Pool's Open

First swim of the year at Orinda Park Pool.
And that's just about how it looked. There were two other swimmers. The water was fine. I did about 30 minutes (500 free, 250 breast, 250 kickboard).

Got Firewood!

I should have taken a "before" picture so you could have seen how dramatically different this looks. We had a ginormous cedar tree removed on Wednesday. About 2 months ago, a very large limb from this tree fell onto the neighbor's property. We were afraid that the tree, which was leaning thataway, would go and take out the whole neighborhood. This woodpile looks bigger in real life. Can you believe how ugly that shed is on the neighbor’s property? So much for borrowed landscapes. I am interested in any suggestions for quick solutions for ameliorating this situation. Long term I have it covered: I will plant something wonderful in the autumn. This area is subject to depradation by deer and did I say that there is full sun now?

New York, Day 1

We are in New York!

This was the first time Robin, Linda, and I had traveled together. We have been talking about this trip for a long time but none of us had been to New York recently. We agreed about museums, shopping, the theater, walking, eating, and we are very compatible, but Monday was the day that we had to actually do it. We had a plan: Coffee! Walking! Museums!

We knew Starbuck’s could be our fall back coffee position, but we really wanted to go local. Monday was experimental. We needed coffee and we picked the first coffee place that seemed local – I think it was PAX. Research would continue.

MOMA is open on Mondays! The Met, the Whitney, the American Folk Art Museum are not open on Monday! We walked to MOMA at 53^rd and Fifth, stopping into St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the way. We got to MOMA just as it was opening, actually, just as Café 2 was opening. We made a quick decision to combine breakfast and lunch while there were no crowds.

Café 2 is really just a museum cafeteria but as they say, "taken to sophisticated new heights." It features "rustic Italian cooking of the Roman cantinetta or rosticceria style of seasonal Italian foods with handmade pastas, cured salumi, artisanal cheeses, panini, salads, soups, and simple desserts." It was perfect! I think we could all recommend it, especially if all you've had is bad coffee on your first full day in New York.

We all had the bruschetta plate with a choice of three from a selection including mozzarella with olive tapenade, tomato jam, cured tuna with black olives and lemon, broccoli rabe, prosciutto with roasted butternut squash) and we shared a salad of cannellini and fava beans.

We saw the show, “Color Chart: Reinventing Color 1950 to Today.” It explores the the “lush beauty that results when contemporary artists assign color decisions to chance…” and was hugely inspirational. More than forty artists were represented, including Ellsworth Kelly, Gerhard Richter, Frank Stella (“Straight out of the can; it can’t get better than that.”), Andy Warhol, Sherrie Levine, and Damien Hirst.

Then it was on to see our favorites from MOMA’s amazing collection including Cezanne’s The Bather, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, the Fauves, the Impressionists, the surrealists, until we were exhausted. I should have Robin prepare a post about how she discovered that she could use her iPhone to access the museum’s audio tour. We shopped at the museum stores and then I think we began our cupcake research (it is all beginning to blur). Could we have done that much in one day? Was Cupcake Café (9^th Avenue between 38^th and 39^thStreet) on Monday or Tuesday? It was not worth remembering, anyway – okay coffee and pretty cupcakes but forgettable in the taste department.

Andrew met us after work for dinner at Mesa Grill. This southwestern-style restaurant by celebrity chef Bobby Flay sparkles on Fifth Avenue between 15^th and 16^th.

We started with goat cheese “Queso Fundido” with rajas and blue corn chips, barbecue pork and Oaxaca cheese quesadilla with hot sweet cabbage relish, and grapefruit, Peach, and Flay’s prize-winning margaritas.

Robin had ancho chili-rubbed chicken with roasted tomatillo sauce with queso fresco, which was yummy! Andrew had the grilled lamb chops with cilantro-mint chimichurri and potato celeriac Anaheim chile gratin. Linda and I had the New Mexico-spice rubbed pork tenderloin with bourbon ancho chile sauce which was served with a sweet potato tamale with crushed pecan butter. We ended our meal with the delicious chocolate, brown-sugar souffle pudding with pecan flatbread crunch, but I don't know how we ever ate another bite. We walked back to the hotel. Weather: a little warmer than Sunday.

Quilt Content

Les Poules Jolies
33" x 45"

These chickens have been in the works for almost two years. Memorial Day weekend of 2006, my friends Alice, Pat, Janine, and I had a girls’ art adventure in Mendocino. We stayed at the Mar Vista Cottages, at Anchor Bay, near Gualala. It is a very special place: the cottages were built in the thirties; they have kitchens, woodstoves, and porches with deck chairs; there is a large garden and guests are encouraged to pick herbs and flowers; and best of all, there are hens and fresh eggs every morning. I took many photos of the Mar Vista hens and made a small study but couldn’t seem to get going on a larger piece that would be more appropriate for Voices in Cloth, the biennial show of my guild, the East Bay Heritage Quilters (EBHQ) . I was still putting stitches in it on the morning it was to be delivered to the show, the first weekend in April.

The show was fabulous. I helped with set-up on the day before the show opened and had a wonderful time working with a great group of volunteers. As the show went up I was very inspired by the marvelous quilts from guild members. I went to the show on Saturday, April 12, where I finally met Del Thomas.

Happy Earth Day!

It seemed that a picture from the garden would be appropriate.

Here We Are!

Girls’ Trip to New York, Chapter 1

On Sunday we flew from Oakland to JFK on JetBlue and arrived in New York on time at about 5 PM. Is every airport in the country in a constant state of construction? We had to take a shuttle from our gate to get into the terminal. But NY is very organized. We went to Ground Transportation and a line of travelers were efficiently ushered into waiting cabs. It was overcast and threatening rain, but none appeared. The drive from Kennedy to Manhattan was remarkable for the traffic in Queens which our cabby dodged and the many flowering trees. April is a wonderful time to go to New York!

