High Highlights

This display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta always reminds me of my friend Gerrie who sent me the wonderful "Trois Poires" fiberart postcard on my birthday. These fruit are the size of large children or mini adults, and if you look carefully you can see that some in the background are sitting on a plate with a knife closeby, ready to be sliced and enjoyed!

This magnificently gigantic piece hits you as you walk off of the elevator on the second floor. It reminds me of a log cabin quilt, done Freddy Moran-style. Look:

can you see that the "sashing" on these pieces of canvas are all in black and white, as are the little squares in between some of the blocks!

I like this piece of "protractors", but I think I would have made them even brighter...and maybe swapped out the grey and lavender with some black and white polka dots. What do you think?

Speaking of protracors, here is one of my favorites by Roy Lichtenstein. There is a series of ten by Roy on this wall, and I spend a lot of time admiring them.

Here's another in that series.

Well, the blogger police have caught up with me....no more photos for today, but I did get to post more than my usual 3-4! HA!!!

Last night we went to the Braves/San Fran Giants game at the Ted with our friends Joe and Sue. We had a great time, in spite of the heat and humidity. Barry Bonds hit two homeruns and Shea Hillenbrand hit one for the Giants. Andruw Jones also hit two homers (and drove in his 1,000th rbi!), Chipper hit one and Adam LaRoche hit one. Did I leave anybody out? The Bravos ended up winning with a final score of something like 12-7....a real pitcher's duel, as Craig would say!! We didn't get home until almost 12:30, so I am slowly getting my act together this morning.....yawn!

This 'n That

Here is a little piece I've been working on today:

I'm calling it "Midtown Midsummer Madness" We often walk Barker through Piedmont Park when we are staying in Midtown, and this is the view that we see across the meadow: lots of lush and glorious trees with a backdrop of the most incredible skyrises along Peachtree Street. The building on the left is one of the two Mayfair condos. We call the one in the center the wings, and I am not sure what the one on the right is, but it is my favorite. It always looks like shimmering water! I hand-dyed the fabrics and then fused it all together and quilted it with slither, which I ADORE!!!

Yesterday I taught my "Somethin Fishy" class at Intown Quilters. Only four brave souls signed up for it, but that was quite enough, as we had a ton to cover in the allotted time. Here are the fish that my "girls" made:

I apologize for not cropping this before it got posted, but that's just how my life is going these days!!! Aren't they great fish!!!! Each one truly fits its owner's personality. The one in the upper left hand corner was composed by Claudia, the mother of two boys and two male doggies...isn't it funny that she chose pastels for her fish?This is Claudia and her mom, Susan.

And here are Ellen and Gay, proudly displaying their fishies. They both own new embossing machines, which are quite incredible. Gay brought hers to class and we had a great time fooling around with it...after hours, of course!

Thanks, ladies, for spending your Sunday afternoon with me! Let's do it again!!

I enjoyed a quick but wonderful lunch with my daughter Kristin today. She was passing through town on business and had just enough time to fit me and lunch into her schedule...and she treated me!!! We ate at 2 Dog Cafe ("the dog") and I had their incredible Caesar Salad with tons of croutons. Kristin loved their homemade chicken salad sandwich with a side of Mexican slaw. There's nothin' quite like an adult child! All in all, I'd rate today as a 10...and yesterday too...and come to think of it, Saturday was pretty darned awesome as well!

Food As Medicine

My friend Bobbie sent me this and I thought it was rather interesting. It had some great graphics with it, but blogger didn't seem to appreciate them. Typepad, I'm on my way!! LOL

Food as Medicine

HEADACHE? EAT FISH! Eat plenty of fish -- fish oil helps prevent headaches. So does ginger, which reduces inflammation and pain.
HAY FEVER? EAT YOGURT! Eat lots of yogurt before pollen season. Also-eat honey from your area (local region) daily.
TO PREVENT STROKE DRINK TEA! Prevent buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls with regular doses of tea. (actually, tea suppresses my appetite and keeps the pounds from invading.... Green tea is great for our immune system)!
INSOMNIA (CAN'T SLEEP?) HONEY! Use honey as a tranquilizer and sedative. ASTHMA? EAT ONIONS!!!! Eating onions helps ease constriction of bronchial tubes.
(when I was young, my mother would make onion packs to place on our chest, helped the respiratory ailmentsand actually made us breathe better).
ARTHRITIS? EAT FISH, TOO!! Salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines actually prevent arthritis.(fish has omega oils, good for our immune system)
UPSET STOMACH? BANANAS - GINGER!!!!! Bananas will settle an upset stomach. Ginger will cure morning sickness and nausea.
BLADDER INFECTION? DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE!!!! High-acid cranberry juice controls harmful bacteria.
BONE PROBLEMS? EAT PINEAPPLE!!! Bone fractures and osteoporosis can be prevented by the manganese in pineapple.
PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME? EAT CORNFLAKES!!!! Women can ward off the effects of PMS with cornflakes, which help reduce depression, anxiety and fatigue.
MEMORY PROBLEMS? EAT OYSTERS! Oysters help improve your mental functioning by supplying much-needed zinc.
COLDS? EAT GARLIC! Clear up that stuffy head with garlic. (remember, garlic lowers cholesterol, too.)
COUGHING? USE RED PEPPERS!! A substance similar to that found in the cough syrups is found in hot red pepper. Use red (cayenne) pepper with caution-it can irritate your tummy.
BREAST CANCER? EAT Wheat, bran and cabbage Helps to maintain estrogen at healthy levels.
LUNG CANCER? EAT DARK GREEN AND ORANGE AND VEGGIES!!! A good antidote is beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A found in dark green and orange vegetables.
ULCERS? EAT CABBAGE ALSO!!! Cabbage contains chemicals that help heal both gastric and duodenal ulcers.
DIARRHEA? EAT APPLES! Grate an apple with its skin, let it turn brown and eat it to cure this condition. (Bananas are good for this ailment)
CLOGGED ARTERIES? EAT AVOCADO! Mono unsaturated fat in avocados lowers cholesterol.
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE? EAT CELERY AND OLIVE OIL!!! Olive oil has been shown to lower blood pressure. Celery contains a chemical that lowers pressure too.
BLOOD SUGAR IMBALANCE? EAT BROCCOLI AND PEANUTS!!! The chromium in broccoli and peanuts helps regulate insulin and blood sugar.
Kiwi: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium,
Vitamin E &fiber. It's Vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
Apple: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants &flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
Strawberry: Protective fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power
among major fruits &protects the body from cancer causing, blood vessels clogging free radicals. (Actually, any berry is good for you..they're high in anti-oxidants and they actually keep us young.........blueberries are the best and very versatile in the health field........they get rid of all the free-radicals that invade our bodies)
Orange: Sweetest medicine. Taking 2 - 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away,
lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessen the risk of colon cancer. Watermelon: Coolest Thirst Quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant
dose of glutathione which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of
lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are Vitamin C &
Potassium. (watermelon also has natural substances [natural SPF sources] that keep our skin
healthy, protecting our skin from those darn uv rays)
Guava &Papaya: Top awards for Vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high Vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene, this is good for your eyes. (also good for gas and indigestion)
Tomatoes are very good as a preventative measure for men, keeps those prostrate problems from invading their bodies.

On a High at the High

Yesterday was a lovely day in Atlanta. The humidity was a bit less oppressive...it is almost Labor Day for Heaven's Sakes!...and it was even a bit cooler. C and I made our usual Saturday trek over to MetroFresh for our soup lunch. Mitchel was serving up some yummy Strawberry Coconut cold soup, and I am relieved to learn that he does not use cream as a base but instead fat free yogurt and honey as a sweetener! WooHoo!!! We also picked up some whole grain sourdough at Breadgarden. (Oh, and we checked on the progress of Trader Joe's...it is lookin' good and the folks at MetroFresh tell me that it will be opening in late September!!! I am ready Joe!!) Here are some of the breads at Breadgarden...makes your mouth water, doesn't it?

Then we ambled on up to the High Museum to check out some photographs in the permanent collection. Normally we only get to the High for the new "big" shows like the Gee's Bend Quilts or Andrew Wyeth, so it was wonderful to just take a couple of hours to see some of the treasures that they have acquired over the years. C loves photography, so that was where we started. Then I happened upon a room of African art and started serupticously taking pictures. I knew not to use a flash and I saw another guy snapping photos with his cell phone, so I sort of thought it might be OK. The docent approached me and I feared she was about to rip the camera out of my hands...and rightly so. However, she very nicely informed me that if I went to the front desk I could get a permit to photograph pieces in the permanent collection. WooHoo!!

