Rainy Day at Roger's Gardens 12-07-19

Visiting Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, CA, is always special, no matter what time of year or what the weather may be.  They have a vast array of plants, outdoor furniture, pots, doodads and whatnots that tempt anyone with a garden.  Or even those of us without one!  

 Right now, of course, they have lots of different kinds of Christmas  trees.  These are artificial with tiny lights already built in to the branches. 

They have a complete line of plants for any garden. 

Including the oh-so-popular landscape roses. These are looking a little sad in the rain, but once the sun is out they are beautiful. 

The blooms on this hibiscus are huge and very red, which might not show up in this picture. 

Our most dominate tree that changes color in the fall is the liquid amber or Sweet Gum.  These grow in the parking lot at Roger's.  

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Friday Food 12-06-19

Today the small (only 4 of us) art quilt group I belong to met at The Farmhouse at Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, CA, for our Christmas lunch.   This is the third year we have met here on the first Friday of December to laugh, talk, eat, exchange gifts, stroll among the wonders for sale, and just have a good time.  

The food is delicious, the service excellent, the surroundings beautiful, and the place was packed with ladies.  Only two male guests that I could see.  

We started out with the Cauliflower steak shared between the four of us. I was so anxious to get my share I didn't take a picture - next year!   We have had this every time we eat there, it is amazing.  

One of us ordered:

Grilled Asian Beef Short Ribs

butter lettuce, green papaya salad, sweet & spicy dipping sauce
(Notice the yoyo garland necklace purchased at SQG November Fest.  Meant to go on a tree it looked great around her neck.  I made it.) 

I ordered:

RG Burger

pancetta, cheddar cheese, butter lettuce, red onion, tomato, brioche bun, house made pickles, house made fries 

(And I brought half of the burger and half of the fries home for dinner)

The other two ladies ordered the special of the day:  

And I didn't write down what was included, thinking I could get it off the menu online, but the specials are not listed there.  I think the fish on the top might be Icelandic cod, but I will have to ask one of the ladies about that.  It is served on a bed of veggies and......

Only two of us saved room for dessert, there are always exciting offerings.  I ordered:

Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake 
graham cracker crust, berry coulis

The other lady ordered:

Flourless Chocolate Cake 
fresh berries, sweet cream, red wine berry sauce

A lovely day, despite the rain and the terrible traffic - it took me almost twice as long to get home at 2;30 -3:30 then it did to drive down there in the morning. 

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Sewing ahead of myself 12-05-19

Well, there are at least five projects I need to work on or finish by a certain day and here I am messing with triangles!  They just keep calling me back, even after I put them in a basket so I would be seeing them all the time!   So I sewed twenty together, just to see what they might look like. 

Sewn in a chain.

Pressed in a chain.

And even though they aren't trimmed it is

TIME TO PLAY!

I wonder how many designs can be made using only half square triangles.  Surely someone has researched this.  

To be continued...………...

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Quilts from the 2019 SAQA Auction 12-04-19

Here are the final three of the eleven quilts I purchased from the SAQA 2019 auction.   I have included the comments made by the makers on the auction page.  You can see all the quilts listed alphabetically by maker's name at:

http://www.saqa.com/auction-quiltviewALL.php

"Whimsy"  Cathy Heeter - Granger, Indiana   12"X12"

Random pieced black and white background. Improvisational raw edged collage of commercial fabrics.

Del sez:  I love the whimsy of this very original quilt.  Such verve!  Black and white with ORANGE and blue, how could it go wrong. 

"Bike in Belize"  Kathleen McCabe - Coronado, CA     12"X12"

Machine pieced and appliquéd, fused, then raw edge appliquéd and machine quilted. 

Del sez:  Kathleen told me this is inspired by a picture taken by a relative visiting Belize.  The color is so exciting and the slightly out of line trend is so interesting. 

"Butterflies on Bush Clover"  Karen Miller - Corvallis, OR

Katazome with artist's hand cut stencil, rice paste resist and indigo dye.
Del sez:  There is another Karen Miller quilt in the Collection, you can click on her name in the sidebar to see it.   I am so impressed with her skill at Katazome, each fine line she has cut into mulberry stencil material gives an individual mark unlike what anyone else could do.  And working with her own indigo dye is an art all of its own.  I like to include different techniques in TCQC.  

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Studio helper 12-03-19

KoKo is not much of a studio helper, more of a hinderance.

He starts off on the back of the table that I feed the quilt onto.   He usually presents Froggy - front and center. 

When he sees a chance, he moves up onto the quilt I am trying to FMQ.

And lays down on it. 

If I just watch to see what he will do next, he moves in under the presser foot. 

At that point I put him down on the floor with Froggy.  He keeps putting Froggy on my lap until I make him get up on his chair and STAY THERE.   I imagine in the construction of a quilt he adds a couple hours to the process.  But he is such a cuddler and so smart, I couldn't do without him. 

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In the neighborhood 12-02-19

Lots of Christmas decorations went up this past weekend.  

This snowman is a repeat from last year.  He is very colorful at night when he is inflated. 

But in the daytime he is less impressive and KoKo wants to "water" him. 

The coyotes have gotten more brazen and last night one was following us.  Poor thing has a limp with one of his back legs.  Hope the animal control can help him.  Wish they could keep him and his pals out of our way.  Tonight we drove over to a friend's house, parked out front, and walked two blocks around that area.  No coyotes.  May have to do that again.  KoKo always finds new things to "water" and to sniff, so I suppose it doesn't matter where we walk.  I used to take Corky to the park and many different office complexes, just to see something different.  Now it is KoKo's turn.  

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Ready to sew 12-01-19

I have cut more fabric to go with the "Discovered Triangles", some light, some red, and a few darks.  And I have them all arrayed on pieces of cardboard so I can move them from machine to cutting table to ironing table, etc..

I think a few of these that I saw as medium should actually be with the darks.  I'll adjust as I go along.  The colors in this image are more dull than the fabrics actually are. 

And these are the darks with seven new reds.  

In the upper left of the lights and the lower right of the darks are some pieces that are only one or two of a fabric.  Guess I will start with sewing them together.  

Unfortunately, I have a lot of stuff on my calendar for the next few weeks, so I won't be sewing very many triangles.  But eventually they will be sewn, trimmed, and made into something.  Any advice is welcome! 

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