Just the fact that is not the other way around is enough to elicit gratitude, no?)

I felt a little weak in the knees when I saw him. I told him that lately, our lives have been so simple and peaceful yet full of merriment and all-around good cheer that I feel, well, like I have a boyfriend. His brow furrowed a bit in distress. Then his eyes opened. "Oh. Am I the boyfriend?" 

 

Appetizer #2

I turned the bright new fabric from Kaffe Fassett and friends at the shop into a little baby quilt called "Playland."

Pattern and fabric pack available at Gloriouscolor.com

I listened to The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, while designing, sewing, unsewing, and resewing this baby. The reader of this first-person saga is remarkable and the story is just perfect for hearing rather than reading because it most definitely is a long tale.  Also, Boy Alone in the World is an unnerving proposition at times and I know I would want to leaf ahead just to make sure all will be well and thus ruin the experience. This way, I have to sweat it out, meaning I probably am losing weight, right?

 

Appetizer #3

Speaking of audiobooks, see if your libraries carry "Overdrive," which brings audiobooks or even e books to you for absolutely free. I love this way of not having to buy books I know I will never read more than once and also, getting someone to tell me a story at the same time.

The Main Course

 

Ok, the entree is for me, to document process. No, sillies, you don't have to leave.

A few days ago, I wanted to do some hand stitching but felt rather clueless. Perhaps to give the rods and cones in my eyes some respite from the colors of Playland, I just started working in neutral grays and off-whites,on a little 8 x 10 inch scrap.

This felt right, so I looked in my shelves for a background for it. I tried all the usual culprits and then found this, a printed fabric from Marcia Derse called "Calendar."

And that turned into this.

I thought I was making a garden but when I moved it into its new neighborhood, it turned into a house in a village. The supporting structure of the print was very rich in possibility but I kept stumbling into the body of an elephant two rows above my house. So what else to do with an elephant body but bring it to life?

With that, all the other printed shapes started making noises. I grabbed my handy box of pairings that I learned to make from Jude and suddenly, I landed on Noah's Ark for Singles. Single beasts, that is.

Ms Pac Man

The Wizard of Id?

I know this is from some childhood cartoon, someone help me remember

Identity TBD

So this is how it looks at the moment.

I'm ready to stitch for real now and it helps me to remember that sometimes, its the proverbial long and winding road to find that space.

Ok, who wants dessert?

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We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

The Joy of Deadhorse

I am planning a mosaic table for E and find myself surprisingly short of broken china and glassware. Not to worry, Himself and I consulted the tide tables and yesterday, got ourselves to Deadhorse Bay, Brooklyn at low tide.( I think I gave a brief history of this strange place on an earlier post--if not, take a few moments, research it, and come back prepared to tell the class what you have learned.)

This time, I shopped in the sand with much more discrimination. That's because I am still finding pieces of my fingers that I clipped off with those damn nippers every time I tried to trim curved pieces of glass for my last table.So this time, only flat pieces of glass or china, thank you, and only in colors. The only limiting factor was how much I could carry.

The harvest was plentiful.

All cleaned up back at home

\

The wind was strong but so was the sun. I snuggled into my cobalt blue windbreaker (makes me blend in the beach glass, you'd never know I was there) so I was toasty warm. and best of all, I had Himself, just a few hundred feet away at all times. I was filled with happiness...imagine that literally because it is how it was. I don't know what it is about digging around in the dirt that gets me so energized but isn't it unbelievable that I have a guy who feels the same way? It felt all the more wonderful because just 24 hours before, I had bumped into my ex-husband at Shad Fest, the local street fair celebrating a really stinky fish that runs the Delaware River this week. 

How fitting. Because they both leave me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

But there on that Deadhorse Sunday, with my tall red rubber boots mired in sea muck, the past blew away and the wonder of my life at present was all around me.Himself found this for me.

This is how it looks, all nestled in my Garden of Earthly Delights, a shady spot beneath the maple tree where I plant hosta, astilbe, and all kinds of wonderful from our diggings. Here is the Deadhorse Bay Brass Ensemble:

Yep,that's a roller skate and I know you're old enough to remember them.

Here are the woodwinds:

This will be a fairy castle for a grandchild

Driftwood found in Maine with rocks intact!

A white platter from Deadhorse colored by saltwater.

But wait! There's more!

I even have the chicken feet, which are soaking. I found it at Deadhorse yesterday, along with this guy.

out of focus but you get the point

 And so in they go, with the rest of the Deadhorse Bay Collective.

I love assemblage and think I have finally have enough critters to tell a story in the old cheese boxes piled up on the shelf. 

I have so much to say about the joy of recognizing joy, but it is enough to share this, my beautiful Sunday, April 27, 2014. I know the tides will come in and nip around my heels again but for this moment, all is perfect.