By the time we reached the New York Helmsley Hotel on east 42^nd Street, we barely had time to change out of our travel clothes and dash to meet my son for dinner. He was waiting for us at craftbar, Broadway and East 20^th . This is the more casual Tom Colicchio restaurant my travelling companion Linda and I had learned about as avid Top Chef viewers. My handsome son, Andrew, was waiting at the bar and we were shown to a spacious banquette. We were sustained by wonderful breadsticks while we perused the menu. We loved the pecorino fondue with hazelnuts and honey appetizer.

Robin had the escarole soup and the orecchiette with fennel sausage, roasted tomatoes, and ricotta salata (which was delicious!). Linda and I had the baby beets with blue cheese and walnuts, and the daurade with potato gnocchi, morels, and ramps. Andrew had the sirloin with smoked mushrooms, jalapeno, and lime; and the crispy potatoes.

Since it was our first night, we had to have dessert. We shared the butterscotch pudding with gingersnaps and the hot fudge sundae with coffee crunch ice cream. Ah, excess!

So we walked 24 blocks up Park Avenue, back to the hotel, with a slight detour at Grand Central Station and called it a day. Overcast, chance of rain, high of 53°F, low of 40°F.

Homemade Power Bars version 1.2 MOCHA

I'm just back from a whirlwind visit to New York. Before I left, I made a batch of power bars so I could bring some to Andrew. I finally made the recipe with mini chocolate chips. I added ½ cup to the dry ingredients. When I poured the hot syrup on, as you would expect, the chocolate chips melted. There was no visible evidence of the chips when all of the syrup was incorporated. The interesting thing was that the coffee flavor was enhanced. Two tasters asked whether I had increased the amount of ground espresso. I had not. I would not say that the flavor was chocolate-y with this amount and this kind of chocolate (I used Nestle’s minis because I felt the scale would be right.)

I will try it again with other kinds of chocolate, like Ghirardelli dark chocolate (baking bar) because I love that chocolate. I will roughly chop it but I suspect it, too, will melt. There is no advantage to using chips except ease of mixing and I’d rather go for great flavor.

Version 1.2 adds 400 calories to the recipe or 25 calories per bar if you cut it into 16 bars.

Homemade Power Bars -- Update

Well, I did the calculation and it's not as bad as I feared: I made 16 portions from the recipe and I calculated that this would amount to (drumroll, please!)

230 calories per bar.

I haven't done a real nutritional analysis but I feel better about them now that I know this.

I found this link about snack bars that provides some perspective. This was written by a nutritionist.

So in summary, these bars have whole grains, protein, fat, simple and complex carbohydrates, and are simple to make.

Homemade Power Bars

I’m always looking for something that I can make and send to my guys. Steven is in Santa Barbara and Andrew is in New York City. I discovered Big Sur Power Bars at 101 Cookbooks and I think it is a winner. In addition to the recipe, there is a video that shows how easy this recipe is. I’ve made it several times as written and I am about to make some modifications for all of the chocoholics I know. I can’t decide between mini-chocolate chips and cacao nibs. I guess I’ll just have to try the recipe both ways. The bars would be great as “emergency” food – to have in the car; for a quick “breakfast” bar; or as a pick-me-up late-afternoon snack.

Don’t be put off by the coconut if you are not a fan. I had doubts and I would ordinarily omit it in a new recipe. Maybe my tastes are evolving. It doesn’t really taste coconutty – the coffee flavor is what predominates.

The most economical source that I have found for brown rice syrup has been Whole Foods. My Trader Joe’s does not carry it. I haven’t checked at the Berkeley Bowl yet but all of the ingredients are on my Bowl list. All of the items are readily available at my nearest health food store. I think the theory of this recipe is to use more natural, whole foods. Instead of using all sucrose, or high fructose corn syrup, raw sugar and this rice-derived sweetener with more complex sugars, is used. Here is another link for brown rice syrup written by a self-identified consumer advocate.

The only problem with these bars is that it’s hard to stop eating them! And I’m afraid to do the nutritional analysis – they are so yummy!

I'm Back!

I’ve been very productive but have nothing to show for it. I’m working on another monoprint in my tree series for the Gang of Four Vernal Equinox challenge. I’m quilting my entry for Voices in Cloth, 2008 EBHQ show. I had jury duty for two days last week. I’ve started some basil seeds and I’ve been weeding the garden. Ah Spring!

Mole poblano

The reveal for the current 12 x 12 group Chocolate Challenge is today, February 1. I was so inspired by the work this group was doing that I decided to set a goal for myself to do a journal quilt every week. Most of my journal quilt work has been 12 inches square. It was so fun to read about the groups' research that I started thinking I might take the chocolate challenge. I started this last week, when I was stuck for a journal quilt idea. I had been thinking about skinny strips and decided to do some piecing. The first thing that came to mind was mole poblano. We honeymooned in Mexico and I had a personal goal of tasting as many preparations of this wonderful sauce as was possible. A quick check of Wikipedia has this:

Mole poblano is prepared with dried chile peppers (commonly ancho, pasilla, mulato, and chipotle), ground nuts, spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon) and a variety of other ingredients. Mole de guajolate (turkey) is widely regarded as the country’s national dish.

My version has chocolate, dried chile peppers, and fresh red and green jalapeños.

Blue Vase

Well, so much for staying focused. I spent Saturday with Yvonne Porcella ! Well, not exactly. I shared her with 20 of my closest EBHQ friends. Yvonne was the guest speaker for the January 28 meeting of the East Bay Heritage Quilters. She taught a class on Saturday on her methods of making quilts using fusible web and machine applique. This is the still life I did. On Monday she taught a wearable art class. I would have loved to make the jacket that she is taught on Monday but I am staying focused on quilts.

I didn’t get a lot done in Saturday's class. I find it hard to work with all of the distractions. I had been feeling bad that I was taking a class and starting another project instead of working on my big-ish piece. But instead, I decided that the class was a kind of warm-up exercise. I had been a little stuck for whatever reason. I am now putting "take a class" in my bag of tricks for getting over bumps. Of course I totally didn't plan it that way.

