Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This morning I was thinking yet again I should blog more regularly, or at least once in awhile. That may just go the way of cutting and using coupons at the grocery store but it is a desire of mine. I love reading blogs, Kel's is #1 and she is the undisputed queen of the blog for our family. And I thank her because she provides us all a view of family life for people we love far from home. There are a number of quilters with some entertaining, amusing, and instructional blogs out there to help me get my quiltgeek on. And of course my laugh of the day over at Dooce.com. I have doubts that my blog is ever half as entertaining as others, but whatever.

Saturday night Mike and I took off for the 5:35 Padres vs Dodgers game at Petco Park in San Diego. Back in August I'd gone onto Stub Hub an acquired some amazing seats at a bargain price. Upon settling ourselves in Section 114, Row 29, Seats 5 & 6, we agreed they were quite nice. The cheerful season ticket holder who sat next to us said the couple, who's season ticket holding seats we had purchased, were in Michigan for the Michigan/San Diego State football game. We told him to please let them know we enjoyed their seats very much, particularly at half their usual going price. Stub Hub Rocks.
View from our seats:



Kiera was off to Universal Studios Halloween Haunt and we are anxious to hear about her adventure today as well. She arrived home late, very very late. Good stories this morning about being chased by chainsaw wielding clowns.

The Padres won, we enjoyed a delicious Belgium Blonde beer since they now sell more than disgusting tasteless cheap beers at games. We made it out of there in time to make it to our favorite little restaurant MexiCocina up in Poway.
Seen on our walk back up to the parking lot, apparently someone with a cap and a blue vest was picking up extra cash!



While in Modesto in August to spend time with every one of my grandkids I was able to finish and even remember to photograph this quilt for Naia and Gabriel's new cousin on Kel's side. Welcome to the world Makayla, this is your first quilt.

Where The Buffalo Roam

This story is dedicated to Shannon.
Last Friday was the final day of our San Francisco vacation and we took to the car for the first time in the entire week. After a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge we spent a couple hours walking Sausilito, had some ice cream, and headed back to the city (or The City). As we wandered down the coast route we stopped at The Cliff House and visited Camera Obscura, but more about that later.

Golden Gate Park has buffalo, well if you want to get technical Bison. Four years ago Shannon and I, with Jenna in the stroller, were the last of our group determined to SEE THE BUFFALO and from a great distance at that. This time we drove into the park and following the same not too trustworthy map, located the purported location of said Bison.

Here is the Bison field. Nope, not a one in sight.

The sign claiming that there are indeed American Bison (Buffalo!) here,,,somewhere.

The empty paddock, securely locked. To keep the Buffalo out maybe?

The walkway along the front of the empty paddock.

Further investigation to the end of the paddock reveals a rough path. We decide to follow it.

Obviously not any sort of a 'developed' walkway,,,but wait......
BUFFALO!
Buffalo shedding winter coat.
Buffalo sitting in the sun.
Yes, a small herd of American Bison do in fact live in Golden Gate Park.

My New Baby!

I found this little gem on Craigslist Friday night. I believe that I have reached a point in my sewing, and most importantly in doing some actual quilting together of my projects, that warrants better tools. This belief is based mainly on some real struggling and much removing of stitching on my latest effort when I could not get thread tension even on the otherwise faithful Brother sewing machine.

Introducing the Janome QC6125, "Quilters Companion". New in the box, never ever used, at a seriously bargain price. The nice older gentleman who was selling this machine explained that he had purchased it several years ago for his wife who has sewn all her life. Unfortunately health problems have caused physical limitations and she had to give up her sewing before ever even using this machine. I assured him that it was going to a good home and a very appreciative owner. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

****Added Note****
OH.MY.GOSH. Sewing on this thing is like when I replaced the Escort with my BMW. AMAZING!!

The Show Is Up!

http://www.cvent.com/events/antiquum-metalli-exhibit-by-michael-graves/event-summary-91a245b528b1489a86e48485a7bc3fbc.aspx

The link to connect you to Mike's show announcement.

During her week of spring break Kiera was helping out by peeling the sticky protective paper from the plexiglas sheets that Mike used to frame the new prints. Her sticky paper sculpture from that task.

It isn't just time consuming to take great photographs. There is fine tuning of the image, the printing and then hours of mounting work.


We have exactly the right height and barely the right size of counter space useful for the task. However, this severely cramped my sewing activity.


The work has paid off wonderfully, Mike, Ryan and Dennis were able to hang the show this past Thursday. It will be on exhibit for two months, then move to Redlands to hang at Wavelengths Salon and Gallery for the month of June.


Which frees up the counter space for my hobby, once again.

Four star blocks for my contribution to the Just One Star quilt project sponsored by Moda Fabrics and the Semper Fi Fund.
http://modafabrics.blogspot.com/2011/03/just-one-star.html
http://www.qovf.org/

What I Really Want To Do Today

This is a test run of four blocks from the quilt pattern 'Pocket Full Of Pinwheels' by KarrieLyne at http://www.freckledwhimsy.com/. I've been dying to try it out and so this morning I pulled some fabric out of the stash and gave it a run. Decided to put borders on the blocks and use it as another quilting practice run.

However, since the dining room and living room look like this, I'm packing up the sewing to get some house cleaning done. Then there is that darn yard, car to be washed, etc etc. Ought to be a trip to the gym in there somewhere.
Last weekend Mike, Kiera and I attended a BMW rally of sorts at the John Wayne Airport. We gathered at the Lyon Air Museum that houses the private collection of General (Retired) William Lyon. There was an impressive selection of cars. A rare 1969 model with 416k miles on it.
Our little white beast hanging with the others.

We spent several hours in the air museum. While not a large facility the contents are amazing and all of the airplanes are flight ready. Kiera and Mike both did some shooting.
Checking the shot.
An actual vehicle not only owned by Adolph Hitler, but absolutely used by him. To see this car in person, look into and see where Hitler himself sat and stood. I can't really describe the reaction I felt to that. Sad, and angry. A note of trivia, the only place that the tires for this vehicle are manufactured is Israel. The museum also contains a number of display cases full of artifacts from World War II including personal letters home from soldiers in combat.
Three of Kiera's shots from the museum.



Pretty much verifies she has the photography gene.

My Village

My blog pal Sarah posted over at MoutainWave Tribe shared thoughts on her "village". And it made me think about how we feel about where we live. Never in my life would I have thought I would be glad to live in Ontario California. A relatively non-descript southern California location. But Ontario has become our village. We know people here, we do things here, we love our home here. Funny really.

The outside thermometer at about 4:30 this afternoon when it started to cool off. We spend a warm sunny afternoon working in the yard. And yes, that is in the shade.

A happy early season rose glad for the mild temperatures and sun we've enjoyed. February can be very wet, and who knows maybe rain will happen this year, maybe not.
Since it is the dead of winter I have been pruning and this is the huge Honeysuckle vine that has filled two large green waste cans. THIS year I'm getting the trellis situation handled.
In the foreground the peach tree just showing buds. In the background the neighbors palm trees that are our evening on the patio view.

I don't like cold weather, I prefer that it doesn't rain except on an occasional Sunday when I have no plans and can use it as an excuse to stay inside and sew all day. I cannot imagine living in the snow, but some of that is because I live where people can't even drive in the rain and so I shudder to think what snow driving would be like. Last friday I sat on the beach with Roxanna and got a little bit sunburned. I no longer own a real coat, so I suppose my Southern California village is right where I belong.

Roxys Birthday

Friday February 11th Roxanna and I celebrated her birthday on it's actual day. Not always easy to do, especially in adult-land. Sunny, warm, wonderful food
at the restaurant at Crystal Cove
(http://crystalcovestatepark.com/historic.htm)
Several hours of lounging on the sand in beach chairs.
Happy Birthday BFF, it was great! Oh, right, that's the "don't stick your camera in my face" pose.
View looking South.
The covered cabana is the outdoor patio where we had a wonderful lunch with some very creative 'Sangria' drinks, just one each for obvious reasons after that first taste.
On Superbowl Sunday I deliverd her gift. A quilt, finally. Asian print floral with a tone on tone coordinating fabric. This photo is the accurate view of the fabric colors.
Hand dyed batik fabric backing.
The quilt design is 'Day and Night' by Eleanor Burns from her book of the same name.
From Roxy's Quilt card (because I don't do labels);

Roxanna’s Quilt
To my friend: “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”
The fabric for this quilt was purchased over three years ago specifically for you, but for a different quilt design. Soon afterwards I realized that the design I planned was too simple, too ordinary, to become Roxy’s quilt. And so I waited for the right quilt pattern to present itself to me, and it did, finally.
The quilt design is Day & Night, the three strip two fabric version, by the remarkable Eleanor Burns of Quilt In A Day. The top fabrics are from the Empress Flowers collection by Kona Bay and the backing is hand dyed batik floral. Quilting pattern and stitching by Tomi Guapo at her Meandering Needle Studio.
A quilt should have a good life, it is much like a pet and will happiest with its owner. It is not meant to be a showpiece but if it becomes a treasured keepsake that is the best outcome. Your quilt is completely washable and will pucker more with washing and drying and that is normal. To keep the colors of your quilt vivid add white vinegar to the wash, equal with the amount of liquid laundry detergent. Wash in cold water and dry on a setting that is not hot, for example delicate or knit setting.
Gayle, February 2011