Memorial

My Mom

Mom passed away on Memorial Day weekend last year.

 For me now this weekend will also be about remembering my Mom.

altho, I miss her every day

Enjoy your Memorial Day and the kick off of summer, barbecues and picnics.
 May we always remember those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom!

Tot ziens, Jo

Tedeschi Trucks Band and Friends- Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Feathers

Feathers come in different forms 

I often think of the phrase "Feathers appear when angels are near"
 while stitching feathers on a quilt and think of my Mom.
Tonight will be one year ago that mom passed away.

Earlier this week we had a few windy days and a large branch broke off one of our Black Walnut trees over Micheal's shop. It took out one of the skylights, thankfully no damage to the roof. Two days later Michael found a young Screech Owl in our yard on the ground being attacked by two Blue Jays. It happened fast enough that Michael was able to rescue the little guy before the Jays did too much damage. 

The little guy in Michael's hands, not a happy camper ;0( 

Michael called Bidwell Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and was directed to Marilyn who specializes in rescuing birds. The little guy was placed in a box and off he went! 

Turned out Marilyn has seven birds already, a couple of them were Screech Owls plus a couple of Red Shouldered or Red Tailed Hawks. She said this owl was a juvenile however underweight. Thinking that there may have been a nest in the branch that fell and the reason this little guy ended up on the ground. Screech Owls don't get much bigger, found some videos online, they are cute little guys! Hope this one recovers, Marilyn felt that it would.

Angles come in many forms too!

 

Pairs of Sandy Toes

I've made each workshop at Honey Run Quilters
 for Toes in the Sand by Julie Herman at Jaybird Quilts.

Last Wednesday we made four blocks

Two blocks of two blocks, if that makes any sense ;0)

Starting from the beginning of Kelly's workshop...

Block One ~ Baker Beach

Each block is made twice, in different fabrics, usually reversing the values 

These are pix of my batik version

Each block represents a different beach along the California coast 

Kelly does research and reads us the history of each beach while we work on our blocks :0)

Block Two ~ Santa Barbara

Block Three ~ Venice Beach

Block Four ~ Sonoma Coast

Block Five ~ Torrey Pines

These are blocks Three of the version I am doing in other fabrics

along with the background fabric that will be used for this quilt.

I picked out the background fabric for the batik version last week 

pix another day, it's not cut yet. 

Come to find out, Karen picked out the same fabric for her background! 

GMTA!!!

First three sets of blocks in my other fabric with 

blocks four and five to do. 

I am also working on a costume for my son... that will be a kick! 

I haven't made clothing in a zillion years!!! It will be fun

Costume we are working on is Max from Where the Wild Things Are

Max without his crown altho Chris is making that too

Have a great weekend!

 Tot Ziens, Jo

April showers, May flowers and Sandy Toes

April brought showers for May flowers!

Happy here in California we received a decent amount of rain. Not enough to get us out of the drought, however, happy to see the glass half full, it's allot more than last year! 

My garden is fully in bloom and the pollen, well, let's not go there! 

Happy May Day!!!

I remember as a kid we would make a cone out of construction paper, attach a piece of string and fill it with flowers. Then we would hang them on the door knobs of each of our neighbors. Mom was pretty creative and I am glad because the apple didn't fall very far from that tree :0) 

One of my goals for May is to keep up on Toes in the Sand

In April we had 2 BOM meetings, completing blocks one and two

 making 2 of each block with different fabrics/values to make each of them different.

I am making two quilts :0) one with batiks...

  I began after I saw three participants using blue batiks.

Sew when I went home after our first meeting I pulled all of the ocean and water 

themed batiks out of my stash that I could find! 

Which, btw, works perfectly with my goal of using up my stash ;0)

My original fabrics pulled for Toes in the Sand

Kelly asked each of us which was our favorite California beach. Mine is Prairie Creek. I've camped there many times. Located on the northern coast of California, it's one of the few places you will find Roosevelt Elk right there in the park. There are California Black Bears, Redwoods, coastal cliffs, the beach and Fern Canyon. It's an amazing place! My fabrics are textural, have prints with deer, bears and shells. 

                                           

Toes in the Sand is a BOM from Jaybird Quilts. Each block is named for a California beach. Kelly researches the history about each beach and shares what she finds with us, reading aloud as we work on our blocks. It's great! Thank you Kelly, you are the best! 

Happy with the April finish of two quilt tops!!! A Linda Ballard workshop quilt You Need a Rita! pictured in my previous blog post and Calypso Kaleidoscope, now with all it's borders. Made two blocks for Westering Women. Several blocks for Patchwork City. Keeping up with Sandy Toes. Good progress!

My May goals: 

Two more blocks for Westering Women ~ Barbara Brackman's Civil War blog. 

Make more blocks on a WIP ~ Patchwork City. 

Two more blocks for Moon Glow to get caught up with Beckie and be ready once she is ready to get back to working on that WIP. She is working on wedding quilts! 

    

Piece the back and quilt Calypso Kaleidoscope. Ok, that's allot especially given that I have a full time job keeping up longarming for my customers!

Enjoy your Sunday 

Tot ziens, Jo