Spring Break Quilting Day

I helped Diane celebrate the last day of Spring break on Friday by packing up my Featherweight, some quilting tools and a project and heading out to the country to her house to spend the day quilting.

A little less than an hour later, I was bringing my stuff inside and she was pulling her stuff out into the big room and we were spreading out.



(You can see that flying geese top-in-progress in its entirety on the Block Lotto blog, here, A Goose of Another Colour)

Diane pulled out some beautiful works in progress and some round robin tops to share.



Here are two finished Round Robin tops



After Show & Tell, we settled down to work. We had decided to work on blocks from a swap that we had both participated in almost a year ago. I finished all the alternate blocks I needed. Diane needed some additional blocks, so she was adding to her pile . . . and thinking about color choices for her alternate blocks.

Later in the day, another quilting friend. Moira, came by and brought some eye candy for a Show & Tell break. Diane and Moira have been part of online groups and swaps for more than a dozen years but never met until our Spring Break Quilting Day.



That's Dixie, Diane's Mom, in the center, admiring a very wonderful Crazy Quilt round robin piece that Moira brought to share.



And check out this very big, very bright, pineapple quilt.



The quilting continued, but my camera did not :-(

Moira stitched on a new crazy quilt round robin piece and then she and I helped Diane complete enough blocks for a queen size quilt. I came home with all the blocks I need to put together the queen size top. Diane and I laid out her blocks and my alternate blocks and auditioned borders from her stash. No one left with a finished anything, but real progress was made and it was good ;-)

Dallas Quilt Celebration

My trip to the Dallas Quilt show yesterday didn't get off to a great start . . . I burned the lunch I was making for myself and had to abandon the idea, then left the commuter mug with my latté to go on the kitchen counter. I encountered a jack-knifed tractor trailer just as I was getting on the highway, which slowed me down, then heard from the friend I was meeting who was slowed by the rain and traffic even more. So my first stop at the show was the espresso stand in the food concession area.

While I sipped, I chatted with some of the groups set up in the food area and picked up a list of Dallas yarn shops and info from the Knitters Guild.

But let's face it, once you're there, no day at a Qult Show can be a bad day ;-)

After my replacement latté, I found the Dallas Quilt Guild booth and got the scoop on when to show up at the next guild meeting.



I'll never forget being yelled at by the Lansing Guild president for showing up to early at my first meeting there . . . the Church where we met had rules, but how was a first timer supposed to know? I wouldn't want to make that mistake again ;-)

I took a lot of photos before I ran out of battery–my spare battery has gone missing since my trip to AZ, but they need some editing. The venue is nice enough, but the lighting, both the natural light and the fluorescents present some challenges, because so many of the quilts end up being backlit and washed out. Here are a couple uncropped photos . . . see what I mean?

This is Basket Weave by Betsy Gust of Plano Texas. It won an Honorable Mention.



And this is a group quilt by the Cotton Group of Dallas called Undersea Fantasy. The colors are much more vibrant, as you can see in the detail photo.






The lighting just made my pretty good camera go nuts. It (and I) usually do much better. I'm not sure how much I can clean up quickly in editing, but I will probably try because I'd like to share some of the great quilts I saw yesterday.

In the meantime, I can't wait to share this one: the really wonderful, whimsical Best of Show winner, A Quark's Tale, by Kelly Monroe of Arlington, Texas.



The details on this quilt were delightful

Cold Rainy Days and Signs of Spring

It's been raining and cold–stuck in the 40's–for the past few days.

I went out to run errands downtown in leather blazer with light cotton layers underneath and an umbrella and was greeted by a neighbor walking her dachshunds in a poofy down parka. I did wish I'd remembered some gloves or wrist-warmers and maybe even a scarf, but it really wasn't that cold. But most of the locals were dressed like my neighbor, in full winter gear.

In fact, to me it felt a lot like Spring and, even though it has mostly been much warmer since I arrived in Texas, and I saw signs of spring everywhere.

Bright green new buds on trees in Thanksgiving Square



Tulips and some other flowers in a planter outside an office building; detail of an Azalea bloom (I think).



It definitely looks like Spring at Neiman Marcus. This dress in one of their windows caught my eye as I walked by because of the interesting technique used on the front bodice–it's a little hard to see because of the necklace the mannequin is also wearing.

I think the technique would be fabulous on a simple white linen shirt, too . . . or maybe even on a quilt.





Oh, and, on the corner, another kind of bloom . . .

