Featured Photos

A sunny, warm walk around Lake Merritt with Andy and Mary followed by banh mi for lunch.  Lots of different birds spotted. 

Mary and I had a lovely walk at Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland near the airport.  The day started out cool and sunny and I was able to get some new bird photos.

Immature White-Crowned Sparrow

Black Necked Stilts

I love owls and finally I was able to take my first photo of one.  At Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley there is a section for the Western Burrowing Owl and on New Year's Eve day I saw one.  He's hard to see but in the middle between the two sections of pavement is an owl.




On a lovely walk with a friend, Mary, at Pt. Isabel we saw this Heron that stayed very still as if posing for the photo.




Okay, so now maybe I'm pushing my luck, but I got two new orchids yesterday with Eric and Anna at Pacific East Mall.  One is a green blossom cymbidium:


New orchid--since I have three I haven't yet killed, I figured I would try a new one.



It's November, so it's time for my Christmas cactus to bloom. 



And inside, another orchid has bloomed again--it's the second year I've had this plant and I'm delighted that it is both alive still and blossoming!
A friend gave me a slip of an aluminum plant and for the first time it has decided to bloom.  Very interesting plant.


Walking above the fog at Inspiration Point


Another spider in the back yard:


T'is the season for spiders to build massive webs overnight in the most inconvenient (for humans) places.  This big guy is right in the path of where I reach in to get the hose to water my plants.  Looks like he has been very busy.


I rarely get to see the quilts I make and give away in use.  This past week I visited my brother and got to see his king-sized quilt in use in his room.  This colorway of this quilt was designed around the painting that hangs behind the bed.  Accent colors from the drapes and rug were also incorporated to make sure this quilt fit in nicely to the room.  I am delighted with the results.

Links of Interest

Fabric Stores: 
    New Pieces Quilt Store
    Stone Mountain & Daughter Fabrics

Worth Visiting

Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel
The Pioneer Woman
Joen Wolfrom's Color Blog
Polymer Clay Daily

Quilt and Textile Related Sites

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative
Dye Candy
Exuberant Color
Free Motion Quilting Project
Gloria Hansen
Jane Dunnewold Art Cloth
Jane LaFazio
Judy Coates Perez
Kelli Nina Perkins
Lazy Gal Quilting
Lyric Kinard
Melanie Testa
Patchworkmaniac's Blog
Spoonflower: Print custom fabric
Tallgrass Prairie Studio
The Quilting Edge

Museums

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
The National Quilt Museum

On the Design Wall

Pieced and appliqued dahlias--this quilt top will be given to the Brandon Free Public Library in memory of my dad.

Finally, I have decided to use many of the fabrics I have hand-dyed, screen printed, or used shibori techniques to create a design on fabric.  Mixed with a couple of commercial fabrics and in the modern style, I'm liking the way this is turning out. 

My French Braid is quilted!

Yeah!  It is finally quilted and I'm sewing on the binding.  Sue let me know that she had finished quilting the French Braid quilt I made last summer for my bed.  I had taken three quilts to Sue last summer to quilt as I had two large queen sized quilts and one large king-sized quilt.  While I have quilted several queen sized quilts before, it is not as much fun as working on smaller quilts.  So I finally decided to let someone else quilt three quilt tops I had made.  Very freeing to let go of needing to quilt every top I make!

New Pamphlet Books

Inspired by a book I bought in Napa, I decided to make some pamphlet books of my own.  A bit of art paper, some interesting shapes sewn to the cover and a backing, with 48-60 blank pages sewn in ready for whatever thoughts or notes you have.

On the Design Wall

The start of a quilt for Elijah--my take on LP records.  Remember those?

Recently Finished

Another quilted kimono jacket inspired by the purple/orange dragon fabric remnant.  I didn't have enough of that fabric for the whole jacket, but an orange batik that had the right color intensity and a similar feel works well for the right front. 

With advice from fellow Quilt Therapists, the borders were chosen and now Floating Triangles is quilted and ready to give.  A puzzle ball made from fabrics left over from the quilt will be part of the package too!