Rain today 01-23-21

After so many rainless months the weather guys say we will have periodic rain this week. This morning KoKo and I walked in the rain and were very, very wet when we returned home.   Dried him off with towels and the little bathroom heater and changed my clothes.   It was a lovely walk.

Then we got in the car and drove to Starbuck's for coffee.  Not very much traffic. 

 It rains so rarely here I think that people just decided to stay home until it stops.  

By afternoon we just had clouds, but the raindrops lingered.  

Especially on the broad leaves of the Calla Lily in the side yard. v

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Virtual Quilt Show 01-22-21

Last month a friend contacted me to ask if I would submit some quilts for a virtual quilt show sponsored by Gallery Q in Laguna Beach. CA.  Gallery Q at the Susi Q has been a part of the non-profit Laguna Beach Seniors for over 10 years presenting changing art exhibits.  This is their first quilt exhibit featuring work by area quiltmakers, most of whom are members of Laguna Beach quilting groups.  I'm happy to be included even though I am not a member of those groups.  Check out the display at:

https://galleryq.org/featured-art-works/

I found the website a little difficult to maneuver, but if you keep clicking here and there you will be able to see the quilts and information about each one.   I submitted three pieces, but they chose to not include "Oystercatchers", so here is a picture and information about that very old work made in 1996.

"Oystercatchers"  Del Thomas  1996 38'W X 23"L

Commercial cottons and cotton thread and batting. 

Machine pieced and quilted, hand appliqued, fusing.

These are old world oystercatchers (Haematopus Ostralegus) which are found on the coasts and estuaries of Europe, Asia and NW Africa.  This was the fourth in a series of challenge quilts with bird images.  Showing water running off the rocks posed a problem and this is the only solution I could come up with.

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Seed Pods 01-21-21

Liquidamber trees (liquidamber styraciflua) are a common street and yard tree in SCalifornia.  I suppose they are common across most of the USA, I have even seen them in yards in the desert.  I love their natural pear shape, but they are frequently pruned to make them more round.  Don't understand why.  They produce an abundance of burrs (witches burrs, gumballs, spikeballs, etc.) which you don't want to walk on.  These balls are some times used in crafts, such as Christmas tree ornaments when sprayed with metallic paint.  Decades ago when I was a Girl Scout co-leader we gathered bucketsful and tried all sorts of arty projects.   I looked on Google and found lots of these little balls for sale!  And the prices vary wildly.  20 for $5,  40 for $3.32   4 to 5 pounds for $65  or, for high volume users, there are 7 to 8 pounds for $165.  The burrs are very light so that last order would be a huge supply. 

Anyway, the sidewalks in my neighborhood are currently drifted with the burrs after our high winds of the last few days.  I picked up a small basketful to enjoy for a couple weeks.  They are an interesting shape, but now unfortunately remind me of Covis - 19 shape.  

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Great program - Teresa Duryea Wong 01-20-21

Monday evening was the January ZOOM meeting for Canyon Quilters of San Diego and they had one of the best speakers I have heard in many a year.  Teresa Duryea Wong presented a fascinating program about COTTON.  She covered some history, how and where it is grown today, information about American grown cotton, weaving and dyeing, and much more.  Very educational, but so interesting.  Teresa is a journalist, a researcher, an author, and, of course, a quilt maker.  If you ever get a chance don't miss her COTTON presentation.  Check out her website and her blog.   www.teresaduryeawong.com     www.thirdfloorquiltsblogspot.com

This is one of Teresa's quilts uploaded from her website. 

I was amazed when she recognized my name and says she reads my blog!!  So, Hello, Teresa, hope you enjoy this promotion.  It was a great hour.  

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Turning Blue! 01-20-21

 Time for a big blue change.  Maybe Biden/Harris can really "drain the swamp".  

Meanwhile at our house we have banging, creaking, tapping, murmuring, and lots of things blowing around outside.  Huge winds kept us from walking this evening.  Other people were in bad shape with power outages and falling trees.  Fortunately palm trees are very flexible and just bend with the wind.  I was on my way home from having my first Covid vaccine and stopped at a major intersection, just watching the palms toss their heads and feeling the car rock in the wind gusts.  

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Things discovered 01-18-21

I want to make a special card for someone so I dug out my box of miscellaneous fiber postcard materials.  And I found several uncompleted cards from unknown dates. I rather like this one and vaguely remember making it.  The pieces are just fused down, yet to be stitched, and I had done some embroidery details.  I think she needs a leg resting on the branch. The background fabric is from a class on using a gel plate.  It wasn't a technique that thrilled me and I have never used the gel plate again.  Wonder where it is?  The piece is about 6" square, so it could be a mug rug rather than a postcard.   I think I'll finish this and send it on its way soon.  

But not tomorrow as I have PTherapy in the morning and then... Hurrah! ... my first vaccine in the afternoon at the Kaiser Hospital nearby.  The weather forecasters are predicting very high winds so the vaccine site at Disneyland is closed.  Those with reservations there must be really disappointed.  Going through the process of making an appointment is so odious that the thought of doing it again would be overwhelming.  Has there ever been anything as mishandled as this vaccination process?  In this electronic world it seems it could have been a lot easier.

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Cooling down 01-16-21

Well, tonight Blogger is responding to my attempts to post pictures with "Sorry, we cannot post  pictures to your blog."  Don't know if that means just now...  or forever!  I'll check again tomorrow.  I was just going to post something about our summer weather.  It has been over 90 for the last three days with night time temps in the 60s.  But winter will return this next week and we will drop into the 60s for the day time temperature.  

Like a lot of people I am stressed and waiting for "the other shoe to drop".  I suppose that is an old fashioned term as I haven't heard/read it for a long time.  Just stressing over this coming week with the inauguration and the threat of the insurrectionists to our democracy.  Wish there was something an individual citizen could do, but at this point I guess I just need to endure. 

Be safe.  Keep well.  Love, Del and KoKo

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