Story Quilt

Sometimes I have to make quite a mess to get the creative juices flowing.  Phoebe the cat wanted to be right in the middle of it all.  She is usually more help than not, except for when she wants to get right on top of projects to see if she really likes them. She thinks all little blankets must be for her, right?  Not this one, Phoebe.  So first I cut a pile of little squares, each centered on a picture.

I played around with various arrangements of the pictures I'd  cut out, and then I photographed them to use as a map for putting them together.

This is truly a scrap quilt, other people's scraps. I  bought the fabrics at a store that supports the local senior center by selling donated craft items.  You never know what or how much  you'll find. There were several times I wished I had just one more little piece of  this or that color or pattern but scraps force one to improvise.

One click makes these photos bigger then the back button returns you to the text.

Perhaps there is another name for this type of patchwork, but I call this a story quilt.  I hope the pictures of trees and whales and teddy bears, villages, churches, lighthouses and ducks, strawberries and polka dots inspire the imagination of the two little guys at the home where this quilt now flops around.  See the yellow squares that each depict a raccoon on either side of the watery blue?

I know that real raccoons aren't pink.  The same week in June that I  was stitching these fabric pictures together I met some real baby raccoons who were born in a box in a crawl space under my brother's house.  We were cleaning and packing for his upcoming move  when one of the boxes wiggled a bit... Hello! 

Patchwork top ready for the next step...that's when I slow down.

I think it might help me to dive into the messy process more often if I  keep a little log of the things I make.  I like the idea part of the process a lot.  I have fun pushing the elements into different patterns and then at a certain part of the actual construction I start to lose it.  It is a good thing babies are small and  that they aren't likely to complain that their blanket mixes pretend pinkish raccoons with giant strawberries and whales leaping in the waves.  

All freshened up and ready to mail...

I might have taken a better picture of it but I was just so happy it was now filled with 100 % cotton and machine quilted, stitched in the ditched style.  It was ready to go so I popped it in the mail.

My favorite picture of this quilt is actually the one I got back with a certain young fellow making use of it.

So that's the story of the little bears who one day visited the ocean but there's no need to stick to it.. we can make up a new one for nap time tomorrow.

Did you ever see that old 1948 movie "The Naked City"?  It ended with the line,  "There are eight million stories in the naked city, this has been one of them."  I suspect my little story quilt won't have quite that generative effect, but I do hope it will inspire some fun and wonder and maybe help me remember how much I enjoy ( most aspects of ) a sewing project.

She Was Looking for Someone to Finish It

A small handwritten sign caught my eye as I wound my car down a narrow pine lined street above the ocean.

Turning away from my direction home as if I had known where I was going all along I began to follow a trail of paper arrows toward a small driveway garage sale. I looked over at the commitment I'd already been privileged to make that day to a fresh salmon filet and some lovely fruits and vegetables, it all deserved speedy delivery to my refrigerator.  Now I am of two minds.   I remind myself that I shouldn't be so easily distracted but  then remember  sales where  I have found wonderful treasures like the old guitar. So I could at least peek from the car.

As I drew alongside the humble offerings that edged right up to the road, I saw a tired but soft face, a woman probably about my age. Standing amidst the belongings she'd drug out into a spot of sun in front of a small cottage, she met my eyes directly, brushed her wire blonde curls away from her face and smiled. Just junk or not, now I had to stop.

As soon as I was out of the car I'd confirmed that if the seller hadn't seen me, a drive by scan would have sufficed. There was nothing unusual being offered. I said hello before I halfheartedly peered into a cardboard box of worn paperbacks. "Are you cleaning up or moving? "  I asked.

"Moving, moving on I guess you'd  say. The rent is going up again and I don't know, my daughter says she'll never come back to Carmel."

"You moving closer to your daughter?"

"Oh no, she's in L.A.  She don't like Carmel and I don't like L.A.   I've been here nine years and  I guess I'm just ready for something else.  What're you looking for?"

"Oh, I never know, but it is fun to stop and look and meet people.  I've only worked here six years but we don't have any neighbors on the cliff where we live and work so it's nice to meet folks."

I wonder  if I'm going to get lonely traveling," she said.

"Traveling where?"

