– One Way revisited

July 3, 2016 ~ Liz A ~ 8 Comments

Retrospective (7/8/2016)

Patch #184 Pojagi patch

Original Post

Today I tackled a reverse appliqué that almost did me in …

A retro patch for June 16th, it’s a map of Urbanna Creek at our friends’ home on One Way Lane.

Based on satellite images …

and terrain maps …

it was a good way to learn how much detail is possible versus how much is advisable on a patch that is only 1.75″ high. And yes, the right side is really far off, but I’m not “going there” again (ha!)

I also spent some time browsing on Pinterest and discovered a Korean patchwork technique variously called bojagi or pojagi. Intrigued, I played with some scraps and ended up with a respectable square that showed off b/pojagi’s characteristic seams when backlit …

For the record, here’s the front …

and the back (which has one seam in the upper left that was a particularly useful learning experience) …

I love that there are no loose ends (except on the as-yet unfinished edges). So … great, another project in the making. Right?

Last, but not least, I started looking through the 275 photographs from our family photo shoot at the beach. While there are some truly lovely ones, my favorites turned out to be the ones depicting the craziness that comes of trying to wrangle 8 adults and 4 kids at bedtime and high tide (a volatile combination) …

Thanks Meg and Meliss, it was the perfect gift …

– The geography of broken hearts

February 25, 2016 ~ Liz A ~ 8 Comments

As promised, today was a two-fer patch day …

Yesterday’s make-up Patch #54 and today’s Patch #55 (Revised 2/28/2016)

and therein lies a story. I went out on a picture walk a few days ago. “Picture walk” is a term from my elementary school librarian days. I used to talk through the pictures in a book with early readers as a way to help them understand the storyline before trying to decode the words on the page. These days I use the term with my three year old grandsons when presented with a text-heavy book … we talk through the pictures instead.

Anyway, as I headed out Don called after me, “It’s raining.”

“I know,” was my reply. After all, it was just spritzing. Nothing to worry about.

So, there I was picture walking through the floodplain, trying to get a sense of story. And among the pictures I took was this one of the soil cracking for want of water …

“I’ll have to come back to this spot after it rains some more,” I thought.

The next day, Nancy Erisman at Pomegranate Trail posted a picture of a heart-shape captured in her parking lot at work … you can go take a look here if you missed it. Anyway, it reminded me of the cracked earth … so much so that I went back to my picture looking for a cracked heart. Do you see it?

The original picture has been cropped and rotated … the heart is middle right

Even though I didn’t have the right color linen with me in Austin today, the idea took hold in my mind and insisted on coming out of my fingers, thinking all the while how cool it is that someone’s words in California triggered this …

I still have to add bits of leafy green and tiny blue star flowers a la Cindy Monte at Handstories (and no, that’s not the name of the flowers … it’s just what they look like to me). But the sun is slowly sinking down, so I’ll save the finish for tomorrow when the colors will be easier to pick out.

One other thing got done today: another blue jean patch for G, this time in University of Texas longhorn orange …

This is actually burnt orange, believe it or not

Which reminds me of a story. Since G had already learned the Star Spangled Banner, I asked him if he had also learned the Texas pledge of allegiance. He pondered for a moment, then broke out in song, “The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the livelong day …

Look out longhorns, he’s getting ready to join the team …