- Another blast from the past

Retrospective (8/14)

Patch #222 Button candy

I actually bought these for G last year ...

then had grandparent guilt about the fact that they were pure sugar and copious quantities of food dye, which overrode the initial nostalgia factor. So they sat in a kitchen drawer until today, when the past expiration date landed them in the trash. But not before inspiring a patch of innovation ...

Original Post

Hazel Monte triggered a retro memory with her recent post about ColorForms.

It's probably understandable that my all-time favorite set was called Miss Cookie's Kitchen. So I googled it and found this ...

I'm thinking the version on the lower left was the one I had. It should be fun coming up with a patch to match.

- Feeling the heat

Patch #221 Hot Hot Hot

No great surprise ... this is Texas after all. But I do get a kick out of the weather forecasters trying to find yet another way to say the same thing ...

Giving Roget's a workout, for sure.

But then I looked a little more closely ...

Patches, right? Maybe next year's weather cloth ... hmmm.

Meantime, I've made the next row of patches for One Hill Country Year ...

Revised 8/22/2016: http://onehillcountryyear.blogspot.com/2016/08/week-2-august-7-13.html

- Heading in the right direction

Patch #220 Pointing the way

I must say I'm quite good at thinking up projects for Don to do. For instance, I recently commented that he had made growth charts for G ...

and J ...

when each of them turned two and "Oh, by the way, remember Jace is turning two next month."

So, Meliss was consulted for ideas and she promptly texted pictures of arrow-shaped growth charts (she too is good at coming up with projects for her dad), along with pictures of the room for color matching.

A shopping trip to Lowe's yielded some quarter-round molding and bead board. A little milk paint here ...

a little trimming there ...

and soon enough this somewhat blurry mock-up was sent for preliminary approval ...

Green light!

- Long, hot summer

Patch #219 Anole

Another week ...

Some things are struggling from too much spring rain followed by too much summer heat ...

But not all. This green anole (Anolis carolinensis) was stretched out on a cholla, enjoying the sun ...

then took a moment to pose for the camera ...

- A torn and tattered world

Patch #218 Olympic rings

I have mixed feelings about the Olympics as the ideal is so often sullied. But I'm heartened by the inclusion of refugees this year even though their presence is emblematic of the chaos of our world. Certainly the opportunity for people to gather in peace is something to be celebrated.

A note on the making ... the circles of linen were cut and the spirals split back stitched by eye (without any guide lines). Seen better from the back perhaps ...  

By the way, there is one significant error ... did you catch it?

- Barrowing along

Patch #217 Red Wheelbarrow

We spent the day in Austin with G, starting off with a new-to-us book ...

Originally published in 1994 and sold for $60, we got it for $20 at the Half Price Book store (I know, less than half-price, right?)

Anyway, since we were planning to go out to do some weeding and trimming, we suggested that G might want to help with his as-yet-unused toy wheelbarrow. Then we showed him a page full of gardening tools in the visual dictionary ...

If you've never seen a visual dictionary, make a note to yourself to ask at the reference desk next time you visit your local library. They're sure to have one and they make for some great browsing on a wide range of subjects ...

I could've used this page the other day when I was trying to explain talons. Likewise there are pictures of every imaginable vehicle and sport ... sure to come in handy with three grandsons.

G turned out to be a great help, toting debris away from the garden to a temporary pile headed for the compost heap. He was ever so proud of himself, especially once he figured out that we weren't the least bit upset about how dirty his clothes were. After all, that's what washing machines are for ...

- All in the family

Patch #216 J Picasso

Grandson J, who just turned four, created this great portrait of our daughter ...

which Don deemed to be "Picasso-esque," although his mom was more inclined to attribute it to Edvard Munch. To me it was "just amazing," but isn't it interesting how we look for the familiar?

Obviously our grandson's work is totally his own, but Don and I are keenly aware of how our making is influenced by others. For instance, during our visit to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas last spring, we saw a classic Rothko (pictured about 3/4 of the way through this post  http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/04/take-to-highway-again.html).

When we returned home, we both started looking at more examples of Rothko's work, which in turn strongly influenced  the base painting for Don's latest assemblage (I'm really kicking myself for not getting in-process pictures of how it changed over the course of several days).

Milk paint and burnishing paste were used to color some plain boards, a $5 junk store frame (that took eight hours to sand down), and a rusted tin can lid (found somewhere lost to memory).

And somehow, somewhere along the way, those things combined to create a new story.

Rising ...

- The third time's the charm?

Patch #215 One Hill Country Year

stitched in the ever-present colors of sky, live oak and Ashe juniper.

I've written here before about my other blog, One Hill Country Year (http://onehillcountryyear.blogspot.com which is currently linked in the right side bar under my profile). Twice I've tried and twice I've failed to keep it going. So I rubbed the slate clean and I'm trying again. 

This time I'm going to head out each week to photograph whatever catches my eye. Then I'll select seven or eight pieces of cloth that reflect what I've seen, create a strip of patches ...

and write a photo-essay to accompany the cloth strip.

Since one of the goals of the original blog was to document the plants and animals on our property in order to share that with our grandkids, I'll also be including links to various Texas wildlife sites to supplement my photos and provide more information.

So, here I go again ... wish me luck!

- Something old, something new

Patch #214 August

Single strand of floss backstitched on a relatively fine 100% linen. Which is why I was able to render letters a mere 1/8" high ...

The quarter serves as a 1" scale.

So, new month, old technique. And in working this patch, I now realize what I was trying to ignore: the July patch posted a couple of days ago is obviously not 100% linen. My mistake, buying a much desired navy blouse at the thrift shop and convincing myself that it was linen (the label had been cut out, but the hand should have given it away.)

- How time flies

Patch #213 J turns four ...

Seems like yesterday and forever ago ...

Happy days ...