Ladies who lunch 10-28-21

Lunch out with friends two days in a row!!  Living large.  Yesterday I met three quilting friends in south county and enjoyed some tasty seafood.  The salad had lots of lettuce, two shrimps, one scallop, a scoop of shredded crab, a few olives, half a dozen nice little plum tomatoes, an artichoke heart, some cucumber slices, and a tureen of thousand island dressing.  It was very tasty and was enough to let me skip dinner last night.  But the bill seemed a little high.  However, I find that everywhere eating out is more expensive than ever.  I know that food service places are having a hard time due to the pandemic, but they are about pricing me out of dining out!   

Seafood Salad at Cedar Creek restaurant in San Juan Capistrano.

But the company was great and I so enjoyed catching up with quilting friends.  Traffic wasn't bad for a change and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. 

Today I had lunch with two Placentia friends at one of our favorite places Fitness Grill on Imperial and Yorba Linda Blvd.   They have a patio and the food is always excellent.  I had the salmon burger which I didn't take a picture of because it just looks like a hamburger!  A nice fluffy assortment of lettuces are served with it and we all had their refreshing ice tea which is not sweetened, but has a lovely fruit flavor. They were not at all busy and we sat with our tea and talked for at least an hour after we finished our lunch.  It did get a little warm as the high today was 94F, but we were engrossed and enjoying our visit.  

The pandemic isn't over and I continue to take precautions and wear a mask when I am out and about.  Everyone I was with has been vaccinated and most have even had the booster.  I will get mine next week.  I put it off because some people are saying they felt lousy just as they did after their second shot.  Since I had all those after effects I wanted to not have anything on my schedule for a few days after I have the booster.  

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Wordless Wednesday 10=27-21

 

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Here is that koKo again. 10-26-21

KoKo loves Froggy.  But before Froggy there was Ducky.  He is usually buried in the bottom of the toy basket, but tonight KoKo dug him out and brought him to me to play Toss It.  Wonder what gets into his head when he does this.  Soon he went back to Froggy. 

He doesn't always want to play with Froggy.  Here he is using him for a head prop while he takes a nap.  Of course, if I get the phone out to take a picture he is immediately awake.

 

As in this image where he is giving me the stink eye because I woke him up. 

 When I came home from my trip and picked him up we both took a nap.  Is he relaxed, or what?  

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Fabric tonight 10-25-21

I definitely don't NEED any more fabric, but I do love printed cottons and there are always some that I cannot pass up.  Being at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, CA, (the world's best quilt shop) was sooo wonderful.  But I did restrain myself and only purchased nine fabrics.

These four were all on the sale table.  Gail Abeloe, the shop owner, doesn't let fabrics sit around on the shelves.  If they are not selling she marks them down so that when you go to the shop there are always sale fabrics and lots of new fabrics to tempt us.  

When I went back the second time I was looking for a background for a Challenge quilt and there was the coordinate to the Challenge fabric of which I didn't take a picture.  I had changed my mind about the background for the Challenge and found the Grunge green which is a good color match. 

I also bought enough of this drapery weight fabric to make a tote bag for a chicken loving friend, using Gail's pattern sheet.  The red wattles are bright red. 

At PIQF I spotted these two which I had been sort of looking for.  Nelda in the art quilt group used the white for the background of her Himalayan Poppies quilt.  

 

While I was in Pacific Grove I set up my machine and planned to work on the Challenge quilt for Canyon Quilters in San Diego.  I had everything with me and bought the new fabric for the background and the backing.  But other things got in the way.  Since I have been home I have been working on the quilt.  

I sandwiched using a sample of Mountain Mist Cotton/Silk batting which has been on the shelf for years.  I quilted the sandwich in a plaid pattern.  

I fused the Challenge fabric and cut out the red flowers and a few leaves. But they are not enough to make the wreath I was looking for.  I am cutting leaves and dots from my fabric library to see if I can fill it out a bit. 

And this is the back!  I think I will need a binding of this same fabric. 

I will need to work hard at machine appliqueing the flowers because the quilt has to be turned in on Saturday.  Always a procrastinator!

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More PIQF from other sources 10-23-21

To see the winning quilts at PIQF go to:

https://www.quiltfest.com/upcoming-shows-and-events/pacific-international-quilt-festival/httpswww-quiltfest-comupcoming-shows-and-eventspacific-international-quilt-festivalenter-the-quilt-and-wearable-art-competitions-2enter-the-piqf-quilt-competition/enter-the-quilt-and-wearable-art-competitions/

There might be a shorter way, but I don't know it. 

Nancy Ota had three quilts in the exhibits and one with a blue ribbon for best color in the "Modern" category.  Nancy does beautiful work and makes many quilts.  

"Drunkard's Maze  Nancy Ota 2021  58" square

Nancy says: "I was impressed with Susan Maynard Arnold’s “Zebra Dancing in a Rainbow” which appeared in Mary Mashuta’s book “Stripes in Quilts” in 1995.  So I gave it a try. I have many of the same Pointillist and stripe fabrics in my stash for years.  It was a challenge with my color limitations as most of my fabrics were only 8 1/2” wide. My son Chris drafted the pattern on his computer for me."

"Fragmented"  Nancy Ota  2021  

Nancy pieced this during Covid using many batiks given to her by a friend.  She says the hardest part was trying to get it to lay flat.

