Council meeting 07-10-10

Today Surfside Quilters Guild hosted the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds at our meeting place in San Clemente. I don't know if there are quilt councils around the country, but there are two in California - Northern and Southern. The SCCQG holds quarterly meetings hosted by one of the 90 or so guilds that compose the membership - from the Mexican border north to about San Luis Obispo and from the Pacific Ocean into Nevada. Today's meeting was the highly popular "Meet the Teachers" meeting where about 25 teachers/lecturers have three minutes to present their offerings. They each have a table to show their quilts and garments before/during/after the formal meeting. The best thing SCCQG offers is low cost liability insurance for the guilds - something that is required by almost every venue - that is affordable for even the smallest group.

Naturally, food is required! Our guild under the direction of volunteer LeAnn Goettel and with the help of our hospitality committee organized everything beautifully.

There were orange juice, coffee and tea. Plates with a slice of delicious quiche, a slice of pumpkin bread, a bar cookie (missing on this plate), and a cup of granola topped with a sweetened yogurt and fresh California berries. All very welcome to those who had driven for hours to reach the meeting location. I don't know how many plates were prepared, but there were very few leftover.

This is Mary Tabar from San Diego sitting at her table with her quilts spread out and hung. These photos are those that turned out rather than a recommendation for the speaker. Since the tables were in front of the windows the incoming light ruined most of the images.

Cathy Van Brueggen is an Orange County quilter who does lovely hand applique.

Marcia Stein works from photos she takes during her travels. She lives in San Francisco.

Karen Brow has years of experience in textile design and creates wonderful applique patterns.

Terry Waldron, another Orange County quiltmaker, has shown in many national exhibits.

Monterey Peninsula QGuild QShow 07-09-10

It has been almost a month since I drove north to see the Monterey Peninsula Quilters Guild Quilt Show, which occurs every other year. They have some excellent quiltmakers in their membership, so there are always interesting quilts. Three of these were started in Ruth McDowell classes and the fourth uses designs from one of Ruth's books. I enjoy seeing the final outcome of quilts that have been started in a class I was part of. Amazing results come from Ruth's classes and students who have never designed their own quilt are 'over-the-moon' with the results. Rarely someone completes a top in class, but they are always small works. The best way to start out on a new technique is to complete as much of the quilt in the class when the teacher is there to assist if you need it. Nice to see that some of these quiltmakers have received ribbons for their work.

The Goslings 07-08-10

These are the goslings yesterday's Canadian Geese were protecting from my invasion. I was on the opposite side of the cyclone fence, but I guess that was still too close. You can see how much these guys/gals have grown in two weeks if you look back at my blog for 06-26-10: http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2010/06/canadian-geese-06-26-10.html

I guess they are teenagers now.

Wordless Wednesday 07-07-10

Coffee on July 5th 07-06-10

Corky and I met our friend Liz at Starbuck's yesterday morning. It was overcast and cool, which may be why there were so few people on that huge patio. Corky was excited to see Liz waiting for us, just like the last time. I don't know why that surprises me, he can have friends also, right? He looks so serious here, I think he looks older! He will be fourteen the end of July. Notice that he is wearing his red/white/blue bow attached to his collar.

Liz came with two Bachelor Buttons stuck in the side pocket of her purse. She picked them in her yard as she was leaving and she doesn't remember ever planting them! Could be bird-plantings, I suppose. I had never seen anything but a blue variety of this flower, so I looked them up on Google and found they come in even more colors - blue, pink, red, white.

They are very interesting to look at in detail - a halo of tiny blossoms around a fuzzy center and the back of the flower looks like it is set on top of a tiny pineapple. I don't know why I like this picture so much - I find it very pleasing and I suppose it is the colors and the texture combined. The lady in the intense blue shirt sort of balances everything. And maybe fact that the picture is out of alignment makes it even more interesting. I usually try very hard to line everything up vertically and horizontally - in this case I didn't and I couldn't straighten the image lest I cut off the pink Bachelor Button. Good to learn something every single day, isn't it? Keeps one's brain sharp.... or at least not so dull.

