Earlier this month...

I went to Florida.

We always stop at the Florida Welcome Center to take a photo and have a cup of orange juice.  In spite of what the sign said, we didn't see much sunshine on this trip.  The weather was disappointingly cool, cloudy and rainy.  No need for sun screen and no opportunity to walk on the beach.

But we did spend nice, quality time with family and friends, went to a classic car show, browsed and shopped at the Daytona Flea Market, ate seafood, and we golfed three times, even if the weather was less than ideal.

And I got to see a quilt I made!

 I don't remember blogging about this particular project, so I will share it with you now.  It's always nice to see something I made being used and enjoyed.

My brother-in-law is a retired corrections officer.  A couple summer's ago we happened to visit his NYS home and I saw a pile of his old CO uniform shirts about to be recycled.  On impulse, I offered to take some and reuse the fabric to make him a quilt.  

The reclaimed fabric was various shades of light blue and so I combined strips of the shirt fabric with a few deeper blue/teal cottons in a simple rail fence type of pattern.  I added a few of his sleeve patches to some of the blocks.

Here are a couple more photos of the whole quilt, which is a lap quilt size.

I was able to piece together some of the larger shirt back pieces of fabric to use as a backing fabric and just made a fold over binding.  On the back you can really see the subtle differences in the shades of shirt fabric.

So it's nice to think that this quilt is at home in his beautiful Florida house.

I took a couple pictures of that location.  Here is his street, a nice new development of mostly single story homes.

And for this picture I was standing in his lanai, showing the small faux lake in his backyard.

It was a pleasant place to while away a winter week!  

Last 2 days of 2014... Columbia!

We took a short overnight trip to Columbia, SC, on the last two days of the last year.  Our main goal was to see the special exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art: Norman Rockwell "Behind the Camera" which continues only until 1/18/15.

Though we have bypassed Columbia several times on our trips to the coast, this was the first time that we actually got off of Rt. 26 and ventured downtown.  Columbia is just a little over two hours away. We could have easily done it as a day trip, but we thought it might be fun to spend a little more time, have a few nice meals and just have a little change of scenery.

Columbia is the capitol of South Carolina, so there is a prominent state house at the intersection of Gervais and Main Streets.  When we walked here on Tuesday, it was overcast, so the building looks a little bleak against the grey sky.  It looked prettier on Wednesday in pretty much full sun, but of course, I didn't take a touristy shot of it that day.

I did take a photo looking at it from Main Street.

You can see a nice decorated Christmas tree in front of the building, but I'm surprised that you can't really see the elaborate scaffolded stage that they had erected pretty much right in front of that tree.

At this angle you can see it.  Turns out that Columbia hosts a free outdoor New Year's Eve party.  The festivities started mid-afternoon, just as we were leaving, with road races, concerts, and many other activities, including and outdoor skating rink that was right outside of the Museum of Art.  Might have been fun to check that all out, but we were headed home by 3 PM on Wednesday.

South Carolina is called the Palmetto State, with the palm tree being it's state logo.  Since we live just north of the palm tree zone, it does always seem a bit tropical to see palm trees thriving so near by.  So I had to take a few palm pictures.

This palm was on Main Street.  You can see the tent underneath that was set up for the New Year's Eve festivities.

This bit of wrought iron work was part of the interesting monument seen below.

This monument, on the Capitol grounds, was a memorial for the Spanish American War and, of course, featured the state tree!  

The grounds around the Capitol building actually had a number of interesting monuments.  One that we spent a bit of time studying was a horseshoe shaped three dimensional depiction of black history from slavery to the present.  

On a similar vein, we enjoyed seeing some urban art in the area we were walking in.  

There were numerous historical markers scattered throughout downtown, giving us a history lesson as we walked.

This large chicken was in a parking lot near our hotel, with no explanation of it's reason for being there.  Probably deciding if it should cross the road...

These two buildings were chained together!

It's always nice to see some colorful foliage in winter, so here are some camellias in bloom.

And I liked the contrast of the oak leaves still clinging to the branches against the green of the dormant grass.

And finally, the Museum of Art.  The Rockwell exhibit was well worth seeing!  We have been to Stockbridge, MA, several times and saw the museum there both when it was on Main Street and then in it's present location a bit out of town. It's certainly the best place to see the biggest collection of Rockwell art.  

