I had so many photos (60 or 70??) that I couldn’t process them all for posting. I may use them for other posts in the future. If you want to go on a tour and see this beauty for yourself, check out the public tour information and sign up. Go and visit. Totally worth your time.

I know you are thinking “WTF? Has she lost her mind posting all these photos of things that aren’t quilts?”

No, I am not, at least for this reason.

You need inspiration to make quilts and the floors at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco provide enough inspiration to last a lifetime. The thing I like about mosaic and tilework is that both translate well into quilts. The place was a museum of tile and mosaics, and a hidden gem. The intricacy of the designs rival Christine Porter and Judy Mathieson’s designs. I didn’t think there would be anything to photograph. (I don’t know why I ever think that, except that, perhaps, tiredness and laziness drive me to it.)  Fortunately, I had my new phone with me, which actually took some ok photos. I ran the battery down to the bone (lousy battery), but I got enough photos to keep most people happy.

Enjoy.

Learning
Everyone on the web seems to be way better at Photoshop Elements than I am. My friend, La, tries to give me little tips, but I forget by the time I get home. As result, I have helped to organize a class at Always Quilting on August 27, 2011, 10-4 and is taught by Lynn Koolish of C&T fame. It is open to everyone though the BAMQG and CQFA folks have had a two week headstart on sign ups. The class is now on the shop’s website. You can register via the website or by calling their shop at (650) 458-8580. Hope to see you there!

I was listening to an episode of Creative Mojo the other day (via podcast) and Mark was interviewing Patrick Doughty, an artist whose medium is sticks. I wasn’t terribly interested in the work, but find that I can always learn something. He said something really profound in response to a question about getting stuck. He said (paraphrasing) that it takes time to get into the groove of creating. He creates every day or only takes short breaks. this helps him not to have to get back into the groove, because he is already in the groove. This is a really important part of how I work. I think, write or read about quiltmaking every day I cannot be at the sewing machine. I cut, press, fold and organize fabric when I can’t sew (like last week when my machine was getting services). Every other time, I sew. I am always in the groove, because my work is in the forefront of my mind.  I do get stuck on projects, but then I move to another project or cut, press, fold and organize my fabric.

Quilt-a-Longs
I think I talked about the Farmer’s Wife Quilt-a-Long. There are a lot of blog posts, discussions and projects blooming out of it. I saw on the ModaLissa site that the United Notions people are having a Hen Party (go read the post) that also has to do with FWQAL. Perhaps I do need to jump in…meaning ‘need’ in the broadest and most non-committal sense of the word.

Camille Roskelley of the gorgeous red dotted chair blog, ok the Simplify blog, has posted another group of her Farmer’s Wife blocks. I love them! Perhaps I do like grey after all. I think I have get out my Ultimate 3-in-1 color tool and see what I can learn from her color scheme.

How about my Block-a-Long? Have you made any blocks? Let’s see them? Are they boring?

Color
I am reading a book (review soon-ish) and I realized the author was not doing complicated piecing, but was creating complex color stories to tell in the form of a quilt. I am intrigued by this concept, especially after working on FOTY 2011. I ran across the Michael Miller site, which is doing color stories every week also. During the week of July 20 they had an aqua and red color way, which you know I love.

Media
I am feeling like Miss (Ms?) Popularity lately. I never was one of the cool kids at school so I am not quite sure how to handle it. I was recently interviewed on episode 2 of the SeamedUp podcast. It was fun to talk to the SeamedUp ‘girls’ and get to talk about design a little bit, my blog and life a little bit. They produce their podcast in a very professional way, I think, but laugh a lot along the way.

I was listening to a recent Annie Smith episode and heard about Cori Blunt. I took a look at her website and blog. Her drawings are really sweet, I especially like her bike pillow. Of course, I probably wouldn’t do any of those quilts, but I can admire them. I do like the way she did the sashing around the star blocks in the Cherry Tweets quilt. Very clever.

In conjunction with her episode #166, Amy of Creative Mom Podcast post GORGEOUS pictures of stairs with mosaics on the risers. Even if you don’t listen to her podcast (which you should!), go take a look at these photos. They are wonderful and make me want to do some mosaic work on my stairs.

I think I heard about GenerationQ magazine from Adrianne at some point in the not so distant past. I was reintroduced to it last week via an article they did on smartphone quilting apps. There are two that are interesting to me. One is block pattern app similar in concept to Around the Block, one of the most useful books in my library. The other, which constantly made me think of TFQ is the Fabric Stash by Blueshift Software app. She needs this app. This one does not get high marks, but the writers say that the portion where you can document your fabric stash works really well. It seems easy to photograph your fabric and keep it handy on your phone when I go shopping, especially for projects like the Food Quilt where I am trying to get one piece of many different fabrics. it is on the pricey side for apps, but it may be worth trying out. Now to get Blueshift together with SeamedUp so I can zap my fabric from my phone straight into SeamedUp. That would be awesome (at least in my head).

Other Artists

Lil Sissy passed on a  good blog post from Kelly Rae Roberts. I think it worth reading and keeping in mind. Short version: there is a time to dream and a time to savor.

Vicki posted an Art Saves story on Crescendoh. I didn’t know about those stories until I saw a link on Vicki’s site and happened to click on it. Very interesting. I like the stories.

