Calm Before the Next Storm

We here in the Northwest got walloped with quite a storm yesterday and last night. As I said in my post yesterday, it rained hard all day. We didn't experience a scary amount of wind here on our hill, but it was windy all day. Some of my neighbors to the west in the little town of Jewell complained of downed trees, thunder, and lightening in their Facebook posts. We saw the sun just before sunset yesterday. When the sky is gray, the waning sun's rays paint a golden glow on everything. Here is my own contribution to Facebook yesterday. Do you see the rainbow?

And that was the only time yesterday that it wasn't pouring down rain. It started up again within the hour and rained well into the night. About the time we went to bed last night, the power went out...always a bummer at our house because when we lose power, we also lose our water. We are on a well, and our pump requires electricity to run. 

Using my iPhone to get internet access, I reported the outage to Portland General Electric and learned that it was caused by high winds. The website promised a return to power within about two hours of when the outage occurred, but when I awakened at 4:00 a.m., it still had not returned. I checked the website again, and the time had been revised to 6:00 a.m. About half an hour later, it came back on. Phew! Dodged a bullet on that one. Nevertheless, we are promised an even stronger storm tonight and into tomorrow. Hopefully, any falling trees will avoid power lines that affect us. I mean, I need electricity to operate my sewing machine! And what would I do without my sewing machine? I mean, really! Do they think I'm going to vacuum or something? Enough said, I think.

Today I finished the applique for my Duluth Trees wall hanging. I'm liking this better now that I've added the trees.

As I look at this, the trees seem a little low to me. If I'd been paying better attention, I might have made them a little taller. So this is the idea I had to give it a little more balance, and here is where I will ask you for a design consultation via your comments. 

I'm thinking a nice silvery moon would be nice. In the image below, I've used the lid on my pin box to show you what I have in mind. I'm thinking this is about the right size. What do you think? Do you like the moon idea? Do you think it should be larger or smaller? Do you think it should be in a different place? Do you like it better without the moon? Please chime in and tell me what you think.

I have some great fabric to use for the moon. I didn't try photographing it because it's going to show as gray. It's actually a mottled gray with some silvery sheen to it, and I think it would be perfect as a moon. Being mottled, I can choose a section of fabric with color areas everywhere between white and dark gray. Would you be in favor of a white moon? Or do you think it should be more gray? Your ideas would very much be appreciated here because this is one of those times where I'm looking at this quilt top a la David Letterman and saying, "Is it anything?"

So Mike and I are going to brave the wind and head out for our Valentine's Day dinner in about an hour. We're going to the Charthouse at the top of Marquam Hill near Oregon Health and Science University. It has one of the best views in all of Portland. It's long been one of our favorite Portland restaurants, and we often go there for special occasions. In fact, if you click on this link, you can see a picture of the daytime view from the restaurant.

Tomorrow I have a day at home. If the weather cooperates, I might try to get out for a walk, in pursuit of my A for exercise for the week. Either way, I'm going to do the top-stitching on quilt above and add the moon, depending on what all of you think. Also, I need to make the quilt back for Matthew's Intel Underneath quilt so that I can get it off to my long arm quilter. And if I have time after that, I'm going to start quilting the strawberry table runner I made a few months back.

In the white areas, I'm going to do a strawberry stipple similar to the strawberries I quilted onto the Two Grandmothers quilt when I did the Curly Locks block:

I'll do some cross-hatching on the baskets to give them a woven appearance. I'll have to figure out what to do in some of the other areas, but those are my ideas so far. And thinking about Curly Locks gives me an idea for a name for this table runner. Here's Mother Goose's rhyme about Curly Locks:

Curly Locks, Curly Locks,

Will you be mine?

You shall not wash dishes,

Nor feed the swine;

But sit on a cushion

And sew a fine seam,

And feast upon strawberries,

Sugar, and cream.

So maybe something like, "Strawberries, Sugar and Cream". And since Curly Locks sits on a cushion while she attempts to "sew a fine seam" (as I do), it seems appropriate to draw on her rhyme for a quilt name, don't you think?

And that's about all I have planned for my Monday. No doubt, it's too much, as is my usual way, but there you go. If the weather is stormy, there won't be much else to do.