Let It Snow

And it did -

Big, fat, fluffy flakes that seesawed lazily back and forth as they descended without care from a stormy sky.

It snowed late afternoon so by the evening, the frozen precipitation took on the gay colors of the holidays as festive string lights shown kaleidoscopically through the soft, newly-fallen blanket of snow.

I included a photo of the table setting I made for my mother's gift out of fabric from my Gingerbreadtown collection (shown in the sidebar at right). It includes the table cloth, six place mats, a runner and eight reversible napkins. I'll be sure to include closeups of the pieces so you can see the detail in the work and hopefully inspire you to create a modern heirloom of your own!

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves during this season of goodwill and cheer despite whatever happens around us.

Mark

Orchids

Orchids grow like weeds here in Hawaii... well, not literally but their abundance is amazing.

They grow wild along the side of the road. They cling to trees attached to the soft, spongy bark or nestled in the V-shaped crevices created by jutting limbs and branches.

They dangle decoratively in baskets suspended from the eaves of houses, swaying lazily in the tepid tropical breezes or in pots and planters in the garden.

Growing up in the East coast orchids are houseplants. My sister has had luck getting orchids to bloom. My mother has orchids blooming almost year round.

I've tried. No success. Even here on Maui. They are splendidly adorned with flowers when I bring them home from the nursery (I like to buy interesting varieties and colors of flowers) and afterwards, indoors I was gifted with lots and lots of green keikis -- new green shoots and leaves for years -- but alas! not a single spike or bloom.

So, recently I decided to clean house and put the few plants I own on the potting table or nestled into other planters outside the front of the house.

Weeks go by. Leaves fall off, now burned from the more direct exposure to the sun... and then silently without fanfare or warning... one day...

And then about two months later...

Video

 The beach and Maui Ocean Center

                               

Megablog

I know I've gone AWOL. Life has been keeping me busy, and it won't really settle until I return from visiting family for the holidays. So here's a month's or better worth of things I need to catch up to date...

Santa's Land at the Queen Ka'ahumanu Center - the turtle with the fuzzy red hat reminds me of my logo for the holidays

One of the few pics of me - here with my sister Dana at Makena Beach

Here's Ana'ole - turtle 4 - the hatchling that I named in the contest at the Maui Ocean Center

A sea urchin spiny thingy

One of my hats on display in the gift shop at the Maui Ocean Center

A puffer fish. He's endearingly cute but was about 18"-24" long and has sharp spines on his body that spike out pin cushion-like when he inflates himself

Just a peaceful beach shot

This place has been around since the creation of the islands. It's an institution in Wailuku

They serve onion rings - tempura style - at a chinese restaurant

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Chow Fun noodles. These noodles are actually sliced like carrot sticks and made from potato dough - YUM!

An offering at the Home Maid Bakery shop

Lunch at Leoda's in Olowalu - Spicy (fresh) tuna salad on thier bread with tomato and butter lettuce. Served in a metal pie tin lined with brown paper

Some of the best fries I have ever had! With an aioli - and ketchup of course

Dana's lunch was Fried Mac and Cheese with a marinara - we both had leftovers...

On the road leading to mine, I see a long neck serpent in the grass

Wild lilikoi (passion fruit) flower

The serpent again

This is how my hats were displayed in the booth for the Haleakala Waldorf Holiday Faire. We had a great location - on an end, at the bottom of a hill and by the second entrance to the event - that really helped with traffic 

The hats are all my fabrics - Surf's Up, Seal Pups, Mermaids of Hana Bay, Hibiscus - and the pillow cases - Cotton Couture, Shell Dot and Gingerbreadtown

Mac and Cheese with Peas, please! Red pepper flakes and Kiawe smoked Hawaiian sea salt. The background is Siren Song - color Rainbow

Grilled Shell-on Shrimp  skewered on fresh Rosemary twigs

The morning of October 15 - my mother's birthday 

Comfort food for lunch - when it rains there is quite a damp chill in Haiku and a lunch like this hits the spot!

Rooster Rumble

This wasn't too violent just two roosters plucking the feathers out of one another - but what a display!

These are boneless version of the  bone in ribs I made when Dana was here. Both were preseasoned with the smoked sea salt and crushed black pepper. Next I smoked them over macadamia nut wood then glazed them with Maui Brewing Company Root Beer Bar-B-Que sauce. Last they cooked slowly to dry them out a bit like chinese roast pork.

 Another ornate rooster and hen

One of several gingerbread boy doll fronts drying before construction

Post Houston Quilt Market Post

The show, for those who attended, ended yesterday but for many who flew into Houston last week, the journey home is going to be a long and arduous one. I wish everyone safe travels and friends and family awaiting them at their journey's end.

I did not attend quilt market at all this year yet I was glued to the computer scouring the Internet for photos of the Michael Miller Fabrics booth, happenings of what ended up being - thankfully - an uneventful tsunami warning on Saturday evening, and of course the talk of the decade - Sandy the Frankenstorm.

I obtained a couple of pictures of two of the many quilts that were displayed in the MMF booth - and these two, along wth several others either used Mirror Ball Dot exclusively in the quilt, as a focus print or as a unique blender to add some pizzazz.

So, without further ado…

The quilt above and close-up image below are from Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies website. She's a quilter and designer, and licensee for Michael Miller Fabrics. As you can see Emily uses the Mirror Ball Dot as her "focus print" and I would guarantee that the solid white background fabric is Cotton Couture from Michael Miller Fabrics.

Mirror Ball Dot Color Play uses Mirror Ball Dot exclusively in this quilt and is made of fat quarters of MBD with the exception of the white, which uses 1-1/4 yards. It's a free download on the Michael Miller Fabrics site or by clicking the link.

Designed, pieced and quilted by Marinda Stewart.

Psst... a little secret - Marinda is responsible for many of the quilts shown and promoted by Michael Miller Fabrics. She is an incredible talent and nurturing mentor and really great friend!!!! Check out her book Punch Needle: The Complete Guide at Amazon, and oh, BTW, she's currently penning the companion book

 

Maui Ocean Center - I'm In!

The children's reversible, pre-washed bucket hats that I have been producing for the last year have not taken the world by storm but I have placed them in some very fine shops and boutiques on 3 islands: Trudy's Island Arts in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, The Growing Keiki on the North Short of Oahu, and Designing Wahine, Makawao and Hale Zen, Lahaina on Maui... and now I'll have a test order in the gift shop of the Maui Ocean Center.

The pattern I am using for the outside of the hats is from my latest collection TIKI-TINI LOUNGE and called Fish Tank. The hats, in 3 sizes (newborn, infant and toddler), will be lined in orange, violet and red 21-wale corduroy.

Keep our fingers crossed that they have a good sell through in the 30-day test period to be followed by a nice reorder!

Well, I'm off to cut more hats!

Children's Reversible Prewashed Bucket Hat in Fish Tank print lined in orange corduroy and sold exclusively at the Maui Ocean Center gift shop.

Waking Up - October 02

Ride the waves, is basically what one has to do.

There are weeks that just end up busy and manic, evaporating into the air before I can recall the events of the week, and then lulls in between where there just is not enough to do. That's when I take advantage of the opportunity at hand and I then jump into finishing up as many uncompleted projects as possible.

This morning, I'm sitting at my work table, cup of coffee close at hand, hand sewing the binding onto the flap edge of my quilted computer cases. There's a cracking of branches and the chickens two properties away go clucking out of their minds. Then crashing through the wooded area at the back of the acreage come a herd of about 8-10 deer. The photo's taken through the screen of the lanai. From quite some distance they obviously noticed me rush to grab my camera.