I really wanted to meet Yvonne and spend time in her class. For me, she is one of the founding mothers of the studio art quilt phenomenon. Her vibrant colors are not unusual today but they were when she began in the 70s. And how about those amazing kimonos!

Early Spring

This is still journal 3 of 2008 but I added hand stitching to the trees in an attempt to draw focus to them and away from the "background." I had been looking for a way to create what I "saw" in my walks in the woods, putting the emerging green of spring into softer focus. Coming upon this piece of fabric which had been screen printed was exciting. Quilting the line of the trees was interesting but didn't seem to be enough.

I'm not so sure about my "no rules" approach to my goal of weekly journaling but I am satisfied that I am making work.

Journal Quilt Week 3 of 2008

I thought about not making something last week because I am trying to get something done for my guild show. The East Bay Heritage Quilters have a show every two years. Every member may exhibit one quilt and one piece of wearable art. It’s an amazing guild. It’s a wonderful show. I’m not even at the point of having some pictures of the work in progress.

On Friday, while cleaning up my work space, I found a piece of fabric that I made in an EBHQ workshop with Kerr Grabowski. I cut it up and started quilting my tree shapes. This fabric was screen printed with thickened dyes, using Kerr’s deconstructed screen printing techniques. I had intended to do more hand stitching on this piece but I decided to take a look at it first. I mis-positioned it on the scanner bed and got this image. I’m going to leave it for now and get back to my EBHQ project.

Trying to stay focused

I always think I should have a photo to go with a blog post, so I haven’t been blogging much. I am trying to stay focused on my weekly journal project and I am working on a large-ish piece (about 36 x 48) for the 2008 EBHQ show, Voices in Cloth. The show is a little later this year, April 12 and 13, but it is still at the Oakland Convention Center. Here’s a picture of one of the Opportunity Quilts for 2009. This one is by Judy Jensen. Read more about it here

Resolution : Focus

The Gang of Four had our January meeting. We had selected Resolution or Resolve as our prompt. I have been much more interested in the tree thing I’ve got going than the concept of resolution. In the course of this project, I did spend some quality time thinking about the end of 2007 and what I accomplished. I have been subscribing to the EDM listserv (check out EDM Superblog) where there has been a huge discussion of goal setting for 2008. Somewhere I found a link to Christine Kane’s blog and I loved her idea in her December 28, 2007 post about choosing a word for the year, rather than resolutions.

I haven’t been drawing every day but I have been drawing and more importantly, I have been working in my sketchbook. When I am overwhelmed with a blank page in my sketchbook I will break the page down into boxes and doodle in the boxes. I took that approach in designing this piece. It was actually the only idea I had. I decided that the important thing was to make something that was 12 x 12, rather than getting caught up in the “making a masterpiece.” I enjoyed just getting it done. I knew what would go in some of the boxes. I finally settled on the irregular grid and filled in the boxes that I was sure of. I treated this quilt as a sketchbook page.

In my initial research, I had come up with ideas like fireworks, streamers, and confetti which I thought might be ideas for quilting motifs. As the piece turned out to be a kind of whole-cloth quilt, I didn’t really have space for extra quilting. But I did have that spool of metallic thread which I had never used. I was afraid of the issues that might develop but I experimented anyway. That was good. Our next meeting is in February and the prompt is crazy or love or crazy and love or crazy in love.

Winter

This is the third journal quilt I've finished in the 12 x 12 inch format. My goal is to finish something every week for 2008. I continue to be interested in trees and line. In looking at my sketchbook, I noticed that trees have been a recurring motif. I feel as if there is much more territory to explore. Can this be a series? In this piece I experimented with monoprinting with acrylic paint on a Plexiglas plate.

Storm Update

I just went out and there are many downed branches. There is lots of flooding: clogged drains, trees downed, creeks rising. Power is still out in five neighborhoods in our village. The winds, which were the biggest problem, seem to have temporarily abated but heavy showers and thunderstorms are still predicted for the next day or two, and a “very wet pattern” will continue until perhaps Thursday of next week. The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather warning for the entire area. I emptied out the rain gauge which was up to 5 inches.

The Sierra Nevada is bracing for perhaps the biggest snowstorm total in the last 50 years.

Big Storm!

The big storm that forecasters have been warning us about, hit with full force here on the eastern side of the Berkeley Hills. We just regained power after a 2-1/2 hour outage. I suspect that we are one of the lucky ones. There are reportedly over 200 separate locations in the Bay Area that will require work. We have had very high winds and have had 4 inches of rain since yesterday. A portion of an old fence on our property blew down. We have two sump pumps going, now that we have power again, and so far so good. But there is a torrent pouring down the hillside behind us. If I get a chance, I will go out and take a picture of our “waterfall.” It is still blowing and raining and more rain is predicted. This is actually a series of three storms that are moving into California. We haven’t had such a big storm since the New Years’ storm of 2006. I hope Christine at Winnowings on her island in the Delta is okay. Now I’ll go check on the pumps!

Winter Solstice II

After finishing Winter Solstice I, I had an idea of simplifying the tree shapes using only lines. I was still fascinated with the greys. I had been in the garden and had noticed that there was a lot of green for late December: the lichens and mosses have sprung back to greenness; the freesias are popping up; the Daphne odora , with bright green calyxes, is loaded with buds and looks as if it is ready to burst into bloom. I was also having so much fun with the hand stitching that I wanted to do more.

One of my goals for 2008 is to post something that I’ve made at least once a week.

