Creative Blogger 12-06-08

Oh, my goodness, I've been nominated for the Kreativ Blogger award by the marvelous Rayna Gillman! Am I special or what? But not so special that I have ever been able to put a hyperlink in my blog - it just won't work for me. So, I will have to put in the whole URLs. The rules are:

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog. (done)

2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog:

Rayna Gillman http://studio78notes.blogspot.com/

3. Nominate 5 blogs. (only five?? waaah - this is tough) In no particular order, I nominate:

June Underwood http://June@juneunderwood.com/

Friend and artist growing in both fiber and paint is first on my blog list every morning. She and husband Jer alternate days, so I also get to enjoy his great photography on the days June doesn't post her wonderful art.

Terry Grant http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/

Thoughtful, caring and mucho talented, she improves my mood every day.

Ruth Powers http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/weblog

Friend, travel companion, award winning quilt maker. Not a daily blogger, but often enough to keep me checking in.

Tommy Fitzsimmons http://tommythematerialgirl.blogspot.com/
She lives an amazingly active life (I'm sure she doesn't sleep), full of people, events, family, travel, quilt making and homes in two areas of the country. Endlessly fascinating.

Laura Nissen http://lauraseverydayblog.blogspot.com/

Who lives in Portland, Oregon, where I grew up in the 40s/50s. Her fantastic photographs, loving family, travels and musings make her blog a daily check for me, though she doesn't post every day.

4. Put links to the blogs. (done)
5. Leave a message for your nominees. (will do)

These bloggers and many more enrich my life and I am continually thankful that I am part of this online community.

The Park Behind the House 12-05-08

I realized that I have never shown you other aspects of the park behind the house. The entrance and exit is off of Palm Ave and the back is right outside my kitchen window. So, it is about length of 14 house lots and maybe 1-1/2 lots wide. It is used by many different people - business people and the mail delivery people for lunch, children with their parents to play on the playground equipment, people walking and playing with their dogs, kids at night in the summer doing all sorts of things, legal and illegal. And it can be reserved for parties, resulting in many birthday events for children and adults. One of my friends had a party for her husband and had a band march in playing marching music. Cool!

Corky and I walk there frequently when he is at Camp Del. We did today, but yesterday we walked at the big park with the little lake, Tri Cities - not so many people there, I suspect because it was rather chilly at 4pm. Corky will be here until Sunday or Monday. We have a coffee date with Liz in the morning.

More Xmas 12-04-08

Yes, it really is a ten foot tall snow globe, but I haven't seen any snow inside (or out). Of course it is an inflatable, so it wouldn't take as much storage space.

And this is the lovely tropical scene to the right of the snow globe with the cyclamen in the foreground. There is a Bird of Paradise flower about a third of the way up just right of the mid line.

Here is the Poodle Papa's ornament for the exchange. The beads are strung on the silver wires before soldering. He has always done something in silver wire, some that are rather plain and some that are very elaborate Wish they had taken pictures of each of the ornaments over the years.

All out for Xmas 12-03-08

This is the first house one sees when driving into Corky's neighborhood and they celebrate every holiday in a big way. They must store all this stuff in a storage unit because there isn't much storage space in any of these houses. The red and white in the lower right corner is a fresh bed of cyclamen, as is the red and white in front of the giant Santa/Snowman snow globe. After all these years, I have never adjusted to flowers blooming amid Xmas decorations. But the red and white seems to fit in okay. Someone (in opposition) has start a thread in the blog world about whether or not it is appropriate to have elaborate outdoor decorations in the current economic climate. There are people in this world who want to regulate everything in every one's life. It is all so silly.

I pick Corky up in the morning about nine so he can stay at "Camp Del" until Monday when his parents return from their family Xmas in the Sacramento area. He and I have had our separate hectic weeks, so we will probably have to take lots of naps. 8o)))

"Roadcut" 12-02-08

My plan for today was to go for coffee in the morning, followed by a stop at Target and then home to sew the rest of the day. However, a friend called me when I was at Target and ask if I could help her out in an emergency. Of course I could - and off I went. By the time I got home again it was 7pm and I was too tired to sew. I went to bed early, so now I am up prowling for an hour or so. Since I didn't get any sewing done, I am showing you a quilt I made in 2004.

"Road cut - Arizona" Del Thomas 2004 34"W x 28"L

Collection of Diana McClun

Just south of Kingman, AZ, there is a road cut that exposes many layers of soil and rock of different colors. It has always fascinated me, but it is almost impossible to take a good picture because there is no shoulder to pull off the roadway. I had several so-so pictures to help me when I was constructing this piece and it is not recognizable as that certain cut. It is the first in a series of road cuts in different areas or states.

