Quilting

Charlie’s Adventure is a story I wrote along with a quilt I made. Charlie is my sweet little orange kitty who, contrary to everyone’s belief, has a sweet tooth that would rival anyone. He will do anything to get a lick of ice-cream, watermelon, sweetened cream, or anything else sweet you can think of.

One day, Charlie learned that on All Hallows Eve, if he puts on a wizard’s hat and a bow tie and sits very very quietly amongst the Jack-O-Lanterns, magic leaves will come and carry him to the Land of the Seven Sisters who would give him lots and lots of sweets to eat. So he came to me and asked if I would make him a hat and a bow tie. I was happy to oblige.

As the evening approached, he donned his starry hat and bow tie, smartly walked outside, sat down in the pumpkin patch and waited very patiently.

Charlie has a very bossy sister and two very clueless brothers. They all love to play with Charlie. His sister specially loves Charlie and keeps a wary eye on him at all times. Charlie excitedly told her all about his plan. She didn’t really believe him, but she was not about to let him sit outside all alone either. Who knew what peril would befall her brother! She was also not going to leave the other two out of sight, because then she would have to spend the rest of the night looking for all of them if they got lost. So the bossy sister pushed the disgruntled brothers out the door and all of them surreptitiously waited a little distance away from little Charlie as the sun sank below the horizon.

They waited and waited and waited some more. Then, when everything had gone quiet, all the kids had gone home after their Trick-Or-Treat runs and the Jack-O-Lanterns were about to go out, they heard a rustle and a swoosh. Suddenly they were off, all four of them, carried away on gigantic leaves! These were no ordinary leaves, of course! On each one of them, a different adventure awaited the little kitties. They stayed together, hopped around and rolled from leaf to leaf, played, and had amazing fun.

All this time, while they were busy playing, the leaves carried them onward and upward to the Land of the Seven Sisters. By the time the little kitties got there, they were exhausted. They sat in the midst of stars and each had their favourite food to eat while watching the Jack-O-Lantern-lit Earth turning down below. Charlie had his most favourite sweets to eat that day and nobody was going to stop him. Slowly as the night got deeper, they fell asleep on top of each other and were carried gently and silently back down to earth, down to their soft, warm beds.

I had a wonderful time drawing, creating the layout, and designing the patterns for Charlie’s Adventure. I definitely had just as much fun as my little kitties. Charlie was all right with sharing the story with all of you as long as he and his beloved Papa could have the quilt.

Now I am really glad to have finished the quilt so that they can huddle under it together and dream of sweet things.

Charlie sat and supervised as I wrote the story. Actually, he was trying to convince me to give him some sweet treats. He was most disappointed when that didn’t work, “Nobody at home ever gives me anything!” So he went off to bed to dream about his special All Hallows Eve adventure while snoozing with his pumpkin. Supposedly the pumpkin gives him sweet dreams.

He has always been the perpetual kitten of our home and continues to make us laugh with his antics. I was working on another large painting which I unfortunately had to restart after many hours of work, causing a fair bit of disgruntlement. As I have always wanted to illustrate this story, I put that painting aside to work on storyboarding Charlie’s Adventure. Storyboarding is usually done with rough sketches and no color, but I really wanted to play with my watercolors.

So, I did this very rough and quick watercolor sketch on a 3″x5″ card. It was hard for me to not add any detail, but I reminded myself that this is only a sketch, and I can add detail to my heart’s content on the larger painting. I am really looking forward to continuing with the illustrations and then turning that into a book. That will be my adventure!

Whether you read this story for the first time today or re-read it, I do hope you enjoyed it! Wishing Happy Samhain to the ones who celebrate and Happy Autumn to everyone!

Until next time,
-Soma

P.S. I always get asked – the patterns are available in my shop.

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Painting The Walls

Current state of my atelier

All the walls of our lovely house are covered with panels and wallpaper. My husband and I have started removing all of those wall coverings. Then there’s repairing and patching the walls, and finally, priming and painting. We are currently working on my room. I have everything set up so I can continue to work without disruption. I can’t wait to show you around once it’s all done.

Sewing Garden Path Quilt-top

The Garden Path quilt-top is FINISHED!! I just need to add borders to it and then it will be ready for quilting. I designed and wrote the patterns for the flower blocks and created the layout. I am happy to say that it looks exactly as I had envisioned it.

Hitting The Redwood Trails

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

We were away a lot last year. My little kitties tend to miss us a lot when we are away. So this year, I skipped the trip to the redwood forests 300 miles north of us and stayed home. However, I am lucky to live only an hour away from Muir Woods, which is also a redwood forest. I had not been there during this time of year before.

We usually end up hiking anywhere between 5-7 miles. The trails are moderately challenging with uphill climbs. They are also full of roots which makes it hard to navigate. During the February hike, I twisted my left foot pretty badly. It is better now. At least, it’s well enough for me to be able to go on another trail hike last Sunday with adequate caution. With all the rain this year, the creeks are flowing beautifully. Milkmaids are usually the first wildflowers to bloom in the woods. Last Sunday I found Trilliums starting to bloom along the lower parts of the trail as well. It really is magical in the forest.

…and The Bookstore

I also went to the bookstore an inordinate number of times and added on to an already tottering pile of books in the home library. Barnes and Noble hosts a book drive during the holidays. We have been participating for over a decade. Every year, we browse through the children’s section and purchase a stack of new books, which then gets distributed to underprivileged children. It is a huge part of my winter break.

Playing Music

My husband always gives me a few art supplies for my birthdays. Along with a book on how to draw swords, I also got a Chinese flute called Dizi this year. The flute is made of bamboo, which resonates with a very beautiful sound.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

I am very happy to welcome it to my music instrument family. In case you are wondering, I have never played a flute before. I mostly play the violin and the piano. I occasionally tinker with the guitar if a song calls for it. I am excited about learning how to play a wind instrument. First of all, I need to get used to making a consistent sound without feeling dizzy!

Bamboo is very prone to cracking, so the flute is bunking with my violin. The case has a hygrometer in it, so I can monitor the humidity. Tavish also loves to bunk in there. Here is a picture of him sleeping inside my violin case. He not only sleeps but also snores while I play the violin only a couple of feet away from him. No idea how he does it; the violin at close quarters is very LOUD.

Making Gifts

I drew this little scene from a very favorite road of ours up north at the Redwood NP. It is super twisty and narrow, and often a tight fit for cars through pairs of redwood trees on the road. I used this drawing as a cover for a book that I made for my husband as his birthday gift. I will save that story for another day.

Designing And Binding Books

I mix my own adhesive for the binding. I made so many books that I ran out of the adhesive that I had made. I experimented with and improved upon processes as I made these books. I also painted and block printed new book covers. I can’t wait to share them with you over the next few weeks. Some will be available in my shop with new cover art, as well as new binding styles and paper.

The Girl And Her Cat Books

Spending time together

I have been steadily working on the Girl and Her Cat stories. This girl, by the way, was very happy with her decision to stay home with her kitties.

As much as I love wildflowers, I, for one, is not looking forward to spring as it limits my time outside and fresh air completely due to severe allergies. So, needless to say winter is a happy time for me and it was a good break. Today’s post was more of a sampling platter. I hope to share details over the next few weeks. Thanks so much, everyone, for staying with me and a hearty welcome to my new visitors. I hope to continue to bring more inspiration and write posts that make you smile.