Winter Solstice I

The Gang of Four (pending some other appellation) met in early November for the first time. We are all young artists, at about the same place in our careers. We are close to each other in age but our children range in age from 13 to 24, so our parenting responsibilities are not the same. I believe that our goal, for now, is to encourage each other to make more art. We plan to meet about once a month. We were inspired by the Twelve by Twelve gang and have adopted that format with the idea that we might make smaller format work that we could show together.
We decided to challenge each other to meet in December with a fiber response to the winter solstice. It was very exciting to see everyone’s work. In addition to making more work, another of my goals is to do a better job of using my digital camera. This was another scan with my new scanner.

Seasonal Content

I saw this on the Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog and couldn't resist it. Those girls are hilarious. By now the post is buried in the archives but Kay wrote:

"I'm embarrassed to report: my interest in collegiate a cappella remains undiminished. (Symptoms d'une femme d'un certain age: fluctuation of estrogen levels, and yearning for harmony and rep ties.)"

And I thought I was the only one who loved this kind of thing.

Happy Birthday, Ludwig!

It's Beethoven's Birthday. We should celebrate!

Working Small

This is the first really small quilt I’ve tried. It's 6" x 7" I think of it as a prototype of sorts, as I have decided to work small for the time being. I love how Terry Grant (August 30 entry, Almost Finished) has mounted her work on fabric, so I have been experimenting with that.

This is the first time I’ve used my new photo scanner, an HP G4050. This would be a great step forward except that my latest obsession is with the 12” x 12” format I’ve been seeing and thinking about from the 12 x 12 blog. Inspired by their creativity, I’ve started a small group. We are doing a 12 x 12 about once a month and we are off to a good start. Pictures to follow.

This is a Test

This is only a test. It is always a test. This is what happens if you scan a quilt and then send it to Blogger with Picasa.

Now we know that the scanner works!

Rosegarden Quilt

2007 Journal Quilt: My story

This project had several requirements including a size of 17" x 22" in the vertical direction; and that the design incorporate at least three techniques from the Creative Quilting book. I had never done any beading so I tried that in the "bubbles" in the water and the pots on the deck. I love Pamela Allen's big stitch embroidery and I used that as well. I really love seeing hand work in fiber art. I am probably happiest with the quilting. I had so much fun with that. The quilting really tries to tell a story: this year I gave myself permission to call myself a swimmer.

We have been members of this pool for almost thirty years. Our two sons learned to swim here. I began quilting here with my dearest friends, The Poolside Quilters. We sat by the side of the pool and quilted while our kids swam back and forth during swim team workouts. Both boys retired at age 18 but I didn't really start swimming until three years ago. When I began, 25 yards left me breathless. It was not unusual to feel panicky half way across the pool. I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan and I learned how to swim at the Y, but I never really swam for fitness. This year was my best "season" ever. By mid-July, I was swimming a mile (that's 1760 yards, 71 laps, 45 minutes) and I averaged 4 times a week. All of that information is quilted in the "water." But the pool was also a wonderful, magical place at 6:30 AM with the sun rising, only a handful of swimmers around, and the crows! The pool closed for the season on October 29, and will not re-open until the beginning of May. I am looking forward to getting back into the water.

2007 Journal Quilt

The Pool

A Page from My Book
Journal Quilts 2007 - Journal Quilt Project
inspired by Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project, Karey Patterson Bresenhan, ED.

After three years of living vicariously through the Journal Quilt Project on the QuiltArt listserv, I finally joined in the fun. This piece was inspired by a summer of swimming at the neighborhood pool.

No-Knead Update

This is my 10th loaf of No-Knead Bread from the New York Times' story on Jim Lahey’s recipe. It is a very forgiving recipe .

There is a very cool video showing Jim Lahey making the bread.

You can also still read Mark Bittman’s article
about Jim Lahey.

The recipe and the video are about the same bread but be warned that there are differences.
In this loaf I used bread flour, and a chef (about 1/4 c. of the dough from the day before–I dissolved it in a portion of the total 1-1/2 c. of water that I’ve settled on) for leavening. I varied the salt, increasing it to as much as 2 t. but Rick says it’s fine at 1-1/2 t. In the last few loaves I’ve been using kosher salt.

My initial rise is 18-24 hours, depending. I shape, let rest for 15 min. and then turn in to a banneton lined with a kitchen towel. I’ve been using coarse corn meal instead of wheat bran, to keep the dough from sticking to the towel. My second rise, in the banneton, is 2 hr. total. The last 30 minutes, I heat the oven and the pot to 450 degrees. I am using the 3 qt. ceramic pot pictured in my earlier post. The first 30 minutes of baking is with the top on. Then I remove the top and bake an additional 22 minutes. The crust is crackly, the loaf sings, the smell is divine, and the bread tastes delicious. You should try it.

What I'm Listening To

Rick brought home the most wonderful CD: Gabriela Montero
Bach and Beyond. These improvisations are magical. She is a Venezuelan-American pianist with a classical career yet she has diversified to make this and another disc, and she has gigs at Joe’s Pub in Brooklyn. How cool is that. I wish she was performing in the Bay Area.

The Bach disc is her second recording.
The Amazon page has some sound clips. But one doesn’t really get much sense of the improvisational nature of this recording.


Her first CD is called Recital. It includes works by Chopin, Falla, Granados, Ginastera, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin. It was released in 2005
Listen to an NPR review that has excerpts. It really emphasizes her classical playing. I have not heard this CD.

NY Times Bread Video

It looks like the video of Jim Lahey making his No-Knead Bread is still available. Try this link: Bread Video .

The recipe given in the video is slightly different than the Times' printed recipe. There is a link for that in my earlier post. In the video, Jim uses 1-1/2 c. water (which is what I've been using). He doesn't show the second rise. I have followed the printed recipe. When Jim says instant yeast, he means regular dry yeast, like Fleischmann's.

The pots -- NY Times No-Knead Bread

The yellow pot is marked 3 qt. It is ceramic.

The orange-y pot is a "Mario Batali" pot made by Copco in China. It is enamel on cast iron with a cast stainless lid knob.

More No-Knead Bread

I have my 7th loaf of no-knead bread in the oven. This looks to be the high-bold loaf I have been searching for.

