Yard Art and Inspirations

There are some color combinations that work well in nature but that I'd never use in a quilt. Take lime green and lavender for instance. I adore them in the wisteria bush in bloom in the side yard. The pendulous blooms are fragrant and attracting bees (a good thing) and as long as the wisteria blooms, it's safe from the pruning shears. Then, upon retiring, just as the wisteria puts its energy into stringy green shoots, it's "Whack! whack!" as we try to save the neighboring fig tree from being overwhelmed. This is a yearly battle and one must be brutal about pruning or we'd all live under the shade of the devouring wisteria.

Bright green is a problem for me in my quiltmaking. I'm trying to love it-there's two full bins of green fabrics on the shelf-but the fact is, my favorite green is a swamp-y olive. The best bright green around is the fig tree in the back of the yard. It makes beautiful deep purple, almost black, fruit and is starting already to show tiny figgy pips.

Another sign of spring: "man camp" is open for business. That's my husband's shed and he's deep in creative ferment presently planning new shelves. You never know what he might build--a boat, water wings, another huge kite, an easel, and maybe, maybe, a new quilt frame for me. He watched Joe Cunningham's DVD on building a frame and immediately went into woodworker mode. He approved of Joe scavenging lumber for the quilt frame since he himself is an eagle-eye at spying still-usable lumber from trash piles at the edge of the road. He was anxious until Joe talked about squaring the quilt on the frame and said, "At last!" This is a man who can tell if a picture is hanging 1/4" off from across the room. If he does build a quilt frame for me, it will be a veritable work of art. I live in hope.