"Happy Birds"  Nancy Ota 2020  72" square

From a Jen Kingwell design, hand appliqued and machine pieced. Nancy says, "The center medallion portion is hand quilted, the outer areas are machine quilted.  I did the center applique at home, the piecing was done on our 61 day cruise on the Pacific.  I took my Singer Featherweight on the ship.  Bud helped prepare the hexagons on stabilizer fabric and I hand appliqued them.  The parts were pieced together at home and then quilted."

If you want to see more of the quilts shown try Googling PIQF 2021 or any variation you can think up.  There are pictures in other blogs and websites. 

We had rain this morning!  It didn't amount to much, just enough to dampen everything, including KoKo and I when we took our walk.  The large storm that is supposed to move down from the Pacific Northwest is expected Sunday night and Monday.  Hoping for some real rain.

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More from PIQF '21 10-22-21

There were quilts from the World Competition that Mancuso runs every year, but not as many quilts or all the countries.  There were many from Australia.  This first one my photo of the label was too blurry, so I enlarged it and copied what I could read.  A few words are missing. The dark bar near the top is from the pole inserted in the hanging sleeve.  All the big shows use the large poles so if the sleeve is small the top curves over.  A reminder to always put at least a 4" sleeve and leave some ease when sewing down the bottom edge. 

"The Red Center"  Wendy Nutl 36" X 36"  There are many long, straight roads in Australia.  Well known is the Eyre Highway, named after Edward John Eyre, who was the first white man on the Nuffarbor Plain.  The straight stretch of road runs 90 miles (146km) and cuts through the center of Australia.  The Red Center is the colloquial name for the vast desert in central Australia which is  ..... tourists traveling the Eyre Highway.

Another from the World Competition:

While I was in Pacific Grove I took a three hour ZOOM workshop with Benda Gael Smith who is in Copacabana, Australia.  It was offered by Canyon Quilters in San Diego and I had signed up before I knew I was going up to PIQF.  So, I just packed my machine and the items on the materials list and set up in my motel room.  It worked out very well and I enjoyed Benda as a teacher and the ZOOM workshop format.  I will take another virtual workshop one of these days.  Now that teachers have learned how to do it and are all set up with their lessons on film I know this will be an ongoing thing for the future. 

And a few more from the World competition:

And back to the PIQF competition: 

Zena has been winning ribbons for at least thirty years!  And this amazing piece won a blue ribbon for handwork.  It is hand appliqued and quilted to perfection.  I have always admired her pieces and was glad to see this one with yet another blue ribbon.  Congrats to Zena. 

And here is the strangest hanging situation I have ever seen.  Wonder why they didn't hang it lower.  I had to hold my phone over my head to take the pictures! 

Note that it has a blue 1st place ribbon, but I don't know the category.  Sorry. 

And here is a view down one aisle on Sunday about 2pm.  I do hope we are all gung ho next year to keep the big shows in business. 

To the left is a display of patchwork coats from Rachel Clark and two of her sewing friends.  And on the right is a Cherrywood Challenge.  Bob Ross?  I have forgotten!!!

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Looking at PIQF quilts 10-20-21

I am still recovering from my travels!  After driving home from a night at Harris Ranch (I-5 and Hwy 198), I unpacked the car, picked up KoKo, and took a nap.  Yesterday (Tuesday) I gradually put some things away and took a bunch of naps after joining the Surfside QGuild board meeting on ZOOM.  We did our evening walk about 7pm and by 8:30pm I was in my recliner with my book open on my lap, along with KoKo, the lights on, pills untaken, teeth unbrushed.  I woke up at 3:30am or so!  Took the pills, brushed the teeth, turned out the lights and went back to sleep until after 8am.  I think I was overly tired!  So, no blog Sunday night at Harris Ranch (laptop still in car) and no blog last night. I did edit some pictures I took at PIQF so I will just post those tonight.   There were fewer quilts, fewer people, fewer vendors, but fortunately an abundance of folding chairs around so I could sit frequently.  I used my cane and tried to juggle purse, camera, cane, but I am not adept at it.  Didn't take as many pictures as I usually do.  Everyone was masked so I didn't talk to people as I usually do.  Two people recognized me, from my hat no doubt.  I did buy a couple yards of fabric and two new vests from Brie Kriebel to replace the one I bought at her booth more than 10 years ago.  I have worn it almost daily since the pandemic and it has mends and patches on the mends and patches.  It is a great garment and so very comfortable.  Check for her booth when you go to a bog quilt show.  All this and I have to say what a THRILL it was to be at a quilt show after all the months of isolation.  And I was only there on Sunday.  We need to attend quilt shows every chance we get so that the shows will be viable and continue to happen.  Everyone was masked at all times.  

First, of course, a look at the six quilts from the ArtStream group in San Diego.  Our theme was "Patterns in Nature" and the size was to be 36"W X 48" L.  

Our member Nelda McComb had another quilt hanging in the exhibit from the Quilts on the Wall group. 

Following are random pictures of quilts that caught my eye. 

About 46"W x 18"L

Bold and daring color that I love. 

Benedicte does these wonderful hand painted repeats and appears in many shows I have been to.  So simple, so complex. 

I am always attracted to points and these are exceptional. 

Quite a few quilts reflected the shutdowns of the pandemic around the world. 

Past time for KoKo and I to go to bed - again!  More images tomorrow.

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