Tree-trimming equipment.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Kids in pony carts.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Big green tractor
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Coordinated gymnasts.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Green tractor driven by greenshirted man
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Red tractors. Green tractors.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Truck carrying steam engines (I think).
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Fliver
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

One of the fun old cars in the Upsala parade.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

The sky never looks flat from an airplane. Here were some amazing clouds as I flew from the San Francisco Bay Area to Minneapolis in August.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Clouds from a plane
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Something about this log-cabin (or perhaps courthouse-steps) quilt in yellows and golds, really appealed to me. From the Marin quilt show.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Sydne Bortel recently sent me email and said she was the maker of this quilt, based on a Kaffe Fasset design in the book "Passionate Patchwork". She'd seen a similar quilt in a New England museum and wanted to make her own.

Somebody told me that if you go to the DMC website (DMC makes a huge variety of fine threads for needlework) you can find a chart that cross-references Pantone standard printing colors with DMC colors. There are other charts that cross-reference Pantone colors to computer colors, and lots of gadgets to help you color-calibrate your computer monitor. This isn't a Pantone chart, it's a Procion chart of all the colors of dyes that they make. Now we just need to get somebody to cross-refer the Procion chart to the DMC chart and the Pantone chart. (And I suppose the ultimate cross-reference would be to spectral wavelengths.)
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

I liked the technique so much, I immediately made a pocket tomato -- or a tomato pocket, anyway.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Last, you reach in and turn the whole tube inside-out. Press the eyelash against the potato fabric, and you'll see that the rust fabric completely encases all the raw edges. Now, of course I still have to deal with the raw edges at the sides and bottom; for pockets, I'll just turn these under and sew them down to the garment or totebag that I'm making.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Then you fold the rust fabric AROUND the rolled-up potato fabric, set it on top of the eyelash with its raw edge matching all the others, pin, and sew with some reasonable seam -- a quarter inch if you're stingy or short on fabric (if so, zigzag the raw edge to improve the seam's staying power), or maybe 3/8 of an inch.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Now you roll up the potato fabric until it's just below the eyelash.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Here I'm starting to layer the fabrics. I have the rust fabric on the bottom, facing up. Then I have the potato fabric -- ALSO facing up. You don't want these fabrics to face each other. Last, I lay down the strip of eyelash. All the raw edges are lined up and held together (facing up, in this case).
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

I've learned an interesting way to make a pocket. (Actually, this technique might work in a number of situations where you'd like a finished edge.) I started with 3 fabrics -- the main fabric which has potatoes on it, some contrastring trim which I folded and pressed and used as "eyelash" piping, and the rusty border fabric.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Carol Mann's sister Jennifer is also a quilter. Here is one using the batiks she loves.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Laureen, who brought Bogart (she doesn't own him, she's his dogsitter) and rides a purple Yamaha motorcycle, made two matching quilts for two cousins. This one featured pigs on motorcycles, and I had to catch this shot of Elvis for my friend Raven.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

I caught this amazing shot of dew on sunny grass, early one morning recently during my morning commute.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

A pair of unfinished pockets, this time done in thirties-style buttonhole embroidery. The flowers and the basket come from Morning Glory Creations, which doesn't even seem to have a website -- they create wonderful authentic thirties-style designs (then modernize them with a layer of iron-on), and die-cut them and sell them in packets at my favorite quilt shows. I'm looking forward to adding to my collection in a couple of weeks when Pacific International Quilt Fest is held in Santa Clara.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Here's a classic Berkeley bumper sticker. Not only is Berkeley full of those crazy long-haired radicals you've heard so much about, it also has AMAZING ethnic food. Injera is a light, soft bread that is cooked in huge sheets, and then used to scoop up Ethiopian food. Probably my local favorite is Blue Nile on Telegraph, but I bet there are others equally good.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Bogart brought his favorite teddy bear and came to visit us at quilting one evening.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Here's a slice of buckle. I'd never heard of this rather unusual pastry -- its name comes from the way the surface develops cracks and fissures as it bakes. The bakers swear to me there's no added sugar, but the fruits embedded in the dough make it VERY tasty. This is becoming a regular weekend tradition. From Sweet Adeline's, a fabulous new bakery just south of Alcatraz Avenue on -- ADELINE.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

The whole quilt -- it's not very big, but this pattern is rather difficult. And while it's fun to pick the fabrics, it's also pretty tricky if you want to achieve the illusion of steps.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

My friend Carol Mann made this amazing quilt using the "tumbling blocks" pattern. There's a larger view, too.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

A beautiful traditional quilt from the Marin show -- though the red and white Hawaiian floral is not exactly typical.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Fascinating use of a complex print behind a solid, sewn mola-style. From the Marin quilt show.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Umbrellas are featured in this quilted wall hanging.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Smaller version
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

This quilted wall hanging almost looks like an Oriental woodblock. The photo on which it's based is seen below the block.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Giraffe quilted wall hanging, and the photo which inspired it. From the Marin quilt show.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

On Sept. 10, my beautiful cat Maria Callas had stopped eating. I tried to tempt her with salmon -- usually her favorite -- but even after I put a little shred in her mouth and she swallowed it, she wasn't interested in more. Monday morning when I woke up, she was standing next to her water bowl and gave me a sad bleat, as if to ask, please help me. I cried and cried, then phoned a friend who drove us to the vet. She probably had kidney failure, he thought, and didn't even suggest making any effort to save her. He just shaved a little patch on her arm and injected a sedative. She was gone a minute later while I petted her.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

I've been experimenting recently with creating both art deco and freeform images using iron-on fabrics. WonderUnder is cheaper, but I find that I like Steam-A-Seam2 better. Of the small sample images here, only the dark purple one is sewn. I intend to embellish them with embroidery afterwards. Most of them will probably become pockets (probably on tote bags).
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen