Rainbow Braid

I stumbled onto a misplaced ball of string -- hemp, actually -- dyed in many colors, set down by mistake in the yarn section at a local craft store; I think I'll make a friendship bracelet. The hemp is surprisingly soft. The navy is crochet cotton, size 3, doubled.

-- Rachel Holmen

John Whitmarsh and the wall

John Whitmarsh has a studio near my office, so I often walk past it on my way to lunch, or as I come in around 8 am. I've long admired his old red pickup. Last year he shingled the wall next to his parking lot with painted cardboard; eventually it got soggy and he took it down. This week, he had something new up.

Here's his explanation, on a small card mounted on the same wall.



-- Rachel Holmen

My first share-able Kumihimo (braiding) video tutorial

Feedback is solicited. Would you be able to figure out how to make this braid, from this video? (It is assumed that you have a slotted card -- called a marudai -- and some appropriate string/yarn/thread/fiber.) As an example, you could start with four 2-yard lengths of nylon cord. Take all four strands together, thread on a paperclip or splitring or fixed ring, move the ring to the center, and tie an overhand knot. Put the knot and ring at the center of the marudai, and spread out the strands as shown.

I have no idea why the last frame looks so odd, with yellow and aqua echoes of the main image -- that's not in my original file -- but the rest of it seems okay.

I'll be happy to email either the GIF or the MOV version on request. Email reh at sff dot net.

-- Rachel Holmen

See you at the Alameda County Fair

I had hoped to enter several items; only one got finished to my satisfaction, an owl toy based on a pattern designed by Dianna LaFerry. Here's the owl toy, not yet stuffed, pinned up to the design wall at the Cotton Patch in Lafayette.

The fair runs July 1 to 19 in Pleasanton -- take 680 to Bernal, turn right under the freeway at the bottom of the offramp (you will then be driving sorta east), and follow signs to the fair.
-- Rachel Holmen

Tosca at Giants Stadium (WIllie Mays Field)

Free wifi at AT&T ballpark!!!

I'm waiting for the opera to start, sitting next to my new friend Mary who has shared her French fries with me. The sun is still up, but we can clearly see the Diamondvision screen, and Hoyt and Diane (somewhere above my head, I believe) have come onscreen and said hello to the audience.

Here's a photo of the screen, and another of the crowd which is HUGE. I'm lucky I found an actual chair to sit in.

-- Rachel Holmen

Sue Fox Open House

Sue Fox, a member of three quilt guilds -- East Bay Heritage Quilters in Kensington, California (near Berkeley), the San Francisco Quilt Guild, and a guild in Maine -- decided to hold a series of open houses during May.  Here are three quilts I liked, photographed the first weekend.   -- Rachel Holmen   Posted via email.

Machine Quilting Lessons

After attending several of Sue Fox's open houses, I got interested in having her teach me how to use her long-arm quilting machine. This is the kind of machine which sits on a table approximately 12 feet long (no, that's not a typo), and is about as related to a home sewing machine as a semi-trailer-truck is to a VW Beetle.

I had a long lesson today; how to put my quilt onto the framework of rollers which enable to work to be done; how to clean, oil, and thread the machine; how to set and use the two sewing modes -- automatic or stitch-regulated, and manual or completely free-motion; how to evaluate the thread tension; how to complete a piece. Her instructions were patient and thorough, but this was no dull lesson -- her enthusiasm for quilting, and for teaching, shone through the day. I'm not sure I'm ready to exhibit what I did, but I'll be back soon for more practice, and in between she encouraged me to draw large unbroken-line doodles on a newsprint pad for practice.

She has a new blog, so check it out: Fox Dreams Quilts at Blogspot dot Com.

-- Rachel Holmen

Succulents (Gardening) and Quilt Design (Needlework)

I recently attended a workshop on raising succulents at a local nursery I like,
Westbrae, and wished that some of my quilting friends were also in attendance. The speaker, who said he'd come to gardening from a design background, talked a lot about color, texture, density, scale (size), and how these elements need to be balanced to create a wonderful garden, from small bowlful of plants to an entire wall. He generously passed around books from his personal library, and if you only check out one book after reading this post, locate a copy of The Jewelbox Garden by Thomas Hobbs, and drink in the photos. Amazon has a few copies of the trade paperback left, for around $17 plus shipping.

-- Rachel Holmen

(The photo I've posted with this entry is one I've shown before -- which I took myself, but it's indicative of the kinds of photos you'll see in the Hobbs book.)

Bike to Work Day is coming up!

May 14 is Bike To Work Day. I had hoped to *own* another bicycle by then, but it's not to be. And since I'll be heading directly to the airport from my office, I will be sticking to mass transit, not pedal power.

Here's my favorite past poster for Bike To Work Day, from 2005.


-- Rachel Holmen

Charming quilts shown at Glendale show

Here's a closeup of one of my favorites, a small quilt (maybe 2 feet square). It was called What Color is Spring? by Doralee Dohnel, based on pattern from Bareroots of Sierra Cottons & Wools.


