Illness still dragging on 12-27-16

I'm hoping this is not going to be another of those years when I am sick all winter.  I feel better, but am still coughing and still no energy.  KoKo and I go for a walk every morning and most afternoon/evenings.  But sometimes the evening  jaunt is too much for me.  I still don't have a good jacket so I am still layering, which works pretty well except when the wind is blowing as it has been this week.  I'm going to check on some online companies, though having to return things that don't fit is on the bottom of my list of favorite things to do.  I don't want to go out into the crowds at the mall or even the big box stores because my resistance to germs might be too low to protect me.  It's miserable to have to consider every breath, isn't it?

We have had warmer weather in the 60s the last week and promises that will continue though it will rain on Thursday. 

Thanks to all who have made comments or sent e-mails.  Being confined at home can get pretty lonely, though I do check on Facebook every day to see what everyone else it doing.   I enjoyed Teresa's annual cookie delivery, she is such a good baker and friend.

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It was a very quiet day here in Placentia, CA.  The temperature was cold (for this area) at 41 this morning at 8am.  KoKo and I walked despite the cold - he doesn't seem to mind at all.

 

Good friend Liz Williams brought Christmas dinner and I enjoyed every bite.  What a friend!

 

Since I gave up celebrating Christmas I have at least put a wreath on the front door - if only for the enjoyment of the mail carrier.  But this year I just wasn't up to doing much of anything, so this wreath is from a previous year.  I am feeling much better today and hope I will be back to my busy schedule soon.  With more interesting blog posts. 

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Christmas Morning and Santa sleeps!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and

a Joyful, Prosperous 2017.  Del

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A Christmas gift 12-22-16

What more could we ask for?  Rain in SCalifornia is SOOOO welcome.  Of course, in some areas where there have been wildfires there are hopes that it will continue to be a gentle rain.  Mud slides are at least as damaging as the original fires.  So far our area has about 1.5inches.

 

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Still Sick! 12-21-16

Can you believe it?  I still have bronchitis - since November 10!  I've done all kinds of pills and some different Inhalation Therapy, but the doctors say that rest is the most important thing.  So, I have been resting.  However, people who are resting have nothing to talk about!  KoKo is good company, but he doesn't say much besides, "Bark, bark, bark."

Here is a photo for Wordless Wednesday, even though I am talking tonight - I needed it.

Long Beach - Marine Stadium - January  2013

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More Christmas Trees 12-14-16

A stuffed tree by Marjie Butterworth -2012

Polka dot tree by Susan Adams - 2012

Appliqued tree

 

Flannel tree with seams to the front.

Pieced Tree

 

Another version of pieced tree.

 

 Sue Spargo tree - wool applique

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Oh, Christmas Tree 12-13-16

We start out in kindergarten learning the symbols of each month and they stay with us throughout our lives.  To me the Christmas Tree stands for December and I was realizing today how many variations on the Christmas Tree are in our quilting work.  Here are just a few from my photo files.

 

Bargello tree by Johanne Gibson

Snippets tree by Joanne Gibson

This is a commercial pattern sold a few years ago.

Pieced Christmas trees by Barbara Ann Christensen.

The basic Christmas tree by an unknown quiltmaker.

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Monday Browsing 12-12-16

Demo of lithography:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161207-a-hypnotic-video-of-a-rare-art-form

Knitting fascination:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131127-where-knitting-is-blockbuster-tv

Textile preservation trips:  http://embroidery.about.com/od/Embroidery-Resources/tp/Top-Five-Textile-Preservation-Tips.htm?utm_term=Fiber+Artists&utm_content=p1-main-3-title&utm_medium=sem-rel&utm_source=msn_s&utm_campaign=adid-7a9f69f5-7416-43a9-8ee2-a6381e128df8-0-ab_mse_ocode-23774&ad=semD&an=msn_s&am=exact&q=Fiber+Artists&o=23774&qsrc=6&l=&askid=7a9f69f5-7416-43a9-8ee2-a6381e128df8-0-ab_mse

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San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

A truly unique small art collection in Downtown San Jose devoted to the preservation of historic quilting traditions and evolution of fiber arts. The designs and craft process often feature contemporary social and technological themes.
Address: 520 S 1st St, San Jose. Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 12am to 5pm. Admission: $8. Seniors/Students: $6.50, Children 12 and under, free.

