The Poodle Prince stretch 11-06-10

I have frequently tried to take a picture of Corky when he is stretched out, but he always moves before I can press the button. And he did it again last evening. He had his front legs out and his back legs stretched to the limit. I quietly put the yard stick down, stood up and then he scrunched up. He seems like such a little guy, only 12 -13 pounds, but he has a lot of curly hair that makes him 'puffy'. We have had a lovely visit, but he goes home tomorrow. I will miss him, as always.

Today was a nice bright, but cloudy day. So, I took quilt pictures so there will be new quilts from TCQC to show on Sundays for the next seven weeks.

Quilt Show Winners 11-04-10

Two sets of winners from two large, well attended quilt shows.

Road to California doesn't take place until January, but the winners have already been posted.

This quilt was also at PIQF and one of my favorites.

"Crazy Sheep" Winner of $150.00 for 1st Place: Innovative, Wall, Other

Sponsored by Material Possessions Studios

Entered by Debora Konchinsky (Breinigsville, PA United States) 53" x 49" Made by Debora Konchinsky

Quilted by Debora Konchinsky Started in 2008, Finished in 2009 Design basis: Original

Artist statement: I designed Woolly Sheep in cottons in 1998 for my company, Critter Pattern Works.

The concept for this version of the pattern came together when I combined suiting weight wool, sheep's wool, felting and hand embroidery. Check out all the winners at: http://www.road2ca.com/2010winners/road/winners.html

Also online are the winners from Quilt Festival - 2010 taking place now in Houston: http://www.quilts.org/winners.html
Since I am a pledged fan of Jenny Bowker I am amazed that her wonderful quilt was only awarded Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention in the category Art-People, Portraits, and Figures

"Sandstorm Over the White Desert" by JENNY BOWKER of GARRAN, ACT, AUSTRALIA

Wordless Wednesday 11-03-10

Simple humor 11-02-10

When I was out and about today, running errands, voting and getting a haircut, I stopped by Borders to hopefully pick up something interesting to read. I've pretty much devoured everything I had on hand during my bronchitis attack. They have lots of racks of calendars which I perused for a quilty one, but they only had one and it didn't appeal to me. But this rack gave me a smile. "Regional Interest"? I didn't realize this region was so interested in nakedness!

Corky will be at Camp Del starting tomorrow for four nights - I need to get everything done and food stocked up because I cannot leave him alone at my house. He just about barked himself to death when I went out to dinner one evening a number of years ago - poor little guy has never experienced such loneliness when he is at Camp Del. We do go out together, of course, he enjoys the gas station with all the interesting people coming and going, and having the car washed for the same reason. Then there is always Starbuck's on the condition that I have a frappacino and share the whipped cream with him. I took him to the Auto Club once, in his stroller with the top zipped closed. Everyone probably thought I had a grand baby tucked in there. Maybe we will meet our friend Liz for coffee one morning - all three of us enjoy that!

Corky Relaxed 11-01-10

Here is the Poodle Prince languishing out of his boat bed (it is shaped like a boat) on his mother's desk one hot day in August. I love this picture because he is so 'out of it'. It is much easier for him to relax this way when he is home with his mommy - at my house he almost always looks up when I am trying to sneak a picture of him relaxing - even if he is deaf. He is fourteen now and has increasing trouble with accidents on the floor. The vet tried him on one medicine over a week ago and after two days he couldn't keep down anything he ate - scared me badly. Now he is on something different and his mommy thinks he is doing better. My solution is to just take him out every two hours whether he wants to go or not. He still manages to sleep through the night - until about 6am - then he has to go NOW. Trouble is when I get up, so do I. Don't know what we are going to do about that. A friend of a friend has a dog who will only go on puppy pads, which I always thought was silly. However, now I am wondering if I can train an old dog a new trick - hmmm!

I got up this morning feeling like a human being instead of a "sickie" - the bronchitis seems to lay me low for longer periods each time it catches me. This time it started on October 3rd and lasted 29 days. I will never get caught up! But I did finish the Surfside Quilters Guild November newsletter and it was posted today.

http://www.surfsidequiltersguild.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qcGG8c3CmBg%3d&tabid=109&mid=492.

Melody Johnson quilt in TCQC 10-31-10

It has been a long time since I posted a quilt from TCQC and I haven't kept my files updated either. Being sick does that to me - everything gets behinder and behinder. But I am feeling better and I need to photograph the quilts I have added since midsummer so the images are available to post on Sundays. We are supposed to have hot, sunny weather for this coming week and setting up outside to take some pictures is on my agenda

"Quenching Rain" Melody Johnson 2007 16.50" x 16.75"

Hand dye and vintage cottons - fused, hand and machine quilted.

Melody poetically posted the following when she put this one up on her Blog, 11-29-07. "French knots representing the straight down deluge of a great summer rain and the wind whipping around with straight stitches in a swirl. OK, maybe I am getting too romantic here, but the way I have recently experienced the end of the drought has made me think like this. That rain was so welcome and life giving and the days of summer so bright and glowing... well, it had to come out somewhere."

She talked about the thread she used: "A word about threads. I used perle cotton size 8 and 12 for some of the hand embroidery. Or sometimes I use embroidery floss, a single strand or two or three, depending. And for machine stitching, I use anything that looks good, but the majority of my threads are thicker weights, like 30wt. I refer a thicker thread to fill in the space left by each needle hole. Cottons, rayons, silks or polyester. It really depends on the color or the area where it will be seen."

I have always thought of Melody's quilts as "HAPPY" and have been tempted many times prior to purchasing this one. It reached out and grabbed me, I don't exactly know why, but I wrote that very day and said I would buy it. I frequently hang it where I can see it when I am at the computer (the most frustrating task in my life) and it always cheers me. It is more a California rain than an Oregon rain, but it does take me back to my growing-up years outside of Portland. Rain there was just a part of everyday life, whereas here in SCalifornia it is almost always an event.

Visions 2010 Installation photos 10-30-10

When you face the gallery where the Visions - 2010 exhibit is hanging at Oceanside Museum of Art, you see Susan Willen's work "Ordered Cacophony ". It is stunning on a mustard colored wall.

One of the Visions artists, Deborah Bein, too pictures when the artists were allowed to do so before the gallery was open to the public. She has posted these images on her blog. Check them out at http://deborahbein.com/artblog/