Organizing 01-26-23

I desperately need to re-roll and re-organize the 370+ quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  Some are small and live in acid free storage boxes, about a half dozen are 3-D and have their own storage box, and the majority are rolled around stuffies or covered pool noodles, covered with fabric and stored on shelves.  My friend Liz and I have tried to develop a storage order, but nothing we have tried has been successful.  The extra bedroom is honestly full of junk that I keep thinking I can donate somewhere and put all the quilts in the same room.  It is a massive undertaking that I have not had the strength or concentration  to do in the past year or two.  The fabric coverings are all discounted fabrics from years ago - all different prints of all different colors.  We use what fits.  It suddenly occurred to me, after all these years, that it would be helpful if multiple quilts by one artist were wrapped in the same fabric covering!  Brilliant.  So, when I was in SDiego at Rosie's Calico Quilt Shop a few weeks ago I looked through their sale fabric for a bolt with 15 or so yards to use for all the Ruth B. McDowell quilts, some of which are very large.  What was I looking for beside quantity?  Not dark, not red or black or white, unlike any of the covers I already have, and inexpensive.  Some of the fabrics I use came from years ago when discounted fabric was $1 or $2 a yard!   I found this print for $7 a yard and it fits the bill on all counts including 15.88yards on the bolt.  This picture is the width of the fabric on end and it is slightly more aqua than the computer will let me show.  Loops of fabric flags seem appropriate for Ruth's quilts.  So, I need to get busy and start this major project.  First to clean out the room, there are things that have been in there since moving into this house more than 30 years ago.  What will I do with my mother's cedar chest?  And what ever is inside of it?  And there are boxes of photos and boxes of unknown things.  Oh, dear, I'm tired just thinking about it!    Onward.  

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A busy day 12-20-22

Up and on the road at 7:50am, stopped at Starbuck's drive thru, light traffic to Dana Point due, I suppose, to some schools being on holiday schedule.  KoKo accompanied me to the Surfside Quilters Guild Board Meeting, just because I didn't want to leave him home alone.  He has grown into my lap these last three weeks while I tried to keep my ankle elevated.  At the meeting he wallowed in all the attention and petting in exchange for licks for everyone that would accept them.  When the meeting started he curled up in my lap and slept almost all the way through it.  GOOD dog.  

Lots of business, including discussion about our very successful stocking stuffing project at last week's general meeting.  Now that we have some experience struggling through the first time maybe we could do it for the December meeting every year.  More discussion needed and thoughts from the membership.  I hope we do it again because I missed it this time and it seems like it was a lot of fun.  After the meeting we drove up to La Habra to see and gift our friend Liz.  KoKo was so excited, he always loves sitting on her lap getting her pets and giving her a bath if she allows it.  He is a licker!   Then home to drop KoKo and I went to the market for milk, brown sugar, and rolled oats - can you tell what I have been eating for breakfast.

After all that I had to get my foot elevated and have a little nap.  The ankle is MUCH better, but still some swelling.  It is difficult to apply the Ace bandage although my technique has improve with regular practice!   I am going to walk KoKo in the morning, maybe just up to the corner, down the other side of the street and around the cul de sac.  Then I need to pay some bills, do a load of laundry, and finish up the bit of mending I started the other day.  Focus, I need to relearn how to focus.  I don't know if it is pandemic isolation or just old age, but making decisions and focusing on projects is really hard these days.  I knw I am not alone, so I suspect it is the isolation.  This too shall pass, huh?

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Friday Food + Showing TCQC quilts 04-22-22

Breakfast at a restaurant always seems luxurious to me!  I don't understand why, maybe because my family never went out for that meal.  When my sister and I traveled by train in the late 40s from Portland, OR, to Los Angeles going to the dining car and having fresh squeezed orange juice  and silver covers on our plates was just too sophisticated for words.  When I was in San Diego this last  Monday/Tuesday I had breakfast at Farmer's Bottega with my friend Andrea.  We ate on their charming patio and the benedict was delicious along with tasty fresh fruit.   But it set me up for another visit to Toast in Brea on Thursday with friend Carol.  Their benedict is the best, this time with avocado.  I was much too busy eating to take pictures.

