Tree

Here's this year's iteration of our Christmas tree. Nice, huh? C for Cookseyville, lol.

Matilda supervised.

Critters Inside and out

Out in the backyard, Grandpa T is relaxing under the BBQ.

Here's the owl my pet sitter suggested, to scare the crows away.

Ginger nearby, comfortable both indoor and out.

Ginger likes hanging out with Matilda, too, indoors.

I am working on a quilt, which I am keeping under wraps for now. I am also putting finishing touches on award ribbons for my guild's upcoming quilt show.

Quilt, Eat, Sit, Quilt

This quilt by Maria Elkins wowed me at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. I'd seen it in print somewhere, but in person you can see the exquisite quilting and applique details. I think there's a photo of me with my quilt in the Rituals exhibit in my regular camera, but I haven't looked at it yet. Soon. I'll post it if it's a good one.

We have kumquats in July. I don't think that's happened before. We also had a major crop in January. I think the mild weather we're having has the trees confused. What season is it? We also have a few pomegranates and grapefruit growing. And lots of plums! Photo of that later.

 

 

 

I had my family room chairs reupholstered recently, and less than 45 minutes after they were returned, my cat settled onto the back of one.

 

 

 

Now she's sitting on the other one. It's a bit ironic because she's the very reason I had to have them reupholstered. Darned claws.

Cats and Dog and Tortoise too

I recently finished this cat for my friend Stacy's 50th bday. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's free standing, raw edge applique on recycled black sweater. The cat is reminiscent of the cats in my "Dos Gatos Primitivos" quilt.

 

Here it is in progress.

After this point I stuffed the cat and added the bottom. There's a packet of rice near the bottom to keep it upright.

Keeping with the animal theme, here's Gingie in one of her brightest outfits. The fabric is vintage; I got remnants of was an apron, I think. I've used this fabric in a few of my quilts.

 

Gramps happened to be walking by just outside.

Hanging out together.

No Two Alike

My Noble Elements/Winter quilt is finished! I'm callling it "No Two Alike."

It will debut at Road to California in January and move on to various Mancuso venues and other quilting extravaganzas, tba. I'm totally excited that all four seasons will appear together at two Mancuso shows.

I even got Matilda to pose nicely on it. Now on to Christmas projects!

Speaking of Rainbows, etc.

Here's another view of the pumpkin hat that I knitted for Samantha.


I'm still hoping for a photo of Samantha wearing it. Hint, hint, pretty please?

I forget if I posted this yet. Three beautiful pomegranates, the first harvest from our tree. Two more split open, and there are two more left on the tree.

We recently did a driving trip up to the Bay area, one of our favorite places. I snapped this on the Golden Gate Bridge heading towards Marin County. It takes me back - we used to ride our bikes across this bridge when we lived in San Francisco in the early 70's.



Here's the rainbow bridge on the way to Sausalito. It was painted this way back in the 70's, too!

Speaking of rainbows, isn't this amazing? We saw this just as we were heading into Yountville, which is in wine country. Cars were stopped along the road to gape at the sight. I took this through our dirty windshield, hurriedly - I can't believe it turned out so well. 

This was the incredible view of the vineyard right outside our hotel window in Yountville..

Now we're back home and I'm facing my snowflake quilt. I tried to get a nice photo of Matilda on it, to add to my "Cats on my Quilts" collection, but she was in no mood to pose for the camera.

garden, dogs & cats

I'm getting photo build-up. I will try to remedy that in this post. Here are some tiny grapefruit growing in our backyard.

We have plums, too.

Check out my baby pomegranates.

The clematis is especially lovely this year.

Meanwhile, Ginger is settling in.

She and the cats are in a "getting to know you" phase.

There are closer peaceful encounters, even with Olive, but I haven't caught them on camera yet.

Who can resist the dog with the wookie hair?

We've got Ginger-vitis.



We brought home our daughter's dog, Ginger, from New York. She is a sweet dog and beloved pet, but not the best choice with an increasingly mobile, grabby baby. She's a long-hair miniature dachshund.



She was seen on this blog a couple years ago, as the German-speaking dachshund in Peggy's mixed media book.

She's 12 years old, but spunky and cute as a button. I was inspired by coverups made by my daughter to make this one. Ginger was a victim of a brown recluse spider bite, which left a bare spot on her back. The coverups hide the spot and protect her from sunburn.

It's reversible. Maybe I'll figure out a tutorial for this coverup. It's really easy.
She lived here for a few years in her younger days, and we are happy to take her in.

She's still playful. Here she's hiding her ball under a floormat.

Needless to say, the cats are not amused.

But Ginger has been friend to cats, dogs, and even a chicken, so we are optimistic she will someday become friends with Matilda and Olive.



May update

The cats' old condo was looking worn, so we got rid of it and bought this spiffy new one. The cats wouldn't have anything to do with it until I sprayed it with catnip spray.

I still haven't seen Olive on it, but Matilda seems to like it.

I went to a retreat at Casa de Maria in Montecito last week. There were various fiber workshops, and one of them was a felt heirloom book. Mine isn't done yet, but here is a peek at it, in progress. My theme is, "When We Were Children." It has photos of some of my relatives when they were children, from my grandparents down to my grandchild.

We did Zentangles, too. Again, mine isn't finished yet. We painted, then drew on MPC (Multi-Purpose Cloth), available at Joanne in the home dec department. I'd like to eventually use it somehow - maybe as a pocket for a tote bag?

We did our own projects, too. I started this cute little sundress for Samantha.

We saw this fabulous primitive red and white quilt on the drive home. This was in Summerland? I think. What is it about red and white quilts that is so appealing?

Man, I can't believe it's already May 9. I gave a mini-workshop on Saturday afternoon, teaching English paper piecing to 5 willing Flying Geese quilters. It went well, I thought.

Dinner at Eight Artists Interview, etc.

Spring is busting out all over in my back yard.  This is the one time of the year that the Hawthorns look glorious.

And in the atrium, too. I can never remember what these orange beauties are called. Anyone?

Check out our resident lizard. Or is it lizards? We've been seeing them every day, and they seem to hang out in this woodpile. Unfortunately, we recently used up all the firewood, so the lizard or lizards have scattered.

Matilda has come home! This mounted photo was shown at quilt festivals in Houston, Long Beach, and Cincinnati, as part of the "Eye of the Quilter" photography exhibit. She's lying down on a bit of handprinted fabric. Always getting in on the photo.

And be sure to go to the Dinner at Eight Artists blog to check out all the artists' interviews. I am interviewed today. http://dinnerateightartists@