orchids and postcards

this is a shot that i took of the orchids five or six weeks ago. due to the long term staying power of their flowers, i'm still enjoying them and they look even more beautiful than depicted within this photo as the buds that you can see on the second stem have completely flowered out now. in addition, there is a companion orchid planted in with this one and it also has a stalk of opening blooms; slightly different but equally sensational. i will try to get another shot of them very soon so that i can share these plant's ongoing beauty with you. i'm very pleased with their "performance" this year~!

i realize that "take time to smell the roses" is such a cliché but i do notice that when i really take the time to enjoy a flower i feel so much wonder at not only that particular flower but with the natural world in general. feeling that "awe" puts so many things into perspective for me.
i hope that there has been lots of floral beauty (and wonder) being enjoyed in your lives as well.

besides the flowers from the orchids which i grow in the house, i've been outside doing some summer gardening. i hope to resume with my habit of photography soon so that i can share that with you as well.
ongoing computer issues and fussy computer to camera connections/communications have been discouraging me for a few weeks but i hope that will no longer be a problem. 
anyway, in the off chance that there is anyone out there still interested i thought i'd do a quick update on a little of what has been going on since the last post.
 
i never did get the april fabric postcard that i made for my daughter posted and so i'll start with that.

the background is another remnant of that same hand embroidered dish towel that i used within my MIL's birthday card (shown in my last post). i appliqued some three dimensional flowers and leaves and then added a small metal butterfly . . . then a few more embroidery stitches to bring it all together and voilà~!

and the may postcard . . .

i found another towel that i did some cross stitching onto approximately 25-30 years ago and since this one had never been used as a towel (i felt it was too small) i decided to cut out the stitched bit and then added some hand dyed pink fabric as well as a small piece found in the scrap basket. i embroidered a flowering vine over the seams, a few straight stitched stems of grass under the quilts and then added three tiny gold metal dragonflies.

here it is the backside of june and i have yet to even start on this month's postcard for her . . . 
i better get to it~!!~

there is also a set of prayer flags being created and hand quilting of the small random sampler quilt is coming along.

 

recent gifts include:

• enjoying the flowers as they appear within my garden as well as within the houseplant population
• the taste of really cold sweet red grapes on a hot day
• the cool summer morning air as i sit on my front porch and wake up to the day
• the cool evening/nighttime breezes that blow into the bedroom as i sleep
• being able to meet and chat with my daughter over lunch occasionally