"Don't know, really, just aim for places I haven't seen for a long time. Maybe I'll catch up with myself somewhere along the way."  That smile of hers showed up again.  I nodded and she kept talking. " I use to move alot, before I landed here. I got a few more things to put out, let me show you something."

She came out with a patched quilt top in her hands and draped it over a table stacked with dishes." I want twenty dollars for this.  I never did finish, " she said, "and it's got a few spots now and maybe a hole or two, but I can tell you where I got every piece of the fabric.  See, this fabric here is from when I was in Colorado.  I liked Boulder, lots of creative people  there,  especially in the winter time.  And this  here

was a dress my little girl wore and this vintage cloth was from a store three old ladies ran up north, it's from the thirties. This flower print I bought on a vacation in Hawaii.  You ever been to Hawaii?"

"No, can't say that I have.  Are you sure you want to sell this?  You could finish it, even traveling you could take it along and finish it by hand."

"My daughter doesn't want it.  It's not her style.  I do kind of hate to get rid of it, but I'm getting rid of everything else, I might as well. "

I didn't know what to say.  I wasn't sure it was my style either, but in it's haphazard wonky way it did kind of hang together and it was kind of growing on me.   And then there was the woman.  I didn't want her piece by piece memory love project to suffer any more rejection.

She looked at me and said, " I just get the feeling that this might  stand a chance of getting finished if I get it to the right person."

I had a twenty dollar bill in the ashtray of my car.

            Here it is lain out to baste the cotton batting and back on to it.
                                                                  Whimsy abounds...

                                                     
                                                     And I am quilting it by machine.



 I hope that momma at least swings by L.A.  or maybe her girl will come find her...in the meantime I'll finish up this funny old quilt top...I'm not sure who it is for...but quilts do have a way of continuing stories on their own.
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A Proper Thank you for a Blogger's Kindness

A few weeks ago I asked if a little wall hanging quilt I saw on Julie Bagamary's quilting blog was for sale, and I was delighted to learn that it was.  And then I made a comment on another post on her blog and was randomly chosen to  receive a  giveaway she was offering, a 2010 Cloth Paper Scissors Calendar. 

 As Julie  acknowledged in her giveaway, we all  know the year is almost half done.

It is, isn't it?...when June is gone, oh June , we barely knew you ; today the 27th and the last Sunday in June, half of 2010 will be part of the past.
But marking time or remembering dentist appointments is not really the point of many calendars, they are often to inspire and amuse. And  it was fun to receive a gift from another blogger.

  Readers of the magazine of the same name, were asked to illustrate what, in any given month,  life is  like for them...and capture it in a 12' x 12' box. " Life is like a box of ..."

My favorite depiction is from the month of April...

Life is like a box of tools  use them wisely, know the rules, build your future make mistakes, be prepared to fix what breaks.

                                                                   July  for some people life is like a box of quilt squares...

But this one, by Jean K. Brown of Elgin Illinois in its ingenuity is my favorite and I think I will frame it to hang by my husband's workbench...the place where he so often and ingeniously fixes so many things. 

The last little image is a clay polymer heart held together by a small clamp steadied by a doll's hand.....

click on the photos to enlarge....

Thank you Julie!
I hope you will check out Julie's work...it's inspiring.

Mushrooms, Books and a Backward Look. I'm on a Roll...

I took a little time this morning to scroll back though this web journal of mine.  I started it exactly thirteen (13) months ago on January 10, 2009.  On a near daily basis I have to reject automated comments with  strange advertisement  for products I would never discuss here, and occassionally get nice comments from friendly folk that actually read my blog, but I can only actually sit down to create post in those rare moments of confluence when both inner and outer contraints allow.  And of course, given all the things there are to do in the world, in a life, in a day, sometimes quite a few days pass without me writing or posting photos here even when I have scrawled away in my handwritten journal...well, you don't want to read that.  I'm a believer in making things fit for human consumption, so to speak.

But perusing  my archives this morning I find that I'm glad that I have stopped to leave this little trail of some of the places where my feet, mind and heart have trod.  So I will carry on...randomly spilling out on odd subjects.  This week I have been photographing the various mushrooms springing up all over the land outside my door. Want to see a picture?  I'm fairly certain that I have properly identified several  accurately, but I still won't be eating any of them.

Western Amethyst Laccaria ?

