Orphan Blocks 01-24-13

I'm still struggling to get back to making quilts.  I don't need to start anything new, but I can't seem to get going on any unfinished projects which have been "fermenting" for several years.  Maybe I do need to try something new - so I picked up two Baggies of orphan blocks from the Philanthropic table at the Surfside Quilters Guild meeting this month.  I did as I have in the past, put them up on a design board and think about what I could do with them.


These are friendship blocks that didn't fit in someone's quilt - or they came in late - and they all have names on them.  Do I leave the names on?  Or cover them up?   I think I will either need to build four child sized quilts with a house in the center of each or find someone else who would like to donate more 12.5" (unfinished) house blocks.   These are, of course, not all the same size.

 

My fabric library does not contain any of these batiks, except one of the rust color and mine may be a bit lighter.  They came in a Baggie with .......

 

These seven blocks are also not all the same size, but can be trimmed.  However, I think I will save these and those in the last picture to take to my Rayna Gillman class at Asilomar in March.  I'll take along some coordinating fabrics, but if I don't have the right stuff I could always go fabric shopping.  Whoopee!

 

Wordless Wednesday - Collage 01-23-13

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Browsing 01-21-13

http://fiberactions.blogspot.com/  An online challenge group that does some interesting quilts.

http://engadget.aol.com/2013/01/17/google-not-a-donkey-killer_n_2490001.html?1358378886&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing9%7Cdl39%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D258441  World wide news coverage.

http://worldsbiggesthexagonquilt.blogspot.com.au/  This project was in 2009-10, but I have not seen it before.  What an amazing success.  Perhaps some of you contributed rosettes.

Here is a tutorial for making a quick baby blanket.  Site has other tutorials.
http://quiltingtutorials.com/basic-skills-techniques/binding-baby-quilt-receiving-blanket/

     Terri Stegmiller is having a "Stencil Blog Hop" and is offering stencils as prizes.  Check it out.  Terri is very talented and clever.  http://stegart.blogspot.com/

And a reminder about something NOT online.  The Visions biennial "Brainstorms" at Visions Art Museum in San Diego will end on February 17th - don't miss it!   There will be a Closing Reception on February 9th when the Viewer's Choice Award will be announced.  I have done the last of my docent days, but I will be doing a private tour on February 1st after lunch.  You are welcome to tag along if you wish.


Eastern Bluebird - Mississippi  Jan 2012 (not my photo).

Diane Wright quilt from SAQA auction at Houston 01-20-13

This is one of the first quilts marked for bidding at the SAQA online auction last fall.  I was so disappointed that it was being held back for the auction at QFestival in Houston.  Then one day I was talking to one of the ladies at Vision Art Museum and mentioned how much I wanted this piece.  She said "I'm going to Houston, I'll bid for you."  How incredibly generous to spend her time doing such a task when she could be looking at quilts or taking a class or visiting with friends.  She was really sincere, so I sent her an image and accepted her offer.  She was the first bidder and came home with the quilt.  How could she part with it?  I have been enjoying it on my wall and keep discovering little things that I hadn't seen the first fifty times I looked!    A BIG thank you to Ellen.

 
"Another Collector"  Diane M. Wright - Guilford, CT  2012  12"x12"
Diane said about her quilt, "The background fabrics were created using soy-wax resist applied with a collection of kitchen tools.  The magpie, also a gatherer and a tool user, is raw-edge appliqued."
The three horizontal bars are pieced in.  Hand and machine quilting.


Isn't he a handsome fellow?  It is always enjoyable to watch magpies whose antics are even more comical and farcical than those of crows.  The family corvidae have little hairs around the base of their beaks. 
 

Wonderfully appliqued skinny legs. 
 

The shapes in the background could represent the myriad items that magpies collect  - if it is shiny and they can carry it they will steal it to "decorate" their nest.
 

 
A colorful backing - surely from Diane's "fabric library".

This must be Diane's hand "print" - it is almost exactly the size as my own.
A good label with all the necessary information - Title, Maker, City of origin, Date, Contact.

Thanks, Diane. I have just bird quilts hanging in my family room right now. They seem to all be getting along when I am not here - no stray feathers laying around.
 

Out for Lunch - Haven 01-19-13

When I go to the doctor I frequently reward myself by going out to breakfast - I always go fasting so if she wants blood tests I am ready to bleed "pure".   That way I don't have to make another trip on another day.   But yesterday I had two tests and it took so long that it was lunch time, so I went to lunch at Haven Gastropub in downtown Orange.  I've been thinking about it for weeks and have driven by several times - Kimmie's is right next door. 

 
Anytime I even think of Haven's lamb burger I salivate. When I go there I can't think of anything else but the deliciousness of eating such a treat. I always read the menu, they have some interesting items, and think I should try something different, but being so close to a lamb burger overwhelms me and that is what I order. I usually manage to sit at the same small table behind the hostess desk next to a window looking out on the comings and goings on the walkway between stores. Always a good place to people watch. 

 
The pomme frits are crisp and peppery and the "catsup" is made at the restaurant.  I managed to finish the burger, but brought most of the pommes home to eat for dinner last night.  After I had such a huge lunch I just needed a snack for dinner.
There is another Haven in old Pasadena, can't find any others on Google.  

Friday Feet 01-18-13

I've said before that I don't look at men's feet very often.  Of course, I'm seldom around men.  But they don't usually wear interesting shoes.  I imagine the reason I noticed this guy is that I was waiting in the doctor's office and he was standing at the counter checking out. He is wearing rather beat up brown shoes, but it is the size of his shoes that I found interesting.  They are HUGE!  I'd guess he was two or three inches over six feet, in his mid-30's and maybe these are normal sized feet for a man of his size.  My husband was six feet, but his feet weren't anywhere near this big. 

 

I suppose for a while I will be looking at men's feet wherever I go.

This lady was also waiting, busy filling out the necessary forms.  I am somewhat enchanted by this image - mostly the colors, I think.  There are two touches of red that sort of perk things up, to say nothing of the violet blouse and the pen topped by a blue flower.  The sun shining through the venetian blinds lends an interesting series of lines. 

It is windy, or what?

I've always heard it said that people who don't have anything to talk about just talk about the weather all the time.  Personally, I am always interested in the weather - here, there, anywhere.  I suppose there is wind everywhere at some time, but some winds have names - they must be important, right?

Here in the Los Angeles basin we sometimes have Santana Santa Ana winds that blow toward the ocean - toward the southeast.  Depending on the time of year they can be hot or cold, they fan the flames of brush and forest fires and are the cause of much sniffing, coughing and aching sinuses.   These winds have been blowing for several days; fortunately, no fires, but lots of dry eyes and skin and the aforementioned problems.  Today the wind still blows, but the temperature moved up from daytime highs in the fifties to mid-seventies.  I always say I would rather have it be too cold then too hot - I can always put on more clothes.  However, the low 70s are my ideal and I am going to enjoy the next week while my bones thaw out a bit.