Inspirations From Afar

It's mid-summer, my favorite time of year.  After our longest vacation in 20 years, I'm settled in to enjoy   sunshine in the Northwest.  Our trip to Turkey and Greece was truly amazing.  Four thousand years of history around the Aegean Sea is pretty mind-blowing.  We packed a lot into 2 weeks, were exhausted when we got home and have a couple hundred pictures to remind of us all we saw.

I took lots of pictures as inspiration for some new quilts.

 Some interesting shapes and shadows at Topkapi Palace.

These beautiful tiles in Istanbul have been looking bright and gorgeous for over 1,000 years!

Look familiar?  This floor is a couple of THOUSAND years old, uncovered in Ephasus.

This is also in a home in Ephasus.  

And of course a rug made in Turkey.  

I should be well supplied with inspiration for a long time.


The second week of July was kind of weird as I saw Barbara off to Sisters for quilt classes and the show.  I've been every year starting in 1993.  I really miss it, but I knew that packing up to go after being home only 4 days was going to be a little much.  Also, my boss really likes it if I show up to work once in a while.  I was actually pretty okay with missing it until I saw what some of the ladies from my quilt guild did in various classes at the Quilter's Affair (classes and lectures held the week before the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters). Barb came home with lots of info, both artistic and technical on machine quilting.  I did miss that week away with nothing but quilts on my mind.  Home comes with lots of distractions.

At this point in the summer I want to quilt lots of flowers and trees even as the quilt shops are getting fall and Christmas fabrics, magazines and patterns in.  I understand the need to get on those projects if they're going to be ready for fall and winter holidays, but I feel like a kid inundated with back-to-school ads smack in the middle of vacation.  I'm just not ready to think about it.  (Okay, I'm always ready to think about Halloween, but Christmas is just too much.)

Enjoy these long summer days of bright colors, open windows, and local fruits and vegetables.  My little garden is already giving me some little tomatoes, cucumbers and of course zucchini.  Roadside stands supply an impressive amount of goodies I can't grow myself.  They also make pretty pictures (and quilts) before we eat 'em.

Keep on quilting!
Candy

PS  Be sure to lock your car or you may be gifted with a bag of zucchini.