A sewing project 05-25-19

I am practicing sewing again!  I know that I have lost some of my skills by not sewing much for several years.  Fusing, yes; Piecing, no.  I bought a jelly roll at the nice Nimble Thimble quilt shop in Gilroy, CA, and am making a  "jelly roll race" style quilt.  It isn't an actual race, but that seems to be the name for the style.  It is sewing the short ends of each strip to the next until all are in one giant long strip and then folding that in half, cutting and sewing those two strip sets together, and so on.  I have a bit of variation by adding a diagonal spacer between each strip.  

The strips in the box for me to pull them out at random.  This picture doesn't show the variety of colors, everything but black and white.  I pull at random, but if it is the same color as the last one I sewed, I pull again. 

Same deal with the spacers.  There are six different black and white prints. 

I am practicing ripping also, as I sewed a few the wrong direction.  Duh!  I am enjoying this project so much I keep thinking of variations I might try.  Maybe my creative mojo has found me again!  Hurrah!

Of course, I had valuable help. 

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Friday Food - Lunch at Solare near VAM 05-24-19

On Tuesday after seeing the current quilt exhibit at Visions Art Museum in San Diego, Carol and I went to Solare for a lovely, peaceful lunch.  There were no other diners at about 1:30pm, so we had the complete attention of our waiter.  The service was excellent!!

We did not eat dessert first, but I am still struggling with importing pictures into my blog and this is the order they came out.   

My choice for dessert was the raspberry tart and if I hadn't been in hog heaven I should have taken a picture of the inside.  It was a creamy filling, almost like zabaglione - delicious.  And their dessert presentations are always so artistic. 

For my actual lunch I had lamb lasagna, which I have never eaten before.  Very nice and enough for my dinner the next evening.  

Carol chose chocolate salame for her dessert.  I have had it before and it is exceptional with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

And for her lunch Carol ordered the Chicken Piccata.  She let me have a taste and it was lovely.  Lots of nicely cooked veggies. 

It rained while we were inside, but when we were finished the rain had stopped and the sun was trying hard to break through. 

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KoKo and flowers 05-22-19

KoKo's official 5th birthday photo   05-20-19

African Iris in the neighborhood - they are almost a weed around here. 

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Peonies 05-21-19

Trader Joe's is having their annual Peony Spectacular and I couldn't resist.  They don't last very long as cut flowers, but they are so lush and colorful they are worth the cost.  This year all my store has is this salmony color.  Too bad they don't have a fragrance, but then that might be too much! 

This blossom is open to show the lovely gold threads inside.

The center top one in the group picture has already fallen apart.  Short lived, indeed. 

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KoKo turns five years old 05-20-19

I have some pictures of him in his first year, but can't figure out how to post them here.  I am still working on it -  check later.  11:49pm

No luck and it is almost 1am.  I'll try again tomorrow night. 

He has had a Happy Birthday and he is tired.  

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Revisiting a quilt by Charlotte Bird 05-18-19

This quilt was exhibited at Visions Art Museum in 2005 and I added it to the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  The background is black, but the photography has faded it to grey.  The stones are fused.  The quilting is outstanding; the red lines extend from the top and one side of the quilt and meander around the stones to exit at the other side.  The change in value of the stones creates a three dimensional effect.  

"Porous Squre"  Charlotte Bird - San Diego, CA  2003  38"W x 37"L

Cotton fabric, batting, and thread.  Fused.  Machine quilted. 

Charlotte Bird with her quilt at Visions Art Museum 2005

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