The only things I have to offer today are a rose and a song. I am going north to stay with Mary for a few days and then we will go to our Empty Spools classes at Asilomar starting Sunday. Today have have been trying to pack and also I have been running around like that proverbial chicken. I always leave too much for the last minute and then MORE last minute things come up. My Lexus has much less of an odor, so I have been trying to figure out where things can fit inside of it. After eleven years and 219,000 miles everything has its very own place in the van. I'm finding out how much smaller this vehicle is. I will try to keep up with blogging, but the only place at Asilomar to get on the 'ether' is in the Administration Bldg and I can't do that in my nightgown. I'll do the best I can! My class is with Pamela Allen and she may keep us so busy we won't have any "chasing around" time - although I usually do anyway.

This is the only blossom on my Mr. Lincoln rose outside the kitchen window. It is one of my most favorite roses, actually it is many, many people's favorite. Such a rich velvety red and the fragrance is heaven - I wish I could attach a little of that to this blog post.

Rather than leave it all alone in my backyard I have cut it, put it in a bud vase and will take it to Mary. The deer eat all the roses where she lives.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Here is another wow of a song from Susan Boyle:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/videos-pics/entertainment/videos/2009/04/16/exclusive-susan-boyle-s-first-ever-music-release-listen-to-it-here-86908-21283593/

Wordless Wednesday - Clivia 04-15-09

Surfside Quilters Guild, a beginning 04-14-09

Today was the first Board Meeting of a new guild - Surfside Quilters Guild is a daytime guild that will meet in San Clemente, CA. It has been a long time in the planning with lots of ups and downs, but some people were determined and had faith that a new guild is needed.

Nancy Ota, the founding President, has made it work. She has also made a fund raising contribution with some of the sales of her newest pattern, "Hang In There, Kitty", going to the guild along the income from a guild workshop she will be teaching on the pattern. The stands, made and contributed by a member, will also bring profits to the guild.

It takes a lot of bodies and a lot of effort to make a guild work. Here are a few of those who will volunteer their time as officers and committee chairs during the inaugural year.

And a few more new Board members hard at work.

I know you will wish us well and we hope you will come to visit and perhaps become a member. This will be only the second daytime guild in Orange County, CA., where there are five guilds that meet in the evening.

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More music for your enjoyment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Monterey Bay Fisherman's Wharf 04-13-09

When I was in Pacific Grove early in March the exhibit at Back Porch Fabrics showed quilts made by Gail Abeloe and her lovely employees. I don't know what the official name is for this type of quilt ["collective"?], however they have always fascinated me. I think this one made by some of the Back Porch ladies is extra nice. If anyone is ever looking for another body to do this sort of thing, give me a call!

Here is a view of all eight segments of the quilt hung together. The pink cast to all these pictures comes from the special lighting in the shop.

Across the top is the photo they based their designs on.

And these are the participants - the list identifies the quiltmakers from left to right. Not all the employees were able to join in this challenge. However, there were many individual quilts also hanging in the gallery.

For individual pictures of this 'collective' quilt see: http://tinyurl.com/dcluru

Ah-h-h-h, The Sound of Music

This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central Station (train). On a Monday morning, with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, a recording of Julie Andrews comes on the public address system singing “Do, Re, Mi.” As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k&annotation_id=annotation_72265&feature=iv

Quilt from TCQC 04-12-09

"Electric Chard" Ruth B. McDowell 2006 40"W x 32"L

Ruth talks about this quilt in her book "Ruth B. McDowell's Design Workshop" Published by C&T in 2007. She had purchased a bunch of rainbow Swiss chard and admired its variety of colors. She started her fabric choices with the bright colors for the strong vertical stems and greens with patterns that reminded her of the leaf texture. To balance them she used a large-scale pattern with checkerboard elements as an integrated border on the top and bottom. The background is entirely cut from a Michael James stripe that looked good with the fabrics she had already chosen. Usually Ruth uses a great variety of different fabrics for the background, but the departure seemed to work in this quilt.

Ruth finds design ideas for her quilts in the most amazing places. I love the crisp contrasts in this piece. The dark greens stand out from the pale background with its varied pastel stripes. Ruth has used eight leaves, but turned one upside down so that it appears there are an uneven number. It seems brighter in reality than in any of the pictures - it is a cheerful quilt.

http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com

Finally unloaded 04-11-09

Oh Dear, I think I have been writing 04-10-09 all day - seems that I lost 24 hours somewhere! I accomplished almost nothing yesterday. Just did one job, took a nap, did another job, took another nap.....! I've heard it said that one cannot catch up with lost sleep, but it always works for me.

The trip to Tulare to show quilts from the TCQC was a really great experience. Lovely guild and an attentive audience - even though all the Show N' Tell was traditional the members seemed interested in the contemporary quilts I showed. I did not even take my camera out of my purse! But members were taking pictures and I hope they will send me some to post on this blog.

This was my last task in unloading. The roll on top is my demo on how I roll my quilts for storage. Underneath are five 'packages' of about eight quilts each. On the bottom are my ancient orange beach towels which have been with me for about 50 years and are used to wrap all kinds of things. I have even used them at accident sites and had them returned all washed and folded! This time they covered the two quilt hanging racks I own, but when packing after the meeting the quilts got in before the racks, so the towels are just on the bottom. Now all the packages are opened and stacked on my cutting table to rest until I do a program on May 14th. I won't be home much between now and then, so I doubt I will need my cutting table.