It is heavily quilted in what I call 'strata' quilting which can give some interesting effects. I used several different, but closely related, colors of thread. I did the standard binding because I felt it needed an edge to set it off from whatever wall it was on.

A sewing Day 12-01-08

I have been sewing today, on several projects, but nothing is in a state to be photographed. Maybe tomorrow. I have had lots of comments and nice feedback on "Pumpkins", the Ruth McDowell quilt I posted last evening. Although there are artists with several quilts in the TCQC, there are more of Ruth's than any other maker. Several have already been posted over the last year or so, you can click on Ruth McDowell in the Subject list to see them.

Quilts from TCQC 11-30-08

I am an admirer of Ruth B. McDowell and the magical quilts she creates. There are quite a few of her works in the Collection. I feel this is one of her very best and it fits right into this season of autumn and Thanksgiving.

"Pumpkins" Ruth B. McDowell 1998 57"W x 44.5"L
Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread.
Machine pieced. Hand appliqué. Machine quilted.

Using her unique techniques of curved seam machine piecing for the pumpkins and straight seam machine piecing for the leaves, Ruth has created an elegant image of this common vegetable. Her whimsical choices for the background fabric include round orange flowers with green leaves which reflect the color and shape of the pumpkins, shibori, hand dyes, batiks and plaids. For the leaves there are many different fabrics in a variety of greens including a vintage piece with buttons that could represent bug holes, or raindrops. She has make a rather realistic stem by piecing striped fabric together. The only appliqué used is for the bottom circle on the foreground pumpkin. The integrated border implies a frame, but blends into background to avoid crowding the central image.

Ruth B. McDowell and Del Thomas w/Pumpkins quilt in background. Photo by Karen Stiehl Osborn.

Last February a selection of Ruth B. McDowell quilts from the TCQC hung for several months at the Pacific Grove shop Back Porch Fabrics. It was a great opportunity for those attending Asilomar to see the quilts up close and to read what Ruth had to say about them in her various books. Pumpkins appears in "A Fabric Journey: An Inside Look at the Quilts of Ruth B. McDowell" on pages 18 - 21

http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com/

Driving a Day, Resting the Next 11-29/30-08

When I am ready to leave the house in LHC the packing up and getting on the road always takes longer than I think it will. Yesterday I waited for the dishwasher to finish its job so I could turn off the water to the house. Meanwhile I finished packing, cleaning the bathroom, finishing my Thanksgiving blog and doing the checklist on "Leaving the house". I know I couldn't do it without the list, because I don't go out often enough to remember, even if I weren't losing my little grey cells at a rapid rate.

The majority of the drive was at night and I have always loved driving in the desert at night. It makes me feel that I am in a cocoon rushing along in the darkness imagining all sorts of scenery that is only in my mind - tall trees and vast beaches and fantastic castles. This trip started out with the tiniest curl of California gold slipping down to the horizon. And above it was the hard bright glow of Venus, followed closely by Jupiter. They had all retreated beyond the horizon by the time I came to the bright lights of Barstow, Apple Valley, Hesperia and, finally the ocean of lights in the great LA basin. The traffic was heavier than when I drove out on Tuesday, but still not of the density that was common before the gas prices hiked and the economy tanked. Five hours and I didn't see an accident or a Highway Patrol car - which I think is amazing.

Today I unpacked everything, including a refrigerator of leftovers, and took it easy. I'm just not the woman I used to be - I get tired much easier. And now it is after midnight and I am ready to fall asleep.

Fog, Sunset, Xmas Trees 11-28-08

Friday morning was foggy, we could hardly see across the street. It is the most fog I have ever seen in LHC - somehow it doesn't seem right to have fog in the desert. But I suppose it is the moisture from the rain.

The view out the back was even more foggy. Eventually it burned off and the day was very nice with no wind.

By sunset it was almost clear, but the few clouds enhance the sunset.

After our traditional turkey sandwiches for lunch, Annabelle, Sherry and I had our crafty session to make ornaments. Jim's children/grandchildren, all in the Sacramento area, celebrate a family Christmas the first full weekend in December. Some years ago they started an ornament exchange, everyone must hand make their ornament, and somehow I became the inventor/teacher of ornaments for Annabelle and Sherry. Sometimes I use a pattern I find somewhere and sometimes I do something original. This year we made these little 4-1/2" yo yo trees from the Clover website. They are a little on the funky side, but that may be the fault of the stitchers! We made the yo yos the old fashioned way and did not use the Clover yo yo makers. I think the trees are charming with the alternating green and white layers resembling a green tree with snow covered branches.

http://www.clover-usa.com/project_img/CT0039.pdf