Can you see the bird head on this guy? I immediately thought of Gerrie's daughter, Lisa (A Bird in the Hand blogspot on typepad). The shoes on this dude are silk...two shades of striped blue! The white that you see is all small seashells. Just incredible!!!

This is also African and is a piece of silk "Kente" cloth or "Oyokoman Adweneasa" Cloth. The description of this piece went on to say that Oyokoman means the pattern is the most elite of the Kente patterns. Adwaneasa means "full of ornament". It also translates as "I have exhausted all of my skills"!!! Don't we all experience that feeling every so often?!!!

I had hoped to show you a closeup of the Kente cloth, but blogger isn't allowing it. Darn!! It is incredible and I think it may someday be food for thought in the way of a quilt. Before I received permission to photograph the exhibit, I was jotting all of the pertinent info about the Kente cloth in a little notebook that I always carry in my purse. The same docent once again approached me, this time with a pencil in hand. She very kindly (and patiently) told me that pens were not allowed in the museum due to possible damage to the artwork, and thrust the pencil upon me! I was certainly her problem child for the day!! So, we got our photographic permit, snapped our pics and headed off to the permanent Folk Art exhibit where I could relax with Howard Finster for a while!!!

I loved all of the comments about how you would spend your lottery winnings! I know that we would definitely give a chunk to our church and another chunk to the homeless shelter where C is very active in their feeding program. Cancer and AIDs research are also very high on my list. Other than that, I would add on a new master suite to our house...one above our living and diningroom, with a view of the lake! I think, like Acey, I would have a couple of full time gardeners on staff so that I could enjoy my surroundings without feeling like I had to break my butt in order to do so!!! Oh, and I would sell our condo in Midtown and buy a house...with staff to keep it running in our absence!!!

Good Morning and Merry Christmas!

Yikes...is it that time already?
Well no, but my buddy Bobbie sent me this yesterday and said I needed to put it on my blog:
Click here: Merry Christmas
It'll get you prepared anyway....and hopefully not depressed!

Ahhhh, that snow looks good after walking Barker this morning in warm and extremely humid Atlanta!

OK, enough silliness for one day! I'm off to check my lottery tickets...what in the world would I ever do with $60 million anyway????

What would you do with it? Let me know!!

878 Days to go

We are at the condo today and our laptop won't let me download any pictures from my camera to blogger for some strange reason, so I've found another way of making a more photogenic blog.


My Bush Countdown tells me that we have only got 878 more days...wow, seems like FOREVER to me!!!


So, I thought I'd brighten our 878th day with a few humorous photos! If the state of the world wasn't so sad, it would be humorous, wouldn't it?

and lastly, here's one for Pixie:

Shady Day

The Silk Painters of Atlanta group that I belong to meets tomorrow morning at our new venue, Chastain Art Center. Martha Andreatos called me the other day to see if I would help with the program: sun printing on silk. Well, I've done my fair share of that, but not recently and most of my pieces have been used in projects or given as gifts. I said I'd love to be a part, so I thought I'd better get busy and sun print something. Yesterday dawned rather yuckily and I was bemoaning that fact to my Mom, when suddenly the sun broke through! WooHoo!! So I ran out to the studio with a silk habotai scarf blank in hand, mixed up a batch of turquoisey looking paint, grabbed some leaves off of a nearby Winged Gum and let Mother Nature do her thing:

I'm rather pleased with the outcome!

My new "Freddy book" has really inspired me. I am off and running with some Freddy fish, and hope to have a picture for you in the next day or two.

Seduced!!!!

Read no more if you're faint of heart, as this gets rather racy!!! HA!! Last night, I must confess, I was seduced....and by a woman, no less! It was all very wonderful and I will carry this luscious memories with me to my death! Anyway, as I told you yesterday, my quilting buds Donna, Emily, and Jane gifted me with the new Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston book, "Collaborative Quilting". So, I spent the evening with both Freddy and Gwen, although being such a HUGE Freddy Fan, I'll have to admit that I pretty much raced through Gwen's part of the book (yes, I will go back and give it another read too) and then just drooled over Freddy's quilts, her home and her pearls of wisdom! If you haven't gotten the book yet, I highly recommend it. I googled Freddy this morning and found some wonderful photographs here. Gregory Case did all of the photography for the new book, and he has added these photos on the web site. Enjoy!!

