DH  found these things on a fruit and veggie stall the other day, couldn’t catch what the guy said they were, but did register that they were “like potatoes only more ‘suave’ “- which prolly means smoother, finer, less grainy.   They look like some kind of spring bulb to me, and honestly, if you look carefully some of them are beginning to sprout at one end, too.   He didn’t ask how to cook them, either !  So, last night we started with the basic process of boil and mash with a little butter, S&P.

Bless him for his daring, considering how he would have dealt with these 47 years ago when we first met ( would have turned up his nose as their being way too unfamilar to consider eating)  Anyway, it might have been irrational negativity on my part since I didn’t know what they were …. but (unlike potatoes) they felt slimy as I peeled them,  and did indeed mash up very fine (a bit like potatoes), didn’t taste much of anything though (not even like potatoes) and overall whatever they are, so far they don’t get a  pass mark from me… but last night’s dinner was about 14 hours ago now, and no apparent ill effects, so that’s a plus right there.  We have about 8-10 left, so the next approach later this week will be to bake them (just like potatoes) and see what happens.  Think I’ll grow one, too – see what happens.  Stay tuned.  Oh, and if you know what these are, please let me know!  I’m not even sure where this fruit and veggie stall is/was to go and check for myself….

Oh, in answer to the other question – pollo a la cacciatorre – ie  chicken, onions, canned tomatoes, green capsicum, lots of garlic and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.  And some butternut pumpkin/squash,   followed by choc/almond, mint choc chip and strawberry iccream.

One of my online quilting friends recently asked a question of her colleagues: whether we’d found adding embellishment had ever actually improved a less successful quilt.  IMHO it doesn’t; any real fixes are those that involve a bit of adding/deleting, unpicking and re-sewing perhaps – but anyway, things to be done before layering, quilting and finishing.  That’s just my opinion though, and there are clearly people out there who’d strongly disagree.

Tidal Shallows 2, 1995, 30inches square. machine embroidered with triple needle metallic thread before assembly and quilting.

Tidal Shallows 1, 1995, 36 inches, entirely beaded with tiny glass beads.

Although I have never gratuitously added glittery charms or doodads, tassels,  shells, teabags and the like, I have extensively embellished several quilts with machine embroidery, typically double or triple needle stitching, and sometimes hand embroidery; but in one notable exception I totally beaded the one directly above, Tidal Shallows 1.  Perhaps I was exhausted after totally beading it, I don’t recall exactly, but I was working on them and another at much the same time, as they all resulted from a coastal holiday to a wonderful part of NW Western Australia.  I feel the quilt was already successfully ‘watery’, although the stronger design of the two, so perhaps that’s why I beaded only that one and didn’t bother beading of further embellishing Tidal Shallows 2.  A viewer of the beaded Tidal Shallows 1 exclaimed “How watery that looks” and so I did feel my decision to go all out and totally bead the quilt  was vindicated – but in no way was it an attempt to improve ‘a less than successful’ quilt.

Cynthia's Quilt - 2000, 90cm x 55cm. Commissioned and owned by Cynthia Harvey Baker of Kojonup Western Australia, this will soon be on its way to Austria, to be exhibited in a collection of Western Australian quilts later this year.

Colour surrounds us, and every day we make choices based on colours, instinctively wanting to make wise choices.  As we take clothes from our wardrobes, the weather, scheduled activities and even our hormones influence colour choices without us thinking of these connections.   At a salad bar, the colour of a food is a factor in choice; and did you know nutritionists have found that the more colours on your plate the better nutritionally balanced your meal’s likely to be ?

When young, most of us learn which colours suit our complexions, developing confidence with colour that stays with us for life.  However others struggle, saying things like “I’m no good with color”; they pay consultants to coordinate wedding details, decorate their homes, and get their personal colours done.  When I was young, all brown clothes made me look ‘washed out’ or ill.  Perhaps because of modern fabric dyes and the aging process, today I can wear more browns;  and as my hair colour changes periodically, that also changes the possibilities!

I have often claimed that in the world of art quilts and from those who teach within it, there is not nearly enough emphasis on design and color compared to the myriad of technical demonstrations and tutorials in magazines, dvds, books, tv, online and real time courses and classes.  Many quilt makers have high skill levels in all the construction techniques required to make wonderful quilts, but can lack ability and/or confidence developing colour schemes for their projects.  Collections of new fabrics appear several times a year in coordinated prints and solids to make copying a project from a magazine possible, but without basic knowledge of just how different colours work together, a quilter assembling her own individual color scheme may not even realize when a quilt shop assistant has helped her make ‘less good’ or even wrong fabric selection.

