A Quilting Reader's Garden

Some of This; Some of That 6/23/19

Tour Day #2 - we went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. This is in Simi Valley - about three hours away from our Riverside (with all the traffic one must navigate). That's why we stayed overnight in Brea - not far from Yorba Linda to have a head start in getting to the Reagan Library.

That's part of our party on the right. It's a big sprawling place that reminds one of a hacienda as one enters.

First order of business was lunch in their cafe.

Here's a shot of the vista one sees from the patio where we had lunch. The property is at the top of a hill looking out over Simi Valley. On clear days one can see the ocean.

I didn't take any photos inside the actual library here also - again because of my battery - used my phone a lot for Google Maps. So much to see! They had the Da Vinci Exhibit which was fantastic for all the models made of his inventions. Wow! I forgot to mention at the Nixon Library they had an Apollo 11 exhibit - equally special. Another special at the Reagan Library is their permanent collection of Air Force One and Marine One (the helicopter). When they were retired they were sent to the library. We got to go into both. As Reagan was known as the Great Communicator, it was appropriate to have Air Force One there because he went to many countries to speak face to face with their leaders.

But early in the morning, we went to St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena because the library didn't open until 11:00 am. It's a beautiful historic church that opened in 1925. I'll let you see why we wanted to go there from the photos.

St Andrew festooned for Corpus Christi Day

The Italian Bell Tower

The patio in front of rectory

Mom taking a rest

Ceiling of entry way

Each column is of a different marble

Marble walls too

Angels in an alcove

quilting ideas in the center aisle

Mural in the Sanctuary nave

Mary's side altar

quilting motif

this one would be good for a border.

All this means I had no quilting for five days. I did take hand work with me, but I was so tired by the end of driving each day and walking, I never got to it. Ditto with stash - zero progress. That number stays the same.

For 15 minutes a day 2019:

15 minute days/week = 2/7 days

15 minute days/June = 14/22 days

15 minute days/2019 = 142/173 days

Success Rate = 82.1%

More later. I'm linking to Kate's 15 minutes to Stitch. Have a blessed week.

Tour Guide

Some of my cousins from Houston, TX are here for two weeks and I've been acting as tour guide in the last few days.

First stop - The Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda.

Click on the photo so you can read the plaque.

This is the house Nixon's father ordered and built (it was a kit) on their 9 acre ranch. It's 900 square feet.

The beds had quilts!

They were used all the time. Here is a basket block quilt with signatures in the master bedroom.

This one was crocheted - a log cabin variation.

Add caption

This is the flag embroidered by one of the POWs.

Click on photo for info.

There was also Pat Nixon's garden.

and a 140 year old rose!

the Rose Parade (My two cousins went along for the ride.)

I would have taken more photos inside the exhibits, however my battery was running low. More later.

Some of This, Some of That 6/9/19

Stash report: Finished another baby quilt top, but I can't count any of that square yard as it all came out of three donations I got for St. Anne's.

The panel block in the center is a printed copy of a illustration done by Mabel Lucie Attwal, (4 June 1879 – 5 November 1964), a British illustrator and comics artist. She was known for her cute, nostalgic drawings of children, based on her daughter, Peggy. - from Wikipedia. Believe this one was from the 40s or 50s and printed for Woodrow Studios in TN. The center blocks are those made from Jenny Doan's Super Easy Hour Glass tutorial. The outer border came from an idea by Katy Quilts. I love this layout as it eliminates a lot of bulk in the corners when you sew the HSTs together.

The only thing I can claim for destashing is the 0.2 yd I used for the background of my studio wall hanging and the pink and blue solid border in the top (.11 yd). New YTD destashing is at 44.46 yards.

Again I didn't quilt/sew for two days last week - the mojo was trying to escape again. I did a lot of Grand kids interaction and that was fun. So here's a few snapshots of them: