A birthday break from my blog! 09-01-18

It was a lovely day with some unexpected wishes, but no nap.  I am too tired to do even one more thing tonight and must go to bed.  More tomorrow.  Thanks for the birthday wishes.

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Friday Food 08-31-18

My birthday is September 1st and this year I will turn 80 (in just an hour and 15 mins, in fact).  EIGHTY!  I can't believe it, inside I still think I am 24.  But my body and my mind tell me the truth.  It seems that this year I am going to spread out the "celebration" by eating out with friends all month.   Last Friday was the monthly meeting of a small quilting group I belong to - there are only four of us, with one member unable to attend.  We seem to do birthdays very well and this time we went out to Black Marlin, a seafood place in Tustin on El Camino Real.  It has been around for quite a while, but I had never  been there - it is a place for "guys who lunch", rather than "ladies who lunch". Although there were three tables of ladies, all the rest were guys.  

Bonnie always provides the birthday hat and I was quite comfortable wearing it the entire time.  Guess others noticed because as we left about a half a dozen different people wished me a Happy Birthday.  I resisted bragging about how old I am.

Of course we ate fish, since that is the specialty of the house.  Bonnie and Patti each had the shrimp Cobb salad.  It also had a piece of grilled salmon and I had a nibble of that. 

But, surprising everyone, I didn't order salmon, but had the Baja style fish tacos.  Very good, but not as good as the shrimp tacos at Chronic Taco restaurants.  It is surprising how filling these little guys can be and three really filled me up.  However, there was dessert to face.  

 In this group we each bring our own birthday "cake", something we really like; we have had cake, cupcakes, bread pudding, and now pie.  I never eat pie at home, what would I do with a whole pie?  So, I had been thinking about a peach pie from Polly's Pies.  Imagine my disappointment when I stopped at Polly's and they had NO peach pie!  I settled for boysenberry.  Bonnie added the candles, but we couldn't get the matches to light, so I pretended to blow out the candles and made a wish.  

Patti did the honors and gave us each a slice.  She has such pretty hands. 

The restaurant kindly provided plates and utensils.  It was one of the best pies I have ever eaten and I was thankful that Polly's didn't have peach.  Yummy stuff.  Patti took home an extra piece and I later gave a huge piece to my bachelor neighbor.  And, of course, I had the last piece with vanilla ice cream.  Sooo good.  We won't have another birthday in this group until next summer, but there are several other birthday lunches for me coming up in September.  

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Wordless Wednesday 08-29-18

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Sewing Again! 08-28-18

After at least a year and a half I have started sewing again.  Sitting down at the machine (newly cleaned and oiled) I really enjoy hearing that sewing machine buzz again.  

Why?  You may ask and the answer is DEADLINES.  Nothing like some pressure to get the creative juices flowing.  This project is not finished, but will be by the end of the week and I can go on to another deadline.  

"White Camellias"  Del Thomas  2018  21"W x 22.5L

Commercial cottons and batiks, cotton batting.  Fused and machine appliqued and quilted. 

This will be the September monthly mini for Surfside Quilters Guild in San Clemente.  I do a monthly mini every year, some more successful than others.  The goal is to sell lots of raffle tickets at the meeting to add to the income of the guild.   Hope some people like this one. 

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Ten years ago 08-27-18

Always interesting to look back a few years, or ten.  Having all these pictures so easily accessible is amazing, I'm always discovering things I had completely forgotten about.  Ten years ago I was Poodle Nanny to Corky Loos, whose parents are water connected.  They live near the ocean and regularly went to Lake Havasu in Arizona with a great view of the lake.  Now that Corky has gone over the Rainbow Bridge I see his parents very seldom.

But I have a lot of water reflection pictures that I took for inspiration.  I doubt that I will ever tackle anything as complicated as these images, but they do bring back wonderful memories. 

At Monterey Aquarium   09-01-08

At Los Alamitos Bay   08-16-08

And Thanks for all the nice comments about the Terry Grant post, I'm so fortunate to be able to enjoy her quilts every day in my house.  

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Quilts by Terry Grant 08-26-18

The newest issue of SAQA's Art Quilt Quarterly  (Issue 12)  featured one of my favorite quiltmakers.  Terry Grant is accomplished in whatever she does and her quilts are varied and interesting.  She lives in Beaverton, Oregon, and is active in textile groups in the greater Portland area.  Terry was part of the International 12X12 project which produced exhibits that traveled the world and also two books.  It was an outstanding effort on the part of all twelve members.  www.twelveby12.org   

Terry's blog is http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/ where she always has something interesting to say.  She has taken a hiatus this summer, but will, hopefully, be back again soon. 

There are eleven of Terry's quilts in TCQC.  

 "Laurel Leaves"  Terry Grant  2008  12" X 12"
I believe this is the first of Terry's quilts I added to TCQC.  
The black outline is actually the black base fabric with each leaf applied by machine with the tiniest zigzag I have ever seen.  It does not feel like the leaves are fused, but Terry has a unique method of fusing that you can read about on her website. 

"Valentine 2007"  Terry Grant  2007  8.75" X 8.75"

Terry makes a small Valentine quilt and prints copies of it for the Valentine cards she sends out.  She says: http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/search?q=Valentine+2007

"Judith's Garden"  Terry Grant  2007  21"W x 28"L

Such a sweet face that Terry has drawn/painted. 

See what she has to say about this quilt at: 

 http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/search?q=Judith%27s+Garden

"Oregon Junco"  Terry Grant  2007   9" X 9"

Having spent most of my growing  up years in Oregon the Junco was one of the first birds I could identify, although I didn't see them so much in the snow, just the cold, wet, Oregon rain.   Here each snowflake is a white single stitch.  And Terry says:

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/search?q=Oregon+Junco

"Tillamook Rooster"  Terry Grant  2009  12" X 12"

A glorious black and white rooster.  How does Terry know to use four or five different red prints to depict that bright red crown?  The patchy background and sky are great contrasts to this feathered fellow.   Tillamook, by the way, is a town and an area on the Oregon coast that is known for the dairy farms and the milk products they produce; especially Tillamook cheddar cheese.

"Steller's Jay" Terry Grant  2011  12" X 12" 

I have had lunch with several Steller's Jays, they are quite companionable and always interesting in what I am eating.  Like a friend who always wants to try a taste.  This guy has all the attitude of every Steller's Jay I have ever met.  

"All is Transition"  Terry Grant  2007/2009 17.75"W X 21.75"L

This quilt has two completion dates because Terry was not happy with the first finished quilt and decided to do a serious makeover.   I was happy to add this crow to the TCQC bird quilts.   See her comments at:

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2009/11/oh-no-look-what-ive-done.html

"Yellow Bowl"  Terry Grant  2014 10" X 10"

I have recently posted this piece on my Sunday blog.  It is different from the other quilts in the Collection because it is on stretcher bars.  Something I avoid because such pieces are difficult to carry around when I do programs for quilting groups.  But it is so whimsical and has my favorite colors.  It hangs in my bathroom where I see it multiple times a day!  

Here is Terry's post: http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2015/01/last-year-word.html

"Desert Nights"  Terry Grant  2014  23"W X 60"L

I don't think this quilt photographs well, don't understand why not.  It is so evocative of long drives in the desert, obviously something that both Terry and I have experienced.  I always enjoyed driving out to Lake Havasu in the dark, like driving through a long tunnel with little windows of light along the way.  Sometimes my imagination would plant a dense forest of conifers on both sides of the highway.  I don't drive much at night these days so this is a memory of that experience.  Terry talks about it in several blog posts:

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2014/04/blue-two.html

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2014/06/digital-drawing-day-night.html

"At the Market"  Terry Grant  2014  6"W X 8"L

This charming little piece was part of the silent auction at the SAQA conference in Portland.  There were so many great little "quiltlets" that I went completely berserk, but not too far over my pre-set limit.  Here is what I said when I posted this quilt on my blog:

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/last-of-fiberlandia-auction-quilts-08.html

"Douglas Fir Cone"  Terry Grant  2010  27.5"W X 34"L

Always my favorite tree, they grew everywhere when I was growing up in Oregon.  I don't know how Terry managed to made it so realistic looking.  She talked quite a bit about this quilt on her blog, here are two posts:  

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2010/03/quilt-for-oregon.html

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2010/03/working-on-big-cone.html

Or you can go on her blog and find the space on the right sidebar that says "Search this blog", just put Douglas Fir Cone in the box and hit "search" and that will bring up every post she made about this quilt.   I love having the giant fir cone hanging at the end of the hall where I can look at it numerous times a day.  

Del Thomas and Terry Grant at Starbuck's in Beaverton, OR  12-03-09

I have more I want to say about these quilts, but I am tired and need to go to bed.  I'll finish up tomorrow if you want to come back and read more.  Thanks.  

And I did come back and fill in all the info I could.  Enjoy.

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