This special traveling exhibit focused on Rockwell's technique for capturing just the right expressions and postures in his illustrations, and specifically his shift from using a posed model to taking photos and then projecting the images on his work surface so he could trace and modify them to his liking.  So in addition to showing final versions, each work was also accompanied by photos and sketches and other studies Rockwell did so that you could see how the work developed from inspiration to photo(s) to a completed piece.

We took advantage of an audio tour (complimentary) which included interviews of people who posed for some of the pieces and additional historical information about Stockbridge and Rockwell.

As always, I found his illustrations to be delightful and often clever and humorous.

The Columbia Museum of Art is well worth visiting.  Their permanent collection is housed in a very attractive building that has a lot of natural light.  The galleries are nicely themed and include not only framed art, but also artifacts and furniture of the period.  I especially liked the glass gallery which had several nice Tiffany pieces.  And of course, no art museum is complete these days without a Dale Chihuly piece.  Here is the large untitled chandelier that hangs in the CMA.

I believe it is said to weigh a ton!  

And it just begged me to take a shot of Russ standing in front of it with his orange jacket and Medusa hair!

I hope you enjoyed this little visit to Columbia!  Happy New Year!

Twice the Fun!

Now that the Christmas gifting is over, I can share with you one of the projects that occupied my time this fall.
As a bit of background, one of my sewing/quilting bee friends, Chris Z., brought a felt appliqué project to show off at a bee meeting early this fall, or perhaps it was even late in the summer.  Chris followed the Crab-apple Design "Frost Flowers" exactly, doing her usual exceptional appliqué of wool shapes on a linen background and embellishing it with beads so that it was an exact replica of the pattern picture.  (I believe that the pattern was designed to be a pillow top.)
I was immediately attracted to the design, since it featured a basket (I love baskets) of flowers that were actually stylized snowflakes.  I immediately thought of my friend Barb, who also is a basket maker, and who loves anything related to snow.  I did not especially want to invest in linen and wool felt and thought I could adapt the design and recreate it as a wall quilt in cottons.  As I started to gather my materials with the intention of making this for Barb for Christmas, I realized that it was something that I would like as well.  So soon I was doing every step in duplicate!
So here are the two finished pieces:

They each measure about 16 inches by 16 inches.  I had originally planned to do them on a blue background because Barb loves blue, but when I went to the fabric store I couldn't find a blue combination that I really liked and I thought the green would give the piece a more seasonal feel... or maybe a warmer feel.  Barb is the snow lover, I am not!

Here is a view of one of the pieces:

I'm not sure if this is Barb's or mine.  Like identical twins, there are some subtle differences that only a mother would notice, so I could compare this to the one on my wall and see if it is mine or hers.  But I don't really care.  

And here is a close up so you can see some detail:

The construction is primarily fused raw edge appliqué that has been overstitched with various decorative stitches that are programmed in my sewing machine.  Originally I had planned to do some more hand embroidery, but once I got going with my sewing machine, things started to fall into place easily.  I ended up adding a layer of felt on the snowflake flowers because I thought the sparkly white cotton flowers looked a little too transparent.  Once I made the decision to add the felt layer I realized that it also created a nice texture and really made the flowers pop.  I did add some extra bling with tiny pearls nested on iridescent sequins to give the flowers a little sparkle.  The original pattern also had a few hand embroidered snowflakes, but I found these snowflake buttons that I also think gives the background a little more texture and interest.  

So it was a fun project from start to finish.  I'm always delighted when I get something done, as I am much better at thinking up projects and starting them than I am at finishing.  It does help me to have a firm deadline!

So a couple of weeks ago, I hung my "Frost Flowers" on the 

thermostat wall in my dining room.  It's a small section of wall that has a couple of shelves and I think the wall hanging looks nice tucked under the bottom shelf.

Yesterday, after opening her Christmas presents, Barb immediately hung her "Frost Flowers" in a space in her sunroom between two windows.

She sent me this picture.

It's a perfect fit!

I just love Pansies!

A couple of weeks ago I planted some pansies in containers, thinking that they would look cheerful on my deck this winter.  Until I moved south, I wasn't really aware of how resilient pansies are.  Of course in the below zero temps of the north, under a foot of snow cover, they might not be survivors, but in North Carolina they tend to add a bit of color throughout the winter.

We had one of those clear cloudless nights and as I sat in the sun room enjoying breakfast on the clear cool morning today, I noticed that we had a particularly heavy frost last night.

