Amazing East-European Easter Egg

I bought this fabulous hand-painted, empty egg at Sweet Adeline in Berkeley. Here are two more views of this fabulous egg. -- Rachel

Welcome back, Stephen!

My co-worker has been away from the office for several weeks, so the mice are celebrating now that he's back.

-- Rachel

MousePlay

Mouse Dispute

Mouse Teacher

Fuzzy photo of Lupines

It was nearly dark when I took this photo, and a flash picture lost the mustard flowers in the background. So I just shot the photo hand-held, for a rather Impressionist effect. -- Rachel

Yoga Circle

Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday today; for far my best gifts have been an unexpected visit from an out-of-town friend, a trip to Point Reyes on Saturday (foggy but beautiful), and a great conversation with my dad this morning. We reminisced about when I had a bit part in "An Affair to Remember" as a teen viola player. (He was thinking of the film and my role in it partly because his retirement community showed it last night.) I remember playing on the sets, and doing homework with other children since all young actors had to spend at least half the day on the set doing school assignments. My trumpet-player friend Glen Sallow (sp?) was in the film with me, as was a very cute female schoolmate who played some sort of percussion instrument (cymbal?). Our classroom was the area around the fountain which appears in the film as part of Cary Grant's mother's villa.

Our best day was the first, when we found a whole village set, and we walked the streets from Chinatown to the Old West to New York all within a few steps of each other -- every time you turned a corner, you were in a different "locale". But when the studio realized we were playing in this particular set, they stopped us because the whole village was about to fall down, and they worried for our safety.

Deborah Kerr actually conducted our little scene, but she must not have had much musical training (I heard later that another singer dubbed the songs she seemed to sing); when you conduct an orchestra in 4/4 time, you move your hand in a sort of X pattern -- up for the starting beat of the measure, down for the second beat, up and to the side for the third beat, horizontally for the fourth beat, then back to the top for the start of the next beat. Kerr couldn't stay consistent even with four beats per measure, so we had to ignore her and just play in time to the pre-recorded soundtrack.

That was another interesting bit: although you saw us on screen, and we COULD play the song, the orchestra that you hear in the film is a much larger orchestra, of older children plus some adults who were added in for this single recording. We in the VISUAL orchestra rehearsed the tune to the sheet music, then for filming, we had to pretend to play in time while an LP recording of the larger orchestra started up. I had to hold my bow up above my viola strings, never touching; children playing wind and brass instruments had to pretend to blow and just do the fingering. Only the percussionist was allowed to actually play, because nobody could figure out how to fake her part.

I never did get Kerr's autograph -- she signed some one day, then said she had to leave and would be back and sign more, but we never saw her again.

-- Rachel Holmen

Yoga Mice

Skype toy

http://www.emtcompany.com/products/adapters/usbaudio-usb-to-audio-microphone-adapter.htm\



I'm interested in Skype, so I signed up for an account. Free long-distance calling has to be appealing. But when I located a computer headset, I realized there was nowhere on my Mac G4 cube that the plugs would fit.

The gadget above, which I ordered today, should complete the circuit. I had hoped to buy a Griffin iMic but prices were too high, even on eBay. -- Rachel

Fun link for the day

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/realunderground/realunderground.html

Watch the intro, then click some of the links. Cleverly done.

(I _do_ hope that I can get back to London again.) -- Rachel

Chinatown in San Francisco

After a good dinner, we posed for photos: me and Jason; Paco, Helen, and Andres.

I'm heading for one of my favorite restaurants in Chinatown: Sam Wo on Washington Street. I've been eating in this place a couple of times a year since the late 60s, when friends and I went in because it was the only thing open very late one night. The menu included "duck dry noodle" for a price I could afford, so I tried it. Yum -- I order it every time now. The chow fun is pretty good, too. I'm going with friends from work: Helen, Andres, Jason, and Paco. -- Rachel

Hard Frost, Maple Leaves, Daffodils, and A Floor Furnace

It's been very cold lately; hard frost overnight. I will try to post some pictures. Yet today when I walked from downtown Berkeley back home (after leaving my car to be repaired and my dress boots to be waterproofed), there were daffodils in bloom, and a wonderful pink magnolia.

Then I puttered around the house and waited for the PG&E serviceperson to appear. By 4:30, I phoned, but they said someone was on the way. I realized I'd better replace the porch light bulb, so I got the tall stepladder out of the garage and was just finishing up the job when Joe from PG&E arrived. He looked at my heater for a while in the basement, came up and tinkered with the thermostat, then went to his truck, put on coveralls, and went down to the basement again for a LONG time. But now I have heat!! It's an old fashioned furnace, sunk into the living room floor (in someone's stroke of genius, right behind the front door); I have spent half an hour standing on it warming up my icy hiking boots and feeling the warmth rise around me.

-- Rachel

A Business Idea progresses, and I have car trouble

I've posted a new website: Firsthand Life, for my planned interviewing service. The site is very simple, but at least I think folks will be able to navigate without trouble.

Went to a lovely holiday party hosted by my quilting friends, and came home with several nice pieces of fabric, some terrific patterns, some fun Mary Mashuta stationery, and gift certificates for fabric. I'd driven through a pouring rainstorm and was glad the car wasn't acting up (Thursday morning it had refused to start, which garnered me a $36 ticket for being in the wrong spot on a street cleaning day).

But Sunday, after nicely running 2 errands, the car refused to start. Well, actually, it would start. But it would never continue to run for more than a few seconds. Luckily I was in a safe spot -- a store parking lot -- and it wasn't raining. But all you get when you call tow services on Sunday evening is answering machines. Many hours later, and $80 poorer (so much for the high-value BART ticket I had planned to buy), the car was towed home and I fell into bed exhausted.

Fuel line problems? Fuel pump going out? When I revved the engine at startup, it seemed to get extra gas. Clogged air filter? Some hiccup left over from the previous days' rain?

I tried the garage this morning and they weren't open yet; by the time I got to work (late) I was too busy to remember to even phone them again. Good thing I can commute by bus.

-- Rachel Holmen

The ONLY way to cook a Turkey

Found a turkey recipe online that I had used for the very first turkey I ever cooked, one Christmas back a long time ago.

http://sewayoleme.wordpress.com/2006/11/14/a-turkey-tale/

My oven wasn't up to the task of cooking the turkey while having its door opened every fifteen minutes for the basting required by the recipe above, so dinner was VERY late. I had invited after-dinner guests, who had to wait while I fussed with the turkey, wait while the early guests ATE the turkey, and then got to witness my drunken boyfriend sit on the lighted Christmas tree, knocking it over.

Well, it was a memorable day at least.

And knowing what I now know about alcoholics, I should have moved out the next day. But that, as they say, is another story.....

Happy Thanksgiving.

-- Rachel Holmen

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