dear pam battled fierce LA friday traffic and drove up today to film a free-motion- stitching- on- paper episode for the upcoming STITCH*BOOKERY class. i made a short little video and posted to instagram. if you haven’t seen it HERE IT IS. i briefly touched on free-motion stitchery in ROD way back when, but i have a different machine now and no free-motion foot. so…i called on pam for her expertise to show you how it’s done.
it was sweltering hot in the city of angels with temps climbing above 100 degrees. too hot for this time of year! Our serious heat doesn’t hit until august & september and sometimes lasts into october. september is the absolute worst. but early july?! too darn early!
the arborist was out on wednesday and did a fine job with my 2 young chinese pistache. the main goal for the health of my young tree, that had a major limb savagely ripped off by a road work vehicle, is to reduce the weight of the tree. it’s remaining fine branches were carefully pruned. i will deep soak both of them by leaving the hose dripping water on them overnight. that deep slow watering is supposed to be the best for trees.
i also had the urban lumberjack prune 5 other trees. 3 of my olive trees that have never been pruned! their skirts were raised a few feet to reveal their exquisite sculptural trunks.
lately i can’t seem to write a blog post without lots of random blathering. just think of this as a letter. we haven’t corresponded in a while and there’s catching up that needs to be done!
pam brought her magnificent sketchbook that she made from a book she got in italy. she’s returning to orvieto this september to teach again!
even though i’m not a group person if i wasn’t working in september, i would be so tempted to go hang out with pam & dear ingrid who will be in attendance.
i can’t tell you how much i love holding this jewel in my hands. it’s a smallish book, but stuffed full of signatures. how nice to page through it and admire the unfussy florals that fill its pages.
talk visit work. that’s all we did and it was GOOD.
okay. that’s all the news that’s fit to print. no wait. there’s more!
our cottage on lummi island:
perhaps you want to read this article about lummi island. after i read it many months ago i knew it was the place i wanted to spend some time. slow paced and not a lot of people. perfect for us!
thanks for stopping by for a visit. now i’m going to edit the footage from today’s filming session and cobble together a video starring pam! registration for STITCH*BOOKERY is open till August 4th. Class starts on July 28th. Another “live” session will be offered again this fall. trying something new by only offering “live” sessions this time. by the way LIVE doesn’t mean you have to be on your computer at a certain time. it just means you’re in the class with a big group of other peeps actively participating, yacking, and sharing. sister brings the cocktails. things get lively. if you can make it, cool. if it’s not your thang, still cool!
can’t wait to start seeing work from the new class. I see your note about the “live” sessions. I hope that in the fairly near future you release it for a general on-line class. living on SSI I don’t have the budget to just outlay the cost of something like that, but have to save up in bits and pieces. hopefully when I am able to save enough the class will be available at that time and I won’t have to wait, LOL. I am a bit impatient. i’m looking forward to it as SEWN was my favorite of your classes, with ROD close behind. a combination of the two will be amazing!
hope you and sister have an awesome vacation. sounds like heaven to me.
The books are gorgeous. I have made hand bound books but I don’t have a sewing machine…so inspiring!
So much to comment on! I adore Pam’s beautiful work, always, and this is no exception. Your beach cottage is just perfection, and I hope you enjoy your stay in WA., and I especially hope you get to see some orcas. Not sure the exact date your are coming, but the weather has been so lovely. In the high seventies to low eighties this coming week, although we did have a brief hot spell up into the nineties, but that is unusual for this time of year.
A little story…My husband and I used to spend weekends boating on Puget Sound almost every weekend, and had some amazing experiences. The most amazing was meeting little Springer, the baby orca. She had somehow gotten separated from her pod, and was in danger of starving, or being run over by a boat, especially since she kept hanging around ferries and boats . We were passing by a ferry at a dock and saw her there right next to it. When she saw our boat, she came right up to it, and rubbed herself on it over and over. She had some kind of parasite that was bothering her. She was so unafraid of us…probably very lonely, which made me so sad! Poor little thing🙁 She stayed with us until we moved on and then went back to the ferry. I swear, I felt blessed to have met that little whale. Long story short, she was eventually reunited with her pod! I don’t know where she is currently, or if she is still alive, but here is a link to her story. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_(killer_whale). By the way, it is illegal in Puget Sound to approach orcas, and you must stay a certain distance from them, but she came up to our boat, and would not leave until we left. I hope she is alive and well, with babies of her own.
I still need to sign up for class! I admit I haven’t seen in years, but maybe it’s like riding bicycles. I used to make a lot of my clothes and for my first daughter. Then I had two more kids and life got busy, so I haven’t sewn since.
When is your vacay to Lummi?
I assume Pam is doing the Adventure in Italy gig (I know…I should have hit the link but I didn’t). If so, I would say, yes, it’s too bad you are working because, even though your are not a group person, you would love hanging around there. The workshops are wonderful as are the hosts (tho I see there will be a new one now). I know you are a world traveler and are used to the pleasures of European travel, but I will say it often…there’s a magic about Orvieto not to be found in too many other places. (Well maybe Paris.)