Sunday, July 31, 2011

¿Dónde están las reglas?

Translation: Where are the rules?

Usually I finish my quilts fairly quickly, but I needed fabric for binding.
I had intended to bind the quilt with the same fabric I used to bind the White Rules. (These gold scallops) I even ordered the fabric from an on-line quilt store, but after THREE WEEKS of hearing NOTHING from the vendor about delivery (even though I sent TWO emails and left TWO phone messages), I called my credit card company and discovered the money hadn't even been charged to my account. So I "cancelled" the order, and went to the lqs and bought fabric for the hanging sleeveand fabric for the binding.So this quilt should be finished soon.

Tomorrow, the Red Letter Along continues with the letter Q!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Friday Color

This is a bouquet of herbs I picked for my desk at work. There's Thai Basil, Genovese Basil, Dill, Mint, Greek Oregano, Parsley, Thyme, Lemon Thyme and a few Nasturtium blossoms. This is also a great example of how complementary colors play against each other. This Red-Orange flower isn't the perfect complement to the green herbs, but it's enough to make the flowers practically sizzle with intensity. Simultaneous Contrast can't be photographed. What you see on your computer is a pale imitation of the real thing. Do a Google image search on Complementary Colors and Simultaneous Contrast to see other examples.

One of my favorite paintings at the Currier Museum of Art is another good example.

~~~~~

I've been a fan of Project Runway since the very beginning. Season 9 started last night. I won't spill any beans in case you haven't seen it, but I think it's going to be a good season.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Butterfly Birthday

Every year to celebrate my birthday, I spend a day with my son. I prefer time with him in lieu of a gift. This year I told him I wanted to be inside where it was cool.

After a lunch of sushi, and a visit to my favorite chocolatier, he brought me to The Butterfly Place.

It's a sun-filled atrium filled with butterflies. It was not air-conditioned.
You can see hundreds of butterflies, but you can't touch them. In this photo of my son, he's aiming at a butterfly in the lower right, but a yellow one is flying nearby. I was glad a had a camera with a huge memory card, and had brought my spare battery, because I took lots of pictures. Most of them looked like this...(a butterfly was there a second ago)and this. (Drat!)But if you get lucky, you get pictures like this, of butterflies resting.
There are lots of beautiful flowers, like this hibiscus.You have look carefully, because sometimes the butterflies blend in.
or look like flowers.
But the one butterfly you really want to photograph is the big Blue Morpho, who will fly inches away from your head in a looping up and down motion. This butterfly is gigantic, about seven inches across, and rarely sits still with its wings open so you can photograph the stunning iridescent blue. Mostly, you'll get pictures like this.
and this. Here are four Blue Morphos, resting. Patience and luck may reward you.If you get REALLY lucky, a butterfly might land on your hat, so you can get a good picture.or not.After our visit to The Butterfly Place, my son and I had dinner at a restaurant called 900 Degrees. It was spectacular. Then we went to see the last Harry Potter movie.

We had a great day!


(You can read about last year's day here.)

Friday, July 22, 2011

Too Hot Friday

It's too hot. The letter M has been postponed until Monday. Stay cool and read a good book. I suggest Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. The first one is Still Life. I loved it and couldn't put it down.

If you haven't started on your letters yet, now's your chance to jump right in!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Finally, Laughing @ Home

My quilt, Laughing Out Loud, is all finished.
This morning I folded the binding over to the front, pondering which thread to use, black or white. The quilt, of course, had the answer. Chris had quilted it with a yellow green. There on my thread rack, this spool of thread called my name, and said "Me! Me! Use me!"
Once I was finished, and I pulled out all the pins, and signed the back, I folded it up, and brought the quilt to its new home.

When I told my Mom and her husband I was gifting them with the quilt, they were both speechless. They both cried, and my Mom asked, "Really?"

Yes, Mom. Really.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Quilt Wrangling

I've trimmed the Laughing Out Loud quilt, made the binding, and have sewn it to the quilt. This quilt will be used and loved, so I'll machine stitch the binding.I think "Quilt Wrangling" is a proper term for working with such a big quilt. Laughing Out Loud measures 82" x 100" (208cm x 254cm)