Howdy, Ma'am, You're All Clear

Today, for the first time since moving to Dallas, I was greeted by a very friendly, very sincere, smiling man, extending his hand, saying, "Howdy."

It was the doctor who gave me my results after the second round of mammography at the Women's Imaging Center. All clear. All good. Just "normal dense breast tissue." No need, even, for the planned sonogram.

Whew!

Thanks, everyone, for the reassurances. Although I didn't mention it on the blog, a few things had me spooked when the scary call back letter came last week and I was more than a little worried.

Architectural Details

Sometimes I notice the architectural details . . . and figure out what interesting building they are attached to later.

These fat, happy cherubs sit above a pair of French doors opening out onto a balcony of a fabulous building a couple blocks from my apartment.



At much higher levels, the building are guarded by these guys.



I didn't know when I took the photos that this is the fabulous Adolphus Hotel.



When I checked out their web site–warning: there's tasteful piano music if you follow my link to their site–I immediately thought how much fun it would be to gather a few friends for a day of quilting at my loft with a break for their afternoon English tea . . . I suppose we'd have to be sure to remove any and all stray threads before we walked over for our very civilized tea break.

Last week, when I was walking around the west end, I noticed this deconstructed architectural detail on the back of a building I passed on my way back from lunch at the Cadillac Bar & Grill.



I have no idea what building this is . . . maybe some Dallas-knowledgeable person will leave a comment and clue me in, but I applaud the architect/designer/artist who thought to make this design decision. It made me smile as I walked past and I'm sure countless others do, too.

Yesterday I picked up a fun book of Dallas Landmarks which has photos taken from vintage postcards. As I am beginning to learn and known some of the current Dallas landmarks, it's fun to look at these.



(My building is even in there ;-)

I realized when I encountered the log cabin in Founder's Square last week that I know nothing of early Dallas history. Who says I can't start my education with the Architectural details and artifacts left behind?

Have you ever . . .

Have you ever been a little obsessive about a project?



. . . or perhaps she was just distracting herself? (Yes I am probably projecting more than a little.) Someone recently emailed this link to me; I've seen it before, but I love it every time I watch ;-)

I've been distracting myself . . . with quilt blocks

I spent the weekend making jeweled geese blocks for the Block Lotto. As usual, I'll be donating my chances.

Along the way, I also created some step-by-step directions using my favorite no-waste method of flying geese units, as well as the more common method using rectangles and squares–useful if you're using 2-1/2 inch noodles from swaps or jelly rolls. You can find my directions and notes for the block here - Jeweled Geese Block.

I got a little carried away distracting myself and made more than a few extras . . . I finally stopped at 30 blocks. (The maximum blocks to enter in the lotto is 9.) Here's my flock.










I have some medical appointments on Monday and Tuesday –I'm a little nervous. Quilting is a good, productive, distraction . . . plus I can goose up the numbers on the lotto this month a bit with these extra blocks and donate my 9 chances to any newbies who join us (or some of the regulars who have yet won at set of blocks, if we don't attract any first-timers). I think it's win-win-win.

Hats, Quilting and the Job Hunt

Each time I pass this empty store front, with it's sign still up, Milliners Supply Co, I think about making hats again . . . and wearing them.

The sun shines so often here–I don't think you can really appreciate just how wonderful that is unless you've lived in someplace like Lansing, Michigan for a few years, which gets less sunshine than most of the country . . . but I am really appreciating it and thinking about making and wearing hats again.



In fact, recently, I even pulled out this sort-of-hat and wore it.

It doesn't have a lid (top) or a brim. I made it in my hotel room at the Houston quilt show from some straw I had dyed and some hand-dyed perl cotton I bought from Frieda Anderson on the show floor . . . as my entry in the Quilt Art group's Tiara Parade that year.

It's currently being worn by the goddess Hera.

My friend, Cyndee, asked in the comments about quilting and job-hunting. I've been carrying around muslin and making cathedral window squares–not very photogenic yet–on the quilting front, though I have a quilty project in mind that may be interesting or may fall flat . . . if you never about it again, you'll know which way it went ;-)

The job-hunting process continues . . . and I continue to find so many of the people I meet so generous and helpful. I will not be surprised when a random person I have met turns out to be the one who knows someone who hires me. Just about everyone I meet asks me to send them my resume so they can send it on to someone they know. But blogging about the job hunt isn't so fun and interesting. Photos of people squashed together elbow to elbow at job fairs with worried expressions on their faces or impatiently standing in line waiting to get into the ballroom where the employers are just isn't that entertaining, you know? So when I'm not blogging . . . that could be why . . .





