Ahhh, Summer Days!

This past week has been the most perfect summer weather.  Cool, grey mornings with the layers of fog reaching down and kissing the lush green vineyards on the valley floor; then when the fog burns off, warm, sunny afternoons with just enough of a breeze to move the air and keep it pleasant.

The weather these days brings to mind a happy blue and yellow quilt design I did a few years ago. I was pulling out this pattern today to send to A Stitch Above, in Cincinnati, Ohio and it got me thinking about how it was created.  A shop owner asked me if I would please design something that would use up the last 12"  strip of canvas that always seem to get left over when the larger canvases are cut.  Since I was getting tired of the normal square layout, I was happy to make a rectangular quilt that would be terrific as a longish pillow (or hey, just stitch four of the center stars and you could square it up!)....Here it is, and it's called SUMMER DAYS:

It uses Caron Watercolours 214, "St. Tropez" with denim blues and primrose yellows, and just a touch of sea glass green.  Isn't it a beachy feeling colorway?  I particularly like the wavy yellow row that looks "puffy" but is just stitched with one of my favorite threads - YLI Ribbon Floss. There's a bit of Ribbon Floss in sea green too.  The sheen of the rayon thread is a fun way to add just a touch of shimmer to the remaining pearl cotton colors.

I'm thinking this is real fun, fun, fun in the sun....
Hope you are enjoying these long days of summer and putting the extra daylight to good use by getting in some extra reading, gardening, hiking, dozing and of course -- stitching!