Trip to San Jacinto/Hemet 02-13-09

For quite a few years Liz and I have been driving out to San Jacinto/Hemet east of Los Angeles to see the Valley Quilter's QShow. Today was the day and we enjoyed our trip. There was green, green grass, but no gamboling lambs. We were astounded at how much the area has built up over the past two years. There was rain periodically while driving out there and it was only in the 40s, but we stayed dry and warm in the Community Center where the show is held.

"Parker's Suduko Quilt" Cathy Parker/quilted by Marianne Crouch.

This was the first picture I took at the QShow and then my camera ran out of battery - it doesn't hold a charge very long these days, so I think I will have to get a new battery. Or maybe a new camera! I took this picture for my friend Mary, both she and Joe really enjoy Suduko. I'd not heard of a Suduko quilt before and don't know if it is original or from a pattern.

We had some lunch in Hemet and then headed home in the rain. It was quite heavy at times and since it was getting late in the afternoon there was a lot of traffic. Fortunately most of it was going east and we were going west! See the lines of cars on the left hand lanes.

A clear strip of blue sky developed with black clouds both under and over it. It was quite threatening.

But it made a gorgeous sunset. Across the middle of this picture are cars on the 57 freeway north - I took about twelve images and only have this one without a truck blocking out part of the sunset! It was one of the best sunsets Liz and I have seen in quite a long time in this area.

Our favorite sushi chef 02-12-09

Yes, another wonderful meal at Fish in a Bottle- on Wednesday evening.

This is the chef who is usually working on Wednesdays and he rolls a great sushi roll. The hand on the right belongs to a guy sitting at the sushi bar who almost jumped out of his skin when my flash went off. I guess I might have warned him, but how could he not see a fat old lady in a hat with a camera to her eye? Standing right next to him?

The chef is checking that guy's order. You can see the Fish in a Bottle logo in neon behind the chef - in both pictures.

I confess I sometimes eat at other restaurants. This evening I went with my friends Mary and Joe from San Juan Bautista to Marie Calendar's. I don't know how far flung their locations can be found, but they started fifty years, or so, ago in Long Beach as just a pie shop with a Dutch door on the sidewalk where you rapped to alert a sales girl to open the top of the door and sell you a pie. They still have the best commercial pies I have ever tasted, but, you know, pie is a very individual taste. However, to my taste the crust is just right - always - and the fillings fresh and intensely flavored. Of course, I haven't eaten a slice of pie anywhere for about a year. Perhaps I am fantasizing! At any rate, no pie for us tonight, just comfort food - meatloaf, shepherds pie and shrimp and chips. Ah-h-h-h!

Tomorrow (Friday) Liz and I are driving out to Hemet for the Valley Quilter's QShow. It isn't a large guild, but they are quite prolific and make some charming quilts. We especially like to see all the fresh grass and blossoming orchards along the way, plus the gamboling lambs and colts in the green, green pastures. Images from our pasts revisited.

Wordless Wednesday 02-11-09

Asilomar - March 2001

Lovely day + another trip to Visions 02-10-09

Not as many blooming wildflowers or escaped flowers as last year this time, but they are coming on. This is an escapee, a type of ice plant which is extensively planted on hillsides and comes in a bunch of different colors. Seems to me this magenta color is the most common.

Friend Toni Mahoney and I drove down to Oceanside to see the Visions quilts again. I find something new every time I look at them. It always makes me sad as the exhibit comes to an end and I know I will never again see this group of quilts together. The people at Oceanside Museum of Art do such a fabulous job of arranging and hanging, that the experience of the viewers is enhanced by the juxtapositions of the pieces. There are only seventeen days remaining, if you have a chance go to Oceanside to see these first class art quilts.

Noriko Endo quilt from TCQC 02-08-09

"A Walk in the Woods" Noriko Endo 47.75W x 36"L

Noriko is a Japanese quilter who I know from Empty Spools seminars at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. And also because she has had quilts in the Visions exhibit and as a member of the Visions group I am able to meet the artists who attend the opening. It is gratifying to see that she is teaching more and in many respected venues. Her quilts have been in all the major juried exhibits and awarded many prizes. When you have a chance to see a Noriko Endo quilt in-the-fabric take a magnifying glass - you will be amazed.

In 2003 Noriko was the featured artist at one of the Empty Spools sessions, but at the last minute she could not fly over from Japan. However, she sent her quilts to hang in Merrill Hall for the week and also sent two quilts to be auctioned to benefit the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. I was the fortunate bidder on this quilt. Noriko's technique is unique and fascinating. She uses fabric scraps cut into very small bits - maybe 3/8" wide and 1/2" to 3/4" long - she adds a layer of tulle the size of the quilt and then quilts it by machine. She will add additional details and another layer of tulle and do more quilting. Finally, she uses rayon thread to sketch in the details.

When I had the quilt appraised this is the description the appraiser wrote: "This whole cloth composition consists of layers of small irregular shapes of cloth of various colors, layered with tulle, and additional pieces of cloth [tree trunks], and embellished with thread painting to create the image of a forest." She further stated that "the quilting is of fine quality, with even stitching and balanced tension."

Noriko Endo, the quilt maker, does not have a website, however, you can find some sites that include pictures of her quilts by Googling: "Noriko Endo" quilter. If you leave off the 'quilter' you will get sites that feature Noriko Endo the porn actress. Entirely different people!

There is a nice article about Noriko at American Professional Quilting Systems website: http://www.apqs.com/artists_norikoe.php

And she is one of the artists in "Masters Art Quilts" by Martha Sielman, published in 2008 by Lark Books

Diamonds! 02-08-09

More rain today. And look.....

There are diamonds on the weeping birch tree!

Lovely rain! 02-07-09

Since this string of storms coming down from the north Pacific started on Thursday we have added two inches to our total rainfall this year. I think it is now at 6.50 inches and there has been about two feet of snow in the local mountains. I know that people in other parts of the country have endured terrible weather this winter, but I can't help but rejoice in our current rainfall count.

This puddle reflects the clouds and also the trees in the little park behind our house. It is a puny puddle! When I was growing up just outside Portland, Oregon, all the streets in our area were unpaved. Huge puddles developed until someone 'raised the roof' and the county would come fill in the larger ones (with dirt). The lady on the next corner who kept big white geese objected to them filling in the 'pond' at her intersection because her geese enjoyed it so much. She had a mouth on her and the county passed her by. One of the neighborhood boys pushed me into that one once - I was more afraid of the geese than getting wet. They could really bite.

Ominous clouds over Garden Grove on the drive to Long Beach today.

And fluffy white ones piled up over the ocean.

I wonder what type of cloud this is. It certainly indicated fickle winds - perhaps it was involved in the rain spouts over the ocean.... one in Long Beach.