Still not done! 01-12-08

I thought I would be able to post a picture of the finished quilt this evening, but I had a thread crisis. I ran out of the thread I was using and thinking another color was close enough I kept quilting. In the morning I could see it wasn't close enough, making a definite division where I changed. So, I picked that out and ordered another spool of the correct color from Sew Thankful. Tracy Chapman is so helpful and conscientious she put it in the mail immediately. Unfortunately it is the weekend so I won't get it until Monday. Woe is I! Meanwhile I am working on something else - I ALWAYS have unfinished projects that need work.

Ruth Powers 01-11-08

My friend Ruth Powers in Kansas has finished "Just Dandy", the quilt she started from scratch nine days ago - she is amazing! This quilt (approx 43" square) is entirely pieced the 'old fashioned way' by placing the cut out pieces face to face and sewing a seam. Just figuring out the piecing is a complicated and time consuming job. Check out her blog at: http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/weblog/

Living Green 01-10-08

I have a mailing list of people to whom I send "E-lint". This is my label for the stuff that goes around on the Internet, stuff that one can either ignore or deal with - like dust bunnies and pocket lint. I don't send everything that comes my way, but things I think are funny or interesting or helpful in some way. And I don't usually get much feedback from the "E-linters", so I was surprised to have about a dozen replies after I sent this URL out this morning. None of the people who responded have ever had a clerk refuse their bags. One friend in San Francisco reminded me that markets can't use plastic bags in her city. If anyone has refused to use your bags you might post a comment on Green Daily.

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/01/07/have-your-reusable-bags-ever-been-refused/

I have two bags that I ask the clerks to use for my groceries (or any other type of store that I patronize). This one I made from a Nancy Ota pattern www.nancyota.com. One thing I like about it is that will stand up on its own. It is very spacious, but sometimes I need an additional bag.

Nancy Mastroianni, a member of the Book Group, made all the 'Bookies' a tote for Xmas, with fabric keyed to the interest of each individual. Mine, of course, is a dog print - pretty cute.

If I don't think these two will be enough I also take in a couple of used paper shopping bags.

I didn't post yesterday because AOL wouldn't let me online!

Skinny strips #6 01-08-08

The skinny strips quilt is sandwiched, most of the quilting finished and I am just stitching in the little twigs. Since I knot the thread ends and pull them into the batting it may take me forever to finish this part of the quilt. I can't seem to get the color in the pictures to match the actual colors of the quilt - is it the camera or is it the camera operator?

I named the quilt "Woodland- Early Winter"

Red sky in the morning.... 01-07-08

I don't see a lot of dawns, because I have always been a night owl. But for some unknown reason my sleeping pattern has changed and lately I am early to bed, early to rise. The sky was quite beautiful this morning with a jet trail picking up the early light. This picture is from the back yard over the deodar trees in the park behind the house. After a night of soaking rain everything was washed clean and the air smelled fresh. I have been sewing most of the day, which seems to go slower and slower, but I like to tie and bury the knots - it looks so neat.

Oops, 10:15pm - past my bedtime!

Stormy weather continues 01-06-08

I drove over Bastanchury Hill again early this morning and took this picture from the same spot as the one I posted on Dec 03, 2007, just about a month ago. But now the trees are bare (except the myoporum to the right) and the sky is full of clouds heavy with rain. It has rained off and on all day, but no problems so far in Orange County. And no power outages.

There is a bird..... 01-05-08

Years ago I started putting a bird somewhere on every quilt that I make. They are mostly all different - fused on, drawn with fabric markers, quilted in, hand embroidered and part of the fabric print. Here are few examples.

"Calm in Chaos" fused on the front of the quilt.

"Marsh Dawn" (fiber art postcard) inked with fabric marker.

"Woad" part of the quilting stitches.

Sometimes people want to know where the bird is on a particular quilt and I have to search hard to find it. Unless it is part of the design or printed on the fabric I put each little bird wherever it will fit with the intention that it will not be obvious.