On the Road to California Quilt Show 1-25-2020

Ontario (California) is about a sunny hour's drive away. Here are some highlights of the quilt show.

I was trying to get a good shot of the Post Office on top, but the boat on the bottom came out well. Both were amazing works of art.

Sorry, didn't see what coast this is. The crush of people made it hard to see the explanation sheet.

This quilt is exquisite, highlighted by 1,500 hand sewn crystal beads. All of trees are covered with "ice" which glistens and glitters.

Dimensions of the Lily: approximately 4 feet x 4 feet

Detail of a much larger redwood forest. Amazing technique.

Everyone needs a purple rhino, imho.

Very Painterly in fabric

The white vertical stripe in the middle is due to the placement of the floor light.

 I love "peeking" through an alley or a doorway. This woman has an incredible sense of perspective.




From the endangered species group; all were done by a quilt guild from Virginia.

A detail from a large quilt in the blue and white quilts group.

This is from a World War II group honoring those soldiers. There were lots of poppies, but I felt this was the most subtle. It was totally different from the rows of poppies with white cross grave markers in the middle of the poppies.

Again, crystal highlights. The picture does not come close to showing the beauty and craftsmanship of this quilt. It only got third place and everyone around me said they thought it was a first place entry.

Modified Log Cabin

Lee Anne and I had a great time. I am so happy she didn't mind driving and it was fun to have her with me to make our own critiques. It was held at the Ontario Convention Center which is huge. We had to park across the street and down the road a ways. We were glad for a shuttle bus, but little did we expect a full sized tour bus! We got there at about 10:30 a.m. and there were at least 39 women and one man as passengers on the shuttle. We left after 

1 p.m. and there were far fewer people on the return to the lot. In fact, I think it was only four. 

That's it. I just wanted to share some pictures of quilts with you. Have a wonderful week! Enjoy every minute! Cheers.

Polo Ponies Are Thoroughbreds

The birds are chirping and all is well in Paradise. I'm really not trying to rub it in to those of you struggling with the cold and snow and ice -- but I am so grateful to be here in the (relative) warm weather! (Sometimes it's 40 degrees in the a.m. and some people here grumble at that.) 

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Last Saturday, "The Group" hosted an 80th birthday party for Ruthie. I was put in charge of the theme, decorations, and games.  This is a couple of days before the party after Lee Anne and I inflated the selfie frame.

I had thought it would be easy to inflate -- just put your lips together and blow. But, no ... I got nowhere. Luckily, Lee Anne had a portable tire inflator in her car. The plug only works in a car so we trooped out to the car and we finally got some air going into the frame.

It must have been a silly sight because she had to hold up the machine and the empty mylar to enable the air to get in and I had to stick the inflated end out of the car door while holding the business end which was made for a car tire, not a thin straw.

The decorating theme was "Palm Springs Bling" with gold and "diamonds." I affixed "diamonds" to black beverage cups. We had gold and white napkins, two different gold sequined table cloths, etc. 

Here's a shot of the gold sequined table cloth on Thomas and Phil's patio. It was a lovely day to be outside sipping champagne. We played trivia out there.

Below is the fabulous cake that Carole brought. It has gold streaks on the top. I don't know how the decorator did it but it was gorgeous. That's Phil and Thomas in the Love frame.

Below is what I was calling a chandelier, but since there are no lights, I don't know what to call it. It's a decoration!

This 'floral' arrangement is also on the patio table. Carole looks like she doesn't trust the noise maker.

Yup, I actually made jello shots with vodka. I had never had one and had never made them before. Unsweetened jello, of course.

Among other treats that she brought, Carole brought homemade "booze balls" made with Jack Daniels. They looked so delicious and everyone raved about them but I resisted. Sigh.

Mom and Cricket's selfie through the decorations.

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If you have heard this before, excuse me. But ... I have to say these two onions were HUGE! I got them from the Farmers' Market at the Senior Center for free. I turned them into a vat of French onion soup. I got some great Brussels sprouts too. They had so many cases of these onions, I have no idea if they were able to give them away. I should have looked to see if they had onion soup on the Senior Center menu.

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These are some of the koi at the Palm Springs Library.

I still wonder whose job it is to feed the fish every morning.

Outside, the Library has a unique bicycle rack. I don't know if you can read the sign warning you about foul balls from the ball field next door. Makes you wonder if your car will be dented when you leave.

I did take some pictures of the self check out stations at the Library, but they don't make a very dynamic picture so I left them out. Once I got the swipe of my new card down, I was very impressed at how immediate the check out was.

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A week ago Sunday, we went to the Indio Polo grounds. It's actually the same place where they hold the huge Coachella Music Festival. (This is the Coachella Valley.)

It was a fabulous sunny day and we brought folding chairs. We were on a grass rise about 30 feet away from the rail which is only about 10 inches high. I was glad we weren't very close because the ponies ran right over the rail several times.

And yes, polo ponies aren't really ponies. They are thoroughbred horses who are somewhat sturdier than race horses. I know this from the program they gave us on admission. Thank goodness for that booklet or else I would have been totally in the dark.

We brought a picnic lunch and munched happily while watching the energetic play. It was very exciting. The pictures aren't great because it's hard to hold the camera still when using the longer lens. But you get the idea.

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Last, but certainly not least, I want to share this amazing sunset with you. I did not enhance the colors at all. We are so blessed to have so much beauty. I hope you can find the beauty in your life too.

Cheers!

January 3, 2020 Visit to PS Art Museum & More

Sights while waiting for my ride to the gym.

No, this is not a sculpture nor an alien being. It's a pile of clippings with a hunk of palm tree bark in the center left by our happy landscaping crew.

A little bit of color near Mom's house on a sunny day.

A neighbor's flowering bush.

Time for another lemon meringue pie!

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Visit to Palm Springs' Art Glass Corner

Glass Art by Lino Tagliapietra of Murano, Italy.

At first, I thought this was my favorite, but another is it.

Africa

Dinosaur

This is my favorite. See the detail below.

I was so blown away by its beauty that I didn't get the title!

Wall Piece

I was disappointed that Your Dog by Nara (Japanese sculptor) was not in evidence. He usually greeted you at the front entrance. I asked a docent where "my" dog was and he noticed I was distressed so he said, 'He's in the kennel.' The space is just open so I don't know why they moved him to storage.

The day after Christmas was a Thursday and the Villagefest was cancelled due to the heavy downpour of rain. The Museum is free during Villagefest (Thursdays, 4 to 8 p.m.). Consequently, the docent told me, they had 3,000 visitors to the Museum that night! I had thought nobody would be going out since road flooding is real during heavy rain.

Happy new year!