Here is what my pansies looked like, heavily frosted in the morning sun:

 We spent the day golfing.  There was a heavy frost at the golf course as well, causing a little delay.  And there were spots of frost in the shadows on most of the first seven holes or so.  But by noon we had removed our jackets and it even felt warm in our light sweaters.  Of course, I didn't think of checking on the pansies until it was almost dusk, but I'm glad I remembered to take some pictures to show you how nice they looked once they warmed up!

Don't they look happy after a day in the sun!  Actually, we looked happy, too, after a day in the sun!

10:11, 12/13/14

Today we went on our first Asheville Ambler walk in a long time.  The promise of an Italian buffet lunch in Waynesville was a little bit of a motivation, but it also was intriguing to participate in a walk that stepped off at 10:11 AM on 12/13/14.  And the forecast of calm, sunny, seasonal weather made for a trifecta!

 The starting point was the Welcome Center at Lake Junaluska.  The walk was a 10 K that not only circled the lake, but also went up into the residential areas above the lake.

The sky was a clear blue and there was virtually no wind, so we got lots of nice reflections in every direction.

We have done this walk before, but a new little spur was added that brought us to the far side of the dam that forms the lake.

As we rounded the lake, I was glad that two friends hesitated with me before the "big hill" and we decided to just stay on the level path that hugs the lake.

The rocking chairs on the sun drenched porch were inviting, however we decided to check out a craft fair that was being held downstairs in this building before heading along the lake edge to the end of the hike.

To the right of this path there is a summer rose garden that is a sweet addition to a walk in warmer seasons.

We arrived at the end just a few minutes before the hardy folks who tackled the last hill, Russ included. Here he is visiting with a new friend.

We all started with jackets and many people had gloves or mittens, but you can see by the end that the jackets and gloves were off.  The sun was warm, temps eventually got into the 50's, though we did still see some evidence of snow and frost in shaded areas.

It was a pleasant walk, even though I dodged a couple of the kilometers, and a large crowd of folks enjoyed a wonderful lunch in Waynesville afterward.  

The next Ambler walk we will likely do is New Years Day.

WINTER LIGHTS

This past Wednesday evening we volunteered at the Arboretum at their evening Winter Lights event that started 11/22 and runs through early January.  

The welcome center is the Baker Building and it was nicely decorated for the season with large snowflakes suspended from the ceiling, snowflake lights projected on a bare wall, and a large lighted tree near the fireplace decorated with ornaments made of twigs and nuts and other natural findings.

We had a "cushy" job.  We sat at the table you can sort of see in the bottom of the photo above and greeted ticket holders and helped them with wristbands and questions.

We did have a bit of time before the event began to wander the grounds and nearly an hour toward the end, after admissions had dwindled down.  One of the perks of working is a free hot beverage at the cafe in the Education Building, so we strolled and visited, picked up our drink, and then worked our way back through the displays.

Most of these photos were taken with just my phone and at dusk, so they really don't do the event justice, but they do give you a sample of what to expect.

The open space just outside the Baker Center had a collection of these interesting formations made out of two liter bottles of water!  They were quite impressive. 

Here's a bit of an overview of that area.

And there were many of these interesting white sprays of light.

The central garden was lovely and I actually think the little bit of light in the dusk sky enhances this picture.

 The quilt garden looked especially nice with this chevron pattern.  The lights stayed on constantly the evening we were there, but I was told that it was choreographed to actually light up different sections at a time.  I can't imagine that would make it look any better, though.

 Taking photos of people was a little problematic, since the lights tended to confuse the camera sensor, but here is a photo of me with my volunteer neck gear within an arch of blue lights and snowflakes.

 Many of the trees were nearly totally covered with light and there were even a few faux trees in the bonsai garden.

 Here's another shot taken at dusk that shows a corner of the quilt garden and a cluster of green foliage.

Another feature that is debuting at the Winter Lights is a train on a very elaborate display a level below the walkable garden.  Lighting was poor for taking pictures, but it was an impressive display with a lighted village, several bridges and two trains.  The photo below shows both engines passing just in front of the bridge.  During the orientation we were told that this G gauge train was donated and the engineer on duty said that the staff worked out the logistics of the display which they hope will be able to be used intermittently during the rest of the year.  It's nice and seasonal to see it at night, but I for one would like to see it in daylight, too.

We will volunteer again in a couple of weeks and that evening we will be at the fire pit, helping people make 'scores and keep warm.  Looking forward to it!