Friday Food

Bakeries are some of my most favorite places.  However, I do try to avoid them because I cannot resist the desire to try everything they offer.  I cannot chose because I like almost everything!   I have been avoiding the Paris Bagette Boulangerie on Imperial Hwy in Brea, CA for a long time, but finally succumbed.   It has an Asian connection and sells various buns with red bean fillings - which are delicious.  But a least half of the offerings are cakes   - elaborate cakes - in slices or whole cakes  ($40.00 +++).

These are triangular slices of cakes - perfectly aligned. 

These are huge berry tarts.  $7.50/each

A vast array of buns, rolls, croissants, donuts, etc., both sweet and savory.

The back of these cases is the outside windows.

Something for everyone's taste. 

Including a large choice  of  French macaroons 

I bought an almond croissant, a ham and cheese croissant, a brownie (sold in a cellophane bag and the best one I have ever eaten), a bun with red bean paste, and a raspberry mochi wreath (below).  The latter was the only disappointment as it is not really mochi, but more of a bunch of little donut balls coated with the raspberry jelly.  blah.

Raspberry  mochi wreath. 

They do serve coffee and there is a sort of counter with a few stools along with some high tables/chairs outside.  There is a sign saying customers can carry their food next door to the Yogurtland and eat at the inside tables.  Not a great way to dine, but I took my choices home and enjoyed them in comfort. 

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More Fabric 03-09-23

Just to add some words to Wordless Wednesday.  An explanation of sorts.  

In yesterdays post the top picture of piles of fabric is mine from one of the times I was trying to reorganize.  The other two are of student's tables at Empty Spools, probably in Ruth McDowell class.  I try to take photos of what it is like in a classroom.  Students bring huge amounts of fabric - suitcases, boxes, bags, even rolling plastic drawer units.  And, of course, sewing machines, chairs, ironing "tables", every imaginable gadget and boxes of thread.  As the years have gone by I take less and less and leave my machine in the car in case I ever get to the sewing part, which I usually don't.   The classes I take are usually more about the design and fabric selection.  Here are some more fabric piles from Empty Spools, these are from 2012!

This student knew what she was going to create and was also very tidy and organized.  She limited the amount of each fabric.  There is an onsite shop provided by the Cotton Patch in Lafayette CA., so one can always do a quick shopping trip!

 
Maybe an ocean subject?

 
Could be snowy mountains?

 
Undecided, but lots of yellow - sunflowers?

 
Perhaps a field of poppies?

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Wordless Wednesday 03-08-23

 

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KoKo Grooming Day 03-07-23

It is hard to change a routine.  For the last six years we have used the same groomer, but decided it was time for a change.  KoKo is seeing a really great new groomer and comes home so soft, shiny, and trim..  But most of those years while he was being groomed I would go across the street for a haircut and then to the next door carwash.  Now those places are completely on the opposite side of town.   Resulting in no haircut and no carwash!!  i will need to figure out a new routine.

Today I thought I could do the Froggy surgery in the two hours KoKo was out of the house.  But I didn't quite finish it and had to put up with KoKo's supervision.  He just can't stand to not be able to carry Froggy about or sleep on him.  

He finally settle down , but, as you can see, Froggy still has needle and thread on his back.  Froggy's white feet are still in bad shape, but I haven't figured a way to mend them.  It may be necessary to completely cover them with white fabric as there is almost no firm fabric to sew up the large holes.  But I will not complain as he is the very best doggy anywhere. 

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Ruth B. McDowell Quilt from TCQC 03-05-23

This is reprinted from the post of 05-27-12

It always interests me to look at an artist's work over a span of years, so I am very happy to have purchased this early Ruth McDowell quilt from a private collector.  She had loaned this piece to the 2008 exhibit of Ruth's quilts at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, CA. When I heard that she and her husband had downsized to a much smaller home, I asked her if she would consider selling the quilt to me and she said she would think about it.  This year when I was at Empty Spools she said she was ready to part with it and I wrote her a check! 

"At Crocker Grove"  Ruth B. McDowell 1990  36"W x 47"L 
Machine pieced. Hand appliqued. Hand quilted. Commercial cotton and raw silk fabrics, cotton thread.
www.ruthbmcdowell.com
  When she began making quilts Ruth hand quilted everything, but gradually taught herself to machine quilt which has helped her to create over 500 quilts over the years.  I believe this is one of the last of her hand quilted works, so I am extra pleased to have it in TCQC.

  
She hand appliqued the thin horizontal branches,but before too many more quilts she had refined her piecing techniques and rarely hand appliques anything now. 

 
Ruth has never been hesitant to use whatever print fabric will give the look she desires.  This background drapery fabric gives the look of branches and grasses behind the trees.  

 
Ruth's hand stitched signature appears on the front at the lower left. 

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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.  

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Friday Feet 03-03-23

In the 20teens these fabric boots/shoes were sold at quilt shows and were very popular.  I could never quite convince myself they were meant for me.  Haven't seen any for years, but then I haven't been to many quilt shows lately.  I'll have to look at the Quilts, Inc. show in Long Beach this summer.   I don't know how these are connected to the original mola design/technique of the native work done on the San Blas Islands in SAmerica.   Can the fabric be hand stitched reverse applique?  

March 01, 2013

September 04, 2016

April 05, 2012

January 15, 2013

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