Traveling tomorrow! 05-01-21

I'll be driving to San Diego tomorrow for the second in person meeting with the art quilters.  I have wondered if I could do it because the darn sciatica has come back.  But I have been taking it easy, taking pills, and doing specific exercises and it isn't quite as painful as it was earlier in the week.   KoKo will visit Nancy and Bud in San Clemente and I will pick him up on the way home.  Can't leave him home alone for the six plus hours I will be gone.  

I've always wanted a yellow car!  But this is definitely not mine!  I probably couldn't even get the clutch engaged!   But I do see this sort of vehicle while driving I-5 to San Diego.  Along with LOTS of Teslas.  Don't know why they are so popular with people who drive LA to SDiego.  I guess if one has a good charge one can drive down and back without stopping.  

Anyway, it promises to be nice weather and not too hot.  

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Flowers again 04-29-21

The calla lilies are so gorgeous this year, I just have to post more images. 

Just elegant. 

That perfect spiral.

Huge, beautiful leaves. 

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Sewing helper 04-27-21

I've been sewing a few fabric postcards and KoKo needs to be close to me, as close as he can possibly get.  I have been leaving him home alone while I do a doctor visit or go out with Carol for lunch.  But this year of togetherness has caused him to believe that I should be available 24/7.  In previous years he has slept on the table while I sew, but now I think he wants to be under the needle!  

He starts out at a reasonable distance.

 

But slowly creeps up closer and closer.  I think he would actually like to be in my lap, but that does not work at all.  As it is, he is in my lap whenever I sit down, except for when I am typing or sewing.  If I am standing at the cutting table or at the ironing board he will lay on my feet!  Too much togetherness! 

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Quiet weekend = Memories 04-25-21

This is the week that in years past I have frequently spent at Empty Spools Seminars in Pacific Grove, CA, at the Asilomar Conference Center.  Due to the pandemic the seminars were canceled last year and again this year.  I have already sent in my registration for April 2022.  Fingers crossed.  After attending every year since 1991 I really miss this annual trek to one of my favorite places.  Most of those years I took at least one week class with Ruth B. McDowell, trying to learn not only her techniques but her method of choosing fabrics.  I think it is intuitive, not something anyone can teach and I certainly didn't learn.  However, I always learned a lot and I suppose I have developed my own "eye" for fabric selection.  But I still struggle. 

 

This is Ruth in April 2011 using her own quilt "Gilia"  (22.5" W X 38.5" L  All machine pieced except for those bright blue dots in the centers of the flowers) to talk about  technique.  The quilt came home with me that year and is part of the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  I especially like the lacy black and white prints she has used in the background - like the dried grass and weeds in the natural meadow where this flower would be found.   Ruth has retired from teaching, but still makes quilts using the extensive fabric library she has collected over the years.  

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