 

I was in San Diego to do a program for Canyon Quilters, showing quilts from the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection (TCQC).  It had been about three years since I did a program due to Covid and I worried that I wouldn't remember how to do it!  My friend Liz, who has helped me since I started doing presentations, is ill and unable to help.  I was really exhausted from getting the quilts down, "packaging" them for transporting, and then setting up at the meeting.  But the members pitched in to help and all went well.  I did remember how to do it!   I tried to take quilts that I didn't show when I visited the guild in June of 2014, but there are some that are just too interesting to leave out.  Ruth B. McDowell's "A Rash of Flamingos" came to me after the original owner died and her heirs contacted Ruth about it.  I feel so fortunate that I could add this treasure to the Collection.  It is a prime example of Ruth's masterful machine piecing and amazing eye for fabric selection.   One of the members took this picture of me in front of Flamingos. 

 

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Well, Santa is done for another year.  I hung a wreath on my door and that was it for Christmas at this house.  Fortunately my friends and neighbors are caring and thought of me.  Best of all, friend Liz brought me some of their prime rib dinner and it was delicious.  The friends in the cul de sac brought me some of their Indian meal which I will have tomorrow.  I talked and text-ed with other friends and, of course, KoKo and I went for our two walks, which we managed between rain showers.  I think it was a lovely day.

We have had heavy rain, wind, and cold over the past week and trees are now almost bare.  The leaves make a gorgeous covering - these are mostly from the crape myrtle trees.

KoKo usually stops to see if the two big dogs that live at this house are out .  They rarely are, especially not when it is wet. 

Then it is "come on, I wanna go, stop with the pictures, already." 

He is a good walker, but gets impatient when I stop to visit or take pictures. 

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Happy Thanksgiving 11-25-21

My friend Liz delivered a bag of plastic containers with turkey and all the trimmings, including her delicious Jello salad which I look forward to every year.   It is a tradition in her house and certainly now in mine!   The wind has been blowing here for several days and the gutters along with my porch are filled with leaves.  Although I don't have a deciduous tree in my yard, all of my neighbors do.  Those trees are almost completely bare now - I counted seven leaves on the redbud across the street.  Why are those few holding on?  Lots of palm fronds and pieces scattered about and someone on Next Door is looking for their patio umbrella.  KoKo doesn't enjoy the wind so we have done short walks - to empty the dog!  And because of the debris in the air I wear a mask.  

Hope your Thanksgiving was everything you wanted it to be - with a crowd or by yourself.  I've added a turkey image to my turkey gallery.   Isn't he delicious>

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More Flowers - TCQC

I do love Monkey Paw plants and the red ones are especially nice, although they come in a number of different colors - yellow, white, rusty brown, and more. 

The flowers before they open do look a little like a monkey's paw. 

The base of the plant is spikey leaves with the flowers stalks growing sometimes to 4 or 5 feet tall.  

At the top right is a side view of the opened blossom. 

And here is one fully open - rather star like, but only about half inch in diameter. 

My friend Liz came today and helped me roll, cover, and store some of the TCQC quilts.  They have been spread out on the guest room bed because my hands are not strong enough to roll a stack of four or five together.  Because of health problems in her family she has not been free to come for some months.  We had a little visit over Starbuck's lattes and then spend a couple hours sorting, rolling, covering, tagging, and storing the quilts.  They are in several places in the house.

On the shelf in the guest room closet.

On the top shelf of my fabric storage racks. 

Each roll has a tag showing what quilts are inside, but there is no order to the storage.  We put them where they fit.  At one time we tried keeping a log of where everything is, but when the quilts are moved around a lot that is a very time consuming job.  What needs to be done is clean out a spare bedroom and put racks up to hold all 370+ quilts.  Right now I don't have the energy and I would need someone to "scribe" for me.  Doing an inventory at the same time would be practical, but very time consuming.  I recently discovered a quilt that I added to the Collection about four years ago that somehow did not get into the Excel document.  Fortunately I am an old fashioned person and also keep paper files on every quilt.  Guess I don't completely trust computers, and probably never will! 

