More quilts

Quilts from the Pacific International Quilt Show

I can't seem to load more than four at a time so bear with me. Fantastic show. This is a tiny fraction of the quilts I saw.

Quack, Quack, Quack

That's the sound my phone makes when it rings. It's also the sound this duck made when it was swimming in the organic brown rice field near Hamilton City, CA . Greg Massa, owner of Massa Organics, uses ducks each year for weed control in his rice field. It's just one of many clever ways he keeps weeds under control without resorting to nasty sprays. This is his second year he's raised ducks. Ducks sold out very fast the first year so last spring he got even more baby ducks. Those went fast too. Psst, his neighbor thinks he nuts; I like crazy people.

So you have ducks living on organic food in a natural environment. No stress in their little lives. He rounded them up to take to the processor; they got out during the night so he had to do it all over again. These are smart ducks too.

We got the last two; the rest were bought by Alice Waters to serve at her Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley. She has ducks just like mine. I never thought I would have anything in common with the patron saint of fresh, local food. She cooked one of Greg's ducks and pronounced it the best she had ever had. Check out both Alice and Greg at http://www.chezpanisse.com and http://www.massaorganics.com Greg is also on Facebook and Twitter.

I've never cooked a duck so I got out Julia's first cookbook; the one of "Julie and Julia" fame. And sure enough she has everything I need to know about duck preparation and lots of yummy recipes. Haven't decided which one to make but I think tomorrow is the day.

Greg's organic brown rice is delicious as are all of his products. You can order them from his web site. His rice is served in the Berkeley school district. Kids get healthy foods there.

This and That

Gave two pints of platelets and one of red cells on Monday so I haven't had a lot of energy. Been laying low reading, embellishing fabric and blinging up my cane. It's not ready for prime time yet. Soon.

Today, however, I have been filled with energy; refilled all the bird feeders. We have one like this, and we have goldfinches. They love nyger thistle (those little seeds). We go through a 20 pound bag in a month. We have peanut suet because the little darlings don't like anything else, plus regular bird seed. I also filled the hummingbird feeders so it's buffet time outside my sewing room window.

Also, made bread but not sure how it's going to turn out. The recipe calls for unbleached white flour. I grabbed the whole wheat flour and didn't realize something was amiss until the dough was rising. So we had awhole wheat pizza, which was not a hit with Kerry. The loaf I made today looks more like a rock than a bread round. I think the appropriate word for it is "dense."

Next I cooked up some Basque lamb chorizo that we got from our meat club recently. Kerry has been hesitant to commit to eating chorizo so I fried up one sausage, chopped it into chunks and let him try it. He liked it so I made scrambled eggs with chorizo for lunch. Next I want to try butternut squash soup with chorizo. Jamie Oliver has a recipe for it. We have two large butternut squashes and more coming this Friday. Also have lots of eggplant and more coming on Friday. I think I'm going to make eggplant lasagna. Kerry wants noodles but we have eggplant so it's going to be eggplant. I was going to make it earlier this week but he balked.

I still have tomatoes that are ripening on the vine. It's been a bit cool but they still seem okay.

I ordered one of my asthma prescriptions from Canada. Very simple process. I went to their web site, ordered what I wanted and then faxed my doctor's prescription. I did that last Friday and by Tuesday it had shipped. I will save $150 per month with this. http://www.canadapharmacy.com

We got all of our stuff for the France trip. It now seems real. We have a kilometer by kilometer map of what we will see on the Seine and Rhone Rivers. It's going to be great. We are going to mark the route on our map of France before we go. I'll try to find some pictures of the river boat. Our first two days and nights are in Paris; we use the river boat as our hotel. This is going to be so much fun.

Order $200 worth of Euros on line from my bank. They arrived by Fed Ex two days later. I love the internet.

Nap time.

The Sounds of Fall

Changing seasons present lots of visual elements; but there are lots of sounds that signal changes as well.

Here's my list so far:

1. The Northern Flickers signal their arrival by tapping on anything that might contain bugs. That's one in the photo. They love to tape on our eaves and then wait for a meal to drop. They are a pretty amazing bird; they can walk up and down a wall thanks to an extraordinary tail that holds them up. I heard their first taps just a few days ago. They will be gone by spring.

2. Acorns dropping out of our oak tree onto the deck make a thud sound. I've actually been hit by one as have the cats. Not something I look forward to again. They remind me of the Native Americans who roamed this area many years ago. Acorns were a mainstay of their diet. Now we just have a Native American casino; I don't go there because people are allowed to smoke. My lungs hate smoke.

3. It's almost duck hunting season so many more people are using the outdoor shooting range in Lincoln. I wake up to the pop of guns nearly every morning. Hunters refer to it as harvesting waterfowl. No matter how you view it, the ducks die.

4. My oven timer goes off more this time of year. In the summer it's the most under-used appliance in the kitchen. Now I'm cooking casseroles and other things with many ingredients. The oven goes off when it reaches the temperature I want and when the item is finished baking. Love those sounds.

5. In about two weeks the irrigation season will be over with; the ditch will go dry. Right now it makes a gurgling sound that will soon disappear until next April. I will miss it.

So those are some of my thoughts on fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. Actually I like three of our seasons; it's just summer that can be a bit tiresome.

A Dog With Many Jobs

And she's good at all of them. In this photo Harleen is diligently working to keep my side of the bed warm until I return for my nap in about an hour. Then she somewhat ungraciously moves over to Kerry's side. When he comes to nap, then she's stuck in the middle. Her position then is perpendicular to us so one of us gets her butt and one gets her face. Truth be told, I prefer the butt; she snores like a freight train sometimes. And she's too young to pass gas.

She is the family timekeeper; she knows when it's 5 p.m. and time to eat. And she thinks of herself as a vacuum cleaner; she loves to eat anything that lands on the floor.

The cats rely on her for exercise in the house when she chases them. They, however, have taught her the art of cuddling with a cat or two. The yin and yang of animal life.

With the weather changing all the animals have stayed a bit closer to home. The cats normally race out of the animal dorm in the morning. Today that didn't happen. They stayed cuddled together in their little cat bed that sits on top of a dog crate (not being used at the moment). They were bathed in early morning sunlight.

The weather has shifted away from the hellish heat of the summer. We are having mild to cool mornings, early sunsets and great sleeping weather with the windows still open. I'm going to make bread this week now that it's cooler.

Uncle Leo's Curls

Uncle Leo was my mom's brother; he died in the Battle of the Bulge in Germany six weeks before I was born. One of many young lieutenants sacrificed to the God of War. His mom, my wonderful grandmother, never stopped mourning his death.

When she died in 1970, we found Leo's curls (really ringlets) in a Fanny Farmer candy box. She had saved them all those years. Eventually, my sister became the keeper of the curls. She and I have talked a lot about what to do with them. This trip to Minneapolis we figured it out.

We took them to the cemetery where grandma and grandpa are buried, dug a small hole just below grandma's headstone and placed the curls in it. We covered them in dirt and grass and then watered them.

Sort of a macabre story, but it felt good to bring her son to her at last. He's buried at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.

Vicky brought her weed whacker so we could clean up the graves. By the time we left they were tidied up and flowers were placed between the two headstones.

The story of how we got to John the Baptist Cemetery in Savage, Minnesota is only slightly less macabre. Vicky thought it was in the nearby town of Shakopee. I couldn't remember at all. She Mapquested it for Shakopee, Those directions took us to the county building. I put the name of the cemetery into my iPhone GPS. That time we ended up at a funeral home.

Surely someone there would know where the cemetery was. I went it and found all the lights were out. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and the lights came on. Scared the living daylights out of me. The funeral director was most apologetic for scaring me. He had a call to take but assured me he'd be back.

I had to go to the bathroom, which was right next to the room I was in. I was sure that as soon as I went into the ladies room he would appear. Finally I really had to go so left my chair. As soon as I sat down I heard his office door open. Damn. I flushed, hurriedly washed my hands and went out. He had printed out a map of how to get to the cemetery with landmarks.

Turns out it was in the neighboring town of Savage. So off we went again. His directions were terrific.

That's how I spent my last day in Minneapolis. I'm really glad we did it.

My Latest Art Quilt

It's 24 x 32 and is from the second Rose Hughes book. I learned one very important lesson from this quilt; I'll never use velveteen again. That's what the plain green is. It stretches very easily. There is a lot more detail to this piece but it doesn't show very well in the photo.

Once A Reporter, Always A Reporter

If you don't want to read about a needle biopsy of my left breast, stop here. I told myself I wasn't going to write about it, but dammit, I can't stop being a reporter. I'll try to get you to laugh. I promise no gory details. It was painless.

I've known for about a week that this was coming. I had a microcalcification, which is rarely cancerous, but the radiologist said let's do a biopsy just to be sure. I happily agreed and then went about my week.

Well last night about 1 a.m. I hit the wall of fear and anxiety. I started to wonder what position they would have me in to do the biopsy. I turned a bit in bed to see what might be best from my non-medical perspective. That turned into a sleepless night with dreams about all sorts of positions. A dream earlier in the week had me lying at the entrance to the doctors office for the procedure. That was just a dream.

By the time we drove to the hospital I was a wreck. If I'd had a xanax, I would have taken it. Kerry and I had a consultation with the doctor where he explained everything. It took forever to get me checked in; the machine that was supposed to print something ran out of paper, then the clerk couldn't figure out how to load it so she had to wait for help. Meanwhile, I thought I was going to faint. Finally she put the paper tag around my wrist; that way I could be identified if they lost me.

Dr. Khine told Kerry and me all about the procedure. He said he had done 3,400 needle biopsies. He didn't look old enough for that number, but I let it pass. He said he would numb up my breast really well. I said that my brain needed numbing too. He smiled, and said he couldn't help me with that.

My question about what position I would be in for the biopsy was answered as soon as I entered the room. No I did not take this with my iPhone. Kerry had my purse with iPhone in the waiting room. I found it on Google Images. You got it, that hole in the middle was for my breast. Now it isn't that big so there is a little plate that slides over to support the good breast that has not gone off and gotten microcalcifications. Then they use an x-ray device to accurately position the breast so the biopsy needle will go in the exact spot of the microcalcification. At this point I sort of gave my breast over to the female technicians who were wonderful. My head started to sweat so I had to ask someone to wipe my face and neck. You are told to be absolutely still once they are positioning the pendulum hanging from your chest through the hole in the table.

I had to look to the right and keep my left ear flat to the table. My neck started to cramp up so one of the technicians gave me a little massage. Both technicians were always touching my arm or back in a very comforting way. I had given up my glasses so I couldn't see a damn thing.

Once they got my breast into the right position, they discovered that the needle would go through a sizeable vein. Not good. So they twisted, turned, compressed and generally treated my breast like bread being kneaded. Finally they got the vein to move; the doctor came in. This is when I was glad I had given up my glasses. He pulled out a tray where I faintly detected three syringes. I closed my eyes. The only thing I felt was the tip of the needle as he injected the first dose of lidocaine. Each dose got increasingly larger and went deeper. He warned me of a loud pop that would happen next. Sure enough, the biopsy needle shot into my breast. They took 8 samples without ever removing the biopsy needle. Then they x-rayed the biopsy material to make sure they got it. Thumbs up on that procedure.

I mentioned to the doctor that I could post my mammogram on my Facebook page. He cracked up. Said no one had ever mentioned that before, but no, he wouldn't give me a copy.

You know how animals have microchips so they can be reunited with their owners. Well, I now have a tiny microchip marking the spot of the biopsy. Of course, once that was in place I had to go across the hall and have three more mammograms to make sure it was in the right place. They don't compress much for this part of the process. Thank God.

The whole procedure at Kaiser in Roseville, CA cost me $25 and took about 90 minutes. God bless medical insurance and Medicare.

My 793 Mile Adventure

That's how many miles I drove in 39 hours. Saw some of the most beautiful parts of California during my drive: Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Mammoth Mountain, the Easter Sierra Nevada, Mt. Whitney, Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley with all of its waterfalls and high peaks.

I got to Lone Pine several hours before Mark and Julia were due so took myself out for dinner at a local restaurant that turned out to be pretty decent. A friend from the Bay area, Mary Sue and her husband, were dining at the same restaurant. These are the types of coincidences that just amaze me. Mary Sue, Denny and a friend are doing a week-long backpacking trip. We had a great chat.

Mark, Julia and Zoey arrived around 8. It took many trips to unload their car. They've been on the road since July 6th; in that time they have been in Evergreen, Boulder and Durango, Colorado. Mark played a concert in both Boulder and Durango; Julia played in Durango. Zoey the dog just hung out at all of those places.

Tuesday morning Julia and Mark took both cars to the trailhead for Mt. Whitney, which is where they will end their adventure and pick up their car. We loaded up Kerry's Honda Element with all their stuff including her French horn and his trumpets.

If any of you out there are hikers you should know that they are "ultralight" backpackers. The pack that each carried, including food in a bear cannister, weighed 20 pounds. Mark sewed all of the sleeping bags, tent and other travel essentials from incredibly lightweight material. You can cover a lot more ground when you don't have 60 pounds on your back.

We stopped in Mammoth Lakes at the post office to drop off food for one re-supply point. Did the same thing in Tuolumne Meadows. They had mailed food from Durango to the other re-supply points. Entering Yosemite Valley is a lot like entering a cathedral. Waterfalls were still running but not the spring gushing. Still a fair amount of snow at higher elevations.

They got their wilderness permit and then suited up for the adventure. Zoey and I left them in Yosemite Village about 4:30 and headed back to Lincoln. I was very glad to be home. She was the perfect passenger. Harleen, however, is not sure she's the perfect playmate. Zoey prefers people to dogs. Oh well, they willl figure it out.

The photo was taken just before we parted company in Yosemite Village. I had Mark take his hat off so everyone could see his shaved head. That tonsorial event occurred last night after I went to bed. When they finally get to their car in 23-24 days, they are heading directly to a motel to shower for hours. That's a long time to go without one. They are both seasoned hikers in great shape so I have no worries about their safety. Besides the John Muir Trail is very well traveled in the summer. And in the past, Mark has shown that he knows how to be rescued by helicopters. Let's hope this is a no helicopter adventure.

A Grand Adventure Starts Tomorrow

In the early morning tomorrow Mark and Julia (my son and daughter-in-law) will begin their journey from Durango, CO to Lone Pine, CA. I will travel from Lincoln, CA to Lone Pine (about 7 hours without stops). This is the last big adventure of their very interesting summer which took them all over the southwest. They are going to hike all 220 miles of the John Muir Trail (http://johnmuirtrail.org)

Gulp, that's the mother in me trying not to worry. Basically they will be out of communication from Aug. 3 to Aug. 23 give or take a few days at the end. The challenge for anyone who hikes this trail is which end to you start at and then how do you get back to the starting point where your car is. We talked about it quite a bit; I finally decided that I was in need of seeing the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. It's actually the prettiest part. So we will meet in Lone Pine, which is at the base of Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the lower 48 states). Tuesday morning we will take their car up to the Mt. Whitney trail head and leave it there for them.

Then we start our drive up Highway 395 stopping at Mammoth Lakes where we will leave some of their food at Red's Ranch near Devil's Postpile (pictured at the bottom) and Tuolumne Meadows where we will leave more food. Then on down to Yosemite Valley where I will drop them at a camp site for people who are going to start the John Muir Trail in the morning.

I've hiked very small parts of the John Muir Trail in Mammoth Lakes. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I got up to 11,000 feet before my hiking partners noticed that I was giddy from lack of oxygen. Back down I went.

Below is my favorite picture of the two of them on their wedding day Oct. 4, 2008 at the
Grand Canyon.

Once I drop them at Yosemite then I will take their dog Zoey and a lot of their stuff back to Lincoln. They will drive to Lincoln after they climb Mt. Whitney. If we are really tired, Zoey and I may check into a motel outside the park to get some rest and then drive home the next day.

Zoey and Harleen have not met but I'm sure they will have a grand time. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the prettiest parts of the Sierra Nevada. I might even visit a quilt shop or two on my way to Lone Pine. Watch for a post later in the week after I've recovered.

Now It's Time To Embellish

Last week I showed you the fabrics, the yarn for couching and some of the felt flowers. Now I've put it all together. It's 24 x 34. Next time you see it, the beads and embroidery will have been added. Another beautiful pattern from Rose Hughes.

Fabric Painting and Dying

That's what I was learning to do last week in Sisters, Oregon. Rose Hughes, one of my favorite art quilters, taught the class. It was all part of the Sisters Quilt Show, which is a week long event that includes lots of classes. The last two days of the show, quilts are hung outdoors all over the town. You can see more of Rose Hughes work at http://www.rosehughes.com

Classes are held at the high school, which is an amazing new structure that really shows how much the folks in Sisters care about education. My class was in the Physics lab. I shuddered when I walked in and realized where I was; not too many good memories about Physics in high school. Playing with crayons and paint helped to erase the bad memories.

The photo above (don't mind the strap from my camera) shows three pieces I dyed. There is a special cotton fabric that you use for dying. These are each a yard. The design comes from what you do when you put the fabric in the sun to dry. We laid wet fabric on sheets of plastic in the sun. I swirled a handful of the fabric for the hot pink one. The turquoise one was folded and the purple one was laid flat and then had rock salt poured on it. I think the picture will enlarge when you click on it.

The rock salt produces little bursts of color that are amazing. Next step is to embellish each of the fabrics with paint. The paint we used is Createx airbrush colors although we did not use an airbrush. We mixed paints in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Then we put the fabric into it and mushed it around. Rose calls it "marinating fabric." We took the bags outside and laid the fabric out in the sun. On two of mine I added a final light spray of gold to give it a subtle shine. So now when I can't find what I want, I can create it. Very wonderful experience.

Laying Hens As Artists

Bought these this morning at the farmer's market. I just love the fact that they are different colors. Chickens are artists. If you click on the photo you can see more detail.

My Latest Fabric Adventure Ala Rose Hughes

The photo in the book shows what it's going to look like. Size: 24x32 inches. The solid green is a velveteen and the other is a cotton batik. I've already made some of the felt flowers decorated with beads and embroidery that will go on the art quilt, which will be a wall hanging.

I could not find the velveteen in any greens so finally simply sent Rose Hughes an e-mail. Within the day she told me what brand it was. I went on line, found it and ordered it from a store with an interesting name: Sacred Moon Dance. It's in Chicago.

So today I cleaned off my sewing table and am ready to start. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll show you the finished product.

My Dad and Me Many Years Ago

He died in 1982 so this photo was taken before that. He was a tough man to love, but I still did. Not around much when we kids needed him, but he is our father. As you can tell, I got his hair.

An Oriole, A Loud Cat And Weight Watchers

An Oriole is huge compared to a humming bird but both like to drink from the same feeders. A couple of years ago I bought a special Oriole feeder that would accommodate his size (the males are the beauties) and where I could make the nectar he likes (different proportion of sugar to water than the hummers). He never got a chance to try it because the hummers drank his nectar first. By the time he and his drab-hued mate showed up only hummer food was left. So they balance precariously on the small feeders and slurp away. I also put out half an orange and some grape jelly, which they like. Again, the pair disappeared for a few days so the ants got there first. So the special feeders are in the garage and everyone eats the same stuff. I haven't heard any complaints.

