I do love singles. Alas, this is another unknown, also a "gift."
Lots of weed pulling and fertilizing and mulching. There's lots more of that to do. I planted more basil. This time I’m trying Mrs. Brown’s lemon basil (Ocimum basilicum citriodora, an heirloom variety from Renee’s Garden Seeds). I also am trying a new method of growing cilantro that I read about on the Sunset Magazine site. I still hope to plant beans and peppers and beets.
It doesn’t seem possible but it is raining. We haven’t had rain for months. This has been the driest spring since forever. Our rainy season is just about over and we won’t get any real rain until next autumn. Our regional water people have declared that our reservoirs are low and we are officially in a drought situation. We will be penalized for not cutting back on our water consumption. Ratting on your neighbor is encouraged. I am savoring the moisture and I am enjoying spring while I can.
I really am making art but I can’t resist posting these. A new one opened up today and I will take her picture tomorrow morning.
My friend Linda gave me the seeds for these sweet peas. I think they are April in Paris and that they came from Enchanting Sweet Peas of Sebastopol, CA. At first, it seemed that very few germinated so I threw in all of the old seed that was collecting in bins and baskets in the garage. There are still spaces in the rows but I've been picking a handful every morning.
Sweet peas are wonderful to contemplate but it's all about the fragrance: intoxicating. I will definitely grow these again.
Somewhere in the not too distant past I resolved to try to achieve some. If I honestly consider what I have accomplished in the last 5 months I would have to be happy. It's just that my “to do” list is always very optimistic. Of late, I have been having just too much fun. There was the trip to New York. Last weekend was Twain Harte. This week was “get something done in time for the G4 meeting on May 8.”
I was very inspired by large wall paintings by Sol LeWitt at MOMA. One in particular was a grid and what I remembered were red, blue, and yellow crayon lines that reminded me that I am a quilter of fabrics. I got out my hand-dyed fabrics. I had been thinking about greens following some posts by June Underwood about green.
Our theme for for the G4 for April was air.
First swim of the year at Orinda Park Pool.
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?
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 53rd 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
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 (9th Avenue between 38th and 39thStreet) 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 15th and 16th.
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.
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.
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 42nd 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 20th . 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.
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’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!
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
The Pool
Rick brought home the most wonderful CD: Gabriela Montero
The yellow pot is marked 3 qt. It is ceramic.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