 

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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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Great Day on the Road 11-26-19

Today our friend Liz, KoKo, and I drove up to Tehachapi, CA, to deliver some items to the daughter of a friend.  My GPS gave an estimate of about two and a half hours each direction, but this didn't account for heavy traffic.  So it took us more like three and a half hours.  But we weren't in a hurry and the weather was perfect.  

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One awesome thing about the area around Tehachapi is the widespread wind turbine farms which function well in this location due to that almost constant winds.  This picture was taken in March 2018 when there had been abundant rains.  Now the land is parched and seems almost completely bare of vegetation.  In the lower left corner is glimpse of CA58, which goes from San Luis Obispo to Barstow through vast desert country.  Driving home about sunset the colors were wonderful. 

While in Tehachapi we visited the Five Hearts Quilt and Fabric Shop which seems to specialize in floral fabrics and they have some lovely ones.  Liz was looking for something with a western or outdoor theme and found these place mats that even came in a kit!  I found some nice black on white prints. 

There is another quilt shop in town which we will have to visit some other time. It was well past lunch time and we were all hungry. We went west a block and across the street to Kohnen's Country Bakery.  Since we had KoKo with us we sat on the front patio right on the street and found out what a bustling small town this is.  

It was quite cool 48F and we ended up putting KoKo in the car for a nap.  We both bought bread to bring home and had the most delicious sandwich.  I will save that for the Friday Food this week.  

Total miles were 330 and our average speed was only 40mpg, which isn't bad considering the congestion on the highways.  We enjoyed the day so very much and each other's company even more!  KoKo - not so much, I think after an hour or so he just gets bored, but I think it is better than leaving him home alone for an entire day. 
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Quilts rolled and stored - mostly 03-16-19

Friend Liz came today for coffee and to help roll and cover quilts for storage.  It is an energetic process and two old ladies manage it better than one!  

There are some quilt and rolls on the guest bed as I need to inventory and check all the Ruth McDowell quilts for a future exhibit.   There are over 30 of Ruth's quilts in TCQC.

But the other quilts are stored all over the house.  These are up on the shelf in the guest bedroom.  The white fabric in the middle of the image is a stack of name labels, one for each quilt rolled inside. 

The master bedroom, which has never been used as such since we have lived here over 30 years, has storage cabinets across one end of the room.  Mostly it is filled with craft and sewing stuff, but two shelves accommodate rolled quilts up to about 40". 

This is a stack of the sheets we use to bundle the quilts when we take them traveling.  The top eight will need to be laundered this week after being used for a program last week.  I love sharing the quilts at meetings and exhibits, but there is a lot of "upkeep" involved.  But with the help of Liz I seem to manage it okay, so far.  

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Exterior paint job complete 03-14-19

Fresh paint!  

The painters finished today, only 3 1/2 days to do all the washing, scraping, filling, sanding, and painting.  They worked hard, even while the wind was blowing very strong.  Looks like a good job, hope it lasts ten years.  It is the same color as it was previously, maybe a tad more grey than blue, but perhaps the sun will fade it some.  Liz reminded me that in one previous painting job they only painted three sides of the chimney - I'd forgotten that, but all four sides look the same to me, so I guess they repainted all of them.  This is a different painting company and I would recommend them if anyone needs a recommendation.  Their address is in Fullerton, CA.  

This picture is a bit dark because I took it at 6:45pm when we went out for our walk.  

Now for a window washer and a landscaper.  It never ends when one owns a home, but I hope to stay here until they carry me out.  

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On the Road tonight 01-28-19

Liz and I are at the Sea Pines Golf Resort in Los Osos, CA.  We drove up today (5 hours) so I could give a program on the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection to the local guild Bear Valley Quilters.  It is a nice group and there were guests from Morro Bay and Arroyo Grande.  Many of them had seen my program at their guilds in the past.  I showed 40 quilts and was able to hang sever on stands so the audience could look at them up close and see the backs also.  It was a nice group and we felt very welcome.  

