Wool Applique Workshop with Catherine Redford

     Yesterday I attended a very fun and educational workshop on wool applique and embroidery taught by Catherine Redford https://catherineredford.com/  

She gave a great presentation Friday evening called  "Trip Around The World in Folk Stitches,"

 at our monthly Almond Country Quilt Guild Meeting.

 She's very creative, multi-talented, and has a great sense of humor. I learned a lot.

 Check out her website in the link above to learn more about her. 

She also teaches classes online.

She taught us some great tips on how to applique wool and cotton shapes and then how to embellish with a variety of embroidery stitches. I love embroidery, as you might know by now, so was in seventh heaven!  Below is her sampler of what we were trying to emulate.

I haven't finished mine yet. Maybe during the Super Bowl today, I'll get it done. 

Below are more photos of Catherine's exquisite work.

Beautiful Skies

The colors in this morning's sunrise were incredibly dramatic. 

 Had to go out in my jammies and take some photos. The colors and textures of the clouds kept changing every couple of minutes.

Women's March

Well, I'm finally over my doozie of a cold, thank goodness. 

On Saturday I went to San Luis Obispo to march in the 3rd annual Women's Day March.  It was a very positive experience. I felt it was important to stand up with this group of men, women and children of all colors, ages and races to let the politicians see that we're still here and we're still upset with what's happening in our country, whether its immigrations, women's rights, healthcare, or issues of racism .  Here's some pictures from the march. As you can see it drew a very large crowd.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year in this, my first post of the new year! 

 I haven't posted in a while because I caught a horrible cold about a week ago and it is still lingering. So mostly I've been sleeping, reading, drinking tea and blowing my nose.

Today however, I went for a walk with my dog and found some wonderful examples of fractal design in the moss clumps on the ground and hanging from our California Live Oak trees. If you are not familiar with fractal design here is a definition I found on the internet: 

"A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop."

So if you look at the structure of the moss in the picture below, 

you will see the pattern repeating in a variety of sizes differing in length and width.

In the picture below, the moss looked like a wall hanging suspended from the branches.

 I like to think of this moss as 'Nature's Lace."

I've always been fascinated by fractals. In researching them today I came across a very interesting tidbit that I had never read before.  It came from the following website:

https://gabrielhemery.com/tree-fractals/

"In the 15th century Leonardo da Vinci wrote:  "All the branches of a tree at every stage of its height when put together are equal in thickness to the trunk."  The website goes on to say, 

"So, if you were to cut all the branches off a tree at a fixed distance away from its trunk and bundle these all together, the size of this cylinder would equal the size of the trunk (and any branches) below. The rule applies at whatever distance (or height) you exercised this - now that's cool math!"

This is known as 'Leonardo"s Rule for Branches.'  If you google that, you will find all sorts of fun information and people who dispute his theory and talk about

 how the formation of branches is more related to wind.

Anyways, something fun to ponder and wonder about. And now, it's time for more nose blowing

 and another cuppa to calm my cold.

Happy Holidays and Barn Progress

It's been a couple weeks since I last posted. 

We've been busy with family, holiday celebrating and more barn work. 

On Christmas we visited Mission San Miguel, which is just up the road from us.

The mission was founded in 1797. 

It always surprises me how 'gaudy' the interior of the mission church is.

The electrician finished upgrading and installing new lights in the barn last week

 and what a difference his work made. 

Our electric system was in pretty sketchy condition for years! 

Below are photos of  the light switch before and after the work.

He upgraded all the wiring in the barn. Yesterday my  husband and I were removing some of the old, decrepit wires. It was the old stuff that had black fiber wrapped around it.

  There are now two LED lights in  the main part of the barn that provide fabulous light, 

especially for working with paints and dyes. 

Can't wait to get out there and make fabric!

New Quilt Top and Studio Barn Progress

I finished the quilt top I've been working over the last month or so. 

The pattern is called Nose to the Toes, by a company called Beyond the Reef.  I found it very challenging, and fun. 

Below is one of the 7 1/2 inch blocks.  In each block there are 14 pieces. It's one of those quilts where you cut a bunch of pieces, rearrange those pieces, sew a little here and there, 

do more rearranging as desired, etc., etc. 

And if you are like me, you do some deconstruction as well,

 until you get it how you want it. 

You put 4 of these together to create a 14 inch block and then put the the fourteen inch blocks together in three rows of three to create a 42 1/2 inch quilt top.

Below is the sink room in the barn studio. 

My husband did a great job with building the sink counter.

You get great views of vineyards and wineries from the windows

 on the north and east sides of the barn

In the picture below you can get an idea of how long the barn is. 

It is 40 feet long by 30 feet wide. 

We hired an electrician who should be done upgrading the electric system this next week.

Before too long, it should be ready to go.

To show you just how fun we've come on this project, below is the picture of the sink room from the day we had the cement floor poured. Look at those old doors!

New Quilt Planning and Piecing

I've been working on a new quilt from a pattern by Beyond the Reef company called Hang Ten,  Toes on the Nose  https://www.beyondthereefpatterns.com/patterns?lightbox=i8hnh  It's been quite challenging but fun. It's definitely kept my interest. 

With all the work we have been doing on cutting baseboards, plumbing, etc. trying to get our bathroom back to normal, after the flooding, I just needed a pattern to follow at this time. To make this pattern you start out with 10 inch squares which you cut into two 5 inch squares and some strips. You shuffle pieces and sew some pieces together, then cut, reshuffle, sew, and re-cut and shuffle, etc. I'm finally at the point where I can sew blocks together,

after having to deconstruct quite a few to get the color changes I wanted.

Couldn't resist taking pics of these gorgeous red leaves I saw in the street yesterday. 

Of course I had to pick some up to take home and press flat.