Part of the challenge for the job hunt for me is that in my career I have worn many "hats," used my skills to fill whatever role was needed–which is a great thing once you are in a job, but sometimes a tricky thing when a recruiter or HR screener is trying to figure out which box to put you in. (I don't fit easily into a box).

Please Come Back

As part of settling into a new area, you find new doctors, someone new to cut your hair, a new place for a mani-pedi, a massage. You keep up with the usual maintenance things, like mammograms.

Today I got the results of my mammogram: the letter you don't like to get–the one that says we saw something, please come back.

I've been through this before; it's always been nothing, but still I worry a little. Keep your fingers crossed or say a little prayer for me, OK?

Future Worlds circa 1975

In 1975, I needed 2 credits to have the minimum required to graduate and took a philosophy class called Future Worlds. One of the things that I remember from that class was the notion that chain stores and restaurants would facilitate a more mobile society. It would be easier to move around the country (or around the world), because we would feel comfortable shopping in the same stores, eating in the same restaurants, etc.

Of course, in 1975, we didn't see the coming of the world wide web, Amazon, Overstock, the Home Shopping Network–or they might have been here, I can't remember–and QVC, but I digress . . .

I've noticed since coming to Dallas, I haven't eaten at any national chain restaurants or shopped at any national chain retailers until it came time to find someone to get my hair cut and then I did rely on some amount of some level of comfort of going to the familiar and looked for an Aveda Salon near me and was pretty happy with the result. (Ever notice that is easier to go to a new Doctor than a new haircutter?)

And then yesterday, I went out for some fresh air and ended up on Market Street and got excited when I saw this familiar sign painted on the side of a building.



Even though it said Dallas, Houston and some other City in Texas I didn't recognize, the sign looked exactly like the one for the Cadillac Bar & Grill in San Francisco where the Mexican Food and drinks were Fantastic. I had to go inside and investigate.



The layout of the restaurant and the neon sign inside was also familiar, but when I asked, the man seating guests didn't know and never came back with an answer. All indications were that it was a Texas chain. I enjoyed a yummy spinach quesadilla anyway . . . and came home later to investigate. I found an old white paper from 1985 on a business site that talked about the owners' business philosophy. I think the original Cadillac Bar & Grill might have been in San Francisco, but there were others, in Seattle and in those in Texas. I also found elsewhere, in a story in the San Francisco Chronicle that the Cadillac Bar in San Francisco is gone, razed to make room for a Moscone Center expansion, some years ago.

But, before I discovered that sad news, I had a nice walk back from Market Street, past many other restaurants, some interesting architecture, a bakery and Wild Bill's Western Store.



And then I saw the log cabin in a large open square–Founder's square as it turned out–surrounded by sky scrapers. It was a little surreal.



It represents the cedar cabin built by John Neely Bryan, the founder of a settlement in 1841 which later became Dallas. I need to keep walking and taking a different path home. There's so much more for me to discover.

Eureka, I Found It

Yes, I have managed to find not one, but two US Post Offices within walking distance of my loft.

The closest one turns out not to be the most convenient, however, because it is located inside the Federal Courts Building, and mailing a letter requires passing through some necessarily rigorous security. I asked at the Post Office inside–once I found it–if that maybe meant the lines would be shorter there, but was assured that's not the case.

The nice postal clerk did tell me where the other downtown post office was located and I found it easily.

And look at the cool sidewalk art I found right outside.



There's definitely a "sidewalks of Dallas" quilt on my someday list.

I'm Bringing the Block Lotto to Blogland

If you've been curious about this monthly block lotto thing I do . . . but not curious enough to wade through the heavy, clunky interface and hundreds and hundreds of daily messages on the quilting forum, I may have good news for you. I've decided to move the Block Lotto to blogland and invite my friends here to come play along.

The rules are simple. Make a block or as many as 9 to enter, following the rules for fabric and color. Your name is entered in the drawing at the end of the month for each block you make. For complete rules, follow the links in the sidebar for more complete info.

In March, we're making a variation of a Flying Geese block in jewel tones and black, based on an 1865 pieced silk quilt I saw at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont some years ago. Here are 24 blocks that have been made so far by Béatrice, Jill and Michelle.





I'm hoping some of my friends from the Quilt Studio ring will come play and some of my friends in Michigan that I'm missing will come play and some of the lurkers who follow this blog will come play and all of the Block Lotto crowd will continue to come play . . . and that bringing the block lotto to blogland turns out to be the right thing to do.