Friday Flowers 03-06-15

We have had 7+ inches of rain, as opposed to our "normal" amount of 12+ inches at this point of the year .  But there are flowers blooming - the usual February/March blooms.

 

A magnolia - that most people call a tulip tree.

Very early Clivia outside my dentist's office.

 

Many people prune their rose bushes in February, so there will be roses for Easter.

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Ramos House again 03-05-15

I recently blogged about lunch at Ramos House in San Juan Capistrano.  And previously at:  http://www.delquilts.blogspot.com/2007/11/san-juan-capistrano-ca-11-10-07.html
Coincidentally the magazine from the Automobile Club of Southern California, called Westways, published an article about the area "Los Rios Historic District" in their March/April 2015 issue.  It is an interesting area just a block and a half from the old Mission.
They have renovated the small parking lot into a sort of plaza with landscaping and benches, so best to park in the multi-storied parking lot on the east side of the tracks and walk across.  There are a number of coffee places and small restaurants if Ramos House isn't to your liking, it is the only place I have eaten there.

There is a nursery where one can browse among the plants and flowers.  Something that grows wild and is currently blooming along the roads and walkways is oxalis.  The bottom picture is of my back slope covered in blossoms.  The park is in the upper left corner. 
 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday 03-04-25 snort

Food - again 03-02-15

An art quilt group I belong to had a meeting on Saturday which included a delicious lunch.  The hostess made her mother's special lentil soup, someone brought "ancient grains bread", someone else made a great salad, and I'm not sure who brought an amazing hors d'oeuvre   We had Chef Don's choice for dessert.

 

"Mom" doesn't mash her lentils when they are cooked, nor do I. 

This yellow cake with chocolate chips was gorgeous naked.   Chef Don removed it from the pan whole, no little missing pieces dared stay in the pan.

And then it was dressed with sliced strawberries in a balsamic/black pepper reduction.

Almost too gorgeous to cut into.  But we did! 

 

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Ruth McDowell quilt added to Collection 03-01-15

Yes, I'm still buying Ruth McDowell quilts.  Each one is so special I just can't resist.  Every one has fascinating details from her very creative mind and the piecing is so amazing.  She does piece everything, even the tiniest eye or beak or toe.  And she does it "the old fashioned way: right sides together, machine stitch, open the seam and press."  Add another million pieces and you have a quilt.  It is like a jigsaw puzzle with seam allowances. 

"He Caught Her Eye" Ruth B. McDowell 2014  30"W x 34.5"L

Such a jazzy, glorious couple they are.

 

 

Such sexy chickens - no wonder he caught her eye.  The beaks are carefully selected fabrics that form top and bottom beaks with a quilted line delineating the divide. The eyes have a white paint dot.

I always love Ruth's choice of foot fabric; his are yellow with blue dots and hers are gold with pink dots.  The background fabric here is a traditional cotton print. 

The long sweeping tail feathers are backed by a black/gold print that shows through the feather tips.

For the border on the right side she used a vintage Marimekko bird fabric - we don't need to see the entire bird to know that it is a bird.   I love it.  The fabric in the lower left with the tiny pinkish-gold nine-patches is from a fabric line Ruth created for South Seas several decades ago.  It is at the top of the next image.

On this quilt Ruth has signed her name on the front....

...in addition to the label on the back.  Name, artist, date and contact is a minimum on a label.

And  here is the elegant back with a  vintage Marimekko print.  This is a quilt I will sometimes hang backward to admire the print and the quilting.

Here is a detail of the quilting from the back.  Ruth has a knack for inventing new quilting lines to enhance her quilts and add interest in different features.

 

Ruth's Comments: "It’s much harder to make high-contrast, boldly patterned, multi-colored fabrics work together as in this quilt. I was VERY careful which part of which fabric I cut for each piece and had to make multiple changes as the pieces were cut and pinned in place [on the design board]. There’s a very bold antique Marimekko fabric remnant for the back that has been on my shelves for decades. Cool!"

www.ruthbmcdowell.com