Drive to San Diego 06-26-20

The 100 mile drive to San Diego from Placentia seems to get longer every time I do it!  Since the Virus came along the traffic has been light, but when I drove down yesterday it was moderate to heavy.  Of course, it was a Friday and I arrived home about 4pm, so some of the traffic was people commuting home, or away, for the weekend.   But I never know exactly how long it will take to drive down or back.  It has taken one hour and forty-five minutes and it has taken over three hours.  Depends on traffic, accidents, weather, the stage of the moon for all I know!   Yesterday we had the low clouds that we call June Glooms, so I never did get a glimpse of the ocean.  

Just below the town of San Clemente I-5 goes into San Diego County, passing San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant and into Camp Pendleton Marine Air Station which stretches to Oceanside.  

Looking out to the west one usually gets glimpses of the ocean and occasionally an Amtrak train will go by (the tracks switch from one side of the highway to the other, so it could be on either side of the roadway).  

There is quite a stretch of land between the highway and the ocean, although in some places it seems that there is just a drop off to the surf.  But that isn't ever the way it is. The ocean is out there, way beyond the higway guardrail.

But on a clear day, like this one on March 12, 2020, the sky is bright blue and the blue Pacific stretches to the horizon.   In this image there is a rare bank of clouds over the water. 

The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant is no longer in operation, but the wires still stretch over the highway and the domes still reflect the light.  I haven't read anything for a long time about dismantling it. 

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Drive to San Diego today 06-26-20

Visions Art Museum is accepting reservations for a maximum of ten visitors to see the current exhibits.   So, I drove down today to meet friends and see the quilts.   The large gallery shows work by the Washington state group  FiberOptix and work from Kathleen Kastles is in the small gallery.  The quilts will only hang for another week, so if you are interested in going contact the museum now.  This is the quilt that you see when you enter the gallery, by Sharon Robinson of Bellingham, WA,

Unfortunately the color is all wrong as the quilt is actually a bright acid green instead of yellow.  But this picture shows the design.  It is about 48" long.  

This is a view of the back wall showing quilts from FiberOptix.

Visions Quilt Museum is struggling along with every other museum in the country.  Support them if you can.

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Neighborhood sights 06-25-20

Sometimes I want to stop, knock on a door, and ask people what something is about.  Like this little umbrella in the space between the curb and sidewalk.  

Looks like the plant is already a goner.

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Wordless Wednesday 06-24=20

Quilt storage 06-23-20

Today my friend Liz Williams came over to help me re-package and store the TCQC quilts that were on exhibit at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove.  I brought them home the end of last month, but we couldn't get together to work with them due to the virus.  There isn't room for me to roll each quilt separately for storage, so we package several by the same artist and divide others by size to roll quilts by several different artists together.  Each roll has a tag on the outside listing the quilts, so we can find anything we look for.  

On shelves in closet.

On the guest bed.

On top of the fabric storage shelves. 

On the high shelf in guest room closet. 

We didn't count how many rolls there are, must be about fifty, I think.  I really must stop buying quilts!! 

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Addition to TCQC 06-21-20

I have not been adding many quilts to the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collectiom over the past year; some from the SAQA online auction and a few from individual artists.  Last week I purchased "Ellys in Malawi" by Pamela Allen, who is well represented in the Collection.  Inspired by her experiences teaching last year in Africa, Pamela created a number of small and large quilts that show the places and people she saw there.  Her quilts are available on her website  www.pamelart.com  and at www.artfullhome.com

I always prefer to purchase directly from the artist and have always been happy with the transactions. 

Ellys in Malawi   Pamela Allen  2019

43" W X 29" L  Hand and machine pieced and appliqued.  Commercial cotton prints, vintage cotton prints, hand dyes, batiks.

The rows of gold colored dots are French knots, as are the red dots on the background among the FMQ twigs with leaves.

Pamela doesn't worry about matching the background color, it is the leaves that show.  More hand zig zag - sort of connect the dots - and one of many little FMQ birds that are sprinkled throughout the quilt.

Sky is roughly cut pieces of hand dye heavily hand stitched with running stitch.  Machine stitched circles using coral thread on white background on the right.

All these zig zags are hand stitched with embroidery floss or perle cotton.  Ladder stitch around the ear and as grass on the ground.  FMQ grass and vines.

A bright solid red for the back showing knots from the hand stitching, machine quilting around the trees, and two more FMQ birds.