What else have I been up to...working of course...walking in between rain showers.  I did post  recently over in my write purpose journal.  I've been hand quilting a few nights a week.  I  have identified some fabrics to make some additional cloth bags, to remember to take to the grocery store.  I remembered three times to soak beans the night before I want to cook them  since I decided to eschew canned beans to avoid BPA.                                                                                                                                                               

I've been enjoying the hummingbirds in the flowers outside my window, the Pride of Madeira and Wild California Lilac. I planted some heirloom tomato seeds in little pots in the greenhouse even though I said last season that I should give up growing tomatoes on the coast. 

 I finished reading If You Want to Write A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit written and first published in 1938 by author and teacher Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) and wrote a little about it here.
 

 

That little label on the tea bag...it reads:"The whole life of man is but a point in time; let us enjoy it." Plutarch 46 AD -120 AD

The land of sharing...fun in the blogosphere.

During the Fall Quilt Festival I visited many of the festival participants. I am still working my way through the list and enjoying visiting so many creative and generous blogs. Look at the prize I got from visiting and leaving a comment at one friendly blog...

Anne at Film and Thread

The reason that there are two sets of stamps is that this persistent woman sent this gift to me twice. The first time the post office didn't finish delivery but Anne did!

The fabric is really cute. I am sure it will inspire some fun project. Anne also sent bias tape, an iron on airplane and luggage tags. I had a local friend in the car when I received this envelope and she just marveled at the fun , the generosity and friendliness that this little package represents. If you hop on over and take a look at Anne's blog please say hello to her from me.

Thank you Anne.

Home again, home again Jiggety Jig.

Not that you missed me, but I have been away from home and the computer and consequently this web log. We walked out

the garden gate and drove on up the road.

Sunday afternoon we visited with many old friends and my brother, Steve, before we headed to check on our house "up there" that is currently rented out. Report of leak on a deck that is also a roof over a special room that looks out into the garden mandated that Mark see what was needed. With the rains coming, it was basically he that was needed. It was not the kind of job one can hire out...improvisation is one of his many skills. Next season we hope to revisit the repair in a much larger way, but for now, all should stay dry.

But first he had to take me east to stay with his momma, the original heart of our journey, that old leak just being a minor but demanding complication. While Mark was busy driving back and forth and repairing the deck I accompanied Miss B. through some special needs and I must say she is a very brave lady indeed.

One night I worked

a bit on this vintage quilt top.

The blocks were made by hand, but by whose hand I do not know. The fabrics truly seem like "her aprons or blouses" and "his shirts." I joined them together and found a backing I like. I was able to pin baste and then sew baste the sandwich together, but that is as far as I got for now. I also sat and did a little hand sewing in the hospital waiting room and during one night of television. It was calming to have needle and thread in my hands. We had nice dinners together. I roasted vegetables, cooked sauce for pasta, made soup and some guacamole for which I tried to make tortillas...but corn grits doesn't quite work...they tasted good though.

Up and back on different roads, we drove through beautiful lands...I didn't take a single picture except in my mind's eye, of the tumble down barns and black cows, new grass pushing through the golden straws of last summer and leaves and berries in bright reds and oranges sprinkled amongst the tree greens. Every corner of the land has its own colors...

and now we are back to the blue Pacific on the granite cliffs.

Why It's Okay If I Don't

win the fabric giveaway that I am going to tell you about, even though it would be fun. Maybe you will win, I'll post a link in here somewhere, don't worry. Anyway, I have a theory that folks who live where it gets cold sooner and longer do more sewing than those of us who live in more temperate climes. My other justifications for not getting into this room as often as I would like

to make potholders with a personal touch or other little presents...

well those reasons are are complicated and many...they run the gamut too.

For example, every once in a while I feel the urge to actually cook...

and then if I eat of this...well you know that I have to go for a walk and if I am out walking I am likely to want to take photographs and then if I take photos I am likely to want to share them with you on my blog...

And then I know it sounds old-fashioned but I still like to read books...

and the most important book I read isn't even in that picture...

And besides that I like to write

and have I another blog that is a little more serious than this one...

and of course I am silly enough to watch a little of the old tube...

This isn't our television...ours is no where near this big or old...I saw this in one of my favorite second hand shops and had to take its picture.

And there are rooms to keep clean and pretty and

gardens to tend
and we mustn't forget

the cat... she takes a lot of petting.

