Summertime Happiness

In June I did a huge clean-up in my sewing room. There is still a lot I could do, but for now I am quite happy with my progress. I cleared out one bookshelf of books and sorted through the quilt books I really still love and use. I gave the old books to a book sale. 

Folded fabrics readily available and visible. These are not in direct sunlight and are up off the floor under my sewing table. I swapped out the drop leaf table and the dresser. 

Still need to sort out some things in the drawers but I love having a little ironing station handy to my sewing machine. I still have an ironing board and an old iron in front of my sewing table. I bought a new iron when the old one started to spit and leak but it is fine as a dry iron. 

Bill and I went on a day long trip to Oquossoc. Here is the view at Height of Land. That's Mooselookmeguntic Lake. Beautiful! 

Alex came to visit early in July. He had not been home for a couple of months so it was very good to see him. He came again to see his sister later in the month. 

I made this purse from a Pattern Pile pattern I purchased. It is called the Bonsai Bag. It is sold online and is downloaded as a pdf. 

When I make this again I will match the upper lining with the outside panel as the fabric shows and mine would look better with the same fabric. I embroidered over the flowers and leaves on the front panel. I added some beads and machine quilting. So fun to make. 

Zoe came to visit last week from North Carolina. We had a very happy week together. She picked out fabric at On Board Fabrics in Boothbay so I can make her a Bonsai bag, too. 

Gift shop in Boothbay Harbor. We had a snack in the sunshine at a sidewalk cafe, went to Enchantments and bought books on crystals, had lunch at the Blue Moon Cafe in the cool shade of a garden. 

After our shopping trip to Boothbay we stayed home and tried some silkscreening. Neither of us had ever silkscreened before and it was so much fun. Great to have two people working together, helping and learning as we proceeded. I had watched a Craftsy class with Judith Trager. She explained how to silkscreen. I bought a kit earlier in the summer so all was ready for some vacation activity!

Leaves collected from the garden, actually mostly weeds. Photocopied and traced onto freezer paper and then cut out with an Exacto knife.

Here is the padded board we made to silkscreen on. 

Some of our finished leaves! This paint is mostly opaque. I would like to get some translucent paint because seeing the fabric through the paint is quite lovely. 

Some lazy time with the cats. 

Lunch at the Salt Cod Cafe on Orr's Island. They are right next to a kayak rental so usually there are kayakers to watch as well as sailboats, seagulls, and the sky and water. Happiness!

Here's one of the patchwork pieces I made up earlier to silkscreen on. After the silkscreen ink has set (that's fabric paint), I did some machine quilting. Looks like applique, doesn't it? 

Here's the finished little quilt. I fused some birds and a flower then added some thread painting to them. I really like this process and want to do some more. I have several other pieces that we silkscreened that I can play with. 

Enjoy the rest of summer!