Friday Feet 10-19-12

One thing Starbuck's has on other Wi-Fi places is their acceptance of people holding meetings in their locations.  I have done it - meeting someone half way between my house and theirs.  The music and the other conversations are always so loud I doubt that anything can be overheard.  These three guys seem to meet frequently at my favorite location - two dressed in business attire and the third always casual, you can see his light colored shoe on the left.  The fellow on the right always jiggles his left foot, a nervous twitch.

A Day at Visions Art Museum 10-18-12

Today was a docent training day at Visions Art Museum.  This event was in preparation for the  biennial exhibit "Brainstorms" which opens on Saturday.  There was a huge crowd of willing volunteers, about fifty, I believe.  I hardly had a chance to really enjoy the quilts, but I will be going back many times before the exhibit ends in February.  I hope you will be able to visit this wonderful collection of quilts.  I will be doing docent duty in December and January.

  Pictures are not allowed inside the gallery, but with so many ladies the quilts were hardly visible.

   

After the training session a group of eight went out to lunch at one of my favorite spots in the area, "Solare".  I didn't take a picture of my chicken sandwich (which was way too salty for me) and have decided that next time I will just order what Beth orders.  This is her seared Ahi salad.  She also had butternut squash soup with a lovely presentation in a very wide brimmed bowl.  I tasted it - delicious.  Her selection always seems more interesting that mine.

Wordless Wednesday 10-17-12

 

Photographer 10-16-12

There are seven or eight quilt guilds in Orange County, CA, and I belong to most of them.  I feel that I am lending support by paying my dues and do occasional volunteer service.  The guild that I go to every month is Surfside Quilters Guild which meets in San Clemente at the Presbyterian Church.  It is a daytime guild so I am not driving the freeway at night.  It is about an hour drive each way, but the ladies are so kind and enthusiastic that it is worth the time and effort to be at the meetings.  I do have a "job",  I am the guild photographer.  I take pictures of members and their quilts, workshop projects, monthly mini donations, the ongoing Block of the Month .... well, just anything that someone wants a picture of or I think would be a good picture for the newsletter and the website albums.   There are other members taking pictures for their own use and one of them, Emily La Mond always sends me copies of what she takes.  Thus the following two images of  "photographer at work".


I need to sit up front to do my job and Emily is always behind me somewhere!  This quilt is by our October speaker Anelie Belden whose program was about Dresden Plate quilts. 

Emily caught me again taking pictures of the Block of the Month - four examples from the last four months.  Everyone makes a blocks for their own quilt and assembles them to put their name in the hat for a drawing in June.  This year the quilt features the lady block by Freddy Moran and sewing tools/equipment. . 

November will be our November Fest featuring a live auction, raffle baskets and a delicious lunch.  You can see what is up for the live auction at: 

https://plus.google.com/photos/100820949047512915903/albums/5791894825372013553?authkey=CIHY0O-Vpp_logE#photos/100820949047512915903/albums/5791894825372013553?authkey=CIHY0O-Vpp_logE

And the raffle baskets: https://picasaweb.google.com/surfsidequiltersguild/OpportunityBaskets2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCP35_ZyXt8q50QE#

In past years I have collected and donated a basket of items all  of one color, but this year I decided to just do thread.  This "Basket of Threads" holds 150 spools of many different types of thread, some spools are slightly used and some are brand new.  I thank Karen Rips for her generous donations from her thread library. 

I tossed in some Superior prewound bobbins, a few machine needles and a box of straight pins.  It would be a good basket for someone who wants to try out different threads.  I imagine the value is in excess of $500 as there are mostly rayon, metallic, variegated and specialty threads. 

Monday Browsing 10-15-12

Whale watching in Alaska (awesome pictures):

http://www.pawnation.com/2012/10/04/whale-watching-tourists-meters-away-from-getting-hit-by-a-giant/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing6%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D215544#page=1

“The Quilt Show” with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims has a new zoom feature and they have posted an amazing quilt done on a long arm by Susan Stewart of Kansas. Check it out and try out their new zoom.

http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/5137

I listened to the interview with Susan speaking about making this quilt and found it fascinating – don’t miss it!  Her attention to detail is impressive. At the end there is a not very nice crack that “she speaks 200 languages and helped invent the Internet” which the writer says is “just kidding”, but I find it just incredibly rude. I think it must be the “voice” of Ricky Tims. Del

New appliances need new cleaning techniques:

http://www.homesessive.com/view/culprit-behind-your-dying-electronics?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing6%7Cdl10%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D217190

AQS winning quilts from Des Moines QShow:

http://www.quiltviews.com/winners-of-the-2012-des-moines-aqs-quilt-show-contest?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Winning%20Quilts%20from%20Des%20Moines%2010/09/2012%2016:44:14

Sweet Alyssum  April 2008

Elizabeth Barton quilt in TCQC 10-14-12

This small quilt was purchased at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles fundraising auction in 2010.   It is one of five of Elizabeth's quilts in the Collection and not even the smallest. 

 
"Village Street #1"  Elizabeth Barton - Athens, GA 2009  15.5"W x 13.25"L 
Hand dyed cotton shibori, rayon and cotton threads, cotton backing.

 
This detail shows the shibori dyeing and Elizabeth's machine quilting.

 
There is no label, instead she has hand stitched her name on the front...

 
...and also hand stitched the quilt title on the front.

 
The back shows the faced binding and the machine quilting.