Absence and Presence

Three weeks have passed since my last post. No, I haven't been on vacation in some exotic location. Our daughter has been staying with us for the summer, working locally before she returns to university in another state, and we have spent some time visiting, cooking, going to the local farmers' market, driving occasionally to New Orleans to pick up (and to deliver) one or another of her friends at the airport or the Megabus drop-off. We've grilled on the patio, tried out new (to us) restaurants in towns nearby, gardened, and harvested our vegetables. Just as the tomatoes slowed down in production, the peas, okra, and bell peppers increased production--and the July rains began as well. Our days have been full of ordinary activities illumined by the presence of our daughter, who loves to cook and to experiment with ingredients, and the superabundance of the fresh herbs in my garden have turned ordinary recipes into culinary masterpieces.

So while I have been absent from my blog, I have been present elsewhere, in an ordinary life filled with simple activities transformed by an appreciation of these fleeting moments we have shared. Summer will end, but we've caught hold of its green garment and have held fast while we can.

And we have all started new projects. I am trying my hand at hand quilting, beginning with a baby quilt of my own design but inspired by a photograph taken by a friend. In this project, I will do some traditional quilting, which I haven't done since my grandmother Margaret Cole Dugat made me a log-cabin quilt in time for my wedding in 1978. My grandmother made a quilt for every grandchild, and some of us helped her hand-stitch those quilts. I put in many hours helping her stitch my quilt as well as some of the quilts she made my cousins and siblings, but I've never assembled a traditional quilt by myself though I have created folk art quilts in which I used nontraditional techniques for connecting squares of appliquéd material.

current project--small quilt top (Indigo bunting in a tree)

Even in my "traditional" quilting, however, I'm using less traditional techniques. This is not a pieced quilt; the top is one piece of cotton material on which I've appliquéd a design that I have cut, free-hand, out of felt. I've been thinking of how I will quilt this piece; I might choose a flannel back, and I'll quilt around the design first, what's called echo quilting. I plan to hand-stitch several series of echo lines around the appliquéd felt and then emphasize the background pattern in the remaining spaces with random stitches that will follow some of the lines of color in the cotton quilt top material. That's the plan, anyway. Using my friend's photograph as inspiration, I drew a pattern, but I have freely improvised as I cut out, arranged, and appliquéd the felt.

the quilt top design

Making this quilt is a learning experience for me; I hope to improve and to increase the complexity of my designs.

The other big project underway here is the building of a garden shed; my husband and daughter are hammering together the foundation now, and just minutes ago, I took this photo of their progress:

foundation for a garden shed

My job will be to paint the garden shed when it's completed. I'm leaning toward painting the shed green (a spring green) and blue (maybe turquoise), but I have some time to make up my mind.

Meanwhile, I wander the yard in search of pollinators and snap photos of those creatures that visit the mountain mint, zinnias, and other flowers in my garden. July rain has incited a frenzy of growth in my basil; I'll have to begin gathering up much larger quantities of it to dry for use during the winter.

Genovese, lettuce-leaf, and purple opal basil

These are just a few simple pleasures of a summer spent making things and growing things in southeast Louisiana. By August, I'll be longing for the cooler and drier weather of October, but now I'm enjoying being present in the moment.

bee on one of my zinnia flowers

little waspy thing on our mountain mint