Tempe Art Festival

Chris, Don and I spent the afternoon at the Tempe Art Festival. There are over 350 vendors, food booths and entertainment.  It was really wonderful to see all the variety of art work available to purchase.

Once we had enough walking around we had a drink on a roof top patio and watched entertainers from a local Circus Academy. Interesting?!

Chris in front of some abstract paintings.

Don trying on some fedora style hats.

Street entertainment.

350 artist vendors in the heart of Tempe where the Arizona State University is located.

More vendor tents.  

Notice the yellow letter A on the mountainside denoting the University.

New Wall Hangings

I completed the tops for two autumn wall quilts that I bought at the Tuscon Quilt Show in January. The fabric is hand dyed with a shimmer to it and is gorgeous to work with. I thread painted the leaves with variegated thread.

Autumn Reflections

from Barb's Elegant Designs

Detail of thread painting and fabric weaving in focus block.

Falling Leaves

from Barb's Elegant Designs

Detail of leaves.

Marj's birthday supper and cake!!

Left to right - Don, Danny, Marj and I.

Red Ribbon Fibre Art

I am honoured to be the recipient of a red ribbon, first place, for a landscape triptych I made in 2013 for Donna and Craig. The Sioux Narrows triptych is three panels, each 2' X 5', depicting a scene from Ontario, Canada's Lake of the Woods area. It is turned and raw edge appliquéd using a variety of fabrics and is thread painted and long arm quilted with some Trapunto quilting on selected foreground items. It won the red ribbon at the Manitoba Prairie Quilters Quilt Show in Winnipeg, March 2014. The class it won was the Mixed Media and Fibre Art class.

Looks like they used pant hangers to hang the panels.  The panels usually hang on three pieces of driftwood that their son, Andrew, collected.  The driftwood certainly looks better than pant hangers!!

Mesa Quilt Show Favourites

Here are some of my favourite quilts from the Arizona Quilt Show in Mesa.

Write ups on each of these will follow tomorrow. To tired to do it tonight!!

Spool Quilt by Alice Leach

an Edith Sitar pattern

Gorgeous quilting, see the patterns on the white fabric.

Some quilted clothing on display.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall by Brenda Archambault.

Snow Whites wicked stepmother (ala Picasso) with the fair Mona Lisa.

A.C. Butler House by Margaret McDonnell

Close up detail of the patio inset onto the quilt, shows one dog on patio chair 

and another in the window wishing he was outside too!  Cute!!

Roo Garden by Vicki BohnHoff

Made with Aboriginal fabrics purchased in Australia,

4,125 hexagons depict Kangaroo, dawn sunrise rays and flowers.

Hazy Shades of Winter by Alicia Sterna

Silk fabric and Zentangle quilting makes for fabulously textured trees.

Detail of one of the trees shows the marvelous quilting!

Our Tree by Leslie Schneider.

This quilt is in the shape of a tree.

(So many people looking at it I didn't get the greatest shot.)

Labrinth by Nancy McFall.

"It's the journey that's important, not the destination."

Detail shows piecing and quilting.

Red Mountain by Las Sendas Quilt Club.

12 different members each embellished a section of this quilt.

Sticks and Stones by Linda McCurry.

Detail showing vertical lines for sticks and circular shapes for stones.

Hanging by a Thread by "Little Quilt Group".

Members each did a self-portrait, then put together by yarns, title and spools. 

Happy Birthday Marj

For her birthday Marj got to do what she loves....  Attend a quilt show!!  We, (Betty, Marj and I,) attended the Arizona Quilt Show at the Mesa Convention Center.   All three of us were decked out in turquoise, definitely the Mesa colour, and enjoyed being able to eat lunch outside. We were thinking about our Manitoba quilt friends who are attending the Manitoba Prairie Quilters Quilt Show in Winnipeg, and doubt they will be able to eat outside!!

At the Mesa Quilt Show in the Vendor area I met Helen Robinson, who along with Jenny Pedigo, designed the Quick Curve Ruler and promotes the rulers and patterns under the company name, Sew Kind of Wonderful.  She lives here in Mesa!!  Wow!!  I really like their patterns, have made one, Metro Medallions, and have bought two more.  

Happy Birthday Marj!!

Outdoors at the Mesa Convention Centre.

Left to right - Betty, Marj and me.

I met Helen, a quilt designer, at the show.

Helen showing her curved ruler piecing.

Note the featherlight Singer sewing machine she is using.

Here is her curved ruler and a couple of her quilt patterns.

More Spring Colours

Driving to Marj's today I saw a gorgeous Hong Kong Orchid Tree in full bloom. These trees are gorgeous and are doing well this year as it was a warm winter here in Arizona, no January frosts like last year.

Hong Kong Orchid tree on Higley Street.

Blossoms look like orchids.  (No surprise.)

Spring Colours

I have to show my northern family and friends some of the spring colours erupting from down here. The cacti are blooming. Although the blossoms only last one day they sure are pretty!

Prickly pear type cactus in front of Jim and Michelle's mobile.

I have been working on a very bright spring-like quilt. Here it is with the blocks completed and hanging on my design wall waiting to be seen together. Also, I finished the Metro Medallions top that was on the design wall ages ago. (I didn't get any sewing done while Leah was visiting.)

In the Meadow

Metro Medallions

Saskatchewan Art Show in Scottsdale

Marj and I attended a Saskatchewan artists' show in Scottsdale, Arizona. Made for a fun outing and interesting look at some popular mid-prairie artists. There were two fibre artists, some sculptors, lithographers and painters. I took a few photos of my favourites.

Bronzed by June Jacobs

Maple Tree (left) and Ohio Buckeye (right) by Martha Cole

These are fibre art!!  Painted on fabric and quilted.  Amazing!!

Missed recording the name and artist - oops.

Unfortunately the image doesn't show the detail.

Small gold dots on top gave this painting the feeling of a quilted image.

Acrylic works by Carl Schlademan

Gorgeous colours in these prairie pieces.

She Thinks My Tractor is Sexy by Puck James

Train (left) and Sphere 2 (right) 

by Malaika Zbesheski Charbonneau

NutriBullet

I bought a NutriBullet at Costco (yes I broke down a bought a Costco membership....sigh).  It is for blending nutritious shakes. The blender is amazing at crushing ice and extracting the nutrients of whatever foods you put in it.

The idea is to build your own meal using 50% greens (spinach, kale, Swiss chard, etc) and 50% fruits (I've been using mango, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, etc).  To that basic recipe I have added almonds, yogurt, sesame seeds, etc.  Add water, juice, ice cubes, blend and voila - you have a nutritious shake. 

At first it is a little disturbing to drink something so green, but then when you are amazed at how good it tastes, you get past the colour!  Yummy!

Put all the ingredients in the blender cup.

Put on the blender.

Doesn't take long to puree everything.  Maybe 30 seconds.

Citrus Trees Planted

We bought two citrus trees from Greenfield Citrus Nursery, a n oroblanco grapefruit and an Arizona Sweet Maceterra orange.  Two men from the nursery came and played the two trees today. Yahoo!  That means the last of the major back yard landscaping is done!!  Whew!!

The trees arrived loaded on a truck with the branches and leaves covered in a mesh 

to protect them from the wind as they traveled.

The men start digging where we want the trees.

The men found water pump lines right where we wanted to put the grapefruit tree.  

Who would have thought they would have laid the lines so far away from the wall!

The holes were dug (with a few modifications to placement.)

Then, they unloaded the trees.

Placing the trees.

Ensuring that the trees are straight.

The finished product.  Gorgeous!

A butterfly even checked them out a few minutes later!