What August Brought

This screen shot of a tweet just about describes how I felt the past month.  How interesting to be alive during such amazing and fascinating events!  I find it hard to pull away from my many screens where they are unfolding, and I've spent far too much time on following new developments minute by minute. 

In addition, several of my extended family members are dealing with serious health issues and they were much on my mind this past month. 

But I have managed to have some fun and accomplish a few things besides keep up with current events.   Let's start with a birthday report!

I had several special dinners to celebrate and I made myself a German Chocolate cake, which is always a treat.  

At one of the dinners we managed to take a few photographs.  Here I am with Ben and Paul and my fun friend Sara enjoying pizza..

   

...and I received a little birthday treat for dessert.  

I tried to make a point of riding my e-bike every day and that led me to try out some new routes.  One day I managed to make my way out to the bike path that runs along Route 36, the main connector to Denver.   I didn't get very far out from town, just a couple of miles, but when I turned back I was delighted at the view of the Flatirons from the bike path. 

And I've been trying out some fly fishing. One of Ben's climbing partners is seriously into the sport and included me on a trip up to the high country to fish in a mountain lake.  That was an adventure, complete with an unexpected dunk in the lake, a thunderstorm, and hail!  I didn't catch any fish but I sure learned a lot and I enjoyed it so I signed up for a free Intro to Fly Fishing class and then a few hours with a guide who introduced me to fishing on Boulder Creek.  There I did catch a few fish and again had a great time.  We'll see if if the sport catches on with me, but in any case, I've learned a lot about it.  

One of the things I like about it is that you get to be in some lovely places.  I took this photo of my friend Gina as she made a cast way out in Mitchell Lake.  

I also did quite a bit of stitching this month.  While cleaning up my studio I found some old fabric masks and decided to use them in a little wall hanging as a remembrance of the noble efforts of sewers, quilters, and crafters to supply much needed masks for medical workers and family and friends. 

It includes copies of calls to action, tutorials for making masks, and other ephemera related to the effort.  My favorite is a quote from a mask maker:  "We're doing what the federal government should be doing."  

I made a big push to complete a piece I've been designing for several months.  I had taken this photo of our cherry tree last summer, laden down with beautiful ripe fruit.  

I fussed around with it in Photoshop for a while, using color saturation and filters to make it more dynamic and exciting.  I had a commercial company print it on a yard of fabric and then then put it up on my design wall as I considered my next step.  After several months of looking at it I decided to crop it and add some interesting hand-dyed fabrics, and stitch it heavily.  

Here's how it turned out.  It's about 36" square.

And here's a detail showing the stitching. 

I was thrilled when a week or so ago I received a notice that it was accepted in a show that will hang at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum!  Not only that, I had a second piece accepted as well.  I was pretty excited, as getting a piece hung in this museum had been one of my goals, and they took not just one but two of my pieces!

Years ago I took this photo of a blooming artichoke at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  I loved the contrast of the pink zinnias against the purple blossom of the artichoke and wanted to capture in a wall hanging. 

 

It took me a while, but I think I did it.  And I guess the person jurying the show agreed!     

And now it's Labor Day weekend and the summer is drawing to a close.  We're heading to Denver in a bit to spend two nights enjoying some new restaurants and seeing the production of the Broadway musical Hadestown at the Performing Arts Center.   It's always nice to get a way for some new fun.