I have been experimenting with the recipe and have made the following discoveries.

I read at World Table, a Sullivan Street Bakery site which to Jim Lahey has posted, that when Mark Bittman said instant yeast, he meant regular, granular yeast, like the Fleischman’s that I used in the first loaf. However, I had purchased Red Star Quick-Rise which also contains sorbitan monostearate, and ascorbic acid and I have used that for the last 4 loaves.

I fiddled with the salt. In the first six loaves I stuck with the recipe and used 1-1/4 t. sea salt. In loaf 7 I used 2 t. kosher salt as per the discussion on eGullet . It has loads of wonderful feedback (191 posts over the last week) and lots of pictures.

I also SCOOPED the flour into a 1 cup measuring cup and sort of shook it to level it. I have been going with 1-1/2 c. water since the second loaf. I use coarse corn meal on my kitchen towel for the second rise. On this loaf I did my second rise in a banneton and I think that helped support the loaf during the second rise. It also made it easier to plop into the preheated pot–no burns, less cornmeal flying around the kitchen..

After all of the excitement of the first few loaves I went to Sur la Table to price a 5.8 qt Kiwi colored Le Creuset that I had been coveting. Instead, I bought a Copco enameled cast iron pot with a metal handle on the top (a lovely pumpkin colored Mario Batali model–6 qt. size – half the cost). I had used that for several loaves. For loaf No. 7, I went back to the ceramic pot (3 qt.). I baked it at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, top on, and then 22 minutes with the top off. I got the best oven spring on this loaf and it is the prettiest yet. Have to wait to see the inside and taste it.

7th Loaf

No-Knead Bread

I know, I know. I haven’t been blogging. I knew when I saw the article in last Wednesdays’ New York Times about Jim Lahey’s bread recipe , that a new/old obsession would take over my being.

So I just took loaf number 4 out of the oven and I’m blogging about this because I need to talk about it.

I innocently started with loaf 1 to avoid cleaning my studio.

I didn’t bother to try to find out what instant yeast was. I was so impressed with this recipe because it seems as if it requires nothing special. And in the video, Jim Lahey emphasizes that the recipe is very forgiving.

In loaf one I used three cups of bread flour measured by SPOONING the flour into the cup. I followed the Times recipe (not the video ) and used 1-5/8 c. water. I used 1-1/4 t. sea salt and 1/4 t. Fleischmann’s Bread Machine Yeast (ideal for all RapidRise recipes). It contains only yeast and ascorbic acid.

Since I hadn’t baked bread for a few months, I proofed the yeast by putting it in about 1/4c. warm water (1/4 c. of the 1-5/8 called for in the recipe) that contained a pinch of sugar. Otherwise I followed the Times recipe.

Of course the probable reason for baking bread last Wednesday was that our heating system was on the fritz and it was cold in the house but I put the bread to rise on top of the refrigerator with the idea that it was the warmest place in the house.

I actually let it rise for 24 hours. I baked it in a 3 qt. ceramic casserole with a lid: preheat oven at 450 degrees with pot in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Plop bread into casserole, seam side up. It seems disastrous but shake the pot and all is well. Put lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake an additional 15-22 minutes, et voilà!

I should have taken pictures but I didn’t. Go to Toast to see what my dough and bread looks like. It’s so amazing. What crumb! What crust! The loaf sings! My house smells fabulous!

Update

It has been almost three months since I posted an entry. What have I accomplished in this interval? A lot, actually. I’ve done workshops with Sue Benner and Miriam Nathan-Roberts that have helped enormously in my design and color studies. I just completed my third workshop in the Drawing to Increase Creativity series with Hollis Chatelain – portraits! And Melody Johnson doesn’t know this but I’ve started a “mentorship” with her! Her tutorials on dyeing have helped me to focus my interests. I am so thankful for the generosity of these teachers.

I think that I started this blog because I thought it would give me a chance to show my work to people who don’t know me. I could not continue without the feedback I receive from friends and family but I know they love me. I think that the reason I don’t use my blog for the reasons I started it is because I still lack confidence: confidence in both my written work and my art. For the next three months I will try to silence that inner critic and just do the work. My goal is to post frequently, perhaps once per week.

Rather Fabulous: EBHQ and Voices in Cloth 2006

I can't believe that I'm so fortunate to be a member of this wonderful group, the East Bay Heritage Quilters. The biennial show of one of the largest and oldest quilt guilds is this weekend in Oakland, CA. This show is always so terrific and this year's special exhibit puts it over the top. The Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection features works by Ruth McDowell, Jill Rumoshosky Werner, Elizabeth Barton, Libby Lehman, Sue Benner, Noriko Endo, Dijanne Cevaal, Jean Ray Laury, Carol Taylor, Sylvia Einstein, Joan Colvin, June O. Underwood, Valerie Goodwin, Freddy Moran, Jane Sassaman, Cynthia Corbin, Caryl Bryer Fallert, and more.

This is a non-juried and non-judged show. I was delighted to submit my quilt, Yellow Pot. This was created from a study I made in response to the first Simple Still Life challenge. I wish I took part in this every month. Thank you Debra Roby for providing the inspiration for my quilt.

Maps and Landscapes

Seeing Diane's newest work in her entry, View from Above, reminded me that I had intended to post about a small piece that I had finished. It is about 16" x 18". I imagined a series of map/landscape quilts. I have always enjoyed combining piecing with applique and was challenged by the orange commercial fabric that is the background.

Daphne odora 'Aureo-marginata'

The Daphne is in bloom. Actually, the first blossoms opened on Saturday. But today was the first time that I was knocked out by the perfume. I probably shouldn't be blogging about this plant--it might be bad karma. I've had such good luck with it. It graces the garden by my front door and the fragrance is intoxicating. My goal has been to have fragrance year-round in this garden. I'm still working on it. 

