Christmas Lights 12-11-10

This is the first house when I turn into Corky's neighborhood. Every possible spot has something. They seem to love holidays, I sometimes wonder if they don't really live here but just use it to store decorations for all the holidays in the year!

Here are two palms wrapped in orange lights and topped with green - looks like a coupla' giant carrots, eh? Gathered around the bottom are bright red poinsettias.

I think of these three as Papa, Momma, Toddler snow carolers - but I'm not sure, they are all wearing top hats, so maybe they are all guy carolers.

Corky is here for the weekend, but we drove back to his house in LBeach to give his parents a lift to the Boat Parade. It is a real mob scene every year. This afternoon they (like other people who want to see the parade) drove over to park their car somewhere near the location of the party they would attend after the parade. About 5pm Corky and I gave them a ride to near the start of the parade and then headed home in bumper to bumper traffic - doubled the time of the normal drive. Fortunately, Corky is the perfect traveling dog - he just curls up and goes to sleep! I just poke along listening to the radio. Gorgeous evening - daytime temp was 85F.

Christmas Gifts 12-10-10

Since I was widowed in 1990 the holidays have become more and more difficult, they aren't the same or fun without him. So six or seven years ago I stopped "doing" Christmas. No tree, no decorations, no lights, no parties, no shopping! Gift giving is a large part of the trappings of the holidays and it is impossible to avoid giving gifts to the members of the groups I belong to. I rely mostly on gift cards - Borders, Starbucks, Best Buy. Maybe one year I will be inspired to create handmade gifts again, as I did for so many years, but not yet.

My dear friend Liz made snowmen coasters for her friendship group this year and made an extra one for me. I have a huge collection of snowmen of all kinds, but I haven't unpacked them for years. I will not pack this gift away - it is so sweet and practical (layers of felt) - I'll probably use it all year. Liz and I have coffee every few weeks at Starbucks, so she knows what will be in the envelope I give her for Christmas!

Photo experiment & Rayna Gillman post 12-09-10

Yesterday I had lunch at a local eatery named Rutabegorz which is a holdover from the Hippie food of 1970. The original is in Fullerton, but there are also locations in Orange and Tustin (where I ate yesterday). The food is organic, big on veggies, huge salads, hearty soups and some 'funky' dishes, too. Anyway, I was sitting there with my latte in a Xmas mug, which I think is very cute (it is also very much like a design I did for a quilt about thirty years ago), and I tried a half dozen photos to see what I could do with the very busy background I would get. These two images are the two best, however, they are highly modified. I have found that I enjoy digital photography more and more - it is fun to take a not very great image and use the different functions of a photo program to improve it.

If you are a quiltmaker I hope you will take the time to read Rayna Gillman's Blog for today. She makes some very good points about exhibiting your work.
http://studio78notes.blogspot.com/2010/12/juried-vs-curated-or-invitational-shows.html

Wordless Wednesday 12-08-10

Flock of Parrots 12-07-10

There are a number of locations in SCalifornia that host flocks of parrots that began with just a few escaped caged birds. There are flocks in Arcadia, Palos Verdes, Long Beach, La Habra, Orange and, I suppose, many other places. I am most familiar with those that live in Orange. Some of the flocks are composed of a hundred birds, or more, I once counted fifty flying from one tasty area to another and have tried many times to photograph some in flight. But I am not much of a bird photographer. In the picture above are at least a dozen perching parrots hiding in foliage that is the same color as parrot feathers.

This photo is a cropped, enlarged part of the top photo.

This pair sat in this position for a very long time, but they were way up in the top of a tree and I use a point and shoot camera with limited telephoto capabilities.

This fellow was closer, but he kept playing peek-a-boo with me and this is the only photo that wasn't blurred. All of the towns I mentioned have older neighborhoods with lots of large fruit trees to provide food. They are especially fond of figs.

One of the quilts I purchased at the recent SAQA auction shows parrots in Palos Verdes. I'll show it on Sunday.

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Corky dressed for Xmas + Miscellaneous 12-06-10

Corky received this festive collar cover from Karen in Omaha. He seems indifferent, but all of his people think it is very handsome. Thanks, Karen, you are very caring.

I think this is so cool: http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/03/let-it-be-celebrity-video/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C188311

"Designer Ann" has posted photos she took of quilts in Houston - the winners in both traditional and contemporary categories AND a selection of quilts that spoke to her. Very good images and she gives the title of the quilt and the name of the maker - very considerate. www.designerann.blogspot.com/

A more traditional quilt from TCQC 12-05-10

This quilt was part of the SAQA 2010 online auction. It is more traditional than most of the quilts in the Collection and I originally bought it to give as a gift, but once it was on my wall I couldn't let it go! It is a lovely work of art - precise, gentle, calm.... what other words can I think of. Jenny has wonderful control of her FMQ and selected a lovely subject.

"May Day" Jenny K. Lyon - Granite Bay, CA 2010 12" x 12" SAQA Auction

Jenny had this to say about her quilt, "This piece reflects a beautiful May day when my yard was full of bloom and a gentle breeze was rustling all the leaves and grasses. Radiance fabric (silk/cotton blend), free-motion quilted with silk, poly and metallic threads, embellished with glass beads."

This is the back of the center of the quilt - it is as precise as the front.

Tiniest of seed beads stitched at each intersection.

Jenny's signature on the back.

The sleeve is sheer - I suppose so that all of the back can be seen.