Food again, sort of... 01-14-12

Avalon restaurant has been in business for quite a few years, but even though I park near it frequently, I had never been in.  However, the other day I needed to find some lunch.  When I parked by the drugstore, which is two doors away, I decided I would give Avalon a try.  I haven't had a bagel w/cream cheese and lox for a long time, maybe years.  That is what I ordered and it was delicious.  I was very hungry, but I'll bet when I try it again it will be equally as good.  The only thing is that I was too quick to eat it and didn't take a picture. 

 
After it was all gone I discovered this whimsical serving paper covering the plastic plate.  Maybe I don't get out enough, but it struck me that this place has an arty eye.  Cute.

I have a couple busy weeks coming up, so don't worry about me if I don't post every night.  I'll try, but sometimes I just run out of steam.  Corky is here tonight and is healing wonderfully.  He still wears his doggy T-shirt to keep warm since his hair has yet to grow out enough.  What a guy! 

Friday Feet 01-13-12

Early in the week two guys from Disaster Kleenup came to check out the leaky site and to see if there was any moisture remaining.  There wasn't.  But they measured the entire room and took a number of different views of the hole in my wall and the lifted vinyl on the floor.
   
This guy was the helper - he took the pictures, held the end of the tape, used the moisture "sniffing" tool. He said he didn't mind if I took a picture of his feet, but he looked at me as if I were nuts.

 
Those skinny, hairy legs, no socks, grubby shoes - I wasn't sure I should even let him in the house. I guess I am just an old fuddy-duddy. 

Quilts for Wounded Warriors 01-12-12

I admire the efforts of the quilters in Surfside Quilters Guild to support the project of providing a quilt to cover each serviceman or woman who is wounded and transported to a hospital anywhere. 
Good work, ladies.

Wordless Wednesday - LHC 01-11-12

A Cottage by the Sea 01-10-12

The word "cottage" always brings a beach cottage to my mind.  Perhaps it is the influence of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's moving 1955 memoir "A Gift From the Sea".  But most decidedly it is also the summer days spent in South Carolina with my late husband and his family at various rented beach cottages.   These "cottages" housed 8 to 10 people, so they were not small.  The days and nights spent listening to the soft shushing of the calm Atlantic are golden memories for me.  The Pacific is supposed to be "pacific", but the Oregon Coast which I visited as a child was anything but!  However, during our August visits to the Carolina beaches the Atlantic was always very calm.  When the current Surfside Quilters Guild President Joann Bishop requested cottage blocks for her quilt I decided I would do the Red House where the Thomas family most frequently stayed.   From the side it looked something like this, with a screen porch furnished with wooden rocking chairs that stretched the width of the house, looking out at the ocean (on the right). Heavenly.  

But when I finished the drawing and started figuring the piecing I had some doubts.  Then when I saw the blocks that have been turned in a the SQG meeting today I decided it was "back to the drawing board".  This cottage would look like a overpowering McMansion among the charming country cottages others have made.

 

This is my simple seaside cottage - representing the size of the one Anne stayed in and wrote about in 1955 - which will be a pale color and have embellishments in accordance with Joann's wishes.  It is due in February, but since Joann occasionally checks in on this Blog, I won't show a picture of the finished block until May or June.  Gosh, I hope you can wait! 

Monday Browsing 01-09-12

Very modern graphics applied to different “stuff” http://poketo.com/shop/accessories  


Check out the Cubebot made from Sustainably Harvested Cherry Wood http://poketo.com/shop/living?product_id=1305

Great custom T-shirt quilts - check for ideas or order one custom made.
http://forquiltssake.blogspot.com/2012/01/custom-t-shirt-keepsake-quilts.html


Touch screen gloves http://cambreenotes.com/touchscreen-gloves/

I have always enjoyed looking at good photographs. Here are a few inspirations:
http://seehowwesew.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/our-new-years-gift-an-inspirational-photo-album-for-quilters-stitchers-and-crafters/  


Some experimental work from Norway: http://eirikso.com/2011/01/04/one-year-in-one-image/

Karen Stiehl Osborn posts a picture a week http://aphotographiclife.blogspot.com/
(one of my favorites – Karen has a special “eye”)

 
Bedstraw flowers (possibly Galium boreale)

Montana  June 2005

Caryl Bryer Fallert quilt is new to TCQC 01-08-12

"Feather Study #19"  Caryl Bryer Fallert  2001  26.5" x 26.5"

This quilt is from the Visions Art Museum auction in November, donated by a patron.  I wasn't able to attend the auction, so I had a surrogate bidder.  Thanks, Beth.  I think the actual quilt is brighter than this image - just what we need to brighten our winter days.   The design, the values and the color all combine to lend a curved feeling to the feather - when I stand back to look it almost becomes 3-D. 

Caryl is such a fabulous designer and a great technician.  Would that all our piecing and quilting were as precise as hers.

She applies a sleeve both top and bottom, although I can't imagine any of her quilts not hanging perfectly straight and perfectly flat without weighing the bottom. 

On all the CBF quilts in TCQC the label is on the top sleeve in the middle.  It is a style I find annoying when I am looking through a pile of quilts with the labels all on either of the bottom corners.  However, it would be hard to not recognize even the back of her quilts.

Caryl's website is www.bryerpatch.com

To see more of her feather series:   http://www.bryerpatch.com/gallery/feather_study_quilts.htm

Red Berry Tree on I-5 in 2009 01-07-12

This tree was at a rest stop on I-5 between Yreka and Sacramento in December 2009, I have never been able to identify it.
For those who don't read comments:  Laurie has id'd this as a Chinese Pistache and gives this reference: http://cambreenotes.com/chinese-pistache-pistachio-tree-and-berries/
Thanks for your help Laurie.

 

It was covered with these red seed pods.