Views of PIQF 2010 10-16-10

I'm still feeling sorry for myself because I can't be at PIQF. I don't know how many years I have attended - all of them I imagine. But my friends who are there have been sending back images and I am sharing a few with you.

Gail must have known what the black and white fabric would do - create a sparkle in this quilt. She demos a quilt for anyone who comes to her Saturday event and they are all very special. I wish I lived closer so I could take classes with her, she has lots of ideas and makes great quilts.

Jan Hirth is another quilter/teacher who has a great eye for color and design. She used a Piece O' Cake pattern for this, but added her own unique touch. I may have shown this before when she showed it at Surfside Quilters Guild. But, that's okay, it is worth a second look ...or a third.... or...

Karen is also a quilter/teacher, and a writer, who has good quilting instincts. I'm always attracted to house quilts and this one has a special charm that only Karen could give it.

More Simply Red and Fall really arrives 10-15-10

A few more items for the Simply Red basket. I may have to buy a larger basket as I have more fabric and other items still to go in. Some great things. I may have to bid on this basket myself, I really covet the little red iron.

Look! Fall seems to have arrived. This is the mountain forecast - I couldn't get my camera out fast enough for the "city" and "valley" forecast, but both include rain. We had some early rain this past month but nothing to amount to anything. I hope it doesn't rain on Saturday and Sunday next week because the new Visions exhibit in Oceanside will have an opening plus some special events. I am so looking forward to the weekend, especially now that I missed PIQF.

The Simply Red Basket 10-14-10

"November Fest" will take the place of a regular Surfside Quilters Guild meeting on November 9th. Live auction, Opportunity Baskets, refreshments, live piano music and lots of friendship. One of my contributions to the Opportunity Baskets is to put together a "Simply Red" basket full of red things - including red fabrics - donated by a number of different people.. Some of the fabrics shown are one yard cuts and some are half yard cuts - the big oval dots on the right side is a Dr. Suess fabric from Robert Kaufman Fabrics - neat! Among the other donations are spools of thread, scissors, patterns, pins, even a small red iron! There are many quilts in the live auction and I have my eye on a couple of them. Last year we did "December Fest", but found it was too close to Christmas and that it put too much pressure on everyone involved in presenting the event. We have moved it to November this year - who knows about next year?

Today I took Corky home to his parents and had lunch with his mommy, it was cool in LBeach as the marine layer had not yet moved out to the ocean. But back in Placentia it was hot and a little humid. I dosed myself with Benadryl and cough syrup and crawled into bed for about a five hour nap! Now I am ready to do a repeat - I feel better already.

Being sick 10-13-10

This has been one long hard year of being an "invalid"! Well, not completely an invalid - it just seems like most of the time. I brought a cold home with me early in December of last year and started the year with bronchitis and now it is October and I have it again. I had forgotten that Levaquin (an antibiotic) gave me insomnia previously, so I popped my one-a-day dose about 9pm. Later I went to sleep, but woke up in about 45 minutes and couldn't go back to sleep - no matter which 'go-to-sleep' tricks I tried. I started the day at 6am with only a couple hours sleep, which isn't enough for me. Corky went with me to the Surfside Quilters Guild meeting, he sat in his stroller and let everyone pet him and admire him and praise him. SUCH a good dog. When I went off to do one of my little sideline jobs he would be patient to a point, then I would hear just one piercing bark telling me "get back here, Auntie Del". After a few minutes I would go off again and pretty soon there would be another bark. However, when the meeting started he just curled up in his stroller and went to sleep until everyone started milling around again. He can't hear anything, so his sleep is very peaceful. I thought that once home I could take a long nap, but the computer guru called and wanted to pick up my computers and take them away until Saturday to (hopefully) get them to work correctly. I told him I needed to keep one of the three laptops, so I am currently working on the hateful Fujitsu. I was too tired and grumpy to face my Blog last evening. Sorry.

As I have said previously, my standard treatment for trying to get well is "rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids.... yada, yada, yada". The trouble is that life gets in the way. However, I did lots of resting in the last week and a half, along with a lot of reading. Here is one I recommend:

I have been reading Molly's Blog http://www.orangette.com/ for quite a long time - sometime in 2005. I'm not sure, but I think all of the recipes in this memoir/cookbook first appeared the Blog. I have only tried a few of them - I don't cook much just for me and I haven't entertained in years. It has been fortunate that I have been resting and have Corky's company this past week or I would have zipped out to the market for ingredients. Too many wonderful sounding dishes to choose just one, but if you forced me I would admit that I will try custard-filled corn bread first. Her memoir is happy, sad, funny and serious. Check out her Blog and, better yet, buy her book! If I ever go to Seattle again I will dine at her restaurant, Delancey.

Corky goes home tomorrow. And all my friends in the Pacific Grove area will be going to PIQF. Boo Hoo!

Coastal Quilters QShow - Santa Barbara 10-11-10

This are the last pictures from the QShow in Santa Barbara on 09-26-10

The "ghost flower" at center right adds a nice touch. The butterflies were purchased.

At this quilt show they did have 'white glove' ladies, but each quilt had a clothespin so that viewers could lift a corner to see the back of the quilt. Good idea. My only complaint was having to retouch the photos to eliminate the clothespins! Maybe clear clothespins??

This quilt was my favorite at the show. Besides being ginkgo leaves, it has the most interesting fabrics - reminds me of Ruth McDowell's eclectic fabric choices. I particularly admire the dark blue fabric with white lettering in the lower right corner.

I particularly admire this dark blue fabric with white lettering in the lower right corner of the quilt. I asked Susan if it was Arabic writing, but she doesn't know and doesn't remember where she purchased it. Great fabric.

I think this is a great quilt - colorful, precisely pieced and with a lot to see from a distance or close up. I especially like the cornerstones using International signal flags.

I hope the guy in the lower right corner isn't sinking!

Coastal Quilters QShow - Santa Barbara 10-10-10

Thanks to all for the nice messages - I think I am getting better. But I am just so tired from coughing. Guess I will have to see the doctor tomorrow.

Here are some more quilts from the Coastal Quilters QShow. I didn't take too many and discovered that Liz and I took pretty much the same pictures! I thought I might post some of hers, but will only have a couple more to put up tomorrow evening.

I love that she used Kaffe Fassett prints in this quilt. But I was sad to see that it is allover quilted which flattens not only the quilt, but also the block design. The judges liked it and gave it a blue ribbon, but there was no indication what the ribbon was for.

Very much in the tradition of the Day of the Dead and beautifully executed. Ranell got the colors exactly right.

I noticed that she shows the joints of her hip replacements covered with gold!

This is such a striking unique quilt that it attracted our attention instantly. The border especially sets off the center design and the echo quilting is perfect. Kristin teaches quilting at adult ed.