How colours work together, “colour theory”, is a large area of study by many artists over several centuries,  and it’s a bit daunting for those who find pages of terms and definitions wherever they look for information on working with color.  To help overcome this problem area I teach a one day, non sewing workshop – “Colour Confidence For the Theory Challenged Quilter”.  Using several  different visual sources, students experience several very practical methods of devising a colour scheme that really works.  Towards the end of the workshop, as these results are reviewed, students are introduced to basic color terminology,  colour/hue/tint/shade,  and  monochromatic/complementary/triadic  etc.  with reference to a color wheel.  Without knowing any technical terms these students have already successfully put together viable personal color schemes, and for most this eye opener is enough color information to enable them to continue creating confidently without deeper theoretical study;  for others it is a starting point for further study if they wish to pursue it.  But I think everyone  should  know of these online color resources which have recently appeared out on some of the lists I read :

www.design-seeds.com helpful in finding some basic color schemes from everyday things. http://colorschemedesigner.com an interactive, ie online, color wheel  – a real strength is that schemes are presented as balanced with major and minor colours in different proportions.  http://letschipit.com is an interesting little site by Sherwin Williams, the paint company.  It’s an app that lets you move your mouse over a photo online and it will produce a color card of up to 10 colours from that.  An interesting little ‘how it works’ video, and I was all keen to bring it on, but somehow I could only sign on through facebook, and I chose not to do that.

Cynthia’s Quilt – the colour scheme was developed around several pieces of fabric from her native South Africa that Cynthia wanted included in the work.  It was photographed against a black background.

Two beauties in one day, about 30m from each other – there seemed nothing to connect them except both being so fresh and both down close to the tideline on a long stretch of beach.  The people placing them there must have been present at the same time.

I have collaged them to give a sense of approaching from a distance and then seeing detail up close.  There were quite a number of  bronze 2 and 5 peso coins on the top of these yellow pieces.   The two white things were plates of rice wrapped in cotton wool – obligingly pulled aside by the pigeons thgat had been feasting on the grain as I approached.  I never touch these offrendas as they are called.

The sales of blue candles in this country must be huge.  This offrenda about 30m from the one above was like no other I’d ever seen, in that a root ripped out of the earth somewhere was placed centre front (ie closest to the water, and that hole in the sand where a candle burned)  There was an amount of dirt, too, that I have never seen before.  It was all carefully  laid out on a piece of white fabric.  The vines and flowers were plastic, and no sign of the flowers or leaves that had been removed from the three large stems placed on the sand (pointing to the water?)   With everything weighted down by the dirt, and currently low ‘high’ tides, the site weathered very slowly and remnants of it lasted on the beach for over 10 days.

Finally, I love the very low key simplicity of this one – a round base/paper plate, with some cotton wool showing upper right side, some cooked grain, rice plus corn kernels, and several fresh meringues placed on top.  That’s all folks !

On Dec 5th last year I blogged on a study of a number of different batts available where I was living in Denver at the time, a very new quilter, it was interesrting to me to see how they all worked up given the same fabrics, needle, thread and hands working up the same quilting pattern on each sandwich.

A few days ago I unexpectedly came across them in a suitcase of old stuff while looking for something entirely different.

Each potholder-looking thing is a different brand of batting, various compositions, and all quilted to the same quilting pattern.  On the back of each I wrote various comments about the result, how it handled, and any technical problem eg several bearded fairly markedly.  A useful reference at the time, but battings have come and gone, and I no longer live in the USA,  anyway.

Even if I say so myself, the quilting is of a pretty good standard – which makes the wrinkled one lying on the top very puzzling – on the back of that one I can just make out ‘too much tension’, so what on earth does that all mean?  I can’t remember,  but I was not a total stranger to the technique of quilting several layers of fabric together by a running stitch known as a quilting stitch, and I did all the others just fine.  So, I really don’t think I would have left the piece like that – they were all bound after quilting, and then the grommets put in.  If the tension seemed too tight at the time, as would seem so from my having made a note on the back, why on earth didn’t I undo it?  The batting in that one is wool – so did the samples get wet some time and that one shrink?  Not to my knowledge – wherever it has been we’ve never been flooded out, and, anyway, they’re all clipped toegether, and no cotton batts shrank …. its all very puzzling.  Any suggestions welcome!