Islands and Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

We drove to Balboa Island, City of Newport Beach, with my son and his wife.

Balboa Island has a beautiful town center, it was a windy evening.

Walking out on Balboa Pier, looking northwest.

Further out on the pier.

Sunset over Catalina Island, taken on the Balboa Pier.

Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier.

Butterfly for February, Western Tiger Swallowtail .

This is the moon and Venus, picture taken right after sunset.

Hello, from Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

It's been mild here in the 70's.

I've been sight seeing and touristing around with my family. We drove to New Port Beach, Balboa Island last week. Great scenery and views everywhere. There are ferry's there that will take you to Catalina Island if that's what you want. We didn't do that as there was enough right there to keep us busy. We looked, walked and snacked around. It was enough to make me want to wear sandals and tie-dye, of course with a sweater, the wind kept it chilly.

Back in Rancho Palos Verdes a couple of days later, the sunset view of the moon and Venus was fabulous. That photo was taken right out the front door.

This months' butterfly is the Western Tiger Swallowtail. They are a common butterfly in North America. The females can lay up to 100 eggs. The males often congregate by pools and streams.
Now that would be beautiful to see. I've seen one or two of them in the park on my walks here in Rancho Palo Verdes. I've also seen a couple of Orange Sulphur butterlies fluttering around. It's early spring here.

I hope you have a good creative week and I'll be by to enjoy seeing what you've done on your projects. Thanks for sharing, that's the fun and inspiration!

I'm linking up with Ann's and Cathy's  Kaleidoscope of Butterflies #13 , stop in to share butterfly appreciation!

Back in Stormy L.A. Small 'Liberated' Modern Quilt Project

Rancho Palos Verdes, looking toward Catalina Island; Pacific Ocean.

My 'improv' project for AHIQ, lots of 'liberated' fun.

My oldest 'grand muffin' last fall, I miss her terribly.

Hello from stormy L.A..

We're back on the west coast just in time for lots of wind and rain.

We're staying in Rancho Palos Verdes just over the coast hills west of Torrance.

It was very difficult to leave the grand muffins.

Before leaving New Hampshire I had time to sew 'liberated' borders on my 'improv' quilt. I'm using a great idea from Corinne Sovey who makes stunning geometric modern type quilts. She is putting on a webinar, 'Using Simple Quilt Blocks to Create a Complex Geometric Design', through the Modern Quilt Guild , which I am a member of. I'm registered for that webinar, it's tomorrow; I'm excited. 

I'm linking up with Ann and Kaja for the AHIQ, promoting improvisation, which is just plain fun.

Here's to learning new things and keeping dry.

I'll be by to visit!

Adventures of the 'Liberated' Four Patch kind and Color my World, Please.

Tools, components, templates.

New small quilt experiment, 'liberated.'

I'm using great ideas from Mary and Connie's book, 'Sew Charming.'

Happy Weekend from New Hampshire!

I'm reading and enjoying, 'Sew Charming, Scrappy Quilts from 5" Squares' by Connie Tesene and Mary Etherington. They've got so many fun small quilt ideas in this book!

My small quilt experiment is a spin from their "Framed Double Four Patch" on Page 31. My four patches are a little different. I can never exactly copy anything, I always say to myself, 'I bet I could do it this way,' and off I go. And of course I always get 'shocking' with the color.

Hope you're having adventures in your creative world too. I'll be by to enjoy what's going on !

Small Quilt Project Heaven, Art Quilt Piecing.

The little Prince plays, he's almost 3 months old.

Another 'liberated' butterfly small quilt, blocks are 4 1/2 x 2 1/2".

'Sew Charming' a book full of small quilt ideas!

New strip fabric and blocks for art quilt.

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, windy and sunny.

We ate lunch at The Old Salt in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Hello from balmy New Hampshire!

It's warmed up and rain has melted most of the snow. The sun came out today and so off to the beach to see the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic is beautiful but disorienting for me because I'm so used to the ocean ( the Pacific Ocean) being in the west. We ate lunch at 'The Old Salt' a famous restaurant. It's been around for a long time and many visiting dignitaries have eaten there too. Their pictures were up on the walls. The food was excellent, I had pastrami on rye with tomato melt with sweet potato fries and a pickle.

I'm continuing experimenting with 'liberated' butterfly blocks, this time using a rectangular block in red and white.  I like the look, more to come.

Art quilt components are coming together with strip fabric ready to be cut into blocks.

Then, since I have been on a small quilt run, I found this great book, Sew Charming, Scrappy Quilts from 5" Squares by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene, tons of inspiration! 

Hope you're all doing well this Wednesday.

I'll be by to visit!

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies #12, Liberated Butterfly Blocks

My new 2017 calendar, Butterflies of North America.

I'm still sewing together four patches and 'liberated' butterflies.

Hello from New Hampshire, where it's cold. Have I already said that?

My new butterfly calendar for 2017 came in the mail. January's butterfly is a Malachite butterfly 

so named because it's green like the mineral malachite. It's one of the most common butterflies in Central and northern South America. It's neotropical and has a wingspan of 3.3-3.9 in. 

 Its picture looks good next to my liberated butterfly blocks, my four patches and squares ready to be pieced together to make up my 'liberated' butterfly four patch quilt that I'm working on slow but sure.

If you're not familiar with what 'liberated' has to do with quilts, it's a word that Gwen Marston uses to describe her wonderful way of piecing. It's intuitive and 'make do' much the same way quilters from years ago designed and pieced their quilts.  She has a class at iquilt, Liberated Quiltmaking, excellent. I bought that class and still go back to it over and over.

I'm linking up with Ann and Cathy 

 for Kaleidoscope of Butterflies #12. Stop by and visit them and check out the quilt butterfly news.

Stay warm and remember there are places in the world where it is warm right now! Like where the Malachite butterflies live.

 I'll stop by and visit soon.

 

AHIQ and a Liberated Finish 2016

'Santa Clara Fog' 10" x  13" by Janie.

My 'Liberated Diamonds' small quilt, 12" x 16".

It's still cold and snowy here in New Hampshire!

I'm teaming up with Ann and Kaja working on improvisational, liberated, art quilts.

'Santa Clara Fog' is all done. It's part of my Santa Clara series; working with clear, saturated colors using white as a strong background or contrast. It has a lot of grey but it still belongs in the series.
I started with strip fabric I'd sewn and using a template I cut squares and added white strips to those squares. I squared those again this way and that and then arranged and sewed the blocks together.

My 'Liberated Diamonds' is also in Santa Clara style but has a strong dose of 'liberation.'  It's almost done just needs the binding hand stitched down on the back.
It's put together with 'x's and o's' style blocks.

I love working small I can get a lot of my ideas worked out quickly. 

Hope you're all staying warm and enjoying the season. I'll be by to visit!!

Fun Ideas for Holiday Break Time.....

 Holiday break time! Relax with family, read good books, watch movies, eat cookies, etc.
Here are a couple of enjoyable places to visit while relaxing.

Missouri Star Quilt Company comes up with so many great ideas. They have a wonderful take on a butterfly block, fun.
Butterfly tutorial

And over at Pam's blog, Hokkaidokudasai.blogspot , she's enjoying holiday with treats and stitching projects with friends.

Enjoy!!!