Because the bugs are tiny, experimenting with using freezer paper and different types of temporary glue...the Sewline pen vs. Roxanne’s Glue-Baste It. the larger bottle has the fine pinpoint applicator tip which I like for positioning applique pieces when needed. The smaller vial has a “dab” type applicator on the end - more of a miniature brush. Will just play around with all before deciding...
These small critters are more than welcomed in my garden unlike those pesky ‘skeeters or Wisconsin’s famous biting flies. For now, the borders of the quilt are progressing at a good pace. The first one is completed (minus above mentioned bugs) and a start made on the 2nd one. The variety of pot and flower designs along with using many different fabrics keeps the interest going - while working on one flower pot, I am all ready thinking ahead to the next one.
Summer is moving along much too fast around here...the nearby fields have all ready yielded their first crop of hay.
Iris flowers, lilacs and peonies have just about peaked and here we are ready to observe the Summer Solstice...I just don’t want the days to start growing shorter yet. We are so pleased to know our south field is a healthy one - last night the fireflies were dancing! And the monarchs are back flitting from flower to flower.
In addition to some slow stitching & lots of gardening, the stack of read books grows higher. Can’t believe how many I have completed in the past few months - guess it is one more way to temporarily escape the madness of the world we live in. A few of the books were quick to go through and probably won’t linger much in my memory, but there are exceptions -
A Single Thread by Tracy Chavelier and The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy. Both very, very good.
But this one - I can’t recommend this highly enough...it will touch you, bring tears, smiles and new found awareness. The timeliness of it is incredible.
While I had previously heard of the “blue people” of Kentucky, I did not know very much about them or the Pack Horse Librarian project created by Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930’s. I won’t give away the plot other than to say it is filled with characters both wonderful and deplorable. One of the dearest though, is an elderly lady named Loretta Adams who lives alone in a mountainside cabin and has a stack of colorful pieces of cloth which she uses to make quilts, articles of clothing and items for daily use. When the beloved main character, Cussy Mary, visits Loretta one day, they have a discussion about people of color - Cussy Mary being one of the blue people and experiencing deep prejudice and isolation her entire life. Loretta points to a pile of cotton squares and says...
“See all my fabric, child? Well, them cloths are a lot like folks. Ain’t much difference at all. Some of us is more spiffed up than others, some stiffer, and still, some softer. There’s the colorful and dull, ugly and pretty, old, new’uns. But in the end we’s all fabric, cut from His cloth. Fabric, and just that.”
Miss Loretta Adams - Kentuckian hillwoman.
If only everyone in the world would heed those words...
Be well, dear readers and continue to stay safe.
Pat
