the ritual of morning. it shifts with the seasons. but there are only a few versions. we still are being drawn by the summer light, the summer routine. edgar and i pulled off to the lake to wander and see other morning walkers. bare feet pushed into flip flops. planning the day. organizing all the challenges and responsibilities that will face me. i enjoy the sun and the water and the ducks and the neighbors and edgar's rhythm as he saunters beside me. he loves to splash through puddles, cooling his feet. and then we're home. making coffee and toast. filling bowls for edgar. for the cats. noticing that i should vacuum or straighten, but heading to the studio instead. all the little moments that prepare me for the day.

the studio kept me busy today. it was delightfully full of activity and visitors. sheila came by with jee to brighten up my day with his almost 3 year old charm. my parents arrived with a bag of vintage linens. and the lovely laura arrived with flowers and left with my favorite kick-ass biker jacket that i'm lending her for the weekend. all my visitors were a nice hit of energy to give my work a little extra punch.
i finished a baby quilt and made little lavender pillows. and my beautiful new typewriter broke my heart a little when the spacebar stopped working. the sun broke through late in the day and warmed the rooms with golden shadows on the blue/gray walls. i love working in those rooms. i made a lovely little tower of moleskine notebooks to end the day. wonderful and productive studio time always makes me happy.

i've been talking about the quilt i was working on recently. well, this is it. i have another smaller lap quilt also finished. and two other tops ready to start quilting. it's wonderful to feel this burst of motivation and excitement again. every moment i can be sewing that is what i want to be doing. the random layering of fabrics and colors and the energy it creates is quite palatable. i feel like i'm making something special and fresh and perfectly imperfect. the studio is littered with scraps and thread and nothing is tidy since i refuse to take the time to put anything away when it takes time from sewing. it is an inspiring mess, chaos with a golden center.
this quilt is listed on my etsy shop and i have plans to list at least the lap quilt tomorrow as well.

i'm wrapped up in a quilt. the whole family is actually. tom has gone to bed where a quilt is laid across the bed, giving the perfect weight to the duvet, winter and summer. edgar and stella are curled up together on the couch with a quilt thrown over them to help them sleep through the night. and i'm sitting with the computer on my lap under a quilt tucked around my feet and pulled up to my chin. i didn't find my way home until after 10 tonight and although i'd rather be reading right now, i only had the brain power to stare at the computer screen while i snacked on grape tomatoes and tzatziki. i'm looking forward to a full day in the studio tomorrow, making new quilts to add to the shop for mother's day. we've been working so steadily at the house that i'll need to build my sewing momentum again. but i'm eager to start compiling little colorful squares, layering them in just the right order to patch together into a quilt top. each one is always a bit of a surprise as they take shape from piles of squares, to a top, then adding the back and then finally the edge so it's fully dimensional. a surprise, yes. but also, each one is consistently warm and fresh and smiling.

i have had the luxury of working in the paper room most of the week. my paper room sits high in the trees on the second floor of my studio. the side garden with the horse-shoe pits waiting for summer, is directly below with the sparkling lake just beyond. it feels like a treehouse, but also like a ship, with the wind turbulent and boisterous as it writhes around my little room. i curl into the big chair beside the window and revel in the towers of old paper threatening to topple all around me. there are papers that i recognize from 25 years ago that i'll never let myself use, but i love seeing surface in the tangle of the familiar. cigar boxes and drawers and folders and shelves and tables and tins, all spilling over with paper. my paper room has a delightful sloped ceiling that tucks me in it's fold as i sit on the floor sifting through maps and dictionaries and instruction booklets and old currency and collections of letters. the beautiful wide hemlock floorboards entirely disappear beneath what most would consider a horrible mess. books and torn pages and baskets like little mountains sprouting from every bare spot in the room.
but this is where i can lose myself, immersed in my work with no distractions, where my mind can distill all it's questions and ideas into journals and collage that i love.

it's edgar's birthday. every year we try to make it a nice day for him. special in a doggy kind of way. walks and treats and rubs and more treats. today edgar played in the yard while tom put on the storm windows. and my dad was at the studio cleaning the gardens.....all the glorious weeds and vines gone. but i've learned that they will grow back in the spring. i just hate the naked gardens and i think he took away more this fall than he did last year. so edgar came in from the yard to comfort me. i made christmas ornaments and napkins and a quilt.

six years of beautiful edgar.