Ripples in the Sand, Part 2

Today, I was able to sneak away from my current free-lance writing assignment and spend an hour or so painting some fabric in an attempt to make it look like ripples in the sand.  Like these ripples:

I'm working from this photo, and after having sewn channels through which to draw cording to create the ripples, I was ready to paint.  I painted silvery white highlights on the crests of the ripples and silvery lavender shadows in the troughs.  Here's the result:

So, next, I'm going to draw cording through the channels in a technique called trapunto.  Then I'll embed the photo above in the quilt, and sandwich the resulting product together with quilt batting and backing.  Then I'll quilt it, probably on the lines of the purple shadows.

That's about it.

In this piece, the sandy background, with its ripples, is a microcosm or closeup of the low tide sandy scene in the inset.  In that photo, the tide is so low there remains only a skim coating of water on the rippled sand, and in that water, the sunset sky is reflected.  With the sky under the feet, heaven has come down to earth.

That's the name of this quilt:  Heaven on Earth.

Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective: Hitting the Ground Running

The Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective, a group of dedicated art quilters, had its first meeting in March and already we've had our first show!  Small Quilts for a Sacred Space went up in May at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Ave., Hartford, and will hang until June 19.

Here are some photos of the work in the show and the folks at our reception.  And P.S., look for our work along the Connecticut Wine Trail come harvest time!
 

L-R, Diane Cadrain, Carol Vinick, Roz Spann, Diane Wright, Toni Torres, and Carol Eaton  at the reception for Small Quilts for a Sacred Space, Unitarian Society of Hartford, Hartford, CT

 

 

 

 

 

 

L-R Wave Dance by Rosalind Spann of Waterbury, CT; The Watering Can by Carol Eaton of Shelton, CT

L-R, Water Queen by Antonia Torres of Waterbury, CT; Vegetable Harvest by Jeanne Landry Harpin, Hamden, CT

L-R, Peaceful Asia by Jeanne Landry Harpin of Hamden, CT; Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep (Buddhist Temple, Thailand) by Diane Cadrain, West Hartford, CT

L-R, Trout Brook by Diane Cadrain of West Hartford, CT; Kissed by the Sun by Carol Eaton of Shelton, CT

Rite of Passage Frittata

Recipes from home.  They were an important part of Lucia's game plan when she moved into her first independent apartment this summer, in Burlington, VT, the college town where she spends September through May.

Lucia, our youngest, will leave her teen years behind when she turns 20 on September, 11, 2011, and this move is a major rite of passage for her.  She's thrilled at the prospect of holding two two jobs (Dunkin Donuts and Coldwater Creek), looking forward to living near her best buds in nearby student digs, and experiencing a little frisson of possibility from furnishing her first student kitchen.

In all that novelty and scary independence, Lucia asked for a tether to home: copies of our best-loved family recipes. I rounded them up, copied them, and put them into a binder for her. Veggie pesto pizza.  Ginger-lentil soup.  Orzo with feta and cherry tomatoes.  Spinach pancakes.  Tabbouleh.  Chocolate cake.  Bruschetta with white beans and walnuts.  Peppermint bark.  Brownies. Frittata with corn, potato, and scallion.

Then we packed her up...

...and drove to Hinesburg, VT, where some of her stuff was in a storage unit that had once been a barn, standing by this roadside.

We unloaded the storage unit and got Lucia and all her stuff into her new apartment, the one on the right, 60 Loomis Street:

Then we took her out for more stuff. Nightstand from Goodwill.  Mattress cover.  Sheets.  Frying pans, pot holders, spatulas.  Dishes and flatware.  Olive oil and granola bars.  Orzo and scallions. Dish soap and cereal.

After Joe and I left for the four-hour drive home to West Hartford, Lucia and her roommate, Bridget, made their first independent meal in their first independent apartment:  Corn, scallion, and potato frittata.

