It's always fun when....

you are with a friend which I was yesterday morning and it's always fun to rediscover a part of the area where you live that you love.
    Last Friday one of the topics of conversation moving through the group was the not being able to find a good tasting tomato in this part of the world.  We attribute that to the weather and the soil or lack thereof  "good dirt".  Our  soil is more sand than anything.
    Of course I had to brag about my friend Marti in KY and her tomatoes and the great Farmers Market that I visited every Saturday when I lived in Columbia, MO where the produce was brought in fresh from the surrounding farms by the farmers who actually grew the crops as opposed to the produce that is trucked in from who knows where.  "oh what I wouldn't give for a good BLT.  It's been years".
     Then Lyn, one of the ladies in the group told me about a long held  Farmers Market in Winter Park; a community not far from where I live,  which I wasn't aware of.  We made a date and off we went yesterday morning in search of a good tomato.    Lyn has lived in Winter park and knew the history of the community so it was great getting to hear all of her stories about her time living there and how the area has grown and changed.

This is my friend Lyn.   She needed a picture of herself in a pose for an online  Jane LaFozio workshop. 

These were the biggest carrots I have ever seen.  We were told they were really sweet and great grated in a salad.

We did get tomatoes, and dark cherries and I picked up a sweet onion, all grown in Georgia.  The tomato while not as good as I remember tomatoes can be wasn't bad.  I am looking forward to a tomato sandwich for lunch.  I wonder if Marti would overnight me a few ripe ones from her garden? hmmm...

There were also plants, flowering and not everywhere.  Of course I took lots of pictures.

After our stroll through the market we visited the rose garden in a nearby park.  Roses are just about at the end of their season here and while I got a few good shots, I have promised myself to come back next year in April.  That's when, Lyn who is a gardener says they will be at their peak.

Then we went to have our second cup of coffee for the morning at a nearby restaurant on Park Avenue that was "line out the door" busy, but we grabbed a seat at the bar and were served rather quickly. 



We had coffee where the yellow umbrellas are.  This is looking south on Park Avenue toward Rollins College.

When I got home, I started painting this piece on another silk sample. (15" x 18").  It was labeled as 100% silk Duppion made in India.

In the middle of quilting this piece I made a trip to the Quilt Shop in Lake Mary to buy some thread.   No - I wasn't out of thread.   I have almost every color that 40 wt. Isacord comes in.  But now that I am multicolor backgrounds I am changing the color of the threads on the top and in the bobbin  often along with having to decide where on the background to make the change where it will be a smooth transition.  To solve the issue I have been using and off white  Invisa Fil by Wonderfil and I love how it melds into different light value colored areas seamlessly taking  on the hue of whatever color it is being stitched over.  Wonderful..

No more having to make an  exact color match.  In this piece, I tried four colors, a very soft pink, a dull yellow, a soft grey and a off white.  I brought two values of beige and a true white that I am going to return and exchange for other hues. 

I hate that threads now come in these sealed wrappings.  Wrap that prevents you from  pulling out a length of thread to test it against your work to see if it is the best fit.  But then too, there is the lighting in most stores that prevents you getting a true reading of the color anyway.

After lunch I am going to paint on the largest piece of Silk I was given to try.  Will let you know how that goes tomorrow.