Ladies Who Lunch With A Man!

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Sally and her husband Larry. We ate at the Stage Stop Restaurant in Silver Springs.

When Sally and I get together we are so busy talking and catching up I often forget to take pictures so I borrowed this picture of the inside of this restaurant.

We sat at the table you can see in the back…imagine Sally and I at the chairs against the wall and Larry facing us when he wasn’t visiting with the other people he knew.

I really enjoyed it. The food was great and plentiful.  I had the fried shrimp basket and when I saw the size of the portion I thought I’d probably be able to eat less than half. It was so good I ate over 3/4 of it. Good shrimp sauce and fries too.

I think Larry knew everyone in the whole place! But with his outgoing personality I’ll bet everyone he meets is his friend!

As I was leaving I saw they had fried pickles….I will return!

Ladies Who Lunch A Lot!

On Tuesday Mary and I drove down to Mt. Dora for lunch and a little browsing in the shops.

We had lunch at one of my very favorite restaurants – The Goblin.

We had a table outside in the front courtyard which was perfect since it was a gorgeous day.

Sorry, no picture of that as the wait staff was too busy to ask them to take a picture of us.

I ordered their Stuffed Artichoke Hearts – my most favorite food in Florida!

They are to die for. Even though I had my 3 and one of Mary’s, when we got home in the evening all I could think about was wanting more of them!

This is the menu listing for them.

I did not post other Ladies Who Lunch posts, but while Mary was here we also ate at B. D. Beans, Panera, Bamboo Bistro, Toppers Tavern and maybe a few more that I am forgetting.

Mary’s Scarves

Last night I showed Mary how to dye scarves and she really became the expert.

This group features her blues, greens and turquoise ones.

I have never tried dyeing with this black dye. The variations she got with the 3 scarves she dyed black was amazing.

Not only was the depth of color so different, but also the veining she got.

This rainbow of colors includes all the scarves she did with the warm colors, as well as some cool colors.

It is fun to see the variety of textures she achieved.

She dyed a total of 13 scarves, quite appropriate as her birthday is on the 13th of a month coming soon.

Our visit was over a little while ago as she heads back to the frozen tundra where the temperature is 15 degrees this morning.

The time went to fast and we had so much fun sharing family memories, and so much more.

454,454 Views–Another Palindromic Number–A Little After 2 a.m.

I did not stay up just waiting for this to happen.

My cousin Mary and I were still catching up, reminiscing and doing some family genealogy on the computer.

Fall Fiesta–SOLD!

I recently sold this quilt to a collector. The center area is painted and has thunderbirds and scrolled shapes.

It is a layered piece that incorporates slashed muslin, various cotton prints, cording, and other embellishments.

The binding is a lame.

It is unusual for me to use embellishments on my quilts. This one uses them in what I feel is a tasteful way, as part of the overall design of the composition.

Arrival Picture–My Favorite Cousin

Mary is visiting me for 10 days and the first week has gone so fast I didn’t even have time to post her arrival picture.

What have we done for a week?

We have been catching up on the last 50 plus years where we had little contact while we were raising our families and working.

We’ve shopped, ate, talked, watched the Olympics, had our card group here, created art, ate, talked, shopped, and ate, talked, shopped, returned things, ate,…..

The weather started rather cool when she arrived, but it was still a welcome treat from the frozen tundra up north.

After the first two days it warmed up to very comfortable temperatures and sunshine.

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. She’ll be leaving Wednesday morning and I certainly will miss her.

Olympic Quilt Top Finished???

I have all of the blocks for the top of the quilt sewn together.

It was a real challenge fitting these different size curved blocks together, first in rows and then joining the rows.

Although you can’t see it. the edges are still very irregular and I am still deciding how to handle them.

I do know I will NOT square off the quilt.

I do not expect to finish it during the Olympics.

To me an Olympic quilt is one that challenges the maker and this one sure has!

Assembling Olympic Quilt

As I watch the Olympic hockey game I am working on the assembly of this quilt.

I am putting the blocks together and it IS a challenge with the different size blocks, logs and the curved piecing.

I do however think it is working.

Stay Tuned!

Olympic Quilt–Part 2

I added another round to each print on my Olympic quilt. I have decided that is all they need.

You may notice many of these strips I added are very wide.

However since I am doing the freeform curve piecing I will be trimming each strip into a curve as I put the pieces together.

It is very busy but I think it is working.

My friends (non quilters) who were here the other night raved about it.

What happens after they are joined will be determined by what the quilt tells me it wants to be!

Ice Dyeing Part 4

I dyed two long narrow pieces of fabric. They are about 22” x 72”.

I was pleased that the dye penetrated all the layers as it was 16 layers after I folded it.

This piece was the same size as the first one.

It also had 16 layers for the dye to penetrate.

I don’t think I can cut these up so I will have to figure out a way to use them as they are.

This is the end of my ice dyeing for now. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Ice Dyeing Part 3

I am sharing some more of the pieces that are bigger than a fat quarter.

This one is quite vibrant and contains most of the dye colors I used.

