Friday Feet 03-08-13

A right-footed, be-stockinged sewist. 

Driving home from Empty Spools 03-07-13

It was a beautiful day to drive home on I-5.  Mostly sunshine, but little rain showers near Coalinga and for some miles south.  The speeds were pretty average, although there are always some drivers who go as fast as they want - guess they can afford hundreds of dollars to pay off their tickets! I just get out of their way as quickly as possible!

There were very few wild flowers either direction, possibly because the drought continues.


I spent last night at HIE in Santa Nella on I-5.  Not the best of the 'breed', but clean and quiet.   Directly across the street is this field of wild mustard, the only one I saw on the whole trip.  Again, possibly lack of rain fall.
 

In some places the highway is higher than the surrounding farmland, which gives a nice view of the tops of the blossoming almond trees. All one sees is pale pink "foam".
 

When the  highway is on more of the same level the almost black trunks contrast nicely with the fluffy pink "foam".
 

On the left a fully blossoming almond grove, on the right a newly planted one.  Although the spacing makes me wonder if these might be grapevines!
 

I don't know what kind of tree is in the foreground, but more almonds behind.  At the rest stop just north of the Buttonwillow turnoff I pulled off for a little nap.  Only 15 - 20 minutes will give me a second wind.  The rest area is surrounded on three sides by almond groves - the fragrance is lovely.
 

Looking down rows of almond trees - the fallen petals are like delicate pink snow on the ground.  

Wordless Wednesday 03-06-13

 

Asilomar 5th Day 03-05-13

Exhausted!  Seems to be my normal state of being these days - I am too tired to write much and, as you see it is midnight.  Very stormy right now, strong gusty wind and rain.  These old buildings creak and rattle, guess I might need my earplugs tonight. 


I have mostly worked on this piece - this image was Monday night when I quit.   The skinny black vertical lines are very narrow cuts of black fabric, but in the final quilt they will be either couched rat-tail or stitched with perle cotton.  There is no blue in this quilt, the blue areas are actually white with black print.
 

This is where I ended tonight (Tuesday) and I forgot to pin in the skinny black lines.  I still need to sew on the acid green border on the right side.  It is on the table because I couldn't get the right light on my board.  It is about 15 inches wide and maybe 3 feet long.
 

I showed the "Sea Glass" quilt by Dolores Roseveare last night.  She made two more today - a "Sea Glass" series.  They look quite nice hung as a triptych.
 

Laura Lake made two very contrasting quilt tops.  This bright one with a black background.

And this orange and blue with a very pale background.
 

 
Barbara O'Beirne came the greatest distance for this class - the Yucatan.
She made two quilt tops - these bright houses and  very colorful abstract piece that I posted on yesterday's blog.

Asilomar/Empty Spools - Day Four 03-04-13

As usual the time is whizzing by and we only have a day and a half left of classes.  Everyone worked hard today and some nice pieces were created.  Some of us are slower than others and I am about the slowest!  Instead of staying in the classroom and applying myself I am off  "taking care of business".  First thing this morning I drove to FedEx/Kinko's in Monterey to print the class list.  This is the first time in all the years that I had all the info for the list on the 2nd day!  Of course, I had to type it, proofread it and draw the "map" of the classroom because we know each other by the quilt we are designing and where in the room we are sitting.  I had the lists printed on acid green paper, like the white/yellow leaves on acid green in the quilt below. 


This is my design board with two separate projects on it.  The top part with the turquoise is one quilt and the yellow/green/white below is another. 
 

On the other side of my folding design board is yet another quilt for which I was just auditioning fabrics.   This one will probably never be made - I like clear, bright colors, so this is a bit mushy for my taste.  However, it is interesting to practice picking out color and texture that might work together.  The tiny white dots are the heads of pins holding the fabric to the design board. 
 

One of two projects done by Annette Friedlein -Encinitas, CA.

Annette Friedlein's second completed top. 
 

