The Blue Hour

Summer has been so amazing here this year. Day after golden day the sun has shone but the temperature has remained mild. It has rained in the evenings after sunset but not produced the suffocating humidity that Philadelphia is famous for. It is how I remember the summers of my childhood.

Without stunning heat and mildew-producing humidity my city garden has done well. Things have grown and flowered that have never flowered before. One day last month I took some photos in that time that begins when the sun is going down and ends when you can no longer see distinct colors. It was almost as though I was taking picture through a filter that both darkened colors and made them more vivid. I'm also trying to get better at using the macro setting on my camera.

Better Than a Spa Day

Recently I took a Friday off of work to spend at my local quilt shop for a raw-edge applique lesson from Debra Gabel of Zebra Patterns. The project was to make one of her flower patterns. The patterns capture the spirit of the flowers well, I love flowers and I was very willing to simply spend the day playing with the pretty colors.
Several things made the class special. One was Debra's clever method for weaving the work into the fragmented, interrupted time that I, and most women, have to spend on their creative projects. Another is her really remarkable personal story. I can't seem to link directly to her blog so I'll summarize: In 2003 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which resulted in nearly a full year of bed rest, chemo, radiation, and finally a stem cell transplant. During this time in her life she promised herself that if and when she got better she would pursue her passionate interest in art quilting.
The last remarkable thing Debra did was share her creative and business goals. In 2004 she set a goal of focusing on and applying real effort to creating a line of patterns that would appeal to most quilters. She wants to grow her business to a national audience and she wants to compete nationally in the mixed media art categories at all the top shows in the US. She brought some the art quilts that she has entered in national shows and they are beautiful.
Here's is what I made. I cut the pieces out in class and put it together later at home. She covers the raw edges with a narrow satin stitch that matches the fabric colors. I will give that a try also. I like the results so far a lot.

My Coreopsis.