Jake Visits Reedsburg!

Words can't express how happy I was to see Jacob for the first time since the end of April.  He is my best friend and I miss him everyday.  We reunited in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Comet Cafe.

Homemade pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup.  This boy misses my cookin'.

We visited Dr. Evermor's Sculpture Garden.

I didn't want him to do this out of fear we'd get caught but he insisted.

Making Mint Juleps!

Potluck Sunday was delicious as usual.  Jake and I made Mushroom Marsala and Cajun Fries.

Jacob gardened for the first time!  Harvesting some kale.

This just might be the last time I get him to work on a farm.  I think he prefers to work on his illustrations and eat the kale rather than harvest it.

Picking snap peas.

Crook came out to join us.

Jacob climbing a falling down structure.  I never knew he liked to climb...but I guess that's because there isn't much to climb in Chicago.

I will be visiting Jake in New York in November.  It's far away but we are super busy people.  Before we know it we'll be back together again.

Page 3 of Chicken Book Complete

Page 3 of my large fabric chicken book is complete! I introduce the chickens on this page. But Honey, the Buff Orpington is getting all of page 4 to herself.

Bodacious Garden

I really love our Potluck Sundays.  I made a Kale Quinoa Salad with tahini, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.  Yum!

Work in progress of the 3rd page of my fabric book.  This page will introduce the chickens.  Honey the Buff Orpington is not on there because she is getting her very own page.

I still have to add the beaks and feet.  I call them Dinos because these chickens look the most like their ancestors and there is so many of them that is hard to tell them apart.

Baby Barn Swallows!  They look so angry and tough!  They hardly fit in their nest anymore.

Snap peas!  We have been harvesting many snap peas and snow peas.  Today we harvested 64 pounds of snap peas!

Cauliflower is so cool.

When they get about the size of a fist we "blanch" them, which means we tie the leaves around the cauliflower to keep it white, or else it turns yellow.

Little purple kohlrabi!

We will be harvesting green beans tomorrow.

A bed of carrots growing bigger each day beneath the ground.

And my favorite, onions!

Anticipating Tomatoes

Last year I made these watercolor studies of a tomato I brought home from the farm. Tomatoes are on their way!

Fragility and Strength

Fragility and Strength, 18 x 22 inches, fabric, thread, copper tubing, 2013.

I usually make many different pieces of the same thing then decide how to connect them.  Here is an example of the many ways I thought to sew the circles.

Potluck Sunday!  I made a garlic scape pesto on broccoli and squash from the garden.