Dolores Roseveare - Cupertino, CA,  is my table mate and she just keeps cranking out amazing designs.  This one she is still working on - a completed block on the left and a strip set on the right. 

This is Dolores Roseveare's 2nd top done in class.  It represents the beach, sand and sea glass.  The first top she completed is shown on Saturday's blog post. 
 http://www.delquilts.blogspot.com/2013/03/second-day-at-empty-spoolsasilomar-03.html
 

 
Barbara Friedman - San Diego, has completed three quilt tops and is working on a fourth.  This is number one.
 

The third quilt on Barbara's design board implies a wonderful watery looking world.
 

 
Barbara's first piece is this one featuring a parrot fabric. 
 

 
Here are all Barbara Friedman's works, including the beginning of a fourth!

I have a lot more pictures, but I am too tired to continue tonight. 

Third day at Empty Spools/Asilomar 03-03-13

One of my online friends mentioned that I hadn't shown pictures of my fabric selections.  So, here they are.  These all came from Back Porch Fabrics.


The top one is delicious and has tiny, long-legged bluebirds (right on the fold and upside down!); next down is one from the sale table with follow-the-dots images to test for color fastness and donate to the philanthropic efforts of Surfside Quilters Guild; then a lovely acid green with streaks of red "foam"; the next red one is another sale table piece for the philanthropy effort, the turquoise with orange spots I thought I might use in the strip sets project, but it is too strong; on the very bottom is a funny print of huge strawberries.

Follow-the-dots fabric.

The center berry is about eleven inches long - pretty outrageous.
 

In the Cotton Patch shop in the back section of Merrill Hall I found these two prints.  The top one could be a walkway or wall or ??.  The bottom one comes in several more muted colors, but I love this red and yellow with orange dots.   All of the fabrics are in my classroom, so I can't give you manufacturers or designers. 
 

This is more construction, mostly finished, but the stairway down to the administration building is blocked off.   The roof of the building can be seen just right of the glowing lamp at center.
 

Turning to my left I shot this image of the paved path continuing to Merrill Hall where they have re-laid the stones on the veranda that looks out to the sea. 
 

This poor pine tree has been dying for years.  I have thought they left it for the owls and other tree nesting birds.  The foreign fungus that has devastated trees all over has killed almost all the trees in the area, so there is very little truly forested land around.

Asilomar 2nd day at Empty Spools/Asilomar 03-02-13

Oh, dear, I didn't mean to stay up so late.  As usual after class all day and hiking up and down the stairs and along the paths I am very tired.  But don't want to miss sharing part of the day with you.


One thing different at Asilomar this year is the construction going on.  They are renovating all of the paths and ramps and stairs, so the routes to different places on campus are strange.  This stairway goes up the side of the Pirate's Den building (one of the original 1920s sleeping locations) where my room is on the SE corner.  The room below me is blocked off and the forms are being set for ? concrete?  Several pathways that were always packed dirt have been repaved with beige bricks.
 

 
The driveway across the front of the Administration Building is torn up in preparation for repaving and the same for the small short term parking lot on the S side of the building.
 

Here is Rayna Gillman talking to her students in the morning.  The quilts behind her are part of the display of the artist-in-residence this week, Phyllis Binkley.

Today was devoted to cutting fabric strips and sewing them together in different widths and lengths.  These will be cut again and rearranged to make blocks for our quilts. 
 

A completed top and "Strip sets" by Eloise Catugno   Rayna Gillman class 03-02-13

Beautiful completed top by Dolores Roseveare.  Lots of Marsha Derse fabric in this one.  Rayna Gillman class 03-02-13
 

 
"Strip sets" by Jo Van Loo.  Rayna is encouraging us to "make stuff" using different colors and cuts, they won't  necessarily go in the same quilt.   Rayna Gillman class 03-02-13
 

Carole Pirruccello has cleverly fused her name in fabric to hang on her board.  She has completed a number of sets and some blocks.  Rayna Gillman class  03-02-13
 

Pippa Moore is using a limited palette for her strip sets and blocks.  Rayna Gillman class 03-02-13