Sewing Again 06-06-23

It has been so long since I threaded my machine, the one I have used since about  1977, that I had to try a couple times to thread it correctly!  Gotta get  back in  business here.  

I made this little quilt for a Beach Cities QGuild challenge in 1998, but as much as I love the color, it is too chaotic.  I outlined the USA in red perle cotton, but it hardly shows.  Anyway, it is not a successful quilt.  I named it "Guard Thee" after the text in one of the fabrics. 

Several years ago I took a workshop with Elizabeth Busch which covered what to do with such a piece.  So the other day I cut two mug rugs from the middle of the quilt!!   And today I did the zigzag binding a la Sue Benner.

One has the "Guard Thee" text and a lovely lion's eye. 

The other is sort of fishy with a blue un-named critter in the middle.  

I will leave them on the porch table of Wendy, a neighbor who is undergoing chemo and doesn't get out much - just to the chemo treatments.  Her young adult daughter is living with her now.  I don't really know either of them, but a little surprise on her porch will hopefully bring a some cheer to her day.  I've left flowers, cookies, a plant, and a wonderful almond croissant from the French bakery.  But this is the first time she might know who is leaving her gifts.  Such a nice lady if not very talkative.  

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Return from San Diego (06-03-23) 06-05-23

The drive to San Diego on Friday afternoon is always slow and I expected it, so I didn't get uptight and other drivers seem to take it in stride.  There are always one or two maniacs that just jockey from lane to lane to get ahead.  All that does is slow traffic even more.  My average speed was 24mph, but, of course, that was an average between dead stop and 80mph.  It took three hours.  

I  checked into  HIE-Old Town, my usual stopping place, and Beth  picked me up to go to dinner at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern right on the water, but we sat  inside out of the wind.  The French Dip was delicious, the first  I have had in years, it came with house made chips (no sulfites), and an Arnold Palmer to drink.   Interesting  to watch the customers, I just don't get out much any more!   

Ouside in the breeze  way was  this  wonderful  fully blooming vine.  Looks like  honeysuckle, but I've never seen such huge blooms or leaves.  Not terribly fragrant. 

I was  early to bed in the firm center  of the king sized bed with my earplugs in.  Can never sleep on either side of those big beds because they are all broken down.  My other option is to sleep crosswise across the foot part of the  mattress.  My preference would be a recliner and I understand  that some motels offer rooms so equipped.  I'll have to check around. 

On Saturday morning off to pick up Andrea and Deb and drive to Jamul, which is southeast of San  Diego, for the Art Stream meeting.  There were only five of the eight members, but that gave us all more talking time!!  We do an "assignment"  at each  live meeting and this month it was trees.  I didn't ask if I could post anyone's work, so I am just showing mine.  It is obviously not finished - just the fusing is done.  It is an abstract of a forest and I am still debating how to add some foliage.  The color in this image is rather darker than  reality  and  I don't know how to fix that.  Sorry. 

There will be smooth outside edges, probably faced.  

After the meeting and lunch I headed home in medium traffic, some  fast, some  slow and picked up KoKo at Nancy's about 3pm. Then another hour home.  Of course, we both needed a nap before putting things away.  And the  discovery that I don't have my datebook/calendar.  It has disappeared and I am  completely  in the dark about any dates or appointments I have for the rest of my life!!  It  is  a horrible feeling to not know what tomorrow, or tomorrow, or tomorrow or.....   will bring!  I have started a list as I remember things (like my 3pm doctor visit tomorrow, which I called to confirm), but there are notes and phone numbers I will not be able to recall.  I have never switched to keeping a calendar on my cell phone - in case I lose it!!!  This has been very stressful and I feel unconnected to my own world. I have never been one to lose things, but guess I screwed up this time.  Woe is I!

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San Diego 06-02-23

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I will be in San Diego tomorrow (Friday) night to attend an Art Stream meeting on Saturday morning.  KoKo will stay with Nancy Ota in San Clemente.  Back on Saturday evening  

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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.  

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Wordless Wednesday 05-31-23

 

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Miscellaneous Stuff 05-30-23

Seems that my health is all I deal with these days and I hate to fill this blog with all that annoying stuff.  I do have a new medication which I think is helping some, but I  won't know until I have taken it for a couple weeks.  I did not have a epidural last Thursday as planned.  Somehow the locations got mixed up: I want to go to the Orange facility as I have in the past.  So that is rescheduled until June 8th.  Have needed to take some Norco a couple times.  Pain is so tiring that it helps  to be away from it for a few hours.  But if I take it I cannot drive and there are those other medical appointments I need to drive to.  Plus I still drive the boys to school on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am a Tylenol junkie every day!!  I read an post and comments on the Elder Orphans Facebook page about the problems others are having with medical issues and it is reassuring to  know that I am not the only one who is dealing with these medical problems - there  are hundreds of comments on  the original post.  And there are some good suggestons about  how to deal with problems.  

I have had a "studio assistant" for multiple hours this past few weeks.  A young lady, who lives in the neighborhood and has some art training, has come to help me roll/cover/tag TCQC quilts to clear off the cutting table and get them ready for storage.   Haven't figured out the storage exactly, but it is progress and I can now use the cutting table for ...well.... cutting!    We could only work for a couple hours because I don't have the energy to work any longer.  I do enjoy  talking about the quilts, the quilt makers, and the many different techniques and Anna seems to enjoy hearing about everything.   Our progress has been slower than if I didn't talk so much. 

Rolled quilts waiting on the guest bed for decisions on storage.  One thing we did was re-roll all of the Ruth B. McDowell quilts in the same fabric and used all 21 yards  of the bolt I bought at Rosie's bargain room.  We also rolled quilts I have made in a solid crimson that has been in my fabric library since 2005!  

Of course, KoKo and  I  still  walk twice  a  day, even with the drizzle we have been having almost every morning.  Locally it is known as the ""May Greys" and we will now move into the "June Glooms".  Always surprises early summer visitors who expect sunshine.  But there are still bright flowers and drifts of roses, along with huge weeds  and tall lawns. 

For the Monarchs.

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Quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 05-28-23

This 12" square quilt was part of the SAQA online auction in 2014.  The  shapes and the color interested me and it was one of several I purchased that year.  Somehow I remember that Mary was a fairly new quiltmaker and a newish member of SAQA.  But I must be wrong, she won big at Quilt National - '23.

"Ojala"  Mary Mattimoe  2014  12" X 12"

Cotton fabric, Fusing, Machine quilting. 

Detail

Label

Quilt National - '23 at the Dairy Barn in Ohio opened this weekend  and the quilt that Mary submitted was selected as Best of Show.  It is a fairly large piece - perhaps six feet square.  Can't find any place that says, but in a picture with the maker it appears to be at least that large.  

"Not Enough Time" Mary Mattimoe

BEST OF SHOW

$7,500 Sponsored by Moda Fabrics + Supplies

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