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VISIONS ART MUSEUM: CONTEMPORARY QUILTS AND TEXTILES

2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92106     619-546-4872

 October 15 — January 8, 2017   Breakout: Quilt Visions 2016

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KoKo is good company 12-10-16

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Friday Feet 12-09-16

 

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Sushi for dinner - yummy 12-08-16

It has been a month since I ate sushi and usually I have it about once a week.  So, I was delighted when Carol and Dick wanted to have dinner at Fish in a Bottle.  It was a delicious meal and the company was great, but it was also very tiring.  Guess I'm not completely well, yet.

 

 

 

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Monday Browsing (on a Tuesday) 12-06-16

I was feeling well enough yesterday to take a trip to SDiego for lunch at VAM.  It was a chance for the volunteers to get together and visit.  They all work alone at the desk and never have any time to visit.  I took my friend Bette Bradley who has been needed an outing.  We enjoyed ourselves even though it was very low key.   By the time I arrived home, picking up KoKo at the sitter's at 5pm, I was exhausted.  I took a nap, ate some dinner and then went to bed - not waking up until 8am!  I guess KoKo had a busy day also because he slept all that time too.  Anyway, I still have a bit of a cough at times, but not so deep or so painful, so I guess I'm on my way to being well again.  Fingers crossed, eh? 

 

Since I didn't post last night I am giving you my Monday Browsing today. 

Lots of tutorials on line, if you just know where to look. Type into your search box “tutorials quilt bag patterns”, move down to “Web Results” and start clicking to find hundreds of patterns.  Same for any tutorial you are seeking. 

Here is Sarah Smith’s facing technique:  http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/?p=532

If you make a coaster and add a space for a cookie it becomes a mug rug:

http://www.allfreesewing.com/Dining-and-Kitchen/13-Free-Mug-Rug-Patterns-and-Placemat-Patterns

Bird quilts from a challenge:

http://play.smilebox.com/SpreadMoreHappy/4e4451304d54497a4d7a633d0d0a

Article about thread from Superior Threads:

http://www.superiorthreads.com/blog/2014/11/thread-labels-what-theyre-really-telling-you/

Bag making – many laws have been passed to eliminate the use of plastic grocery bags.  This is a good opportunity to make fabric bags as gifts for the holidays. Here are just two ideas.  http://www.morsbags.com/get-involved/pattern-download-links/

http://www.bijoulovelydesigns.com/2010/05/market-tote-tutorial.html

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Revisiting a quilt from 2009 12-04-16

Here is a post from 08-16-09.  I have always been especially fond of this quilt - atypical of what was happening in "art quilts" at that time.  And it has a nice story! 

I don't know why I had such a hard time cropping these images. What I think is perfect doesn't come out the same when I 'file' the image. So, I am showing an un-cropped and a cropped image of this quilt.

 

"Tall Trees" Bonnie Jean Thornton - Yachats, OR 1995 21"W x 72"L

[NOTE: Yachats, a chrming beach village, is pronounced "YAH - HOTS"]

"Tall Trees" Bonnie Jean Thornton - Yachats, OR 1995 21"W x 72"L

In the summer of 1996 I drove down Hwy 1 from Seaside, OR, to Mendocino, CA. Before this drive my uncle and aunt had driven me down I-5 at night to see the "Electric Horses". These temporary neon sculptures were located on private land (in the style of Christos fabric works) and lit only at night. It was enchanting and now one of my favorite memories of these loving relatives. A few days later as I drove south I had just a glance of a horse by the same artist outside the (now defunct) Triad Gallery in Seal Rock, OR., and I quickly found a place to turn around so I could more closely see the horse. It happened that the gallery was having their annual textile show - did they know I would be coming? This depiction of tall trees along the Oregon Coast is described by its maker,

"A found piece of fabric printed with forest giants, coupled with cottons and cyanotype prints compose this piece. It is hand and machine quilted and has an embellishment of hand couched yarn. Being a child of the [Pacific] Northwest, I have always been awe struck by the majesty of the huge old trees. This quilt honors them."

I also am an Oregonian and I could not resist this interesting quilt. The first thing is that she used one of what I always thought of as the ugliest prints ever made that came out sometime in the 60s. There were a number of different images and I suppose the trees were the least offensive. Several friends had these fabrics on stretcher bars over their sofas - I always sat on the sofa!

Bonnie Jean combined an assortment of fabrics including some of her own cynotypes, hand-dyes and shibori, along with the Nancy Crow fern print. I like the subtle additions of texture and color with the couched rusty hued yarns.

And her hand stitches to depict the rain. Hand stitching of this type was not so common in 1995.
 

The khaki and white shibori fabric creates additional trees and shadows - very cleverly used.
 

An integrated border of muted color seems to show the cratered bark of the Douglas fir trees that are native to the Oregon coast.

I have not seen any work by Bonnie Jean since about 2005, I don't know if she is still making quilts. Prior to her 1980 venture into fabric she was a watercolor artist and sold her work in galleries along the coast. One of her quilts was in Quilt National -1987.

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Friday Feet 12-02-16

Looking back a few years 11-30-16

I did a road trip to Montana in 2012 driving through a lot of open country (Big Sky Country, you know), but I also saw a few old towns.  Butte, Montana, was a surprise, the oldest part of town rI took these pictures was almost deserted, but an attempt to show some history has been made.

 

Who knew sheep shearers have a union?  There were lots of sheep in fields around.

 

 Many mine headers with signs giving their active dates.

 

This chain link fence adorned with coffee mugs was a mystery.  They are firmly attached with the plastic, no-slip, ties used to bundle bunches of wires.   Reminds me of the bridge of keys in France.

 

An old building with vacant lots on all sides, spruced up and tidy with a large lilac tree.

I admit to thievery - made the car smell lovely.

 

 Way up on the top of the hill were these two restored houses probably built in the early 1900s.  Out of the older area are lots of suburbs of more recent vintage - it is just a regular town, after all.

 

KoKo and Friends 11-29-16

KoKo doesn't ignore his friends, he just prefers Froggie.  He tore an ear off of donkey today, so I will being surgery again.

 

 

I'm beginning to think I will have bronchitis for the rest of my life.  Still four days to go on the medications and who knows on the inhalation therapy.  I have tried not talking today, if someone calls I just say "I can't talk, you do the talking."  Works okay so far.

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Rerun of quilt in TCQC 11-27-16

I thought I could photograph a few quilts today, but we had sprinkles off and on, so I gave up on that idea.  Here is a quilt originally posted on 04-12-09.

"Electric Chard"  Ruth B. McDowell  2006  32"L x 40"W

Machine pieced and Machine quilted. Cotton fabric and thread.

 

Ruth talks about this quilt in her book "Ruth B. McDowell's Design Workshop" Published by C&T in 2007. She had purchased a bunch of rainbow Swiss chard and admired its variety of colors. She started her fabric choices with the bright colors for the strong vertical stems and greens with patterns that reminded her of the leaf texture. To balance them she used a large-scale pattern with checkerboard elements as an integrated border on the top and bottom. The background is entirely cut from a Michael James stripe that looked good with the fabrics she had already chosen. Usually Ruth uses a great variety of different fabrics for the background, but the departure seemed to work in this quilt.

Ruth finds design ideas for her quilts in the most amazing places. I love the crisp contrasts in this piece. The dark greens stand out from the pale background with its varied pastel stripes. Ruth has used eight leaves, but turned one upside down so that it appears there are an uneven number. It seems brighter in reality than in any of the pictures - it is a cheerful quilt.

 

Real rain in SCalifornia 11-26-16

Yes, we had a lovely rain today, off and on since morning, and more is predicted for tomorrow.  With our five years of drought, which has killed many trees and a lot of lawns, we are happy for all the rain we can get.  Hope it is all gradual lest the burn areas will have floods and mudslides. 

I am on my second round of treatment for the bronchitis, refilling all my prescriptions today.  I hope this will do the trick as I am sick of being sick!  Fortunately I don't have much on my calendar for the next week, so I can stay home and GET WELL.