New Year's Walk -- Mimosa

Probably Acacia baileyana, this is one of the first blooms of the New Year. My neighbor called this mimosa. I love that name. I moved to California from the midwest, after a short stint in Boston, and this was a discovery for me. The bright, cheerful, fuzzy-looking balls were kind of magical. The foliage is a feathery, finely cut blue-grey. The blossoms are very fragrant and when we first moved here I would cut big bunches and bring it into the house. It seeds out and some find this plant weedy. It might be the California answer to Forsythia, which is not widely grown. 

The New Year's Walk

Rick and I took the New Year’s walk early to beat the rain forecast for today. Growing up at 96th and Madison in New York, Rick and his dad and brother would traditionally take a walk around a body of water on New Year’s day. The first walk was in 1954 in Central Park. He never misses--rain, snow, etc. I joined in on the tradition in 1976, in Berkeley, to and around Lake Temescal. Our traditional walk in Orinda is from our house to Lake Cascade, around and back.

We are bracing for the next storm to hit Northern California. Is this the Pineapple Express? The forecasters have been saying that the storms are stacked up all the way to the Philippines . When we went on our walk it was 54 degrees and the low last night wasn’t much colder. We awoke Saturday morning to water in our kitchen from a flooded patio from very heavy rains Friday night and Saturday morning. My rain gauge was full at 5-1/2". We were lucky. No power-outs. But the soil is saturated and the next storm is supposed to move through very quickly.

Cyclamen

Florist cyclamen can be planted out in my Sunset Zone 16 garden. What a good idea to protect the beautiful heart-shaped leaves from slugs. Too bad I didn't! The leaves alone make the plant a worthy object in the garden but I love the furled buds. I really should plan to plant some of the choice species. The small ones are so charming in my friend Janine's garden. C. cilium is said to be fragrant as is C. purpurescens. I think C. coum is available and C. hederifolium is said to be easy.

What was I thinking?

So, I celebrated my 57th birthday on December 24th and I got braces on my teeth on December 29th. Aside from the initial feeling that he had erroneously installed barbed-wire in my mouth and the fact that it is taking me 30 minutes to floss, all is well. Was it the ortho who said, "you look much younger" (yeah, like a teenager!)? I only have about 728 days to go, but who’s counting? Actually, this is something that I’ve wanted to do for years (and I wish now, that I would have just done it). I’m still a little anxious because two perfectly good teeth have to go but that’s next month. Happy New Year!

How can it be November already?

I seem to remember a time when I was always waiting for something special in the way distant future. Hmmm...that's a thought..

No time for thoughts. I don't know how those Artful Quilters do it. Blog, read blogs, make quilts, enter competitions, take care of themselves, take care of their families...

I have been occupied. I have a picture for the Simple Still Life and hope I haven't been drummed out of the group.

Surrender to the Dye: The Experiment Begins

That’s quoting Mrs. Mel. So I have just finished ironing my first batch. I read somewhere that painting fabric should be process-oriented, not product-oriented and I assumed that dyeing would be the same. This advice went something like this: don’t work with a specific project in mind, just have fun. Well, I did that, sort of. Cynthia Corbin’s supply list recommended the following for fabrics

Solids, mottled, hand dyes, "solid-ish" fabrics 1/2 yard to 1yard pieces; good range of colors; range of values dark to light (have some very light and some very dark).

Well, I don’t do hand-dyes. And I am way over my fabric budget. And hand-dyes are so precious. So I thought this was the perfect time to experiment.

I had been accumulating supplies and was typically indecisive about what fabric to use. The Kona turned out to be kind of "flabby" and I think I like the Pimatex the best. I now read in the Dharma catalog that the Kona is 60 x 60 ( 4.4 oz / sq. yd) and the Pimatex is 133 x 78 (3.7 oz/sq yd). Pimatex might be manufactured by Kaufman but I’m not sure. I have a small amount of something called Hoffman PFD that I will also try for my next experiment.

I dyed small pieces of silk (Habotai 8mm) in each batch and almost swooned over the pieces before they had dried but they are much better wet than dry. I’m still glad I tried this.

I was hoping for a mottled appearance so after adding the dye solution to the fabric, and scrunching the fabric around, I poured some extra solution into the plastic tubs and it pooled at the bottom. That was good. The "purple" sample is the most mottled. There are issues with how the red dye dissolved. I still love everything.

I ended up with 22 fat quarters and I’m thrilled with my results and can’t wait to play again. I think dyeing could be my next addiction. I don’t know how anyone could be depressed using yellow dyes.

I'm Dyeing

I’ve been dyeing. Everyone was getting in on the fun and I’ve succumbed. I’m having a blast. I’ve used the Lazy Dyer methods of Mrs. Mel . I’m a scientific sort so I’ve been trying this out on a small scale, with different PFD fabrics, keeping a log of what I’ve tried. The hardest bit is the record keeping.

I made my first trip to the shrine, Dharma Trading. I bought some of their Pimatex PFD cotton. I also gave myself permission to buy their Habotai 8mm silk, just for fun. I have no use for silk but it was irresistible and it was for science. I can buy Kona PFD at my job as that is what they carry and I used that too.

It feels so legitimate to be dyeing my own. What’s with that? Is it more art-like? Is it the hand-dyed thing? I still love commercial fabrics, honest.

I’m taking a class with Cynthia Corbin tomorrow. She is the speaker at EBHQ on Monday night. The class on Saturday is Abstract Forms – Getting It Together.

I hope to have some pictures to post on Sunday.

Rejection!

The e-mail came. 850 submissions. 225 acceptances. Kelp was not accepted. I am patting myself on the back for having the courage to submit a quilt, an art quilt. I had made a commitment to myself to finish it in time. I got that done. I brought it in to the Bedford Gallery (although I needed to ask my friend Susan to go with me!).