 

Corn, Scallion, and Potato Frittata Gourmet | August 2000

This frittata makes a perfect brunch or lunch — it works especially well for a picnic. And on a steamy summer night, it may be all you need for dinner. Adding a green salad and a nice piece of bread is an easy way to round out the plate. Yield: Makes 4 (light main course) servings Active Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes 1 bunch scallions, white and green parts sliced separately 2 garlic cloves, minced 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 large russet (baking) potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice 2 cups corn kernels (10 oz), thawed if frozen 4 large eggs 4 oz mozzarella, coarsely grated Cook white part of scallions and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add potato and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add corn and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring, about 1 minute for thawed corn or 3 minutes for fresh corn. Preheat broiler. Whisk together eggs, mozzarella, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in potato mixture and scallion greens. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in cleaned skillet over moderate heatuntil hot but not smoking. Then cook frittata without stirring, shaking skillet once or twice to loosen frittata, until underside is golden but top is still wet, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. If skillet handle is not ovenproof, wrap handle in a double layer of foil. Broil frittata about 3 inches from heat until top is just set and golden, about 2 minutes. Slide onto a plate and cool to warm or room temperature

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Corn-Scallion-and-Potato-Frittata-103719#ixzz1OFqqn045

Today in the Garden: Spring's Purest Whites

At long last the peonies, which until now had been holding their buds so tightly, have opened. Here they are, in all their pink-tipped fragrance, with Baptisia Purple Smoke in the background.

Here they are with snow-in-summer, cerastium tomentosum, white and more white.

And here, more spring whites:  Artemisia Silver Brocade sprawling in front of Dianthus Tatra Fragrance.

More whites: St. Francis, under a white birch tree, brings grace to this corner of the yard, with its frosty hostas and snow white Lamium White Nancy.

Finally, today's bouquet:  peonies, baptisia, bleeding hearts, honeysuckle, ferns, hosta leaves.

Today in the garden...blue, blue, and more blue

I treasure this time of year because I can bask in the glory of the garden I've created and--in a constant spirit of trial and error--continue to create.  In summer, it may look parched and leggy and tatty, but now, in the full flush of late spring, it bursts with juice and vigor, in ethereal shades of blue.

In the foreground, the purple-blue flowers of Baptisia Purple Smoke.  In the background, a hanging pot of Browallia Blue Bells

In another part of the garden, the spikes of a purple-blue baptisia tower over the white foliage and blooms of Lamium White Nancy

In the front landscaping, Spanish bluebells (hyacinthoides hispanica) cozy up to forget-me-nots (some kind of myosotis).

Beside the path to our front door, another kind of blue:  the glaucous glow of Fescue Elijah Blue, flanked by the frosty  blue of sedum cauticola.

The display of blues is matched, elsewhere in the garden, by a bed showing of delicate shades of pink, silver, and maroon.

L--R from left foreground:  Lamiastrum Herman's Pride, Dicentra Formosa (with pink flowers), Heuchera Mocha ( maroon foliage), and Lamium Pink Pewter (white foliage).

Pink, maroon, and silver-white

Today in the garden...

Lonicera Harlequin climbs a post.  When my sister Jeanne died at age 58, the neighbors gave me a gift certificate to a favorite nursery, where I bought this harlequin honeysuckle, with its wild and crazy variegated flowers and foliage.  Wild and crazy like Jeanne.

Lonicera Harlequin

Cerastium Tomentosum (snow-in-summer) tumbles over the edges of the silver garden

Lamium Pink Pewter, Brunnera Jack Frost, and Heuchera Silver Scrolls show off their veined and variegated foliage.

Ripples in the Sand

I love the rippled sand left behind by the departing ocean at low tide.

The rippled, forked shapes are different with each withdrawal of the tide, yet so alike in their iterations, ephemeral yet eternal.

I especially like the way they feel under the soles of my feet.

That's why I set out to make a fiber creation based on this 8 x 10 photo of the ripples left behind by the tide on Cape Cod Bay in Eastham, MA.  I used a Sharpie marker to highlight its ridges and troughs.

I had this copied at 3 times its 8 x 10 size--24 x 30.

When I taped this 24 x 30 blowup onto a glass-topped table, and stuck a utility light under it, I created a giant light table. 

Then I was able to copy the contours of these ripples onto a piece of muslin. 

Once I backed the muslin up to a piece of shiny blue-tan fabric that looked like wet, rippled sand, I could sew the two together along these lines, creating a series of channels through which I would draw lengths of cording, thus creating the three-dimensional look of the sand ripples.

 Here are two different sizes of channels created for the cording.  The top one is 5/8" wide, the bottom one 6/8" or 3/4" wide.  Which looks more like the ripples in this photo?