House guest 02-16-08

Corky, the Poodle Prince, is with me this weekend - what a treat! Besides being good company he is so cute, just look at those little feet all tucked under to keep them warm. Of course, this is my chair he has taken over. He isn't fond of sitting on laps, but he does like to be close to his people, so I give up my chair and he makes himself comfortable to watch me sew. He will have to go home when his parents return on Monday afternoon, but meanwhile we are happy together.

They'll never meet again. 02-15-08

Twenty-five or more years ago when I was buying a stack of fabric to add to my fabric library, another customer asked what I was going to do with all those different colors. I don't know if she was a quilter, but she obviously didn't know about a fabric stash. In those days there were fewer quiltmakers and fewer quilt shops. But even then I probably didn't 'need' anymore fabric. Sometimes I think I am more of a fabric collector than a quilter! I surely can't resist the offerings at Back Porch Quilt Shop in Pacific Grove.

This is the selection I made this past Sunday. Look at all those lights - I'm proud of myself. And there are two fabrics with the little light spots/dots that Ruth McDowell recommends to give a quilt a little sparkle. The brown fabric snuck in there because I think it will work in a landscape with the light spots adding to the depth of... whatever. And.. WHENEVER!

"Heart Strings" 02-14-08

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

"Heart Strings - I" Del Thomas 2005 12"W x 18"L

In 2005 one the the groups I belong to asked for quilts to be auctioned for some worthy cause. So, I made this one in sort of springlike colors. I didn't really care for the pale ground, but I suppose someone did because the group didn't give it back to me. I always wonder where it is living now.

"Heart Strings - II" Del Thomas 2005 12"W x 18"L

Then I made this version with a black ground and it is more pleasing to my eye. I do like bright colors on a black ground! And I like the 'streamers' rather than 'ringlets' hanging down. This is quilted with vertical squiggly lines.

Places that disappear 02-13-08

I took this photo (and a bunch more) last April when I pulled over where Hwy 152 and Hwy 156 meet east of San Juan Bautista. I've seen this derelict 'hacienda' for years and I don't know what made me stop to photograph it on this trip. Look beyond the trash and graffiti and see the once lovely tiled fountain along the pathway. A few years ago it didn't look quite so rundown, I suppose that once the state acquired the parcel to facilitate a road widening and straightening project there was no further maintenance done. At any rate, the wall, gate, fountain, etc., are all gone now to accommodate our growing need for fast roads. This particular intersection really needs the makeover as there have been some horrendous accidents here. But I'll miss this remnant of 'old California'. "Old" in California can be the 1950s!!

Trees 02-12-08

Although I have driven up I-5 to San Juan Bautista during February in previous years, I don't remember that the California Sycamores were so very white - they don't look real. They remind me of the wonderful ghost gums of Australia, white and straight, rising far above the other native growth.

This is a sign of Spring. Lots of beehives set out in most of the orchards along the way. I think these are cherries. Sometimes there will be blue signs on the fences facing the Interstate that tell what kind of orchard it is, but not in this case. Everywhere the green is showing in trees and on the ground, there are even a few drifts of bright yellow wild mustard along the way. In another month when I drive up again Spring will be in full swing.

A lotta miles 02-11-08

My Dodge Caravan had its tenth birthday last week and today, whilst traveling south from San Juan Bautista to Placentia, it turned over 200,000 miles at Lebec, CA, up a the top of the Ridge Route. I have driven almost all of those miles, just ask my friends who travel with me and grouse about my hogging the wheel! I do like to drive!

The scent of early Spring 02-10--08

The flowers of the daphne plant (order Myrtales) are very fragrant and bloom in the earliest spring. They originated in Eurasia and have been naturalized in several areas of the USA. This one grows in the front flower bed at Mary's house in San Juan Bautista. I wish I could send you the fragrance!