Surfside Quilters Guild - San Clemente, CA 04-14-22

Although I belong to a number of different guilds I only go to Surfside Quilters Guild.  It is at least an hour's drive, but it is the only daytime guild around.  And, though I hate to accept it, I just don't enjoy driving at night so much anymore.  And it once was my favorite time to be on the road.  Anyway, the guild meeting  was Tuesday and it was also the annual business session.  We had a quorum (maybe 70 in attendance), so it went quickly because the officers in charge were so organized. I am the "official" photographer, which isn't an office, but just a volunteer thing I do.  I finally bought a new phone/camera and have been doing a little experimenting to see what new I need to learn.  Not much, thank the goddess, it is essentially a newer version of my old Samsung Galaxy, so the learning curve is gentle.  Although I am struggling with pictures. Nothing new about that. .  

Surfside's membership is about 170 now, but before Covid it was a little over 200 and we had a hundred plus members at meetings.  Our membership is generally older, I suppose because we have daytime meetings which eliminates many quilters who have day jobs.  Ten years ago when the guild was formed the main impetus was the increasing need to not drive at night as we were all ageing, but still quilting!!  

We do a "Block a month" project where everyone who wants to participate makes a the block from a pattern available at meetings.  At the end of the year each person puts their blocks together in their own layout and a drawing is held for prizes at the April meeting.  There were a lot of finished tops/quilts this year and it was fun to see the different colors and settings.  Here they are on the tables and few being held up for the audience to see. 

Block of the Month quilts on display.

Block of the Month quilts on display.

Our very efficient president, Mary Arter, accomplishes so much I doubt that she sleeps.  She did both of these using the monthly patterns.

Wendy McCalley's name was drawn for the $100 cash prize.   Love those blues! 

The co-chairs of the Block of the Month created their own versions.  

Holly Betz (left) and Judy Kamman (right).

Our speaker this month was Dora Cary, quilter, designer, and owner of Orange Dot Quilts shop in Paso Robles, CA.  Interesting lady, lovely quilts, and many ideas and patterns.  Her designs are sort of traditional with a twist.  

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New "Worm" Moon 03-09-20

The Worm moon is the last full moon before the winter equinox, so called because the ground is thawing and the worms are starting to dig around in the soil.  There are a number of different nicknames for this moon, including the Crust Moon because the snow becomes crusty from daytime thawing and night time freezing, the Sap Moon because it is time to tap maple trees for sap, the Lenten Moon because it appears right around the Christian season of Lent, and the Crow Moon in connection with Native American folklore.  It is a supermoon which appears to be larger and brighter than just an every night old moon!

Hiding in the clouds.  7:30pm PDT

This was taken with the "night" setting on my cell phone camera.  It made an interesting shape out of the round moon. The  temperature at 7:30pm tonight was 70F.  The predicted rain did not fall, maybe tomorrow. 

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What was happening ten years ago in October 2008? 10-25-18

A new digital camera came into my life about this time and I was very engaged in what it could do.  So, I tried the telephoto and the wide angle and the video and...  well, everything I could try.  And I read about Camera Tossing which was interesting, but I was afraid I would smash my camera because I'm not very good at tossing and catching.  So, one night when I was driving north on I-5 toward San Juan Batista I decided to just try holding the camera up and let the movement of the car jiggle it.  I was surprised at the results and rather pleased.  I think I must have taken several dozen images, some of which I delete because they were not good at all.  But I still have some in my photo files.  These are from October 2008.  I have wondered how they would turn out if I had them printed by Spoonflower or one of the other fabric-on-demand printers.  Any thoughts?  

This is inside the car - the spiky blue half circle is the speedometer.

This looks like a herd of something crossing the roadway.  Seals on the right, but cloven hooves on the bottom.  Maybe a quilting design? 

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