July's Postcard of the Month

Water.  Blue, Green.  Circles.  Those were my only intentions for July's composition.

I was late getting cards to subscribers this month - but had some pretty good excuses! 

#1 excuse was the baby quilt*

that I was hustling to finish up

(despite having had 7 months to start/work on it...)

before my new (and first!) great niece was scheduled to be delivered on July 2nd.

Which I did, and in time for her actual birthday, which came 4 days early!

Excuse #2 was: HEAT!  Holy Shit it was hot here!

 I had not a single complaint.  Loved every minute.

And postcards probably would have been even later in coming had I still been at the studio -

it would have been too stiflingly hot to work there even if I'd come in before dawn.

So... Water, circles, green.

All what I feel immersed in in July here.  Lush.

I actually sketched out what I was imagining (seldom do this):

Prototype: (see Steps notes)

Some circle prep:

The Fixin's

Steps: The Movie:

Steps

Ok, it's like this:

If all had gone as planned (and I had taken pix of each step (I skipped 2)),

it would have taken 45 steps to complete each card.

HOWEVER!!

I got through steps 1-10 and all was good

UNTIL!!

I decided to add an element that was not part of my original prototype:

Some of my fave lace paper:

which usually dries transparent enough not to mute the underlying composition.

But of course, THIS TIME, it muted/dulled my vivid greens more than I was happy with...

So....I re-did 6 of my first 10 steps - re-cutting circles of green and sheet music,

and glueing all the new pieces** over the original top circles:

The lower 4 smaller circles I left to have the lace cover.

Anyway, technically, these cards were done in 51 steps!

Here goes:

**

***

Panels of 12 of July's postcards

Fin.

*The primary quilt stitching design was an interlocking, somewhat Celtic (though traced from the book  "Japanese Design Motifs"!) design that I've used on many of the several baby quilts I've made over the years.  

You can sort of make it out from this photo of the back:

And in each corner, I stitched other little motifs -

Dog and cat:

3 little mice:

Hummingbird and flower:

Dragonfly:

**Oooops!  First version was: 

Second version:

***OK - the white circles??  >>> In order to maintain the vividness of the blue circles, I had to use the white underneath them.  Otherwise, they would have blended too much into the greens.

Addendum:  Chiffonades

(Chiffonade prep, really...)

Once the garden is hosting viable herbs each spring (starting usually with the hardy Sages), most every night, I compose a tossed salad using some of my garden's offerings.  

These are some shots of the herbs

that I proceed to roll into 'cigars' of varying fatnesses:

and finely chop.

I sometimes rearrange the placement of the herbs on my cutting board/paper towel, but often just take a photo however they land. (the scapes, scallions, rads and peas I chop separately!)

Herbs (in order of most > least used/enjoyed): Rosemarys; Thymes (wished I had some Lemon Thyme this year...); Basils (Thai, Dark Opal, and regular); Bee Balm; Sweet Marjoram; Oregano; Dill; Fennel; Sages (Purple and Russian, but most often Russian); Nasturtiums (not an herb, but...); Curly Parsley (which I actually only use in rice or pasta salads); Hyssop (the strain I have is definitely not my fave - will be in search of the kind I like when the local organic garden has it's annual summer sale...).