I did have a great dyeing session yesterday morning, but look who else did:

Barker is definitely my dyeing dog, but he got just a tad bit too close to the dye pots yesterday!!

Yes, I know, there are a few beggar's lice on that paw too...but he's 100% boy, so what else would you expect!

I'll close with this one last picture of a Midtown Atlanta Rose of Sharon:

Ah, but no, the devil is making me do this:

Before we purchased our Midtown condo, I never would have believed that one could happen upon a picket fence and a gorgeous rose right there in the city!! I just love that part of town!!!

Bye for now!

"Old Friends....

......sat on a park bench like bookends". Remember that old Simon and Garfunkle tune? One of my favorites!
Well, anyway, I had lunch today with two of my old quilting buds, Emily and Jane. We have gone to Sisters together (along with Emily's sister-in-law Donna) for many years, and this year I didn't get to go because C and I went to Costa Rica instead. Of course, this was the year that my idol Freddy Moran was back in Sisters teaching. Wouldn't you know!!! So, this is what the girls brought me:

I intend to devote some time to visiting with Freddy (and Gwen) this afternoon! What fun!! I just love the cover, don't you?

In yesterday's mailbag I found these:

Ordinarily, the Chico's catalogue would be my first choice, but with Quilting Arts arriving the same day, you know what got opened first! I will save the Keepsake Quilting and Cooking Light for another day!

It's hot and humid here again today. I got in a good dyeing session this morning and will do some more "work" this afternoon. When I went off to lunch, I left a ton of dyed pieces in the yard outside of my studio...it was clear and sunny, so what the heck. I had a few errands to run after lunch and when I came out of one store, it was thundering like crazy...great! So I barrelled back across town to home, nearly mowing down the slow pokes in front of me, and grabbed the cottons and silks just as the heavens broke open. Phew!! They were already dry, so probably the rain would have done nothing but maybe add a bit more interest...but I didn't want to chance it.

OK, I'm off to spend a minute or two with Freddy!

Sunday Soup

I was intrigued by an article in the September issue of House Beautiful. Devon S. Fredericks described how she makes "Farmer's Market Soup" using the leftover contents of her fridge on a weekly basis. So last night after dinner I got busy pulling all of the small containers of bits of chicken, beans, summer squash, onion halves, etc.....you know, you've got 'em too....and then I dumped them all into a large saucepan and started them simmering. There wasn't a lot of color, so I opened a large tin of tomatoes. After a couple of hours I went back to take a peak and here's what I had:

Oh yes, there's a bit of sweet potato, spinach, parsley and okra in there too! Doesn't it look yummy? Devon says she "dresses the soup up" a bit by adding croutons, olive oil and grated Parmesan...sounds delish, doesn't it? So, that may just be my answer to "What's for dinner?" this evening...with some French bread and a spinach salad, that oughta just do the trick!

I'll close with a couple of scenes from yesterday's Midtown walk. First, the funky folk art yard:

You may be thinking, "What neighbor wants to live cheek by jowel with this person?", but it seems to work in Midtown. The nextdoor neighbors aren't quite as artsy fartsy, but they are trying!!!

This is the cover of a paperback in the window at Outwrite bookstore at the corner of Piedmont and 10th St. In light of Gerrie and my fish wallhangings, I thought it was appropriate to post.

OK, I'm off for a busy day.....enjoy yours!

Wonderfully Wazy Weekend

C and I enjoyed a rather wonderfully wazy weekend at the condo. It was hot and we hurried from one air conditioned venue to another. Our intent was to take in the Folk Art Show on Friday evening, but after we walked Barker in the Midtown heat, we collapsed in the air conditioning and reconnoitered. Why not go on Saturday morning? We had papers to read, gin to sample, and lots of Netflix to watch. So....thus ended Friday night!
Saturday morning dawned cooler (high 60s when I got up at 6:30 and dryer). We arrived at the Folk Art Show at about 11:00 and had a great time checking out all of the displays.