We will be off in the morning for the five hour drive home.  Hope to be able to post some pictures of something tomorrow night.  

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Surfside Quilters Guild November Fest 11-13-18

Another successful November Fest.  These special meetings are generally a lot of fun and raise enough money for the monthly programs that we can enjoy great speakers.  I always contribute by buying quilts at the live quilt auction.  The auctioneer, Lyn Mann is adept at squeezing out just a few more dollars for each quilt.   I had the winning bids for three of the quilts.  The quilt I really wanted came home with me and will hang in the home of a friend for this Christmas season.  

"Christmas Wreath"  Maggie Bell and Jennifer Bell  51" square.   

Nice quilting by Cathie Opila.

Always hard to take pictures in this great meeting room.  The windows along the entire side back light everyone and fade things out.  In front are Julie Vlahos and Liz Williams. Next row back: Joan Provance, Kay Johnstone, and Mary Mulcahey.

Walking on the right is Jeanne Haynes. 

Fun meeting and Liz,  who came as my guest, won a raffle basket.  

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Procrastination 08-25-18

Time goes by so fast that I am continually amazed at what I have not done!  Ten years ago with the help of my friend Liz, I started organizing my sewing room/studio/catch-all space.  This picture was taken during that process.  All the bags and the big pile of fabric are scraps.  Liz teased me that every other bag, basket, box, and drawer was full of scraps.  I did disperse some of them, but still have way more than I will every be able to use.  Salvation Army in San Diego has a program where they collect fabric and thread scraps and sell them to "jobbers" who eventually sell them to manufactures for paper making, stuffing various objects, making insulation, all sorts of things.  I have checked around locally, but no Salvation Army facility near me has a similar program.  So, when I drive to San Diego next time, I am going to stuff my car with scraps and gift them to the Salvation Army down there.  One year they gained over $50,000 just from scraps.  Hope they will be happy to have them. 

Although my sewing space doesn't look like this anymore, it actually looks worse because I never put things away.  I need to apply myself - soon.  It seems there is always something more pressing, or interesting, going on.  Woe is I. 

If you have scraps you want to do something with you could make some fabric twine to use for tying packages or....  whatever. 

https://mypoppet.com.au/makes/scrapbusting-handmade-scrap-fabric-twine/

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Re-visiting a quilt by Joan Colvin 06-17-18

Getting quilts out of storage for a presentation is always exciting, because I can only hang about six quilts in my house - depending on their size.   I did a program for the San Luis Obispo Quilters last week, so my friend Liz came over and helped me get the quilts out and package them for the drive north.  Now we have rolled them up again and put them on the shelves for storage.  But I have pulled out some to replace those that have been hanging for about five months.  A whole new "gallery" to enjoy for a few months.  Usually I try to switch them out every three or four months, but sometimes it is for a shorter or longer time, but never more than six months.  They need to rest.  

"Copper Tree" a quilt by Joan Colvin will be up in my hallway in September.  But you can enjoy it now in this re-posting from September 2009.

"Copper Tree" Joan Colvin 2003 26"W x 65"L

This quilt is on page 38 in Joan's book "Joan Colvin: Nature's Studio". For quite a few years I had been asking her to sell me one of her quilts, but it never seemed to work out. Then in 2005 we were both at Asilomar and she had this quilt to show the students - the perfect quilt for me - I wrote the check and brought it home.

Great fabric selection, some are her own hand dyed (or discharged) fabrics - the little twigs in the background are a commercial batik fabric with a pattern of sea coral - and she included silk ribbon and copper wire ribbon twisted to make some of the branches. With a studio light on it the copper sparkles as I walk past the quilt. It has a ethereal beauty common in Joan's work.

Joan died just a year ago, Sep 9th, 2007, a great loss to the art quilt community. 

Someone pointed out that this is confusing.  This is a re-post from 2009.  Joan died in 2007 just a few years after I purchased this quilt from her.  

