Sunset: August 18, 2021

 

Eugene, Oregon
Bethel Neighborhood

#tonightssunset

Patchwork Puzzle

Here's the first puzzle I put together on the 4th of July. Dale was out of town helping his mom, and I wasn't feeling very festive. So I spent the day putting three jigsaw puzzles together.

This is called Patchwork Quilt. It's one of my 300-piece, one dollar puzzles. This time by Cardinal. It's a typical, decent quality for this caliber of puzzle. 

I thought this puzzle would be hard and frustrating, but it turned out to be an enjoyable build instead. I especially liked looking at the details in the fabrics. I don't think any two are the same.

And check this out. There's even a sunflower.

#flowersforfriday

Throwback Thursday: Sunflowers

I'll continue with sunflowers this week by looking back to 2014 and 2016 when I attempted to grow some sunflowers in my yard.

From bud

to bloom.

Click for larger image

Growing up side-by-side

And making homes for six-legged friends.

#throwbackthursday

Omelet

Breakfast food prep. Again, those colors are so pretty together!

It tasted good, too.

Try It Too-sday: Scattering the Love

It's another Try It Toosday! The day when I try to recreate an image that caught my eye online. This is number 17 of the 21 I hope to complete in 2021.

Today's photograph is a kissing cousin of my inspiration image. My proportion is off a little. The original looks more like "legal size." I used an 8.5 x 11 inch background. I didn't notice the difference until I reached the photo editing process. Ah, well.

Once again, I used materials I had on hand, rather than attempting to duplicate the original. I call this a success!

My Version

The inspiration photos is from Dreamstime. 

Inspiration Image

#tryittoosday

Concert in the Park

At the end of July, Jodie invited her dad and me to a concert in the park, sponsored by her place of work, Willamalane Parks and Rec. Since Island Park is in our neighboring town, not in Eugene, Dale and I don't consider it as part of our local Park Tour. We actually visited this park a few years ago. It's quite pretty, with lots of green space and this natural amphitheater sitting right along the Willamette River.

We brought along our folding chairs and a ground cloth, and set about enjoying the shade and the atmosphere. 

I honestly don't recall the name of the band. It was just my kind of music, though. They played plenty of oldies from the 60s and 70s. I was able to sing along with many of the songs.

This little girl was completely into the spirit of the evening. She danced and did cartwheels and got other kids to chase around with her.

This is the type of activity Dale and I missed out of last year. We're glad we're finally starting to get to know our community a little better as the pandemic emergency eases.

Good Advice

As the summer winds down, and the gardens mature, I've begun decorating with sunflowers. They look bright and happy in the midst of all this heat and the smoky skies from the northwest wildfires.

As a bonus, I can seek their advice.

Honestly, the "bright, sunny & positive" is a bit of a stretch at the moment.

Love and Revolution

The second puzzle I put together on July 3 while Dale was in Idaho with his mom is this colorful piece, Love and Revolution.

These small 350-piece Artbox puzzles by CraZArt help keep me sane when Dale is out of town. This one attracted me with its bright colors and pop art style.

Plus, it somehow seemed fitting that the Bird Plague Doctor plays such a prominent role here.

And Love is not far behind.

Flowers for Friday, Embroidery Style

In 1976, when the United States was celebrating our bicentennial, my family went on a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country trip. I was 18 years old. My parents wanted to show us how varied our country was. They wanted to show us their hometowns. They wanted us to meet their relatives. 

My mom was born in Chicago, IL. Her parents were shopkeepers. Throughout her childhood and through the Great Depression, they owned businesses in various towns in Illinois and Iowa. At one point, they had a Ben Franklin five-and-dime franchise. Growing up in southern California, I'd never heard of that store before. So we stopped at a Ben Franklin in the Midwest to look around.

As a souvenir, I bought some floss and a set of pillowcases that had a pre-printed design for surface embroidery. Over the next year, I embroidered both pillowcases and learned to do some thread crochet around the edge. Though my work was uneven -- especially the crochet -- I was proud of my accomplishment. Those pillowcases always helped me feel close to the grandparents I'd never known. 

I used the them for years. I took the pillowcases to college in Idaho. They survived a house fire in 1987. I thought I'd lost them in the divorce, but as luck would have it, I was able to retrieve them from where my ex locked them up in a storage unit. Now they are thin and damaged and stained. But I keep them because they hold a place in my heart, and in my personal history of learning needlework.