And while this hasn't been an exhaustive list, I realize you dear reader, may be exhausted so I will just say that I really would enjoy having Jackie send that pretty fabric she is giving away



out my way~Here's where I learned to drive~ Scary, huh?
But then again, maybe you are the one meant to win, so you pop on over to

Jackie's Quilt Blog aka Canton Village Quilt Works

and follow the instructions! One of things that I enjoy there is her frequent links to other interesting blogs and notice how she calls her giveaway...Sharing Good Fortune. She does share a lot. Go on over and see just how much piecing and quilting and sewing a dedicated woman gets done and please come back and visit me again soon!

Miniature Postage Stamp Blogger's Quilt Festival & Doll Clothes

 I was feeling left out of Amy's Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival, but when I went back and read the rules, I realized it didn't have to be a big quilt, or one I had made since the Spring Festival where I entered a sampler I had recently finished. So here I am with a very tiny doll quilt I made and sent out into play land. The photo was in a folder of other little things I had sewn back in 2003 - 2005 while recuperating from one of life's big bitey bugs (shall we say). Creativity can be a great distraction and wonderful comfort when limitations exist in other realms, and so it was for me. This is a very tiny quilt, for 8" dolls and is actually pieced from a sample pack. I am sorry I don't remember the source or the maker of the fabrics. I made the little fuzzy blanket too.

This second dolly bedding is made from printed quilt fabric. It is out there in dolly land somewhere now too. To give you some perspective, that doll is 5.5 inches tall.

If you're willing to keep scrolling a little more you can see the clothes I made for old dolls that were in need .

This dress was made with blanket binding. This 1940's 7 inch composition doll came to me with only her hat. She left ready for dancing under the stars.

Below is a little Nancy Ann bisque doll from the 1940's. She was made in the city of my birth, San Francisco. I had some of these dolls when I was a child, so I took her need of clothing to heart and made her an outfit reminiscent of the " One, Two button My Shoe" school girl outfits some of these dolls had.

Matching pantalets or pantloons were all the rage.

The dolly on the left was naked and bald, we've become friends.  She is the only one I still have of those I redressed. The doll in satin taffeta Christmas plaid was redressed for a friend.

Flair gypsy style, this outfit was made in the wee morning hours when I couldn't sleep.  Playing with cloth soothed my concerns and later I napped happily.

I had fun with a tiny crochet hook and cotton thread making the hat and purse too. That's Mary Engelbriet cloth paired up with some white pique.

Another Gypsy woman or country girl dress I made was for this plastic Nancy Ann doll who was made in the 1950's.

Bad or missing hair probably inspired the babushka.

This little fairy is dressed in fabric flowers petals with a felt hat. She was fun to make and now she  lives far away in Iceland.

Well I realize I might have lost some of you quilters by now,

but I am so enjoying looking at every one's quilts that I wanted to offer something too.

It really is an impressive collection that Amy has linked up. It is also a great way to find blogs that give you a glimpse of folks who you might wind up wishing lived next door to you. There are a lot of busy, creative healthy families and stalwart individuals "out there" and it's a real encouragement to see and read about productive happy lives. Thank you visitors for coming here. I hope you'll poke around, check other posts of mine and come back again. I'll be sure to visit you. I know it will take me a long time to get through all the quilts, but peeking at handmade beauty probably has a good benefit just like an apple a day!

A Photo To Shock my Mother-in-Law*

First I apologize to my most faithful readers, you few, you precious few, I know who you are, ( and I do appreciate you) that I am often not very amusing nor have I posted very often. I see these really lovely blogs out there that have near daily adventures fully documented with brilliant photos and original art and the dear heart of the blogger clearly displayed on veritable sleeves. But that isn't who you are related to...or in the case of my determined friends, friends with. Some blogs just have a near constant flow of recipes, tales of joy, tales of woe, travels, advice, you name it... I say this in admiration, but me, I clam up and besides that, I work.

So it has been a week since I sat down to share a thing but here I am and I'm ready to go beyond vulnerable. I have in fact uploaded a truly shocking photo...only those of you who know me rather well will understand the outrageous nature of what is about to be displayed.

If I knew how to embed music I would ask Mark to do a Tommy Emmanuel drum roll on the face of the new guitar he just built, but you just imagine it, okay? Here it is...Ta Da...