As you can see, this piece was painted by a fellow who calls himself "cornbread". Apparently he is quite well known in the folk art world (this was our first show, so we are real newbies), as he had crowds gathered 'round him, and his work was everywhere. I am quite partial to chickens, and so it was nice to view his work...but you can probably surmise from the two pieces that are side-by-side here, all of his work looks the same!

There were tons of chickens everywhere...and they were lots of fun for me!!! I was never quite sure if it was ok to snap fotos or not, so I took very few, and put my camera away as quickly as possible after taking a shot!

This piece was one of my favorites...and look, it's not chickens!!!! Isn't the color wonderful!!!

Here is one my my favorite real folk art exhibits...right in Midtown, Atlanta. We walk by it almost every day when we are staying at the condo! It is just a treasure trove...and has sooo much to see and enjoy. Let me see if blogger will let me post just one more picture of this wonderland....

Well, apparently NOT!!! ahhh, I move closer and closer to Typepad!!! Anyway, to round out our wonderfully wazy weekend, we took in "Prairie Home Companion" at Midtown Arts (and got to check out the progress of the Trader Jacks...which is progressing by leaps and bounds I am happy to report!). If you love Garrison Keillor and PHC like I do, go see it...it is very entertaining, and you won't want it to end!

Party Time!

Last night a bunch of us were supposed to be going on a cocktail cruise on the lake. We got a call yesterday morning that the boat was experiencing mechanical problems and so the trip was canceled. So, we moved the party to our house! I had the presence of mind to grab my camera, so here are a few party pics:

Our friends John and Troy brought these fantabulous sunflowers. I just love them! I was trying to find a "vase" stout enough to house them, but alas, there was none to be had, so I grabbed my wonderful old Haws watering can, and it did the trick.

I suppose it would have been only fair had I warned John that I was about to snap his pic!! Doesn't he have the cutest knees!!!

Here are Shiela, Barb, Sue and Bobbie...a bit blurry....could it have been my margarita or theirs????. Sue had on the most incredible top....very beaded and colorful...you go girl!!!!

Here's Shiela, Barb,Sue and Bobbie again. I gave up on the papparazzi job after this foto...aren't you glad? Shiela is my hero....she had just gotten home from having a round of chemo in Atlanta, and still managed to party!!! I'm so impressed!!!

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I'm switching gears a bit here. We are off to Hotlanta for the weekend. Yippeeee!!!! The Folk Fest is being held at the North Atlanta Trade Center, and we will be there to check things out. I am very excited! Below is what used to be The Abbey restaurant on Ponce in Midtown, Atlanta. I'm not sure what church it was before it became The Abbey, but we enjoyed several great meals there years ago. Recently, the restaurant had gone out of business and the building was empty. I just love the architecture, and was happy to learn that the site has been purchased by another Atlanta church and will once again be used for worship. Yay!!!!

I think the trees growing up out of the top of the steeple are quite cute...true survivors, that's for sure!!

Costa Rican Memories

We had such a glorious time in Costa Rica that I decided to make a wall hanging to commemorate that vacation. I batiked and dyed the background, quilted it, then pieced and added the birds and animals. Today I finished raw edge appliqueing those guys onto the background, and then I "escape-hatch" finished the back. Tomorrow I will bead the eyes on the various critters. Voila:

Here are a couple of closeups of the critters:

The fabulous Toucan

The Quetzal

The Macaw

The Monkey!...you pick the species....we saw three different species in the wild and they were all amazing to me, so this guy is pretty species-nonspecific!!!

Ahhhhhh, the regal Tortoise, in remembrance of Tortuguero, of course!!!!

The fabulous OWL!!! We see a few owls here at home, but when we spotted this fabulous Crested Owl, I was in Seventh Heaven!!! I will never forget that morning! Thanks, Sergio!!!

Family Fun

I've just found these wonderful old family vacation photos from 27 years ago. We all were at the "Houseparty" at Camp Greenbrier in Alderson, West Virginia. Kristin was just four months old, and her cousins were not much older! Enjoy these, guys!!
Look how young we all were!!! And we all had hair...and it was either blond or brown!!!

Alice had a real challenge that summer...keeping track of all of those kids!! But she did a great job!

Katy must have been exhausted after a long day at camp!!

This crew looks like they were up to NO GOOD!!!

Will someone please put me out of my misery and tell me what the Knox kids' names are? I've forgotten!! I do remember Tom and Judy!