"Autumn Trellis" + Miscellaneous 11-20-09

I like blogs with pictures, so here is a picture that has little relationship to the rest of the post.

"Autumn Trellis" Del Thomas 34"W X 51"L Machine pieced, Raw-edge Applique w/straight stitch edge, Machine quilted. I donated this quilt to the Surfside Quilters Guild Live Auction to be held at their December Fest meeting on Dec 8, 2009.

I'm listening to the website http://www.theradio.com/ - 50's #1 recordings. I am indebted to Anne Copeland for sharing the URL with me in 2008. It is really a strange mix - Nat "King" Cole singing "Looking Back", followed by Phil Harris with "The Thing", then Elvis Presley doing "Don't be Cruel". It is amazing to me that these songs make me feel so good! I was a miserable teenager in the early 1950s and felt that I could never be happy - so how can the music of those years have such a positive effect now? The only conclusion I have made is that they were the high points of my dreary days - the good memories. They remind me of people and places that were happy, if only I had been able to recognize them. Mario Lanza always brings to mind my great high school crush Al Lavarato, who (of course) did not know I was alive. Domenico Medugno singing "Volare" reminds me of the boyfriend I was ready to marry the moment I met him and who turned out to be a teenage gigolo. "Blue Suede Shoes" brings back my closest friend Diane, who I lost touch with 45 years ago, whose boyfriend left his blue suedes under her bed one time. She was grounded forever and her dad nailed her windows closed!! I wonder where she is now. Show tunes take me back to the musicals presented by the drama/music department where I happily worked for four years - strictly behind the scenes. Frequently now when I am doing general stuff on the computer I am also taking a walk down memory lane. Can't do it when I am working on the SQG newsletter - too distracting.

I have to mention my fabulous dinner tonight. I resurrected a container of fantastic butternut-carrot soup from the freezer, toasted a couple TJoe's wheat free frozen waffles, dribbled some lemon/olive oil mix on cold cooked broccoli, poured a glass of Lactaid milk and set out the container of yogurt. It was so good I wanted to eat it all over again. Simple pleasures. I will have to make some more of the soup soon. Maybe I will freeze all of it in individual containers - it seems so much more delicious after it has been frozen for a few weeks.

With the weather getting colder and more humid my arthritis is sneaking back in. My hands in particular bother me. But I have found that the analgesic patches help a lot. I cut a strip off (about 1" x 3") and wrap it around the joint that is killing me. Almost immediately the pain lessens and it works for about eight hours - depending on how many dozen times I wash my hands during that period. Then I just peel it off and put on another. It doesn't even take my skin off. Great stuff. I warned you this post contained miscellaneous stuff!!

Now, back to the newsletter. I can't work on it for hours at a time because my eyesight deserts me and I can't use them at all for a couple hours. It is better to work for about 1-1/2 hour, then take an hour off. I try to look away from the screen frequently and get up and walk around every now and then. The PTherapist says to get up every 20 minutes! She doesn't understand it takes me five minutes to just figure out what I was doing when I stood up.

Words for Wordless Wednesday 11-19-09

Yesterday's leaves are on a liquidamber or Sweet Gum tree like this one. We have not had enough cold nights to make such bright red leaves. These pictures are from 2004.

Wordless Wednesday 11-18-09

The 'hard spots' in life 11-16-09

Psychologists and sociologists frequently come up with lists of what events in our lives are the most stressful or traumatic. Birth, death, divorce, major illness, etc. - all worthy of being on the lists. I have dealt with all of them, not necessarily successfully, but I lived through them. However, it is the daily 'hard spots' that sometimes REALLY annoy me and cause me stress. Like not being able to lose weight when dieting, or having the transmission go out on a car, or (lately) getting lost when I am driving somewhere.

I tend to keep things forever - cheap, I guess - and I carry a heavy purse with all the daily necessities, plus everything I might need in an emergency. Like one rubber band, two paper clips, an assortment of Band-Aids, a compact screwdriver, a tiny flashlight, etc., things I don't think I can live without. With so much stuff one needs to keep it organized. For the last six months I have been looking for a replacement for the vinyl zip bag I have carried for years to keep some of these things organized, because the old bag was almost in pieces. In desperation I bought one that is slightly smaller than the old one. At home I moved everything from the old to the new bag.

I did get everything in - including my last Starbuck's receipt (so I will know how much I have left on my card), my new polka dot magnifier (which ageing eyes now demand) from the Container Store, a raffle quilt ticket stub (in the remote chance I might win something, sometime), lipstick, nail file, etc.

The only problem was that it was so tightly packed I couldn't get anything out without removing half of the contents. I could almost hear the grumbling from people waiting for me to find something and then get out of their way. Poor old befuddled lady, etc.. So, I looked around again and found another, slightly larger, vinyl zip bag and moved everything to that. But it has two zippers that meet in the middle and have tiny zip tabs. I tied some ribbon on the tabs, but I know that eventually it will wear out or just come off. Also the top is "boxed" so things get hung up under the lip and I have to start taking stuff out to get the item I need.

Somehow these little 'hard spots' really get under my skin and I tend to be crabby, grunting instead of answering people politely. I guess the only thing to do in this case is to stop looking and just make a vinyl zip case to my own specifications. Shouldn't take more than a few days - right? Of course, I will keep these two inadequate bags - they might fill a need sometime in the future.

Dijanne Cevaal quilt from TCQC 11-15-09

I like much of Dijanne's work, to the point that I am afraid to look at what she has in her gallery lest I be unable to resist adding another of her works to the TCQC. There are several artists that appeal to me that much. Would that I were a millionairess - I guess I would start my own museum.

This piece does not appeal to everyone, but I think it is very special, and not just because it is in one of my favorite color schemes - acid green and blue-violet. It seems to me that Dijanne has the balance just right in this quilt, something I seem to be unable to do.

"African Inspiration" Dijanne Cevaal 2004 36" square

Dijanne lives in Gellibrand, Victoria, Australia, and travels extensively - curating exhibits, teaching, learning. She has this to say about this quilt: "In the Congo and western Africa you often encounter hand dyed cloth in greens and purples - they inspired this quilt which is hand dyed silk and tie dyes."
Dijanne does a lot of dyeing and experimenting with different methods, techniques and patterns. She has written several books, including the fascinating "72 Ways Not to Stipple or Meander" and "72 More Ways Not to Stipple or Meander". These are available directly from Dijanne on her blog http://origidij.bogspot.com/

See more of her work at: http://www.picturetrail.com/dcevaal

Sundown - Moondance 11-14-09

When I came out of the workshop on Thursday this was the view that greeted me. This photo points NW and shows the back of Saddleback Mountain from Laguna Hills near the shop "A Time to Sew". www.A-Time-To-Sew.com It was quite hazy (or maybe it was fog along the coast), but high up there is a very slight pink tint to the clouds.

In only a few minutes the sun hit perfectly to brighten these clouds - also to the NW. Too bad the utility wires were in the way.

Before I continued driving home NW on the I-5, I stopped at this new quilt shop in Lake Forest, it just opened last weekend in the same location Material Possessions was located for about a dozen years. Their shelves were not full, but they had unpacked a large shipment of fabric and had the bolts set upright, waiting for the price label. Two of the clerks were cutting some lovely fat quarters. Classes will start in January. Looks like they are carrying the same high quality fabric that Material Possession carried. It has been so convenient in the last decade to just slip off the freeway coming or going to San Diego, I'm glad a new shop has opened. They give a discount if you show your guild membership card. I was proud to show my lovely color printed card from SurfsideQGuild - the cards were just passed out at the November meeting last Tuesday, so it was the first time I have shown it. Their website is still under construction but will soon appear at www.sacredmoondance.com