Still Here

 

Every time I think I should put something in the blog, I realize that my number one fan of the blog is gone.  LouAnn won't comment, and she was the only one who ever did!  She passed away far too soon, certainly too quickly for me to get to Knoxville to say goodbye, but she did call me, and it meant more than I can say.  We had a date to celebrate our July birthdays, so some other friends went with me to the Tomato Head, and we toasted her life with our shared Monkey Bread.  LouAnn always had Monkey Bread as an appetizer when she had brunch at the Tomato Head.

And now, when I have a new weaving plan, or want to show her the bling treatment the new quilt is getting, I just pause and think about her.  I don't believe in heaven or hell or afterlife, but I know that LouAnn made the world a much nicer, sparklier, happier place for having been in it.  I can imagine her light traveling around us and through us.

And now I can't believe that I can't find any pictures of LouAnn!  We had many road trips and birthday dinners, but no pictures of us together.  Well, if you're reading this, chances are you knew her and will miss her as much as I do.

I have been very busy, though, and do want to share some things with the outer world.  First of all, my grandchild has arrived, two months ago.  Beauregard Basil Davidson is the most beautiful baby ever, I must say.  I've only spent a few days, very early on, and can't wait to see him again, probably next month when his adults bring him in October.  He will be very warm, though, since I've made him five sweaters, so far.  It does get cold in Nashville, but I do need to slow it down a little!

Remember the heart afghan?  Well, I'm afraid it reconfirmed what I already knew.  I am not a crocheter.  In fact, I really don't like it at all.  So I took that lovely yarn and made this Baby Gansey from the blue.  If you embiggen the picture, you'll see space ship and astronaut buttons that I bought at Bliss yarns in Nashville.  I loved knitting this sweater!  You start at the back hem and knit over the top, separating for the fronts, the pick up and knit the sleeves.  I made another one in a lovely green tweed, but didn't count my stitches on the second sleeve.  I couldn't redo it because I didn't have enough yarn.  Sad story.  I've also made another cardigan from the gray, but haven't put buttons on it yet.  Gotta save something for next time!

I've also taken a class in Mini-Art Quilts from Jennifer A.   ://www.jenniferannreis.com/9v0aadpabm0wlcytgptjs3cydz8f2c

It was a free class at the library, and it was so fun!  She had piles of scraps of fabric to choose from, and I chose the couple in the left corner.  She taught us how to make yoyo flowers, which I'd never done, so those went in.  When I got it home, I couldn't stop.  I have a very large collection of beads, and beaded the vines, added the flower beads and then appliquéd some batik flowers.  The crocheted flowers (I make an exception in my dislike of crochet to make flowers) to mimic the flowers in the bride's hands.  Then I "quilted" the background with groups of three beads, the way Jennifer taught us.  

I had so much fun doing that, I started looking at the quilt that's on my blog's masthead.  Well, I'm quilting and beading and happy as can be!  I haven't quilted since I got my first loom, and it came back so naturally.  

I can't quite photograph it to do it justice.  And Purl has been sleeping on it when I'm not home, so don't mind the cat hair.  

I take my second cup of coffee to the studio every morning and just quilt and bead for an hour.  So peaceful and so satisfying!

And of course I'm thinking, what's next?  I can quilt the two tops I have waiting, as soon as I finish this one.  One needs backing, and one is huge, but I'm really feeling it!  I can't wait!

I've got some fig jam waiting to be jarred.  I'll send this out into the universe, and imagine what LouAnn would comment.

Be well!