There are a number of blogs that I subscribe to – making it easier to see new posts. One of my favorites is Urban Weeds, a collaboration between photographer Lisa Warninger and
stylist Rebecca Westby. It was founded by stylist Chelsea Fuss of Frolic.

The subtitle is "street style from Portland". They take photos of people they see on the streets of Portland. Most posts feature a full-body color snapshot, and a list of clothes and accessories that that person is wearing. However, my favorite part of the post is the black and white portrait of each person. The more of these I see, the more aware I am of just how lovely every face is.

This is Sophia, age 4. Isn't she lovely.

I'm working on a quilt for a new book. This book should be in print in about 2 years. That seems like a really long time but It takes us about a year to design and make the quilts, write the words, and perfect the illustrations. It then takes C&T, our publisher, about a year to to get all that into a book and out to the shops. We don't like to show quilts too early because it spoils the surprise but I think it's OK to share a tidbit, don't you?

I'm having lots of fun with this!

I am about to press "send" on the Piece O' Cake eNewsletter announcing the arrival of a new ePattern to our site. All Around the Neighborhood was first published in 1999 and so many of you have requested it that we decided that now was the time to bring it back. Happy stitching!

This lovely fellow was perched on my tomato plant earlier this week.

I believe he had just eclosed (come out of his cocoon). He was fanning his wings opened and closed slowly. It looked like he was having a good stretch and he made no move to fly. He did shift around on the leaf as I moved around, snapping pictures liked crazy.

Those of you who garden can tell that my tomato plants are not looking so great. They have a bug or a disease and I haven't been able to figure out what it is. My neighbors plants have the same stuff. Maybe I'll figure it out before next year. If anyone knows what the problem is, please share it with me. If you click on either photo it should open up bigger to give you a better look.

I've been meaning to share this idea with you. When I was teaching at the NC Quilt Symposium earlier this year, I met a woman with painted shoes. That she painted herself!

Turns out she taught classes on shoe painting and one of her students was there. Here's her shoe:

I'm a little fuzzy on the details but as I recall they recommended black leather shoes. You need to scuff up the finish so the paint will stick. Use acrylic paint and put a finish on them when the paint is dry. They said it was a great thing to do to a shoe that was showing some wear. I have some Birkenstocks that I really need to paint.

I used to have a white iron daybed with a white cover on it in this room. I was ready for change and this was a good opportunity to do it. We brought down a twin bed frame that had been my grandmother’s from the attic. I painted it white and then went shopping for sheets (white with dots) and a quilt. I know I could have made a quilt but I just do not have time to piece and quilt a quilt that is going to be abused by both kids and cats. This one was $39 at Target. I got the striped sheets too and put the fitted one on the box spring and the pillowcase on the bed pillow.

Yes, it’s bright in there but it’s not quite as shocking in real life.

There used to be a big stuffed chair the opposite corner of this room. That chair went to Baltimore too – joining our old (but still good!) sofa. I finally got to move the chair below out of the living room and into the bedroom. The fabric on the footstool, that matched the old chair and sofa, was way bad with the new quilt.

I had the pillow sham that matched the new quilt that I ended up not using on the bed. I was going to return it until I realized that I could cut it apart and use it on the footstool.

I’m going to find a colorful quilt to toss on the chair and that should pull the whole room together. On a budget!