Joan Hutter asked about the mask pattern that Nancy Ota has been using, but I don't have a contact for Joan.  So, I am answering here how to find  the pattern, which is not Nancy's original but one from Dora Cary of Orange Dot.com  If you go to www.orangedotquilts.com there is a free pattern you can download.  

Stay well.  Del and KoKo

Friday Food 04-10-20

In the past few years "Avocado Toast" has been the rage and there was even an "Avocado Toast" index to keep track of the consumption - at least that is what I could make of it.   It all seemed so silly to me because I have been eating plain avocado toast for decades.  Maybe since 1960 when I lived in an apartment that had an avocado tree.  It was a Fuerte rather than the common Haas variety.  Fuerte is very thin skinned and doesn't ship at all well, which is why we find Haas with it's "alligator skin" at our super markets.  Fuertes are mostly found in farmer's markets and roadside stands. 

This is a Fuerte,  I like the flavor better than Haas.

I don't have a picture of a Haas to share. 

My version of avocado toast is to toast the bread, apply butter.  Peel the Fuerte, chop up the flesh and pile it on the toast, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and fresh ground pepper.  And enjoy.   It is actually easier with a Haas, if not as tasty, because once you remove the seed, you can cut the flesh into pieces still in the skin and then scrape it out with a spoon and pile it on the toast.  I never put anything else on, such as I have seen at restaurants.  Just toast, butter, avocado, salt and pepper.  Perfection.  

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Thursday Thoughts 04-09-20

It is citrus time in Southern California and there are many neighbors willing to share their abundant crop.  One lady posted on Next Door that she would deliver oranges to anyone who wanted them.  I said yes and she dropped a bag of eight of the best oranges I have ever eaten.  But I am not a connoisseur of oranges because if I eat too many I develop a rash.  But, OMG, these were perfection.  I didn't juice them, but ate them over the sink with the juice running down my chin.  Sooo good.  

Then this image appeared on Facebook and I had to laugh.  I am frequently amused by the things from my past, and sometimes present, that younger people do not recognize. 

This was an irreverent post with some raunchy answers.

But in my cupboard I have this.....

Not exactly like the antique they show, but it works the same way.  And it was my mother's.  I was dismissive of it after my first visit to California when I was about 4 years old.  My aunt had a "mechanical" squeezer that I cannot find an image of to show you.  But it had a crank that was pushed down after putting a half an orange on the cone shape and closing the lid.  It seemed very modern and efficient to me and I was thrilled to be allowed to push the crank with some help from Aunt Vernice.  It was the wrong time of year to pick oranges off of trees, but it was fascinating to think of it.  

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Wordless Wednesday 04-08-20

Trouble with Blogger tonight.

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Making masks 04-07-20

There are so many patterns and so much mixed information out there.  Hard to know which pattern to use or where to distribute the masks.   This is one that I made for myself and have been wearing when I go out among people.    Batik on the outside,  a layer of Pellon sew-in interfacing, a layer of flannel (that is the duckies, the only flannel I could find in my library), strings cut from T-shirt.  The strings are not very successful, perhaps I need to cut them wider.  I now have the pattern that Nancy Ota is using, with her detailed pictures of the process, and will try that tomorrow.  

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Ruth B. McDowell quilts at VAM 04-06-20

A very wet, stormy day in Southern California.  But I had committed to drive to San Diego to take down and bring home the Ruth B. McDowell quilts that have been there since mid-January.  Fortunately, the Virus has kept many cars off the highway, so even with the rain and the wind the trip was not so bad.  A bit less that the "normal" two hours. 

The sea was rough with the wind blowing foam off the tops of the white caps.  The clouds were low and dark.  It has its own beauty, but rather intimidating.

I had intended to take pictures of all the quilts when I went down with friends to see the exhibit, but it closed before I could do that.  Today, before we started the takedown I took pictures of the larger quilts which I cannot hang very well in my house with all the windows and doors.  

"Carpet of Gold Thread"  Ruth B. McDowell  1988  

62" h x 107w

Cotton prints, hand dyes, fabric markers.  Machine pieced, HAND quilted.  This quilt was sold from Visions 1990 exhibit and lived in Santa Cruz until the owners needed to downsize.  In 2014 drove up to buy it from them.  What a treasure, all hand quilted by Ruth.  

 "Middlesex Fells - Late Fall"   Ruth B. McDowell  1995  

65"L X 90"W  

Cotton prints, hand dyes, woven plaids.  Machine pieced, machine raw edge applique, machine quilted.   

When she was half way through piecing this quilt in three vertical sections, a member of her critique group suggested shifting the pieces up and down.  Ruth found this suggestion very interesting, but it required some raw edge applique to accomplish. 

"A Rash of Flamingos"  Ruth B. McDowell  2000  

52"L X 100"W

In 2000 this quilt was purchased by an admirer from Alaska and it hung there in the snowy climes until 2013 when I purchased it from her estate.  There are 15 flamingo bodies, but Ruth has been told there is an extra leg.  Knowing Ruth, I think someone is counting incorrectly.  

So, now all the quilts are home and ready to rest for months.  I hope they will hang somewhere else in a year or two.  

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Thursday was Orange 04-05-20

This past week the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) asked members to post on their Facebook page, pictures of their quilts according to color.  So, Wednesday was Red, Thursday was Orange, and so forth.  The only quilt I showed was "Cactus Flower" on Wednesday, because it is very ORANGE.  The color is close to the top of my favorite colors, yellow being the most favorite, as anyone can tell.  I suppose the group will continue through other colors and maybe I will look up a picture in my files to post another day.  

"Cactus Flower"   Del Thomas  2000   61.5"W X 48"L

Commercial Cotton fabrics, Batiks, Hand-dyes.  

Cotton Batting and Thread.  Machine pieced and quilted. 

I started this in Ruth B. McDowell's Nature class at Empty Spools Seminars in 1999.  In March 2000 I spent a week in a house in Lake Havasu and this is what I worked on the entire time.  I had taken two large boxes of orange fabrics, but still had to visit the local quilt shop to find just one more!  At that time I was skeptical about putting paint on quilts (how old fashioned was that?), but couldn't find a print for the center of the flowers.  So, I went to Michael's and bought (of all things) puff paint in the appropriate colors and put little dots on a dark orange fabric.  It worked and I tried very hard to not apologize.  Now, twenty years later, I wouldn't give it a second thought.  How we grow!  

The quilt is all pieced, no applique, using Ruth's original methods with freezer paper templates.  

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