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Remembering Things 06-16-18

When driving alone, cross country or just up the length of California, there is a lot of time to think.  And that is one thing I love about driving alone - lots of time to think.  When Liz and I were driving home from San Luis Obispo we talked about the jumble of memory; why do we remember some things forever and yet can't remember what we ate yesterday?   We don't have an answer.  I think that sometimes it is because there is a picture of that event or location that keeps reminding us of a certain person or event.  Here is one of my mother with a group of children in about 1942:

I was four or younger in my California sun dress (front 2nd from right) and my sister, about six in her matching dress stands in front of our mother.  I'm not sure who the other children are, possibly out Palmer cousins from Idaho, they appear to be the right ages.  But my point is that when I think of my mother this image frequently comes to mind.  I can't possibly remember the event, but I have seen this picture over the years and because of that it seems like a memory.  

I just read Anna Quindlen's book "Alternate Side" (which I highly recommend) and marked a sentence that struck me right between the eyes!  "Nora could remember it all so well, better than she remembered what she'd done yesterday, how smooth and warm his skin had felt against hers.  She'd realized that that was how life was, that certain small moments were like billboards forever alongside the highway of your memory."  

But what puts those billboards there?  How can I remember the name of someone I knew in grade school seventy plus years ago and have had no contact with since?  But I sometimes can't remember the name of a dear friend that I see frequently and talk to online and on the phone.   Some of my "billboards" seem to be blank most of the time.  My little California grandmother said her memory was like a bucket, when it was full everything new that went into it fell out and all the old, old memories were still there, way at the bottom, but there.  

Just musing.  
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Two nights in San Luis Obispo 06-11-18

Liz and I drove up yesterday to do a program tonight about the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection for the San Luis Obispo Quilters.  There seemed to be about 60 members in attendance.  They are preparing for their quilt show June 23-24 at the Madonna Conference Center at the Madonna Inn.  This is a show presented by six area quilt guilds and will show about 300 quilts.  And all the usual quilt show features.   It is a show I have always wanted to attend, but the timing is never right and I can't drive up here again in a few weeks.  Bummer. 

The program went well and they especially enjoyed Ruth McDowell's "A Rash of Flamingoes"  and Mary Lou Weidman's "Asilomar"  quilts.  They were hanging on quilt racks so the ladies were able to take a really good look at them.  

" Rash of Flamingoes"  Ruth B. McDowell  2000  100"W X 52" L

"Asilomar"  Mary Lou Weidman  2013  77"W X 88"L

(This is the only picture I can find in my Picasa files, it was taken in 2015 when Mary Lou did a workshop for Surfside Quilters Guild.)

On the road home tomorrow, hopefully no more than a four hour drive.  I'll drop Liz off at her house and go on down the I-5 to San Clemente to pick up Koko.  That will make it another two hours minimum on the road.  Good thing I enjoy driving, eh?

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On the road again 06-09-18

Liz will be going with me to San Luis Obispo to do a program about TCQC for the San Luis Obispo Quilters on Monday evening.  I have the quilts all rolled or packaged, with the help of Liz on Thursday, and KoKo is with Nancy Ota (Thanks, Nancy).  I think I will take my laptop with me as we will have all Monday during the day to relax or do whatever comes to mind.  So, perhaps I will be blogging from up there.  

When I search for SLO in my picture files the only thing that comes up is from a drive from SLO to Pacific Grove in September 2013.  I know I have been through there since, but I guess I didn't take any pictures.  I'll do better this trip. 

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Road Trip - Bishop to Reno, NV 05-19-18

I didn't get very far today only a little over 200 miles, but it was a good day   I took a swing through the June Lake Loop just north of Mammoth Lakes because my friend Liz camps there every year.  To find the exact spot I called her on my cell and she talked me through.  It was fun to take this "trip" with her as she pointed out things I might not have noticed.  Then back onto Hwy 395 north, admiring the snow capped mountains and even the non-snow capped ones.   I haven't driven north of Bishop for quite a few years and things have certainly changed.  There is much more civilization along the way with small towns now grown to medium towns and a new perimeter freeway around Carson City and on the east side of Reno.  No longer a need to drive right through the middle of town.  I did drive the business route through Carson City and found it rather sad as many businesses have gone away due to the lack of traffic, I expect.  Gardinerville has grown so much I didn't recognize a thing and the highway becomes a freeway just to the north.  