Kristin La Flamme quilt from TCQC 07-05-10

I realize it isn't Sunday, but, since it is the final day of a holiday weekend, it seems that way to me. So, here is the "Sunday" quilt for this week. .

"Village Series #7: To Be Uprooted" Kristin La Flamme 2007 12" X 12"

This quilt is from the first (I think it was) SAQA online auction in 2007. I admire Kristin's work and wish she had more time to devote to it, but she is a mother of two and an Army wife who must pack up and move house periodically. When she made this quilt she was living in Germany, but now resides in Hawaii with husband (aka: Mr. IBOL) and children. I have another of her very small pieces in the Collection.

Kristin has used a variety of techniques in this piece. The row of stamped houses across the top is carried over from previous quilts in the series. The roots are mono printed with brown on white fabric with shiny silver vertical lines. On the left side is a row of pieced 'geese' with interesting print fabrics here and there - a kitten, a map, a plane and paratrooper; the bottom green 'goose' with the leaves is so familiar to me, I wonder if I had a skirt made of that fabric decades ago. On the right side the row of 'geese' appear to be done with a stencil and paint sticks. She has hand 'seeded' the quilt with seed stitches along with machine quilting.

You can see more of Kristin's work on her website http://www.kristinlaflamme.com

Or following her life, family and work at her blog http://kristinlaflamme.com/musings/

She is also a member of the online group Twelve by Twelve http://www.twelveby12.org/

Read the Twelve by Twelve blog at http://twelveby12.blogspot.com/

Surfside Quilters Guild newsletter 07-04-10

I am doing another year as the newsletter editor for our new daytime guild, Surfside Quilters Guild which meets in San Clemente, CA, (about 45 -60 minutes south of where I live). I decided that since I have spent so much time over the past year learning how to use Publisher and how to do a newsletter online, it would be a good use of all those smarts to continue. So, I will be working at it until next April. I read my blog post of July 4, 2009 http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2009/07/our-233th-birthday-07-04-09.html

and thought about how much I have struggled since then, but it has, overall, been a good experience. The latest edition was posted this evening and you can check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/32qczkb

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Fourth of July at Avalon, Catalina Island 07-04-10

While Corky stays with his Nanny his parents enjoy the holiday weekend on Catalina Island. You know the one from the song: "26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waiting for me." It is actually a bit further than 26 miles, but I suppose that fit into the song better.

Corky's daddy sent these pictures taken with his cell phone. The first is off the back of the boat on the way over on Friday. It was overcast that day and remained pretty much the same for the weekend.

Many boating people go to Catalina for this holiday as you can see from all the boats in the harbor. One needs to have a mooring reserved before leaving the mainland - they are rented by people who take their boats over often.

About 1pm on the 4th there is a parade with golf cart "floats"and the USC marching band. As you can see, most people on the island line up to see it. Behind them there are beach towels laid out to reserve a spot on the sand, although today was not a good sun tanning day.

Sherry, Corky's mommy, was "layered" in all the clothing she took with her. The top temperature was about 60F. "June Gloom" is creeping over into July.

Gates at Spinnaker Bay 07-03-10

Maybe ten years ago the developer built the second section of these elegant zero-lot line homes. Each house has one side right on the line and only a very narrow passageway on the other; the area outside the fence/gates is community property and everything inside is the responsibility of the homeowner. Most have a private gardener to take care of their tiny yards. All the houses have small patio areas in back facing either the greenbelt or the water.

Most of the newer houses have gates which gives them a very private feeling.

One of the local Realtors puts a flag at the curb/driveway of every house for Fourth of July weekend.

Bougainvillea is quite lovely growing over the arch, but, as you'll see below, someone must keep it trimmed. It has vicious thorns which made me vow when we moved into this house that I would never grow it in my yard again!

This one hasn't been trimmed in a very long time!

This one is a very unusual color. There is an white flowering oleander trained as a tree to the right. Both require attention to pruning and shaping.

Here is a bougainvillea that has good Western exposure and blooms most of the year. They also keep it trimmed.

This gate with alternating straight and wavy bars has a northern exposure so they don't get as many blossoms as other bougainvilleas. The plaster dog with a basket in his mouth is a favorite porch decoration in this development.