Blooming Desert Drive with Connie

Today Connie and I drove down to Tortilla Flats so she could see the desert.  Our first stop was at Needle Vista, where there is a nice paved walking path in the desert to a viewpoint where you can see Weavers Needle, a tall rocky landform, in the distance.

It was gorgeous to walk the path today as a lot of different cacti are in bloom. The Hedgehog cacti have glorious fuscha coloured blooms. The prickly pear has yellow blossoms. We walked off the paved path to see the cacti closer. Connie got a Teddy Bear cholla cactus stuck in her shoe!

Right beside the paved path that we had already walked past another group spied a rattle snake. OMG!  And here we were traipsing about in sandals and sneakers. We hadn't even seen the snake!  We went back and took pictures. He was sunning himself and didn't seem at all threatened by us. He never moved or shook his rattle, but after that I was MUCH more cautious!!

We continued driving down to Tortilla Flats. We mooched around the tourist trap shops, listened to the Tortilla Flats Band and looked at the little museum artifacts. 

On the way back we stopped at a way side park on Canyon Lake and ate a picnic snack lunch. The temperature on the car thermometer said 34.5C so we had to find shade. We sat at a picnic table under a roof shelter and watched some locals swim out to a rock to dive off it. I think the water is still very cold. I suspect it will warm up as the summer heat continues and increases. This was a very nice spot and I would like to kayak here next winter. 

On the drive home we even saw some buds forming on a few Saguaro cacti. Hard to get a good photo, though I tried. (See the last picture in this post!)

Purchases at AQS

I bought a few items while at the quilt show in Mesa. I have regular plan of attach at quilt shows now that I have attended a few. 

I scout out the entire area first. Go to areas that are less populated if possible. Cruise thru the vendor area to scout out any 'hot' items that I don't want to miss if they sell out. I buy those things right away. I check out the art quilts, take photos of favourites and the name tags so I can reference them later.  Then I check out the bed quilts. Usually by then I need a break - food and drink. After some sustenance I do another tour of the quilts to make sure I didn't miss any and to focus on the quilt stitching. Lastly, I do one final tour of the vendors. 

I'm glad I have figured out a process that works for me. I have already posted a number of quilts from the Arizona Quilt Show so now I will post pictures of what I bought. 

Dyeing Studio

I have converted the garage into my fabric dyeing studio for the week. I'm having fun with colour!!

Quilts for Friends

At the Arizona Quilt Show I saw some quilts that reminded me of my friends. Here they are. 

I wonder if the people I thought of when I saw these will recognize who they are and which quilt triggered memories??

Arizona Quilt Show in Mesa

Nice quilt show to attend - ample free parking, close to home via the freeway, good quilts and vendors. I purchased a few items for the long arming gang at home as well as a few things for myself.

Here are some of the many quilts to view at the show.  Of course I picked the ones I liked the best.  You will see mostly art quilts, although there were many bed quilts as well.

Spirit of Sedona
A photo was divided into 6 equal vertical pieces, each section was pieced by an individual person, then the top was sewn together.  It is gorgeous!!  Even more beautiful than the photo depicts!!

Up close detail of fir tree on far right.

Small confetti-like pieces in the second panel under the orange mesa rocks.

Fibres added for texture in the second panel.  

Life Lessons:  Playing with Blocks can be Perilous by Linda Engstrom
As grief therapy during her mother's final illness this artist used leftover fabric
and assembled it in to 'balancing' blocks with scribble quilting.

I Love New York by Georgia Heller
I loved the wind, clouds and ghost images of the twin towers in this quilt.

Meet Me at the Fork by Theresa Shaw who was raised in Winnipeg,

Birds, Butterflies, and Beads by Evelyn Link
This abstract piece resembles a kimono to me.  I liked the way she used beads to join the pieces on the diagonal.  

Memories of Summer by Trudy Cowan
This quilt depicts summer lake memories from Lake Muskoka, Ontario.
I am very sorry that the photo does not do this wall art justice.  It was stunning!!

Arizona Blue Sky by Lori Hennig
This quilt depicts stars wind, clouds, raindrops, haboob dust.
I love the trapunto work and quilting in the sky. 

Scouting the Canyon Lands by Theresa Shaw
The artist used boy scout uniforms along with other fabrics in this quilt.

Not a City by Betty Hahn
This is a digital image on silk that has stitching on it to depict a city.
The original photograph was the demise of the artists computer when her grandson's magnet 'killed' it.
Way to turn an unhappy event into a thing of beauty!!

Painted Beauty by Barbara Janson
Once again the photo does not do this piece of art justice.  Incredibly well executed and full of texture.

Up close of Painted Beauty to show textured thread work.

Winter Chickadee by Diane Hansen

Close up of quilting.

Close up of feathers and textures on the bird due to quilting.

Metallic Thread Tricks and Tips

Madonna showed us a great trick to try when using metallic thread. This thread can be hard to keep from breaking when you sew as it tends to kink up while unwinding off the spool.

Use a straw and a safety pin to create a traveling tube area for your thread. Tape it to the side of your sewing machine and drop the spool of thread into a mug on the floor. This give the thread a long distance to relax before it enters the needle on your sewing machine. 

Speaking of needles. Do not use a metallic needle on your machine when sewing with metallic thread. Metallic needles were actually designed for sewing metallic fabric!!  These needles are sharp Nand are meant to cut the metallic filaments, so they probably will cut your metallic thread too!!  Just use a 14/90 universal, top stitch or embroidery needle. It will work much better. And don't forget to lower your top thread tension so you don't see the bobbin thread!!

Here is the safety pin in the straw.
The metallic thread will go through the circle in the bottom of the pin and down through the straw.

To get the thread through the straw, thread it through a needle and drop the needle down through the straw.

Now the thread travels from the mug on the floor, through the straw, through all your regular thread tension guides.
The thread has a long way to go allowing it to relax and not kink.  Works like a charm.

Second Day of Fabric Painting

The second day of the fabric painting workshop was to work on art quilts. I had three different cactus quilt patterns that people could use or if they had their own design in mind they were encouraged to do that. 

It was tremendous fun and exciting to see what turned out!!