Friday Inspiration - Beach Days

I love the Oregon coast and especially love it in August when the temperatures are often in the 80's!

I always have plans to create a beach inspired textile piece, but so far haven't.  But that doesn't stop me from looking at what others have done!   Merle Axelrad works with fabric and fiber collages in a way that is amazing.  I love her beach inspired pieces like Central Coast below, but all of her water pieces are wonderful.  Be sure to take a look!

Naomi Renouf also works with layered fabric collages and has quite a few pieces with ocean/beach themes.   Sea and Stones, below, is one of my favorites.  The transparency of the water she achieves is amazing!

This Seaglass Beach Quilt pattern was on Craftsy but now seems to have vanished from the web!  I think I'm going to have to start gathering batiks and see if I can make one just using the photograph.  I love how the colors in this make me feel I'm looking at the ocean.  If anyone knows who the designer is, please let me know so I can credit them and link to their work.  Thanks!

And since knitting seems to be what I get the most time to work on lately, I thought I'd see what beach colored yarns are out there.  I found two long gradient yarns that I'm trying to decide between for my next shawl!   The Blue Brick has Seafoam - I love how all of their yarns are paired with a photograph that inspired the colors and a swatch of how it knits up. 

And Knitcircus offers Beach Glass - hmmm, a hard choice!

I'm hoping to get more beach days this summer - Happy Creating!  Deborah

Lazy August Days!

It's August already - and I don't think I even need a calendar to tell!  The sunlight in the forest has that golden tint to it and I've been enjoying long walks in its coolness.

Most of the wildflowers are done and the Queen Anne's Lace is blooming beautifully.

The gooseberries are ready for jam making

and I'm anxiously waiting for the blackberries to ripen!

I finished my third pair of socks - a much better fit than the first pair I made for myself!  These are from the pattern Simply Beautiful Socks by Fiona Stevenson - they use a German short row heel that I like much better than the heel flap/gusset one, but they did each end up with a gap I needed to sew up.  Next I'm trying the Fish Lips Kiss Heel, which is supposed to not have a gap!

I'll be in and out this month so probably won't be getting much done but knitting and trying to stay cool!  

Happy Creating!  Deborah