I just returned from picking up the quilt and had an interesting experience. Another woman, my age, arrived at the same time as me. She mentioned that she had received an e-mail that she hadn’t wanted to receive. She expressed many of the same feelings as I was having. This was her first time submitting work for an exhibition. She was disappointed–she had convinced herself that her work would be accepted. When they returned my quilt, the woman asked to see it and told me that she liked it!

Susan and I plan to go to the exhibit to see what was accepted. The question now is, why didn’t the juror select this piece? My friend Candice also submitted two quilts, neither of which were accepted. I still like what I did. I’m wondering about making it larger, suitable for my guild show.

I Can't Believe It

Kelp

I entered a quilt in a juried mixed-media show. My friend Susan told me about this show, Local Voices: Defining Community Through Art, at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. This is the part I of the brochure that I liked: a dialog between community and visual artists who live in Contra Costa County, emerging artists...

So the deal was that today and yesterday they were accepting submissions (no photos, no slides–the actual works); they will be juried tomorrow; an email will be sent out on Friday. I brought in a new work that I’m calling Kelp. I finished it today. I took a poor quality picture of it but here it is. I was in a rush.

It is 12-1/2" by 31". I struggled with the picture: I must figure out how to photograph something that has high contrast.

I also struggled with finishing this. I had intended to do a "pillowcase" finish with no binding but I was afraid that all of the quilting had made it too stiff and I wouldn’t get a nice knife edge. On a prior piece I had used a very thin batt and hand quilted it. After squaring it up, I put a new "back" on and used Melody’s Escape Hatch method. On this one I bailed and put on an ever so skinny binding, so as to appear more arty than quilty. The other issue was that if I put another "back" on, the quilting would be covered and I really liked how the back looked.

And real artists don’t show the backs of the their work. Oh well...

And I almost forgot. Another major artist failure: When I was quilting it I forgot all about SIGNING THE FRONT. I left no room to sign it. Now they will know for sure that I am not an artist. I will have to continue to emerge...

But the major struggle was whether or not to offer it for sale. I think if I had finished it a week ago and had started on something new I wouldn’t have felt so attached to it. And I couldn’t come up with an amount. I felt very strongly that if I was a real artist, I would of course sell it. That’s what artists do, right?

Kelp: The back

Kelp back

More on the Simple Still Life

This is really just an attempt to get two posts in during the month of August. Where did the summer go?

I am so glad that I participated in the Simple Still Life Challenge. I really felt that I had no business starting something new but having the deadline really forced me to work on something. I really loved seeing everyones’ take on the same subject. It was good for me that most of the participants posted at or near the deadline so that I worked without too much influence as to what everyone else was doing.

I also really appreciated that others showed steps in their process. I will do that for the next challenge, if only for my own record.

I did use Photoshop Elements at the outset and it helped me to "see" the subject by eliminating detail. I was amazed at what so many of the others were able to do with Photoshop. And I’m thinking about further exploring what Elements can do. But I’m reminding myself that I want to work in fiber and that this is just one of my tools. It seems formidable to figure out all of that stuff.

Most of all, it was wonderful to receive so many encouraging comments.

Our guild, EBHQ, does not meet in July so tonite seems like the first meeting of the year. Doesn’t it always seem as if the year starts in September, when school starts? Elizabeth Barton is the speaker and I am really looking forward to the meeting.

Simple Still Life

simple still life 8/27

Well, it would be hard to get too much closer to the deadline.

Here is what I did. I tried fooling around with Deb’s photo in Photoshop. I really liked the negative space in the image I saw. I decided to make a small piece in fabric and everything is fused. I would ordinarily have pieced the background and appliqued the elements but this was fun. I had hoped to quilt it but haven’t gotten to it yet. It is about 10-1/2 inches square.

Thanks Deb!

Not Finished But Getting Somewhere

Originally Polka Dot Jersey (now without the polka dots) 9" x 10"

Maillot Jaune.

Maillot Jaune is really the second in the Tour de France series. It is about 17" x 17"

The first, Polka Dot Jersey, I have taken apart and reworked. It just wasn’t working.

Originally, PDJ had less of the dark "border", then an inner border of the "yellow" stripes and a fat outer border of the polka dots. I loooove the polka dots. But I think it was just too, too. So I took it apart and added more dark (actually dark blue) around the piecing, and I'm trying to figure out the borders. I’m having fun here. Still not finished but more than before. I’m thinking about hand quilting... But probably I should just do some ditch stitching and be done. And I am going to go for three and try again for the original border set-up.

New Ways to Avoid Making Art

Quick: Gotta post something before July runs out.

I admit it: I’ve been obsessed with the Tour de France.

I’m getting really nervous because the US Open is coming up. I think I could become a sports tv junkie.

I put the borders on the first quiltlet (Polka Dot Jersey) in what I hope will be a Tour de France series using solids and some crazy polka dot fabric inspired by Sandi Cummings’ Thinking Outside the Block book and her quilt at The Cotton Patch, Using Leftovers.

I feel as if I can’t post any pictures because nothing is finished (or close!). A convenient ruse?

I started this blog in the hopes that it would encourage me to finish things and hopefully get positive feedback. Instead, I just keep starting things and I haven’t been posting because I have nothing to show.

I’ve been thinking about the following quotes:

If you know where it’s going, it’s not worth doing. (Frank Gehry from an article in the New York Times how every movie and rock star wants to be a designer.)

And this from Sandi’s book:
The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist. The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce any art at all. (Julia Cameron)

My goal this week is to finish something, anything, take a picture of it, and post it: throw caution to the winds.

Quilting at my house

Yesterday was Wednesday, the day my quilting group meets and I was the hostess. I knew I wanted to make a salad and trolled around epicurious.com for inspiration. I made an amalgam of a cajun grilled chicken salad and California Pizza Kitchen’s chopped salad with barbecued chicken. Here is my recipe

Quilter’s Chopped Salad with Grilled Chicken (serves 10)
The rub:
2 t. salt
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. onion powder
½ t. dried thyme
½ t. dried oregano
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
½ t. paprika
½ t. cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients together to blend. Divide: 1-1/2 t. for salad dressing and remainder for chicken rub.

