Thursday Art day! Gretchen has been working on collage quilts, and this is her latest. She uses tiny scraps of fabric, trims, whatever is laying on the floor of her studio!

She even creates her own trims by zigzagging fabric scaps together into a cord, which she then couches onto her quilts.

Here's the whole group - you can see the chaos as everyone greets each other, looks at projects, and passes along new books and magazines. From left: Andy, Audrey, Jamie (no head), Carol, Gretchen. Not in the view is Janet and me.

This little guy wasn't quite sure what to make of the camera in his face - I think they don't see very well, and I carefully laid down on the ground so he wouldn't feel my vibrations. I was able to extend the camera pretty close to him. He flicked his tongue in and out, tasting me on the air but not close enough to worry about. But he was too quick for me - I never quite caught that tongue! When I finally touched him, he was gone in an instant.

Still some moisture left from yesterday's rain, drops neatly lined up along this blade of grass, shining in the morning air.

After learning the tension-tray technique at Basket Day last week, I made a smaller version to hold my kitchen sink soaps. I like how it came out - it should last me a good long time!

Sunny skies & three hawks soaring . . .

Summer showers . . .

I took a workshop today, making a twined-wire petal pendant. Marilyn Moore has developed many time-saving methods for working with this very fine wire to acheive the color blending that is her trademark.

This is her studio, and some of the other students, Tenny and Karen, working away. She has lots of colors of wire for us to choose, using two or three colors to create a gradation. I chose a dark blue and dark green, which turned out to be pretty close in value, so it's hard to see the gradation in the photo, but it's there!
This is near the beginning, with all of the spokes inserted.
Karen's finished petal. She used three colors - a dark, middle and light green.
Tenny's finished petal. She chose a dark and light purple.

It was finally the day of the belt-sander races. We have all waited eagerly all year for this annual event at the local lumber store. Contractors and home-owners are equal in this challenge, pitting their tools against each other, vying to win the $300 prize! We stayed for the first couple of heats,

had some hot dogs and burgers cooked on David's BBQ Train, then headed over to Everett to celebrate our 32nd anniversary with dinner and a new CD player for my car! Quite a nice day, for sure!
And a small herd of deer grazed their way across the lawn.

Art Thursday again. Suze has been working on her fresh-water pearl necklace - she's been stringing the pearls with crystals to create a multi-strand necklace.

The pearls are tiny, making it a time-consuming task, but well worth the effort.
Carol is making fish again, using her fun fruit patterned fabric.

Since I haven't been down in the woods for a while, it was time for a ramble. Things have really grown! The trails are all covered with brambles and nettles, necessitating the clippers. Down in the swamp, the water is all gone, and the skunk cabbage plants are huge! The setting sun shone on a leaf briefly.

They're done blooming - you can see the seedpods lying on the ground. But, the mosquitoes were terrible!

SCORE!!

I found this 1937 edition of "The Birds of America" at Half-Price books, for only $10! It's in great shape, and has 500 plates of Audubon's bird prints. I checked the on-line used book stores, and it's going for $75 to over $200, so I really scored!

Beautiful!
Wonderful!

I know some of you may object to these photos, but I feel that cats are born hunters, and I enjoy knowing that Amy is living to her heritage. She was very proud, bringing the bunny to show me. We have plenty of varmits around our house, and I'd rather have her do the pest control, than have to do it myself!

Quiet Sunday. I sat on the porch and wove another willow tray, and noticed this reflection. The pot of azaleas is sitting on a metal stool, and when I watered it the overflow collected on the stool and reflected the flowers and leaves.

Buzz snoozed on the ground near me.

Basket Day! The Northwest Basketweavers Guild sponsors a day of classes, and students only have to pay the materials fee, so it's a good opportunity to learn something new. It's also a good time to just sit and visit with members, and work on your own project. It takes place at the Good Shepherd Park in Seattle, in the picnic shelter near the Tilth Gardens. The building in the background was once used as a nunnery, a school, and various other uses. Not sure what is in it now.

I took a class making a tray with willow. Above is Teresa, Sharon, Mary, me and Carol, with teacher Bill Roeder behind us.
Bill had a good time with our class as Mary trims her tray.
Carol lays in the beginning weavers.
All of our finished trays! They were pretty quick to make, but lovely!

Thimbleberries are ripening - they're a native berry, with a flavor similar to red raspberries, only richer. They also have a fuzzy texture that takes a little bit of getting used to.

And, we had sweet potato fries for dinner. Yummy!

Part of summer is lying out in the grass, investigating all the smells and tiny views. The clover blossoms are unexpectedly intricate and beautiful.

Self-heal hides down in the grass, looking like some sort of spikey insect.

Day lilies are blooming!

Dinner at Suze and Jonathan's house - lots to celebrate! Their 2nd anniversary,

Aunt Vicky and her friend Joe visiting from Texas,
and Jonathan and Mary anne's book deal! We had hot dogs and raspberry pie with ice cream on the deck.

I love the tall grasses gone to seed in a meadow, with the sun low behind the seedheads nodding in the lazy heat. I sit down among them, immersing myself in the scents and wispy feel of the grasses.

Shadows against a rusty tank abandoned in the field.

Another actual sunny summer day! We're going to get spoiled, having almost a week of summery weather!

Caveman brought out one of his bonsai plants for us to enjoy on the porch. It's an azalea in full bloom - what a gorgeous color!It was especially lovely with the early morning sun behind it.