Lemonade: Day 2 - Making a Making Lemonade Banner

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach, CA.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100 day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach, CA.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan!  I want to share it with you!  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity.  The art and the locations that inspire art.  Bringing them to you, here in this blog, and to others, on the streets of Long Beach.

I call it .

Today was Day 2 of Making Lemonade.  I'd planned on making a Making Lemonade banner.

Today, I arrived at Apostrophe Books on 2nd street to the warm greetings of owners Lisa and Valerie, whom I'd only met the day before.

Dapper I was not, as I carted my table, two chairs, sewing machines, from the metered spot just off 2nd street.  3 bags of fabric, bottle of lemonade, board and sheet to iron on, iron, electrical cables, threads and sewing materials.

Once I'd set up, however, I became quickly absorbed in the cutting of the fabric squares.  It's a very calming activity, sewing is, and it felt good to be sitting there, in the afternoon shade, with the families passing by and the diners sitting nearby.  Flowers were tended in sidewalk boxes.  The world is different when you simply sit in one place and observe.

There was so much Community Lemonade during the day, as various artists, creative souls or simply curious folks stopped by to chat (it isn't every day you see someone with a sewing machine sewing on the sidewalk). Creators of folk art, jewelry, found object art, watercolors.  A quilter from Mississippii stopped by.  Friends that I hadn't seen for some time, some scouts from a local troop.  One creator returned to show off a piece she'd been working on for some time.  Summer is good when you're young and in Long Beach.

I'd like to say that the Making Lemonade banner is complete, but today's project may have been a bit... ahem... ambitious.

As of this writing, it's little more that fabric squares and some decorative pieces and ideas.  Still, there are several hours left to the day.  Regardless of whether I end up with the entire banner, or simply a Making banner or even just an M...  (Hopefully at least an M... )  There was lots of Community Lemonade.  And that is good.

Thanks to Apostrophe Books and to Lisa, Valerie and Kelsey for having provided a location for today's fun.

And TOMORROW!!!!

Day 3: Making Patriotic Quilt Squares with (or for) Quilts of Valor

Tomorrow I will be at an as yet undecided location making one or more patriotic squares with, or for, the local Quilts of Valor group.

Items Needed (just bring them by)

Large fabric scraps, ANY colors will do, because we'll be using LOTS of fabric in these 100 days!

Bernina Artista 180 needles - available at Sew-Vac on Clark and Atherton (I'm running low, and according to the rules of , I can't buy anything).

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.