An empty ironing basket. The basket actually has a bottom. I was so touched to see it that I not only took this picture, I popped the photo onto the "paint" program on my computer and wrote on the bottom of the basket, "really a rare sight."

This basket which is capable of hiding articles of clothing for entire seasons, this basket which is sometimes spilling over, this basket that is eyed by cats as having more cush potential than a king size memory foam mattress, is actually empty because I ironed to the very bottom on Saturday morning, the 10th day of the 10th month in the year 2009.

I am sure this portends of something. I was always the student that had to clean my desk before I would sit down and write the essay that was due. So am I going to sew something? I don't mind ironing pieces of cloth for quilts or some small do-able project. Maybe I am going to write something? Or maybe now I can just feel like I can garden more.

In the garden the goal is to fill the baskets up, of course, then they too need to be emptied and then one has to cook; but skip that subject for now. I am not going to get into it, sauces and pestos and, no, never mind the soup for now.

But, now that it is October, the tomatoes (spell check had to help me out on pluralizing this word, and yet for such small things people make fun of past POTUSes and VPOTUSes? I should be vulnerable in such a world? ) are finally ripening; that is coastal living!

And we are getting another crop of strawberries too.

Up north, in days of old, so to speak, we had chickens, live chickens; chickens with names and personalities and duties, like eating bugs in our garden. Here I have but two chickens, they were on sale when Long's Drug Store was yielding to the "initials company" that bought it. They didn't have any hens, just these white roosters, but in the case of ceramic chickens, the roosters lay just as many eggs as the hens. It would be nice to really have chickens, but serious housing would need to be constructed first given the local wild population which includes numerous animals that would make a chicken coop a regular visit; think raccoons, skunks, possums, bob cats and California mountain lions. So for now, these are all the chicks we've got.

No promises now, but if you leave me a little word that you did come by and enjoy the odd post or two, I may be back a little sooner. I'm not ready to do one of those one-post-for-every-365-days-a-year challenges or anything, but just maybe. It isn't that I don't write, you see, it's just that I can't quite pop it all up public like, it may not be fitting.  But now that I have shown you that I straightened out every wrinkle I owned, have shown you the bottom of the basket, well maybe it will be easier to iron things smoothly in other realms as well...or not.

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* The only other times all my ironing has been done is when it was done by the most kind mother of my dear husband who not only loves to do kind things for others, she actually enjoys ironing. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I can always think of so many other things to do instead, unless I need the clothes and then there is probably something else I could wear or it's not that wrinkled, is it?

okay that's it...

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A trip to the Succulent Nursery

The woman working in the nursery was friendly. I asked her if I could mispronounce a little Latin for her. She was used to butchered Latin she said. But she didn't think they had any Lampanthrus Oscularia Deltoid.

As directed by the man who been associated with this succulent gardens for years, the man who identified the plant for me, we had driven all the way to Castroville out on Elkhorn Slough Road.

It was hard to believe, given all the succulents we were surrounded by,

that the one

we had come seeking was not to be had. The worker started talking up other alternatives and even suggested we might like to drive yet further north to Santa Cruz where another grower might have Lampanthrus.

Such a patchwork of succulents surrounded us, we certainly weren't going to leave without first enjoying the place. While we wandered amongst the grand variety, the worker decided she should check the computer just to be sure. Her further investigation revealed the plant was now known simply as Oscularia Deltoid. They had flats of four inch pots of just what we were looking for, of course we will have to wait until next year for more blooms. We did also find several other succulents we couldn't resist.

Here's what we brought home.

If you click on the photo you can see the tiny white flowers of the Sedum dasyphyllum major more clearly. The larger pink stalk is Sempervivum arachnoideum or Big Cobwebs plant.

We admired many plants we had either never seen or at least never noticed before. We also found out the names for several plants that we already grow but had not yet identified. It was a nice jaunt for a foggy Saturday. As we traveled back south, the sun was out in Seaside and the beach was sparkling, but further south we reentered the fog and it remained a somber colored afternoon on the cliffs where we live. We worked in the vegetable garden until dinner time. The sun sank without a flare. Throw in a little reading, a little music, and a few loads of laundry and there you have it, a very Saturday kind of day. By definition succulent means : full of juice, full of vitality, fresh. I think we can say it was a succulent Saturday.

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