Great Sale at Okan Arts 05-11-24

Okan Arts sells Japanese fabrics, mostly online, but today they had a sale at their warehouse location in Long Beach.  This location is not open to the public except for their once a year sale.  Check their website  https://okanarts.com   The majority of  their stock is vintage, and some is antique. 

My friend Deb McKay drove up from SDiego to meet me in LBeach so we could heat  up our credit cards and bring home wonderful fabric treasures.  Afterward we went  to Katella Deli in Los Alamitos where we waited almost an hour for a table!  It was worth  it - Deb had wonderful lox and bagels and I ordered my favorite pastrami sandwich.  The place  was really "jumping", along with very loud, raucous   music.  We  had  forgotten  about Mother's  Day, Graduation lunches, and the  glorious sunshine of this weekend.  It was worth all of it.   An all together fun day.  

We  all  needed a bag to take home our treasures.

Some ladies needed TWO!

I couldn't  resist these two children's prints.

Cute puppies and imaginary hieroglyphics.  

Two yard cuts of Blue/White for the quilt I have been collecting fabrics for several decades.  Well, the one on the left is just because it is so beautiful.  

Of course, some stripes, especially orange.  

I can never resist new stripes. 

And the "piece de resistance", this rich crimson print. I had to buy the entire bolt!

A vest?  A scarf?  A bag?  Hang it on the wall?

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Friday Food - Sort of! 05-10-24

I don't know how many thousands of photos I have  on my laptop, a lot.   One of the handiest features is "search" where I type in a word and hit "Enter" and the little gremlins go searching for whatever. In this case "Food".  And up come all the photos with food.  The gremlins aren't sure sometimes and they throw it in anyway.  Some of these images are really far reaching, others could quite  possibly be food.

A box of Monica Shaffer's EPPs ready to use.

Dye set up in a Sue Benner fabric dyeing/painting class. 

The magazine sales table at a Surfside Quilters Guild meeting.

Nancy Pestal with Philanthropy fat quarters to sell. 

Baskets at November Fest, full of fabric and other goodies, but no food. 

This one makes me laugh.  It is "food", but the bottles sat out in the sun and developed a slouch.

Well, they do resemble eggs.

The gremlins can read anyway.  

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Wordless Wednesday 05-08-24

 

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Another tree gone 05-07-24

Yesterday morning when we walked there were tree trimmer at work. This house was the #1 model home when this tract was developed and stands at the "point" where Warren St. and Brain St. divide. So, the trees were planted in about 1970 pretty old and they haven't received very attentive  care.  The two California Sycamores also shed large leaves and, for some reason, homeowners in S.California do not like trees that shed leaves, or anything else.  Anyway, the guys were only taking down one of the two sycamores.   So sad. Maybe it was diseased, it looked pretty scruffy.   I miss all the trees that have been removed in  the 36  years  we have lived  here.   I  had to  take  out the melaleuca tree that we planted  when  we  first moved in because it decided to grow way over our neighbors driveway and inhibit his access.   There are no trees in our yard,  just the ficus in the neighbors yard which grows right against the fence, half shading both backyards.

 

Right in  middle is the guy with the chainsaw on top of the stump. 

Here he is cutting off another chunk which he let fall after looking and shouting for all clear below.  

That huge piece down, he adjusts to take another cut.  Notice his chainsaw dangling below his butt. 

Around the corner out of our tract there is a huge planting of Algerian ivy the length of the property.  This they could take out, if they asked me.   I am very allergic to it and get a horrible rash.  In the late 50s and 60s one could hardly walk  a  block  without seeing a sea of this ivy.  It is a foot to a foot and a half deep and shelters rodents and snails.  Take it out!   

 I was trying to take a picture of KoKo next to the ivy to show the depth, but he just wouldn't stand still and wanted to WALK,  Finally I got him to sit, but in my shadow. 

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!@"X12" quilts from TCQC 05-05-24

The first SAQA auction I participated in was in 2007, not knowing that I would buy at least one little 12"X12" quilt every year; setting aside a certain amount of money for this purpose.  Sometimes it wasn't enough to meet bids by others, but sometimes I paid the $1000 for a quilt I particularly liked.  As more artists participate there are so many more quilts available and the choosing is more difficult.  I look for certain makers, but also for originality, techniques, and good design.  It takes some time to look closely at over 300 quilts, but it is worth it and there are some gems in the Collection.   

"Amidst the Fire"  K. Grace Howes 2009 - Huntersville, NC - 2009  12"W x 13"L

Hand-dyed cottons, fusing, beading, machine appliqued and pieced and machine quilted.

2010 SAQA Auction

The artist's statement was:  "There's a constant burning in my brain to produce, produce, produce. I can only do so much in the time given and yet, wonderfully, there is always another spark of creativity ready to be ignited. Much like an eternal flame, passion for the job never wanes."

I posted this just last year for the third time.  I am not attracted to uneven quilts, but some are just so purposely uneven, like this one.   K. Grace  was so thrilled to have her quilt sold at the auction that she contacted me to tell me so!  I do occasionally  hear from artists, but she was so enthusiastic that I remember it still.  I like having this "hot" quilt on my wall in the gloom of winter, it warms me up.

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