Miscellaneous 05-01-24

 Just a few views of our everyday life.

When we walk in the morning we stop to put several papers on the doorsteps of our neighbors.  KoKo will "Sit & Stay" on the sidewalk while I go up to the door.  He is just that little dark spot beyond the landscape roses.

We were stopped at a signal when this great egret flew close in front of the windshield to perch on the wall.    

I don't know if he is the one that some neighbors call "Willie".  However, he  may be one of several that visit our yards this time of year, searching for lizards and other nibbles.

Here is a picture taken last year in a neighbor's yard.

y  i

Sometime since January I bought this white, waxed Amaryllis and it bloomed justas I was leaving for Empty Spools.  I knew it wouldn't enjoy a car trip  so  I "loaned" it to a neighbor who I knew  would enjoy it.  She will return the bulb and I will plant it in my big amaryllis pot - white among the Xmas red.

#   #   #

Computer Problems 02-21-24

I tried to follow new instructions to access a site and have completely screwed up my laptop!  I'll try to see the Geek Squad tomorrow,

Meanwhile, here is our resident Mockingbird who sings constantly from the top of my neighbor's  coastal redwood tree, all times of night and day.  At least he isn't singing down my chimney.

#   #   #

Miscellaneous 11-11-23

I think I may have  to start posting  stories from my past.  I just don't seem to accomplish much  these days.  Lots of naps, two walks a day with KoKo,  keeping  up with bills, and keeping up with Facebook, SAQA, Surfside QGuild, etc.  Since I have a few days without outside obligations I went to CVS  this morning for a flu shot.  My arm has started to  swell  and itch - as it usually does with any vaccine - so I have been putting an ice  pack on part of the  time.  Interested to see how it  will be in the morning.    After  another  week  I'll  have another  few  days free  and  I  will go for the "biggy", a Covid booster.   In the past they  have put me  off my feet for a few days.  Maybe this  one won't  be  so bad.  

A few days/weeks? ago I posted a picture of the local bird bath and said I would try  for a better image.   Didn't see many birds this morning, but we walked earlier and the shadows were  better.  All the  darker spots are holes  the birds made  with their feet  and wings  as  they  bathed in the dry, sandy soil.

I  have managed some sewing.  Mostly mending, but  here are six recorder covers for music students at a south county school.   They needed   over  200!   A small group of SQG members got together to  cut out the two  layers (cotton  outside  and  flannel inside). They made up kits with instructions and Velcro  for members to take  home  and  sew together. I thought it would be an easy project, but I have  lost  some  of my sewing skills and it took me a long time.

They are 16" long X 3"wide and hopefully sturdy enough to last a few years.

Autumn is sort of here in  SCalifornia.  We have  mild  daytime temps and a few nights down in the  high 40s.    Not low enough for a rush  of  fall color, but there is some color. This Nandina (known also  as Heavenly Bamboo) grows along the drive-thru line at Starbuck's.  KoKo is not smelling it, just sticking his head out the window.

#  #  #

Miscellaneous 11-08-23

 I thought it was just Blogger that wouldn't let me post last night, but it was something else.  Still having a problem with  my space bar.  Guess  I will have to go visit the Geek Squad.  I think I was just born without  the  electronics gene!

The Fuyus (persimmon) are just ripening. This one hangs over an 8 foot wall along our walking route. I  think  I will knock and see if they will share.   I guess I will need to  carry a ladder over to reach them.   They are  my favorite fruit.  

I  am taking the boys to school  on both Tuesday and Wednesday this month and Julian can't stay alone  when he gets out at  1:15 or 2:15 so I stay with him until his dad comes  home. I have been doing surgery on Froggy while I am sitting at the  boys house.  Poor guy, I will need to replace his entire back again since KoKo  chews on him there.  But there are also many small  holes with a tiny puff  of stuffing sticking out.   I use carpet thread, which doesn't come in  green, but KoKo doesn't notice. 

Lots of Western Bluebirds lately.  This one turned his head just as I clicked. 

I think we need to have our fence  sanded and repainted.  

Here is  another local bird!  This is an artificial blackbird perched on the right hand  of  the giant skeleton who has been "re-garbed" for Thanksgiving.  

I think he needs  a pilgrim hat. 