A similarly-designed quilt, based on open squares, was this scrappy beauty.



There were several old family quilts in the show, and this was a fine example of one similar to the pattern I know as Trip Around the World.







I like quilts with patterns made of hexagons -- often they are entirely handpieced. Here are two from the show.

Modern Quilts



This bird of paradise plant, slightly larger than life, used an interesting method of sewn tucks to give texture to the leaves.


And here's a small portion of a very bright quilt.

-- Rachel

NDD == nature deficit disorder

Plants (and Walls)

I was struck by the elegance of this bare wisteria trunk framing someone's front window.



A few days later, I drove past almost classic Southwestern view -- the Indian paintbrush against an adobe wall -- although the paintbrush in this case is actually, I think, a montbretia. The afternoon light made the image perfect, so I pulled over and took this photo.


Brightening my bedroom, and providing a lovely scent, is this lily of the valley. I guess if you live in some parts of the country, they're practically weeds, but here in California we must buy them in pots and cherish them for a few weeks as they bloom.

-- Rachel

Winter Has Commented

Winter has commented on my blogpost from Monday.

(There was hard frost on my car windshield both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Here's the little icy crust at the left side of my windshield after I scraped a bit and ran my wipers.)

-- Rachel

Spring

Two photos taken in the late afternoon sun: There's a bird's nest in that tree, a tree about to burst into bloom. And in Berkeley, daffodils everywhere.

While today was officially only the first day of Daylight Savings Time, it sure felt like the first day of spring. Glorious weather, probably 60 degrees -- warm enough so that for part of the afternoon, my quilting friends and I sat in the classroom with the door wide open.

-- Rachel

Orchids, Quilts, More Quilts

This weekend is the big orchid show in San Francisco. I've missed it the last couple of years; sometimes I console myself with a new orchid from Trader Joe's, but it's not the same as seeing a zillion beautiful and sometimes weird plants all in one place. There's a special preview evening on Friday, but I can't really justify going. Fort Mason; usually there's parking for a small fee at a nearby school, with a shuttle to the show itself.

Saturday and Sunday is the San Francisco Quilt Guild's show, featuring Judy Mathiesen. She made the gorgeous Mariner's Compass quilt shown above.

Saturday afternoon, Gretchen Jennings is giving a presentation at the Cotton Patch in Lafayette, CA. And Sunday morning, I'm taking a class there with Sonya Lee Barrington.

Too many places to be at once! -- Rachel

Potlatch, Stitches West

Freddie Baer made her best T-shirt ever (if it's possible to distinguish between numerous excellent works), Ursula LeGuin and Vonda McIntyre were there, the banquet had tasty food and pleasant company, the con suite was always hospitable, and my only complaint was not getting enough time to spend with people I liked. Potlatch 18 is over, and what a terrific con it was!

In between, I managed to attend Stitches West, the biggest yarn market in the state; I bought drop spindles, dyed and plain roving (semi-processed wool, to the rest of you), snips of qiviut (musk ox fiber) and mohair and plain cream "mystery sheep", silk-and-tencel yarn, cotton yarn from Jill Vosburg (Just One More Row), rayon from Swallow Hill Creations for knitting into jewelry, paper yarn from Habu Textiles that looks like it were made from finely-sliced newspapers, truly weird linen yarn with persimmon extract that looks like brown barbed wire, orange-and-purple variegated Koigu (fine wool yarn) from my friend Merilyn Jeniye's shop Foxy Knits (and renewed my acquaintance with her sister Sharon), fabulous blue and green yarn, two skeins of Waikiki which is a sock yarn without any wool -- in a beatiful seagreen shade; and several interesting patterns. And I should have picked up Lucy Neatby's tractor sock pattern; and I would have gotten the Shelby Shawl pattern and some Cascade silk from Yarn Barn of Kansas but their line was always too long. I shopped with Royale Hare, Carolina Homespun, and more -- I'll try to amend these links when I find all my receipts.

-- Rachel

Phooey, missed the quilt lecture and exhibit

I used to think going to lectures in the evening must be the dullest thing in the world. But when you listen to somebody who is passionate about what they do, it can be a lot of fun, and sometimes quite moving.

Unfortunately, I was ill on Monday and had to miss the Raven Quilter's talk.

-- Rachel

February: month of Ravens

Raven Quilt

My friend Raven was baptised this past week, a joyful event. And Monday, my quilt guild will feature as its monthly speaker a woman named Rose Hughes, who made the quilt shown above. Her blog, full of interesting commentary about her creative life, is Raven Speak Quilts.

-- Rachel Holmen

Cartoons about libraries and publishing

Unshelved dot com

You've GOT to watch the video of the Difference Engine

Short video (under 2 minutes) of the Difference Engine in operation.

Neither Babbage nor Lovelace ever saw this amazine machine operate. You can.

-- Rachel Holmen