Now onto the cat tale. Giorgio has been yowling right next to our bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. Very annoying. For such a skinny cat he is really loud. He wants access to the outside night world. No, no that's where wild things live; Giorgio would become a meal, all be it a Weight Watchers meal, but nonetheless, a meal. He would keep us awake with his yowling until he got tired and went back to sleep. This was not the way we like to sleep so had to come up with a plan.

We have now declared my sewing room way at the other end of the house as the animal dorm. Harleen sleeps in her crate, Nora sleeps in one little padded cubby and Giorgio sleeps in the other one. We close the door to the dorm; the cats still have access to water, food and their littler box. Access is denied to our bedroom. At first we had to catch the two cats to get them in there, but now they pretty much put themselves to bed when Harleen does, around 9:30. If Giorgio yowls in there, we can't hear him. It took two humans to outsmart a ten-pound cat.

More later on my new fabric pattern ala Rose Hughes. It involves pipe cleaners. Check back in a few days for samples of my new passion.

Teeny Tiny Quilts For Practice

This is what I've been doing lately. Each square is 6x6 inches. Fabric on top, then batting and then fabric for the backing. I've been practicing my free motion quilting, painting on fabric with different types of paint, beading and doing overlays.

I do whatever comes into my head; trying to free up the artist inside me. The photo should enlarge if you click on it so you can see the bead work.

I'm planning on making a small wall hanging out of it but need to put borders on each square before I can figure out the background fabric.
I also think I'll do three more whenever the muse visits me.

Rain 0 Heat 91

91 is the high predicted for today. The humidity is 49%, which doesn't mean a damn thing in
my book. It's still too hot; we haven't even hit the highs in the mid-100s.

So yesterday I went searching for all the fans that I had gleefully tucked away last fall. We have overhead fans in every room (none in the bathrooms). I use the smaller fans strategically. When I get out of the shower, I have one on the counter so I can get dry before I start to sweat again. That same fan goes on my side of the bed on the floor so I can get an additional breeze during the night. I have one in my sewing room that I can place in many spots where needed.

As I write this I realize that I am on the verge of crankiness. This calls for a fabric day. It's hard for me to be cranky when I'm touching fabric.

Yes, we have air conditioning but it's very expensive to run due to the size of our house. Our highest monthly bill came a couple of summers ago: $600. It doesn't come on until it inside temp hits 80.

Went to a party last night put on by the 911 Porsche Club that Kerry and I joined. Great food and nice people. Harleen stayed home alone for the first time without being in her crate. NOTHING WAS DESTROYED.

Today is the anniversary of a good friend's death. Fourteen years after having breast cancer, she found out it was back with a vengeance: liver, lungs and bones. She wanted people to hear this from her so she met with friends individually over wine and told them. We were planning a big party so she could say good bye. She never got to attend because she had a stroke and died a few days later. Her name was Nancy; she loved tap dancing and ceramics. She was very good at both. I think of her often.

My tomato plants and basil love the heat.

Strawberries

There are many strawberry farms in our area; they are tended by Asians who every year produce the most spectacularly sweet berries. We have a farm less than a mile from us. We took some to the Memorial Day camp out. Rave reviews. I bought some yesterday. The ones I bought were picked that day. The aroma in my car was so wonderful. Once home I cleaned and sliced the berries. Some went into a dehydrator so we can have fresh berries in the winter. The others went into freezer jam that is made with lots of Splenda.

Summer is such a spectacular season for everything. It is, however, hard to put up berries or other things when it's really warm. I set up fans in the kitchen today so I wouldn't sweat on the food.

I will probably do one more batch of dehydrated strawberries and another batch of freezer jam. It's also great on ice cream, plain yogurt and biscuits.

I love summer.

Tonight's dinner is barbecued brined pork chops and oven-roasted kohlrabi, green garlic and leeks with Parmesan cheese. Kerry's tummy is a little off so not sure how much he will eat. He goes to the doctor next Tuesday.