#   #   #

A Bird Bath 10-10-23

I know that I would not take a regular, daily  walk If it weren't for KoKo.  We used to go further,  but with my sciatica problems I have a time limit of about half an hour.  Just enough to go one  loop around the neighborhood.   Besides the physical exercise we see our neighbors and KoKo receives lots of patting and gives a lot of licks  (bare toes in sandals!}.  I stretch my brain trying to remember the  names of plants, birds, and the people we met.  I need the human contact, no matter how slight, and I think KoKo does also.    There are even a few dogs KoKo will tolerate, as  long as  they aren't very much larger than  he is.   With regular walking we discover changes and improvements, see what is blooming, and pick up bits of  trash  along the way, especially pieces  of plastic.   

 Doesn't look like much; dry dirt and some leaf litter and tiny stones. 

This is what we think of when we hear about a bird bath.  

But in this patch of dirt along our walking route are many little "tubs" made by the little sparrows, bluebirds, doves, and others. 

Difficult to take a picture, I will try again when the light is different. 

It  is hard  to  get  close as the birds just fly away.  This was taken from across the street and enlarged.  House sparrows enjoying a morning dust bath.  

#    #    #

Mary Quinn quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collecion 07-02-23

Sunday again and another quilt from the Collection.   I purchased this one from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO, when I was traveling in 2011.   I think the exhibit was of quilts made by members of the Front Range Quilters, a large Colorado guild that tends toward art quilts.  I was attracted to the theme, the unusual color, and the interesting technique.  

"An Exaltation of Larks"  Mary Quinn - Colorado 2010  33"W X 67"L

Cotton fabric, paint/ink, cotton batting, cotton thread. 

 Deconstructed silk screen, hand applique, inking, machine quilting. 

With the exception of the wings all of the white parts are a result of deconstructed silk screen, including the barbed wire. 

This is really a whole cloth quilt with the exception of this nest with it's soft blue eggs appliqued a the lower left.  

:Many details if you look close.  The larks with their beaks open all have musical notes coming out of their beaks.  

 

#   #   #

Critters 06-01-23

There seem to be more wild critters around recently.   There are more birds and I've seen a few that I don't normally see.  In the daytime there are always small lizards enjoying every ray of sunshine.  I know  there are nocturnal animals - raccoons, opossums, rats  and mice, but I never see them.  There is a Great Horned Owl that I have glimpsed, but they fly so silently it is a rare view - the Crows chase him away from their nests.  There is a Wren nesting somewhere nearby, possibly in the ficus tree along with an Anna's Hummingbird.  And an Acorn Woodpecker has been pounding on the rotting wood fence in the backyard.  We have the usual resident Western Bluebirds, House Finches, House Sparrows, Crows, Bushtits, Goldfinches, and, most common of all, Brown Towhees.  They are almost always in pairs, searching lawns and underbrush for tasty morsels.  Cell phone cameras are not suited to taking pictures of birds, but I did manage to catch this gal/guy in my backyard, searching among the weeds.  They are constantly moving so many shots are required to catch one good picture - I took about 30 just to get these two!

Brown Towhee

This picture taken by a neighbor. Coyotes blend into the landscape very well.  They are here, but we don't see them very well.  They do, however, walk down the street and sidewalks and jump into backyards.  Wily!  

Then there are the coyotes with and increasing population everywhere.  I have not seen any since  last fall, but I hear them at night and  there are many reports of sightings and, unfortunately, missing cats and small dogs.  They cannot be killed so we just learn to live with them.  KoKo never goes outsie without his lease except to piddle in the backyard with me carrying a large stick by his side.  

#   #   #

A Visitor 04-27-23

The neighborhood likes to think this is the same great egret who visits every Spring, but I rather doubt it.  We aren't far from several lakes and reservoirs, along with flood control channels that have landscape runoff all year.  Could be any individual bird - always just one,  He wanders along the front yards gobbling up tasty bits, mostly lizards, I suspect.  I don't see into backyards, but imagine he checks out those as well.  

This yard is one of the more beautiful, flower filled and I have seen him there often. 

We have seen the egrets since we have lived here and I do photograph them.  Here is an image from 2009 with neck stretched out. 

They do stand very still for a long time, waiting for something to move.  Hard to spot them among the plants.  

KoKo is only midly interested.  I suspect he thinks they are just skinny white people.  While I photograph he usually plops down and rests a bit.  This is a lovely patch of pink ice plant that grows out onto the sidewalk.  

Sunny in the afternoon with temps about 80F.

#   #   #

Birds 03-04-23

We heard a mockingbird yesterday.  Seems early for their return, especially with the cold, wet, windy weather we have been having.  They are usually here between April and November.  Always vocal, they command their territories with much screeching, singing, fluttering, and downright attacks on other birds; also cats, dogs, and even a squirrel.  For several years one chose our chimney for a territorial lookout and I swear, would holler down the chimney at me.  Anytime of day or night he would get wound up and keep at it all night.  I had  to wear earplugs!  