Although this one doesn’t contain as many colors, it will probably be one of the easier ones to use.

There is more turquoise in this piece that I can see in any other piece. Turquoise needs warmer temperatures that other dye colors.

Since there are no rules, nor predicted results when one does this each piece is a surprise. You have to be willing to play when you are doing something like this.

More Ice Dyed Fabrics

Today I am showing you some larger pieces of ice dyed fabrics. These were done on muslin.

They were in the tray beneath the screen, top fabric, ice and dye.

This piece, also done on the muslin has a much more limited color range and more light areas.

This shows more vibrant colors. It is also the largest piece. These 3 pieces vary between 1 1/4 and 1/1/2 yards.

I am thinking I may do some whole cloth pieces with these.

I was surprised how intense the colors are with this layer as they were not as close to the dye.

Ice Dyeing Was Successful!

I am very pleased with the results of my ice dyeing adventure. This is one of the two pieces I am sharing with you today.

Here is another one of the pieces I did. I am in love with this one too.

The only problem I ran into was that I used the tray from the golf cart under the fabrics.

When I took out the fabrics the tray was almost full of dye liquid. I scooped out liquid, but it was a slow process because the tray was so shallow.

Then I got the bright idea to put fabric in the liquid. I knew that I wouldn’t get wonderful colors, but with dyeing just about anything can be saved with overdyeing, shibori, or painting on the fabric.

The liquid looked very blue green and that is the color I was expecting.

Instead I got medium mottled reddish mahogany colors. That is because the red dyes strike first.

I may leave them as is, or I may alter them in some way.

Stay tuned as I will be sharing more results soon.

Ice Dyeing Fabric

I have been waiting for the weather to warm up enough to work on dyeing fabrics in the garage.
Today it was warm enough to start ice dyeing.  I had about 8 gallon bags of ice in the freezer, many over a year old.
This is a perfect way to use that ice.

In this photo I am soaking my fabrics in soda ash solution.

I knew I was going to put the fabrics on a screen from a door that a friend game me. The problem was what to put under the screen.
I looked around the garage and spotted the tray that covers the batteries in the golf cart. This was a perfect solution for me.
In this photo you see the bottom layer of fabrics that will catch the water and dye as the ice melts.

I placed the screen on top of the tray.

I added the top layer of fabrics. some were just bunched up and others were folded and layered.

I added a thick layer of ice on top of the fabric.

Wearing a respirator I added powdered dyes on top of the fabrics and ice. I started with the lightest colors and gradually worked up to some darker ones.
I just guessed on how much dye to add. I am thinking I probably added more than necessary.

Next I covered the entire surface with plastic so the loose dyes didn’t blow around.
I’m sure you’re anxious to see the results. So am I!
But we are going to have to wait 24-48 hours or more until most of the ice has melted.
Then it will be time for the rinse out, wash out and pressing of the fabric.
As my friend Debbie said “The hardest thing about snow/ice dyeing is the waiting to see the results.”
While I am ice dyeing my friends Kay and Debby are snow dyeing. They have more snow that usual and are taking advantage of it.
The serendipitous results are always so exciting.

449,944

That is the Palindromic number of views on my blog this morning at 8:19 a.m.

Is This My Olympic Quilt?

I started this quilt this week using some of the fabrics I won. I won first place in the Quilt Japan quilt contest several years ago.

I received several packages of gorgeous fabrics, either from Japan or with a Japanese influence.

They have been a challenge to me as to how to use them.

Right now I would say this just looks like a busy strange grouping, but it is just the beginning.

To me an Olympic quilt is one that challenges me and this one definitely does.

I will work on it off and on this week while I have other things I need to do.

This is the quilt I won the contest with. The criteria was to use  fabrics designed by Susan Faeder.

This was also a very challenging piece to create. I was very pleased with the final creation.

The quilt hung in the Yokohama Quilt Festival.

What A Difference 10 Years Makes!

This picture shows our house when it was built about 10 years ago. Yesterday I mentioned how fast things grow in Florida
.
This is what it looks like today. The most obvious difference is the size of the palm trees.
If you look closer you can also see the azaleas and other shrubs which were hardly noticeable on the original photo have grown to maturity.
Nothing new has been added in this time period.
They have been trimmed and shaped many times and are in wonderful condition.
Florida has sunshine, warmth, humidity and rain which all contribute to ideal growing conditions.

Flowers and Foliage

I was so surprised when I walked out the front door (facing east) this morning and this one lone azalea was in bloom. The thing that surprised me most was we have had so much cold weather I thought they would bloom later than usual.
They usually start to  bloom in March or even April. Although they are loaded with buds but I don’t expect them to be in full bloom for a while yet.

This plant started as a houseplant. I moved it outside about 5 years ago. I really expected to lose it in the first few year. When it got cold it lost a lot of leaves and it almost looked dead.
It’s now about 5 feet tall and almost hides the two smaller shrubs. The leaves themselves are close to 3 feet in length.
I am thinking it is time to trim back a few of the leaves.
I’m always amazed at how fast things grow in Florida.