Will skip a day~ 01-05-23

KoKo and I went to an open house in San Clemente on Sunday.  This is the old fashioned "open house" which is a get-together with friends for the purpose of visiting and eating and having a good time.  NOT the real estate open house to show a house that is for sale.  I explain this because when I used the term two different people said "Are you looking for a house?"   So, depending, I suppose, on one's age the term has a different meaning. 

This was the annual event hosted by Nancy Ota and family.  It is partially a potluck, but Nancy provides quite a few dishes herself.  I always take a box of See's, but this year I also took an assortment of olives from Whole Foods "Mediterranean Bar".  There are offerings other than olives and I bought some tiny red peppers with a vinegar/sweet flavor.  I thought they would be festive with the various greens of the olives, but they were also delicious!  They are at the center of this picture between the salmon and the spare ribs.  

There were Japanese foods and Anglo foods.  

Sashimi  on ice. 

Many kinds of sushi.

And much, much more.  I ate a little of everything - so delicious. 

Will not write tomorrow night when I am in San Diego.  Trying to travel a little lighter and won't take my laptop.  

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Wordless Wednesday 01-04-23

 

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Tree Hugger for life! 01-03-23

Trees have always held a place in my heart, perhaps because I spent my childhood mostly in Oregon where there were oh-so-many-trees.  I do take pictures of trees wherever I go. 

Some trees are "decorated" like this one in Santa Nella, CA, with a flock of blackbirds.  

Or maybe in flower like this one in Tustin, CA, at a Starbuck's drive-thru. 

The almond trees along I-5 in the Central Valley of California are usually blooming when I drive up to Pacific Grove for the Empty Spools workshop in March/April.  They soon won't be so plentiful as many orchards are being torn out because almonds take an excessive amount of water and water is just not available since the drought started.  Lots of tumbleweeds piled up against the wire fence.  

I do love palm trees and there are so many different varieties.  These grow along Pacific Coast Highway (101) along my route to San Diego. 

I have made a few tree quilts, among them some palms.

This is only 8" X 11" and was part of the Journal Quilt Project some years ago. 

These palms are more recent - made for a small exhibit at PIQF 2019.

But perhaps my favorite trees are the shaggy, irregular Douglas Firs that grew on almost every lot in Portland and covered the forested hills all around.  This one above the Clackamas River at Oregon City.  

But nothing is as serene as the cedars in the large lot of my late friend Mable's house in Mt. Vernon, Washington. 

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A New Year - no resolutions!

I left resolutions behind many years ago.  I never kept them and it seems self defeating to beat myself up over it.  Now I just go day by day and do the best I can.  I can't even settle on a word for the year ahead as some people do.  I suppose two words would be okay - "Keep Going".  The last three years have aged me and I have some physical problems. But I try to keep walking, keep getting out, keep working at something.  I haven't been all that successful, but I keep moving ahead.  It is the best I can do right now.  

I had hoped to go to the Madeline Island workshops in Tucson again, but still not well enough to do it this year, maybe next.  I went in January 2018 for a 5-day Sue Benner landscape class.  It is a beautiful desert setting and the weather was perfect.  Of course I took a lot of pictures   And Sue  had us interpret a photo we had taken there to create a small quilt top.  

The Saguaro cactus are so amazing, no matter how many times I see them. 

This agave grows behind one of the residence buildings with a palo verde behind it.   Such an interesting palette. 

The picture I took is on the left with some additions at the top where the picture was cut off.  It is always a challenge to find good fabrics among the boxes we take along to the class.  Sometimes one must compromise.  I think the sky fabric is too strong, but that is what I had with me.  This remains in the "might complete it some day" pile, which is very, very tall!   

Hope I can go back one day, maybe next January?

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Sara Sharp quilt from TCQC 01-01-23

Hope you all had a Happy New Year in the manner you chose.  Ours was very quiet and not many fireworks, probably because it was raining pretty hard at midnight.  It is amazing how quickly the grass and weeds pop up and turn the brown hillsides and fields a bright green.  Smells good, too!  

Here is another Sara Sharp quilt from the SAQA Auction.  I posted her 2022 quilt "Stilts" on December 11, 2022.  This one is from the SAQA 2021 online auction.   She does the birds very well so I always look for more of her donations  to add to the Collection.

"It's an Ibis!"  Sara Sharp - Texas   2021  12"X12"

Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton and rayon threads.

Machine pieced and quilted, thread painting.

 

I think the water is especially effective, but Sara's thread painting is very good.  Look at that great eye.

There is even a watery backing fabric and tidy regular facing. 

Nice computer printed label which includes several ways to contact the artist.  

The contacts are important.  Recently there was a post on the SAQA site from an artist in Europe who recovered stolen quilts after years (I think it was seven).  That would not happen if there is no contact written on the label.  

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