Salad dressing:
3/4 c. buttermilk
½ c. mayonnaise
2 T. chopped green onion
2T. chopped fresh italian parsley
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
½ t. grated lemon peel
1-1/2 t. seasoning from rub

Make salad dressing the night before.

Chicken: Rub remaining seasoning mixture on six boneless, skinless chicken breasts (that you have pounded so that they are flat-ish and about the same thickness) about 2 hours before grilling. Pour 1 c. buttermilk over chicken, turning to coat. (A 1-gal. ziplock bag would be good for this.) Refrigerate until 30 minutes before grilling, turning when you think of it. Grill over medium-high heat. These cook very quickly. Let rest at least 5 minutes before cutting into strips. I made the chicken early in the morning and served it at room temperature.

Chopped Salad
2 hearts of Romaine, chopped
jicama, cut into strips (1 lb.?)
2 c. black beans
2 c. corn
grape tomatoes, halved (1 pint)
1/3 lb. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
6 scallions, chopped
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro

I layered these ingredients, pretty much in this order, in my largest salad bowl and my guests served themselves. I served the salad undressed and passed the dressing in a sauce boat. One person thought it needed more salt; one person thought it was pretty spicy, so she took just a smidgen of dressing on the side. If you have the energy and the desire you could take corn tortillas, spray them with olive oil, slice them into thin (1/4-inch) strips and bake them (5 min. ?) as a topping. I didn’t this time, but I have.

Susan brought us each a perfect Blenheim apricot from her tree.

We had a plate of assorted fruits and chocolates.

Kathy brought a decadent Caramel Charlotte with nectarines that should have just been lunch.

What excess!

We gave the secret quilt to Kathy and I think she was surprised.

A good time was had by all.

What I've Been Up To

I’m amazed that my blog is still here. I was afraid it had been re-possessed. I’m not amazed at how long it’s been since I posted. Chaos. My life is chaos.
Andrew went back to Santa Barbara and started summer session. Steven is catching up on a year’s worth of lost sleep. He must be growing!
What have I been up to? I’m trying to clean up my "studio," lovely space that I took over when Steven left for school. Can you guess that he’s trying to re-claim it? It is upstairs, over the garage, in the trees, and is a perfect space for playing video games and watching movies with friends (in addition to being a perfect studio space). I will feel really good about organizing everything, when it’s done, even if I am giving it up temporarily.
I moved my quilting set-up into Andrew’s room: He probably won’t be home for six weeks. I picked up my new "table" from the plastic guy and it’s terrific. I had a piece of fin-ply (4' x 4') that we put on the carpeting when the boys were little and wanted a hard surface on which to build blocks and set up their Brio trains. I save everything! I had the plastic guy cut a hole in it for my sewing machine and then he put formica on it. It is heavy but lovely.
I had two pieces on my design wall and I pieced one of them last night, tentatively known as Kelp. My plan is to quilt a small piece, The Leftovers, as a kind of "practice" piece. Next in the queue is the Postcard Quilt, and then the new piece, Kelp.
I’ve been studying my camera and hope to post some new pictures.
Oh! And I said "No" twice this week. It was really good.

Survivors

The boys got home okay. So much energy. So much masculinity. I'm overwhelmed. No time to blog. My friend Anne sent me the following and I am passing it on.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s, and '70s:

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored, lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick-up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video-tape movies, no surround sound, no cellphones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chatrooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS, and we went outside and found them! (We have 6 TV stations, Erector sets, Chemistry sets, model planes and model rockets.)
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts, and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers, and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

School's Out!

I'm still sort of frantic here. The boys decided that they can fit all of Steven's stuff into Andrew's car so we did not drive down to Santa Barbara to pick up Steven. He just finished is freshman year at UC Santa Barbara. Andrew is going to be a SENIOR at UCSB! It's graduation weekend and everything is booked everywhere so I was relieved to put off the trip. We'll probably go down in a couple of weeks. Andrew will going to summer school at SB.

I've been trying to be virtuous. I've been cleaning out my closet. I'm delighted that both of them are coming home but I dread the influx of all of THEIR junk. And I haven't done my spring housecleaning yet. It has been such a cold, rainy spring that I haven't gotten around to getting the screens cleaned and up, etc. So I have a few hours before they arrive and I'm buzzing around here.

I've changed all of the beds and I have all the laundry caught up. The 'fridge is pretty clean and I'm holding off a big trip to Costco/Safeway until after they arrive. Who knows what they are eating these days but we've got milk.

Shhh! It's a SECRET

Here is a picture of the grandma quilt I've been working on. My Wednesday group and I made the blocks, and I put it together and quilted it.

Secret quilt

I really shouldn't be posting a picture of this but it is in the interest of technical research. I've been trying to figure out how to post more than one picture at a time and the glorious Melody, the superfantastic Sonji, and the divine Debra, have all helped. And besides, I've been so busy with this that it's all I've been doing besides working.





One block

I was thinking that maybe I should post this in my profile--I've got red hair, too!

Secret Quilt

I’ve alluded to the secret quilt that has been weighing on my conscience. I’m a member of a mini-group that meets on Wednesdays. There are ten of us. We are beginning to become grandmothers. We’ve made two grandmother quilts and I took on the third one. The grand baby was born last Monday! OOPS! No picture of the quilt yet but soon, maybe. Each of us made a 12-inch pieced block of a child. Very traditional, very cute! I sashed the blocks and straight-line quilted the sashing. I free-motion quilted around the children and I FM’d the border. But I’ve run out of ideas and my FM repertoire is severely limited. I’m still very much a novice machine quilter. I think I volunteered for this because it would force me to get some practice. What really should be done is that the children should be hand quilted but I’m running out of energy and time. And I still need to bind. And did I mention that I’ve managed to take over every room in the house and both boys will be home from school on FRIDAY?