Mandala Balls

JoAnn, Yvonne and I toured the Sewing Expo in Phoenix and saw LOTS of new items!  We bought some gorgeous graduated batiks and hand made marbled fabrics!  Gorgeous. 

JoAnn saw some glitzy ornaments that caught her attention. We bought enough supplies for each of us to make one. We used a printed panel of mandala fabric and styrofoam balls, beads and sequins. 

Playing With Inktense Pencils and Blocks

FAME (Fiber Artists Meet to Exchange) played with Inktense at their second meeting. 

Post it Note Tricks

Super sticky Post-it notes are new to me. A great tool for quilting. Who would have guessed?

Quilting in the Desert 2017

I attended Wendy Mathson's class 'A New Look at Storm at Sea' at Quilting in the Desert this year. Wendy has designed trim plates to assist in making the traditional storm at sea block. I love her trim played. They are easy to use, provide three different sizes of the block and allow for fantastic alignment of the pieces. 

  Wendy Mathson standing in front of her quilt. 

Another quilt of Wendy's featuring the twisted shapes called snails trails. 

One of the first finished blocks by Diane. Way to go!

Susan, from Calgary did a scrappy storm at sea, and then enhanced a few blocks so the star shapes would pop. Can you see them?

Jeanne made a very colourful flower pattern. 

Jaci had some wonderful peacock feather fabric that she put in her project. 

Carol has some stunning colours that make her quilt pop. 

Linda and Susan, mother and daughter duo, each made very different storm at sea colourways to create completely different patterns. Wow!

Later on we could see Jeanne's quilt coming to life. 

A close up of Susan's piece showing the two stars and part of a third star coming to life!

Here is my project. I designed a landscape using the smallest size of trimplate. Can you see the mountains coming to life?

Gorgeous Sunsets

When there are clouds in the sky we are apt to get a gorgeous sunset.  Here are two photos of sunsets over the pond in our back yard in Mesa.  A wonderful compensation for the cloudy sky!!

Don's Photos of Sabino Canyon

Here are some of the photos that Don took on our hike at Sabino Canyon.

Our first pit stop.
Don on rock horse!
(Leah took this photo.)

Leah and I with Saguaros and large boulder

Look closely.  Leah and I are in the distance.

Leah and I on a tall rock with cliff edge.  I didn't stay there long!!

Leah and I on the trail.

Lunch break,

White rock is a wash area where the water flows after a rain.
Look carefully, you can see me sitting on a rock, pondering my crossing.
A person would not want to loose their footing and go down the rock over the cliff!!

Sabino Canyon

Another hike with Leah. This time we drove to the Tucson area and hiked Phoneline Trail at Sabino Canyon.

We took the trolley up to the last stop to get to the trailhead. From there it was a steep incline of switchbacks to get onto the main part of the trail which follows the edge of the canyon. At some points there was a steep drop off on the side. Yikes!!

On the trolley that goes up the canyon.

The river in the canyon carries water from Mt. Lemmon.
Right now the water is snow melt so is very cold!

Rock like a saddle is a good stop for a quick break!
As you can see we are pretty high up!!

A clump of aloes with their long seed stocks make for interesting vegetation along the hike.

Cute hat, but heavy?!

Rock chair.

Now to cross the water!

Nice jump!
No wet feet this time.

Touring with Leah

Leah came to Mesa for a visit, so we did one of the two famous Zeghers tours available to guests!!

We drove north on Power Road to Saguaro Lake where we hiked, then on to Fountain hills where we saw the fountain shoot off. Great day trip!!

At the beginning of the Butcher Jone's Trail.
Check out the new hiking boots!

The requisite photo with the tallest Saguaro cactus available!

We actually saw wild horses.  First time this close.

Can you see the wild horses?  Three mature and one foal.

At Fountain Hills.  (Of course!)

Scenic Drive

For my birthday, we decided to go on a scenic drive, take a hike and have a picnic lunch.  We chose to drive the Pinal Mountains Loop.

Selfie on the Pinal Mountains Loop

We began at the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park near Globe.

Besh-Ba-Gowah is a 200 room prehistoric Salado masonry pueblo located atop a broad ridge overlooking Pinal Creek.  Besh-Ba-Gowah was occupied by Salado populations between AD 1225 and AD 1400. "Salado" is the term applied to the complex of cultural attributes of the prehistoric peoples who inhabited the Globe/Miami and Tonto Basin regions.

Besh-Ba-Gowah architecture consists of multi-storied, masonry room block clusters connected by long, narrow corridors or elongated plazas. These room blocks and corridors are situated around a large communal plaza area.

Don in one of the walled structures of Besh-Ba-Gowah.

Many rooms are outlined by the wall remains.

The Pinal Mountain Loop began on Icehouse Canyon Road.  This area was populated by many Manzanita and juniper bushes 

Manzanita bushes have dark red smooth bark.
Manzanita means little apple in Spanish for their small fruits that wildlife enjoy eating.

As the road climbs to over 5500 feet, pine trees replace the scrub.  Pioneer Pass Recreation Area was deserted when we were there, but it is a popular location in the heat of summer due to the cooler air temperature due to elevation.

Pine trees take over as the prime vegetation at the higher elevations.

Don takes photos of the panoramic view.

Forest Road 112 was windy but well maintained.

Turnoff point where the road abruptly changed.

This road, definitely requiring at 4 wheel drive, needed rocks moved so we could continue on it.
Note the sheer drop off on the drivers side of the road!!

One of the worst roads we have ever driven on.  Including in Africa and Costa Rica!!
Very narrow and strewn with rocks.  Other sections washed out badly from  previous days rain.

Burn out area showing burned Manzanita bushes.
New vegetation is beginning to grow.

Animals that we saw along the way were squirrels with an extremely bushy tail, lots of birds including a road runner, and a javaleina (wild pig).

The completed scenic drive was a loop of about 30 miles.  We drove from 5 - 20 miles per hour most of the way.  Quite the trip.  A little more "scenic" than we were expecting, but a great memory for my 57th birthday!!