Conflicting views 06-28-08

A few more of those things that strike me as odd.

I've seen a lot of the fish logos on vehicles and find that the people who display them to indicate their Christian faith aren't any more polite than those that don't. And some of them even know and use the one finger salute. When I saw this fish on the truck in front of me I crept up a little closer to be sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. I don't understand what he is trying to say. We were waiting at a level RR crossing so I had plenty of time to whip out my camera and click away. The driver probably wondered what I was doing, but he didn't jump out and shoot me - nice guy. Click to enlarge.

I've always been able to read words upside down pretty well and it can get me in trouble. When I read this sign on the street I quickly turned into a parking lot because I thought I was going the wrong way! I should have paid attention to the arrow, not the sign.

This shop is in Fullerton, but I can't figure out if it is a chain or one of a kind. I'd never seen this name before and it somewhat bothers me. Babies are not plants, though I guess they do basically come from seeds of a sort, and I find this a little offensive. Of course, you have to consider that I will be seventy this year and still carry some of the lessons I learned as a girl. One didn't even speak of pregnancy in public, much less have signs showing a womb with a little plant in it. Mothers-to-be wore clothes that camouflaged their condition - no longer. www.bellysprout.com

I must confess, I enjoy seeing that little computer response, "No misspellings found."

Looking Back 06-27-08

Organizing makes me nostalgic. It is all the bits and pieces I come across, especially those little bags of scraps left from a finished quilt. I don't know why I keep them unless it is to remind me of the process involved in making a specific quilt... like this one.

"Red Fence" 2006 Del Thomas 40"W x 32"L
A few years ago in June I was working on this quilt. I was trying to make the fence float and I was successful in that. I think the large print yellow/green on the bottom right was a mistake, it is too distracting.

The perspective quilting lines on the green section give an illusion of looking down rows of crops to the horizon. The blue section is quilted with my standard 'sunflower' motif using variegated thread. Someday I will revisit this design idea in more earthy colors.

I'm sorry I couldn't post this last night - sometimes computers have a mind of their own!

Organizing 06-26-08

Another organizing day. Liz came around 9am (with coffee from Starbucks!) and we worked hard until about 3pm. It is amazing how much more room there is when things are put in some sort of order. Today we worked on the massive fabric collection.

I have always been fond of baskets and use them to organize and to tote things around. I also fill them up with 'stuff' and then never get back to empty them and put things away. All of these baskets were emptied today - now I need a place just for the baskets!

Just look - there is a carpet on the floor! With all the stuff piled all over it was hard to tell. On the right are all my portable design boards - each with an unfinished project. I store my fabric in Sterilite 32gal plastic boxes - full of fabric they are just about all I can lift.

There is a different color in each box and the boxes against the wall have all been tidied and are filled to capacity. The smaller boxes on the right front have yet to be sorted. I use these boxes when I go to workshops. Unfortunately, when I get home I rarely find time to empty them until the next time I need an empty box to prepare for another workshop!

This is our sorting table in front of the fireplace. Stacked by color the fabrics are moved into the appropriate color box. Just look at that nice stack of lights on the upper right - like most quilters I have too few light fabrics in my 'Fabric Library'. I have separated out some lights for a special box in the hope that I can find a light when I need one.

Of course, I have not 'culled' much yet. We decided it was better to sort by color first, then I will go through and pull fabrics to be given away. Liz can't help me with that part! But she has a class tomorrow so perhaps I can do some culling... and empty a box or two. Unseen in these pictures are about twenty more boxes that need to be tidied and culled - enough fabric for two lifetimes! I am possessed by a surfeit of fabric.

"Fish in a Bottle" 06-24-08

I discovered "Fish in a Bottle" about eight months ago. It is very local, less than a mile, and has become very popular. They serve sushi and also steak, chicken, fish - so there are options for fellow diners who can't manage raw fish. Sushi is one of my favorite dine-out foods and this restaurant serves excellent sushi. They have an entire page of rolls, some of which are rather strange, but delicious. I was hesitant about sushi with blueberry jam, but found it quite a treat. The presentations are lovely and I have been meaning to photograph a plate when it is first served, but my appetite takes over and before I remember my camera I have eaten all of my dinner!

Liz came again today - SUCH a slave driver! She has three times as much energy as I and keeps me moving when I am ready to throw my hands in the air. Today we 'packaged' four chairs for storage - one chair tipped up on another, tied with fabric strips to keep them together, wrapped with bubble wrap and covered with very large black plastic trash bags. Then we hauled them up into the loft in the garage. I thought about the attic, but it gets extremely hot up there and there is no air circulation. It does get hot in the garage, but at least there is a turban on the roof and I keep the door propped open a lot of the time. Hope the chairs survive. We also finished putting the magazines in boxes for me to deliver to the library for the Friends of the Library sale, and moved a large table into the living room (aka "studio") to begin sorting fabric. Surely this will be the hardest part - I won't want to dispose of any of it! Hope I can find someone who would like two giant trash bags full of scraps. Whatever I put in the 'reject' pile will go to a guild 'rummage' sale. After Liz has her choice, of course!

Del's Quilts 06-24-08

Picasa2 would not let me post pictures last evening - who knows why? Some sort of glitch - as annoying as they are it is wonder there are not more of them. How many people are using computers these days?

I didn't have anything exciting to post. I just thought I would show few of the quilts I have made. Although I made my first little dolly quilt more than sixty years ago, these were all made in the last twelve years.

"Goose In The Pond" Del Thomas 1996 40"W x 80"L

This is my favorite of all the bed quilts I have made. The sashing is made from a Ruth McDowell fabric that came out more than a decade ago. Derek Lockwood quilted it on his regular sewing machine.

"Passing Mars" Del Thomas 2003 36"W x 40"L

This is a triptych made in 2003 to mark August 27, 2003 when the planet Mars passed closer to Earth the it has since Neanderthals looked skyward in about 57,617BC. The planets won't be in such close alignment for another 284 years.

"Streamside" Del Thomas 1998 57"W x 40"L

The flower blocks were made in the second Ruth McDowell class I took, but they weren't assembled in this quilt for another six years! I am only marginally happy with it, but I suspect that is because I have learned so much from Ruth in the last ten years that this looks rather crude. I do like the color and the wonderful waving horizontal line of dots which I fussy cut from an African print. Great fabric.

These pictures were taken at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove when they were kind enough to hang "One quiltmaker, Many Voices", my solo exhibit in January 2007.

Whale watching blog 06-22-08

A friend posted this blog on her blog and now I am posting it on mine. It is a great blog with fantastic pictures of the things one sees when whale watching on a boat out of San Francisco.

http://sfbaywhalewatching.blogspot.com/

Last year my Book Group read "Devil's Teeth" by Susan Casey which explores the presence of white sharks around the Farallon Islands (known among mariners as the Devil's Teeth for their jagged appearance and inhospitable waters) located just thirty miles west of the Golden Gate. Fascinating book. I understand it was also made into a documentary film.

Corky's parents came home about 5pm and I drove home to Placentia. It is much cooler both here and in LBeach. But summer has arrived, so what can we expect? The price we pay for mild winters, I guess.