Fabric

Last week, Julie of The Intrepid Thread post some photos of new fabrics in her shop. She posted:

• Sweet Treats http://fb.me/16eeAMWIt
• Licorice Cloud http://fb.me/SdMcvn79
• Cotton Candy http://fb.me/wwGp0deq
• Sapphire http://fb.me/Ez55AJPA
• Ruby http://fb.me/TwMwQ24o
• Citrine http://fb.me/160LGuNQ8

They were some fabrics I saw when I was on my quilt journey a few weeks ago. When I saw them at New Pieces I thought that I couldn’t possibly use such fabrics, but when I saw the pictures Julie posted, I thought they might be fine if I cut them up. Is there a meeting point between fussy cutting and strip piecing that would allow the beauty of some of the larger motifs to come through? What do you think?

Capitol Floor

Notice the Sawtooth Stars?

Capitol Floor Border

Nice border for a quilt.

Capitol Floor Wedge

This section is around the dome.

Castro Entryway Circle

I went to get my hair cut the other day and walked past a doorway I must have walked past 1,000 times only to notice a mosaic design I have never seen before. I feel fortunate to have a camera on my cell phone which I can use to snap pictures of things I see around town. I know this photo isn’t great (someday I will learn Photoshop), but you can get the idea. I don’t remember seeing many circles like this in other entryway mosaics I have seen. The idea could be used for a quilt block, but it wouldn’t be for the faint of heart.

Castro Entryway Corner

Corners are always the hardest part of borders, so I try to take a photo of the corner of the mosaics also. This one isn’t very difficult to piece. I wish I could talk with some of the craftsmen who did these entryways.

Also, last week I went to the State Capital with the Young Man’s class (As an aside, it was exhausting being around 60 teenagers!). It is the last chance I have to go on a field trip with him and I haven’t been to the Capitol in awhile. I went with DH some time ago and it was interesting to see the changes.

San Mateo County Floor

I saw this floor while I was at a Fourth of July parade, of course, in July. I haven’t had a chance to post them. I love seeing typical quilt blocks used in tile and mosaics.

San Mateo County Floor detail

The detail shows a possible different way a block could be pieced.

Center Mosaic

This is the center of a different, but related floor. Has anyone made a Grandmother Flower Garden with this arrangement of hexagons?

Vegas Floor

My sister’s sweetie took her to Vegas last weekend. Here is a photo she sent me. These photos were taken of a floor at The Palace Station. This is not your typical Mariner’s Compass as we quiltmakers think of it, however, it would be a wonderful applique’ project. It makes me think of Jinny Beyer’s Soft Edge Piecing book.

The curves of this motif are really lovely. They also look like stylized hearts.

Vegas Floor Corner

My family is well trained. They know I always want to see the corner. If tile layers figured out how to get the two borders to meet, I don’t need to do the math, right? I love that rope like piece acting as an inner border.

Thanks, sis.

Another view of the Tarts

Another idea for the curvy coffee pot embellishment. My mom told me that steam goes down first and I should put the hearts below the exit to the spout. I tried it, took a picture and above is the result. I prefer the other view, Fluttering Hearts, regardless of whether or not steamreally  goes up or down. I think I am really getting sick of this obsessing about the Tarts. I got home from my week away, saw the Tarts on my design wall and just sighed. I thought to myself “oh brother, just make a decision about the &*(^%$ hearts and move on already!” Perhaps it is time to just applique’ the hearts on the curvy coffee pot and move on. Perhaps I will start on the back and that will give me renewed energy around this project?

Mosaic Mirror #1

TFQ has these wonderful mirrors at her house. They are made by an artist named Kathe. I love the glass beads and blobs and shards she uses to create her designs.

Mosaic Mirror #2

I like the sun at the top of the one above. Notice the two different color schemes?

FOTY 2009 Blocks, Nov. 2009

Above are the most recent FOTY blocks. I made them before I left on my travels. I have a month and a half to wash, press and cut pieces from my new fabrics. As I have mentioned, I want to be ready to make the FOTY 2009 at the CQFA retreat in January. I had better not buy anymore fabric.

3 Columns, Nov. 2009

Here is another Sorbet block. I made it in between trips. I call it 3 Columns, for obvious reasons. It may have another name. I don’t think it is really that easy to make up new blocks, but I also haven’t looked it up in Barbara Brackman’s block book. I will sometime. Let me know if you know the real name. I still have not looked at the fabrics again to see what other colors I need to add. I am limping along with this project.

Green for Ornaments

I have been cutting green strips since about July as I press fabric. I have also been saving shards in order to make ornaments. I usually make a few every year, but don’t seem to have taken any photos to show you. I’ll have to put that on my list of things to do.

I loved the photos in this post about one of the subway stations in New York. I adore mosaics, so this lighthearted art was right up my alley.

In another post, she has a funny exchange with her daughter about a blue silk winter coat. Liesl’s blog is worth a look.

clipped from disdressed.blogspot.com

Liesl + Co is the parent company of Oliver + S. The former is the company that put out The Day in the Park Backpack tote that I bought last year at PIQF

Tile water fountain

A few days ago, I showed you the inside of this water fountain. the outside is just as great.

Rose Tile

Dowtown Santa Barbara has a building that is sort of Spanish style, but has a twist. It has many different, useful tile structures outside. This is part of the wall surrounding that building.

Flower Tile Fountain

Wouldn’t the world be great if everything was beautiful like this. I would love to drink out of a fountain every day that looked like this.

This could be a response to last week’s prompt as well!

I really liked this tile bench. It was very cheerful.

Tile Circle, detail

clipped from www.kaffefassett.com Kaffe’s Mosaic

Thanks for reading in 2008! Happy New Year!

*German for “ever closer” (approximate translation)