I was feeling a little at sea and OLD because things are so different and I remembered that Beth told me that the Reno Art Museum was worth a visit.  I enjoyed it very much, but told the desk person when I left that they need to provide more benches for old ladies who can't stand for hours at a time.  Nice gift shop,  They were setting up for a special event tonight so several galleries were closed, but they have some great paintings, sculpture, and photography.  It is a large building with great high ceilings and wide corridors.  By the time I was finished looking it was about 4:30pm and I decided not to drive on, booking a room at Holiday Inn Express in Reno.  It is a much larger facility than a lot of HIEs I have stayed previously.  The check-in was cold and a little snippy and once again I couldn't have a room on the first floor, but it isn't quite in the middle of the second floor - thank heavens.  

I took a rest and watched a BBC rerun of the wedding.  Very elaborate and lots of fanfare, I enjoyed it more than if I had sat through the entire thing.  I wish them well, I think they will have a hard life together.   Waaaay too much spotlight for me.  

Here are pictures from today. 

Motel room - just like a million others!

Leaving Bishop still following along the east slope of the Sierra. 

Mountain tops were covered with clouds, wonder if they had more snow. 

Lots of cloudy skies, but no rain along my route.

This is not an Interstate highway, so there are bikers and guys parked where the fishing is good. 

This mountain stands alone.  Maybe it is Mammoth. 

TREES!  You may have noticed there are many in the previous pictures.  These are mostly Ponderosa pines which appear at certain elevations.  I think it is more than 4000 feet. 

From the Silverlake Campground that Liz loves one can see this waterfall, high on the mountain.  the house is an old one that the owner is renovating in hopes of having a B&B some day. 

This is the Silverlake campground with the mountains towering overhead. 

When I drove on north on the June Lake Loop I realized I should have used the facilities, so I stopped at this campground along the stream.  Notice it is almost unoccupied?  There are no hook ups!  I think the majority of campers enjoy the amenities of their RVs and trailers.

And there is no brilliant waterfall coming down the mountain - this is the sunny side and the snow is long gone. 

Nice clean, flush bathroom.  Ahhhh. 

Where the Tioga Road turns off to Yosemite (the pass is still closed by snow) there is a Mobil station that has a restaurant of some fame.  I don't know if it is the same chef as a decade or so ago, but the food it excellent if pricey.  They don't serve continuously - lunch today didn't open until 11am.  But I'm pretty sure they serve breakfast early in the morning.  Check it out. 

This is the view from the patio out over the Owens Valley.  

Just beyond the turnoff is the tiny village of Lee Vining.  I have stayed there on occasion, it is really just a wide spot in the road with motels and restaurants and fishing supplies and tourist stuff.  

At the end of the town there is a highway advisory sign that usually would give road conditions.  But here they are warning of deer.  I didn't see any, but they are more common in the evening. 

This is looking south at Owens Valley, part of the great basin.  Notice the road on the right. 

Along the north side of Owens Lake the road is treacherous due to rock slides.  Notice the cement barrier which stops most of the rocks. 

But they have added heavy duty cyclone fencing and heavy duty cables.  It is a scary place, some of the rocks on the hillside are as big as cars. 

Just a bit further north there is a vista point on the southbound side of the highway.  If you go up about a mile there is an intersection where you can turn around and go back to take a look.  There are explanatory placards explaining the Great Basin and how it was formed. 

Notice that skinny road again, right in the middle.  

There is the "gold standard" - just to prove I was there. 

Some people think stickers are suitable anywhere.  I think it is a disgrace - ugly.

Quite a view.  And that little road?  It is highway 395 - far, far below. 

The Walker River is roaring and splashing right now from snow melt.  But I could not find a clear spot to photograph it.   Guess I should have pulled over, eh? 

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