It's sad to see my precious pillowcases languishing in a box, though. So I'm considering the idea of cutting around the embroidered parts that are intact, and transforming them, along with other damaged vintage linens from my elders, into something new. It will take some courage to cut into them. I dislike the idea of "destroying" the work of women's hands. So much time, talent, and history lie in each piece. The women and their handiwork deserve respect.

But life encompasses birth, lived experience, death, and transformation. In this new retirement stage of my life, I'm ready to give transformation a chance.

Throwback Thursday: Embroidery on Paper

I hope I feel like getting out my needles, floss, and beads soon. This is inspiring me. 

Embroidering on paper (cardstock) is very quick and the results are satisfying. I stitched this embroidered and beaded design in 2016.

I stitched it with variegated floss. The colorway is stunning.The dimension is fabulous.

#throwbackthursday

Veg

I prepped these fresh veggies for a stir fry. The colors were so vibrant, I just had to take a photo.

#playingwithmyfoood

Try It Too-sday: Lasso of Love

This week's Try It Toosday is more of an interpretation than a duplicate of my inspiration image. I really like the white rope on the dark background of the original photo, but I didn't have the correct rope in my stash. Using what I had on hand, I came up with this.

My inspiration photo was found on the Wallpaper Flare website:

To make this image work, I had to do a little magic with a piece of floral wire, a needle, and thread.

I sewed the wire to the back of the rope with a whip stitch. This way the rope could mold into the heart shape.

The "wood floor" is one of my photo backdrops.

The rest is some fancy digital manipulation to tweak the crop, the size, the colors, and the contrast.

Heart of the Mandarin

I prepped a Mandarin orange for lunch, pulling off peel and pith.

When I looked down, a little love greeted me.

#macromonday

School of Fish

I put two jigsaws together on July 3rd. This is the first. Bold and bright!

It's another of my 350-piece one dollar puzzles from ArtBox.

Pure pleasure. I'll construct this puzzle over and over.

And To The Northwest

 

Made it through another day.

One step closer.

Flowers for Friday: Dog Rose

This vibrant rose bush grows outside the entrance to the Amazon Community Center in southeast Eugene. It's a park facility Dale and I visited one hot afternoon before he headed back to Idaho. 

I'll write more about that community park in the coming days.

#flowersforfriday

Throwback Thursday: Mother Nature

This week for Throwback Thursday, I'm reaching back to the Fall of 2016. Dale found this sweet bird's nest in our font yard. A big autumn windstorm knocked it out of a tree and Dale uncovered it while raking pine needles.

Up close, it really is quite a wonder of engineering.

Deep in, I found this. What a treasure!

#throwbackthursday

A Miracle in Every Packet

In the midst of growing season, about a month ago, I constructed this bright puzzle featuring a seed company.

It's called Bud's Flower Farm. It's one of my 500 piece, one dollar Artbox puzzles by CraZArt. These aren't the best quality cardboard, and the pieces are small, but it's just right for an afternoon of relaxation while watching a bunch of YouTube videos. Dale was out of town, helping his mom, and I needed some distraction.

Thankfully, all 500 pieces were in the box. It's not unusual for a piece or two to be missing from these little puzzles. The colors are bright and cheery. This puzzle had a lot of the same Americana elements as the illustrations by Charles Wysocki.

It was enjoyable to construct the various fields of flowers. I recall the greenhouses being a tiny bit tricky. It's cute how most of the workers have purple pants as part of their uniform.

Mostly, I like their tagline: A Miracle in Every Packet.

As the Sun Goes Down

A view from our backyard last week. This makes for a peaceful end of the day. 

One day closer to Dale being home from his executor duties in Idaho.

Nutty About Owls

When Dale and I were walking around Alton Baker Park, I tripped on this.

I had to take a picture for our granddaughter, Annie, because I thought it looked like an owl. Annie's crazy about owls.

But no. 'Twas only a nut.

Or ... maybe it's Mimi that's a nut.

The things I do because I'm crazy about my grandkids.

Amish Country

While Dale was visiting his mom for a week, and helping his brothers set up palliative care routines at the beginning of July, I spent a lot of my time alone at home putting jigsaw puzzles together. This is called Amish Country.

It's by our favorite puzzle illustrator, Charles Wysocki. At just 300 pieces, it didn't tax my brain too much and could be put together in an evening.

It's such a sweet country scene, complete with this quaint witticism,

and colorful hex signs.

Plus, the chicken. Who doesn't like a painted chicken?