Northern  Mockingbird from Google.  

Although I have seen them in SCalifornia since I moved here in 1957 I had never observed their "flinging" habit until I saw one doing it in Baton Rouge, LA.  I was sitting on a bench on the university campus, just enjoying the lovely weather and the different trees and plants.  On top of one building is a pole with a round ball on top.  A mockingbird was singing and throwing himself in the air, coming down to land on the ball again and again and....  It was, of course, a courtship display and he kept at it all the time I was sitting there.  I have seen this routine many times since, but that first observation sticks in my memory.  It seemed so strange at the time.  

#   #   #

Another rainy day. 02-25-23

The other week when I went to SDiego for the ArtStream meeting my friend Deb gave me this great bird fabric.  It is upholstery weight and about 40" long and 58" wide.  The birds are woven in.

Particularly like this guy.  Check out the feet, guess he is holding the wire together.  Am I too literal?  

I have no idea what I might do with it, right now it hangs in my "viewing spot" at the end of the hall where I see it a zillion times a day when I go to the bathroom!  Deb's friend had a love seat recovered with it and ordered too much fabric. I don't need a love seat, but someone suggested a headboard.  I could also cut out some birds and collage them into a wall quilt.  

Rain all day today again.  We walked in it this morning, but managed to hit a dry spell this evening, although it was only 49F.  Lots of standing water in planters and along walls.  More yet to come. 

#   #   #

 

Quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 02-12-23

Here is a repost from 2929 - about the time of Covid's invasion.  One of the many bird quilts in the Collection.  

Quilts from SAQA 2020 online Auction #3 10-23-20

Another bird quilt for TCQC.  I believe this is a fish hawk from South America.  I couldn't find a website for the artist Eliana Arruda, but I believe she is in Brazil.  I hope that she will see this post and contact me.  

"Looking for 2020"  Eliana Arrunda - Brazil  2020 12" square

Cotton fabric, perle cotton thread, cotton thread.

Machine raw edge applique and machine quilting.

Hand embroidery.

The body of the bird and the leaves are loose squares and strips of cloth.  The green background is "confetti" pieced.  

High contrast back fabric. 

I wish everyone would put a contact on the label - website, e-mail, address, whatever.  

#   #   #

From TCQC a quilt by Sandra Bruce 01-15-23

Another purchase from the SAQA online auction.

"Pelican"  Sandra Bruce - Grass Valley, CA  2021  12"X12"

Commercial and hand-dyed cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting.

Machine pieced, machine quilted. 

I heard Sandra give her excellent program on the "Material Matrix" at a guild meeting.   I admire her process of using "fussy cut" squares for her designs and this pelican fits right in with the bird section of the Collection.  

Notice that the binding is coordinated to the image on the quilt, a very exacting process which she demonstrated on Quilting Arts TV Show #2208.  She has online classes through Podia.

www.sandrabruce.com

The label showing her website address.

And the back of the quilt with a very generous sleeve. 

#   #   #

 

Sylvie Aquilar quilt from TCQC 12-18-22

"Bluebird" was Sylvie Aguilar's contribution to the SAQA 2022 online auction.  Her skills are excellent and I like the balanced design.  And, of curse, the blue - orange color choices.   UPDATED 12-25-22

"Bluebird" Sylvie Aquilar -     12" X 12"

Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton thread, cotton batting.

Machine pieced, fused raw-edge applique, machine quilted.  

Glue stick!

The realistic eye is fused raw-edge.  The orange feathers are fused glued with glue stick and then stitched down. 

The edge of the feathers are cut very precisely, fused, glued with glue stick but not stitched down. They look like they are loose and some are, but I could press them all down again.  It is probably just from handling and transporting.  But I do like the loose feather look.

Nice printing on the label, but no contact. oops!

The channel (matchstick) background quilting shows up nicely on the back. She has sewn in corner hangers.  Machine stitched binding, very neat and even. 

#   #   #

Quilt from TCQC 12-11-22

Another purchase from the SAQA 2022 online auction.  I do love these little bird quilts.  They are very nice hung as a group of four or six. 

"Stilts at the Seaside"  Sara Sharp - Texas  2022  12"X12"

Commercial cotton fabrics, rayon and cotton threads.

Fused applique, thread painting, machine quilting. 

Common shore birds, they run in groups along the waterline.  Their pink legs are distinctive.  Sara has done a nice job with the reflections.  

#   #   #