Free Form Crochet and the Coral Reef Project

A couple of years ago, Robin Olsen taught me how to free-form crochet. It's funky, uses up a variety left over yarn, creates wonderful color and texture.
Here's a information about the Coral Reef Project from the Institute for Figuring. Click on Coral Reef and enter another world. Exhibits are listed for NYC, Chicago and other locations. The larger than life "Coral Garden" created by an Australian artist, Helen Lancaster, really stands out. Locally, Gossamer supports this project to get the word out about the rapid destruction of world coral reefs through global warming. Can you believe these are crocheted? Get out your crochet hook and make coral reefs.
More sketches for this week-

Spring Hiking and Sketching

Hiking local parks and trails is one of the joys of living in the Northwest. Last weekend, the sun shone and we explored Lacamas Lake Park. The park is located north of Camas, WA.
On the other side of the dam, the river plunges down hill. With all of the melted snow, it flows fast and cold.

The wild iris and roses bloom- two of my favorite flowers.
Tuesday, it rained in the morning and we sketched at Abundant Yarn in Sellwood. Inside the Busy Bee Cafe is the perfect place for knitters and sketchers to gather and share their creativity. The sketch below starts my newly made sketchbook.
My sketchbooks are made with old books from the Goodwill or Salvation Army. I remove the signature block, recover the book board with decorative papers, fabric and ribbon. New watercolor paper signatures are sewn into the spine and decorative buttons tie off the waxed linen thread ends. Make one and fill it with your daily discoveries, impressions and ideas.

Wildflowers Bloom in The Gorge

The wildflowers bloom at lower elevations in the Columbia River Gorge. The balsamroot and lupine cover the hillsides. It gave me a chance to try out my new mini-travel, digital camera.
A view of Tom McCall Nature Reserve and Mayer State Park from Mameloose Outlook trail.

One of my favorite Gorge wildflowers is the chocolate lily. Where are the fairies?

and I didn't expect to see bright red paintbrush next to yellow parsley. What treasures we have in our own backyard.

Friday, Nancy at Scattered Pictures on 138th and NE Sandy showed me how to make this multi-folded book made with a variety of gorgeous papers. We enjoyed talking about our trips to Japan and the new products she has in her store. She has the best collection of decorative papers.

Chinese Garden in the Spring

The Chinese Garden blooms with spring flowers. The next couple of weekends the garden celebrates the peony. It's worth a visit. The haiku reads: Clouds like thrown fire-
magnolia flowers by asuka nomiyama

Here's a photo of a surprise gift from my neighbor- a Blacky fuchsia. I'm so fortunate to have a wonderful neighbor and beautiful flowers to enjoy.