 

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Friday Feet - 11-25-16

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/fashion/the-50-best-shoes-from-nyfw-spring-2017/ss-BBweUHY?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp#image=45

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day 11-24-16

T

Another view of Lake Havasu, AZ,  Thanksgiving Day 2008

It was a quiet Thanksgiving here in Placentia, CA.  I do miss the beauty and calm of Lake Havasu, but since Corky died it just isn't the same out there.  I do hope to go out some day this winter for a sewing session.  Getting away from the every day things seems to allow me to accomplish more.  Of course, if I figure in packing, driving, unpacking, etc., it probably would behoove me to stay home and concentrate. 


I continue to improve but am still on medications for another week.  Don't want to spend the entire winter with this bronchitis thing.
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Wordless Wednesday Lake Havasu 2006 11-23-16

 

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They can't leave things alone! 11-22-16

I find it frustrating to always be faced with changes online.  Now the blog info pages are different and the statistics are different.  Old fogies like things to stay the same - saves on thinking time!

I am much better, but still on the inhalation therapy.  KoKo and I walked both morning and evening, but it is getting cooler and I need to see what I have in the back of the closet to use for a jacket.  Or I may have to go out and buy one.  My least favorite thing to do - shop!

Hearing about all the heavy weather in the northeast makes me think of some of the places I drove this summer and how different they must look now.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to take that drive in the winter time.  Br-r-r-r.  I hope you are all safe on the highways.

What do these cows do in snow?  I know that range cattle just suck it up, but surely there aren't enough barns to house all the others.   These are in NW Massachusetts.

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Monday Browsing 11-21-16

Not much browsing done lately.  I seem to have fallen off of some of my lists and will have to do some exploring to get back on them.  I am feeling much better, but still on inhalation therapy and still coughing if I recline.   I picked up KoKo today from his care giver.  She is so nice to him and he loves it.  She must have worn him out though, because he has been sleeping since about noon.  We'll try to go for a walk in the morning.  We had a nice rain and expect some sprinkles next week.  Gosh, we'll probably have weeds for Thanksgiving! 

Hollis Chatelain discusses her work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293h1zjLu8Q&feature=youtu.be

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Quilt by Karen Rips added toTCQC

This is the last quilt I purchased from the SAQA 2016 online auction.  I do love Karen Rips' work.  There is a subtlety of expression in each of her pieces and this one spoke to me.  Tundra is defined in a dictionary as:

 

"A cold, treeless, usually lowland area of far northern regions. The lower strata of soil of tundras are permanently frozen, but in summer the top layer of soil  thaws and can support low-growing mosses, lichens, grasses, and small shrubs." Although I known that Karen has been to lands where tundra is found, I have only  visited in books and movies, but I have a feeling for tundra and no desire to see it  in the flesh.  The absence of anything familiar is some how frightening to this city girl  from California.  And yet I like looking at the emptiness in this little quilt. The texture is unique, a technique created by Karen using silk with wool batting.   Very flexible,  I imagine it would make a soft, warm, lightweight bed quilt.  But I  will enjoy having this special look at tundra on my wall. I wish you could all feel it in  person. "Tundra"  Karen Rips - CA, 2016  12" x 12" Whole cloth, soy waxed, discharged, wool batting, hand and machine stitched. The black behind the red is in the fabric, the red is stitched. A little swatch of lichen. Necessary info on back. The back is plain and knife edged.  #   #   #

 

Sorry, I've been sick 11-19-16

The very next day after I wrote "dark days" I came down with bronchitis - again.  I guess I just need to be prepared to go through this every year.  It's the pits.  Mostly it is coughing until I am sick with it.  Can't lay down or even recline without making the coughing worse, so I sleep upright in the recliner.  I have been napping and reading and taking pills and doing inhalation therapy and, of course, coughing!  Haven't been able to sew because the inhalation gives me big-time jitters, but maybe tomorrow I'll try again. 

KoKo is staying with Dee and Ed - bless them for their kindness to the little guy.  I would not have not been able to walk him, but he is coming home on Monday and I'm hoping I will be up to the two walks each day.  If not, he has to settle for walks limited to the back yard. 

I see the doc again on Wednesday and  hope I can get off the steroids.  I hate taking them, but they seem to be the only thing that works. 

Weeping Birch





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Black days 11-10-16

I am so far in the dumps I can't think of anything to write about.  I may consider wearing all black as long as Trump is in office.  The speculation about his cabinet just adds insult to injury. 

I need chocolate daily.   Del

Wordless Wednesday - San Diego Harbor Left to Right 11-09-16