Bunch of Plants Purchased and Potted Up…

It started to rain last night and for some reason I felt the need to buy some leafy winter vegetable starts, so I visited Mid City Nursery this afternoon. I didn’t find any leafy vegetables, but I got a six-pack of Walla Walla Onions which contained about 17 seedlings. I haven’t grew big Onions, so this will be good experience.

I also looked for different colored Carrots and found Blend of Colors Carrot seeds which contains 4 varieties: Cosmic Purple, Lunar White, Solar Yellow and Atomic Red.

I also wanted to try Parsnips, so I got a packet of seeds, but when I got home, I discovered they were not Parnips, but Parsley… actually Hamburg Root Parsley ‘Piestruska’ which seems similar to Parsnips, so these will do. I’m interested in trying them out.

Hmm… This just popped into my head… I just realized that Parsnips kinda sounds like a combination or Parsley and Turnips. I wonder if that’s how it got the name. Although, I think they are from two different families. I’ll have to look that up.

I then visited our local Lowe’s to get some potting soil. I also purchased:
- Wallflower sp. (six-pack)
- Calendula ‘Calypso’ (yellow with black centers)
- Spinach ‘Bonnie’ (2 four-packs)
- Collard ‘Georgia Hybrid’ (four-pack)
- Asparagus ‘Jersey Giant’ (3 bare roots)

When I got home I potted up a bunch of seedlings (grown from seeds indoor under grow lights) into newspaper pots. These include:
- Mustard ‘Crimson Red’
- Pak Choi ‘Purple Choi’
- California Poppy ‘Mission Belle’
- Japanese Chard ‘Umaina’
- Swiss Chard ‘Witerbi Mangold’

The Snap Pea ‘Sugar Ann’ seeds that I soaked are just starting to sprout roots, so I planted those into about 22 newspaper pots.

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Stitch Modern – East Bay Modern Quilt Guild’s First Quilt Show…

The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild that I’m a member of is having its first quilt show called Stitch Modern. Come check out my quilt called “Habitat Arrows” which I just recently finished. You’ll also see other great handmade quilts from the EBMQG members and see how each quilter interprets “modern quilting” differently, wheather it’s with the latest fabrics and traditional patterns, or free piecing using no pattern.

Stitch Modern Flyer

The Stitch Modern Show
Open to the public
Runs from February 1 to 26, 2012 on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays from 12-3 pm
The Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont, CA 945611

Opening Reception  
Saturday, February 4, 2012 :: 6:30-8:30 pm

“What is Modern Quilting?” Public Conversation  
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 :: 6 pm

Stitch Modern Family Event 
to expose kids to the joy and freedom of modern quilting
Saturday, February 11, 2012 :: 12:30-2:30 pm

 

Links:
- “Stitch Modern – The East Bay Modern Quilt Show” on the EBMQG blog
- Press Release
- “Stitch Modern Quilt Show” on the Piedmont Center for the Arts website
- “Stitch Modern – The East Bay Modern Quilt Show” Flickr Pool  Flickr
- “Stitch Modern – The East Bay Modern Quilt Show Opening” Facebook event page  
- “What is Modern Quilting? Public Conversation” Facebook event page  
- “Stitch Modern Family Event” Facebook event page  

Postcard designed by Kim Andersson.

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Mahliyah’s Rag Quilt…

Mahliyah's Rag Quilt

I made this quick rag quilt for my great-neice Mahliyah for Christmas… and I think she loves it :)

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The Importance of Seam Allowance…

So… I cut a bunch of squares and rectangles based on measurements I took… pieced and sewed them all together to make 4 long strips… then when I went to pin it to my quilt, I realized I didn’t add seam allowance in my measurements and everything was off!… Oh no!… Now back to cutting those squares and rectangles again…

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Rosy Dawn Gardens Coleus Order…

I just placed an order at Rosy Dawn Gardens for some Coleus for 2012. I ordered:

- Sedona
- Plum Frost
- Ruby Laser
- Flamingo
- Florida Inferno
- Diane’s Gold
- Trailing Plum Brocade
- Saturn
- Saturn’s Rings

- I also placed a special request for Tilt-a-Whirl if it becomes available.

I’ve have most of these in the past except for Ruby Laser and Florida Inferno, which are new to me. I should be getting these around May 14, 2012.

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Orange and Gray Quilt Block…

One of the members of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild was having a baby and our group decided to make a baby quilt for her. Everyone who participated was asked to make a 12″x12″ block (finished) with orange and gray fabrics. I think orange and gray was her favorite color combination.

Orange/Gray 12x12 Block Construction

I was in the process of making my Habitat Arrows quilt inspired by Marianne Haak’s (MariQuilts) Analeigh’s Quilt 2010… which was inspired by the pattern Follow the Arrows from Quick Quilts Magazine. Since I was in the “arrow” mood… I decided to make my orange and gray block using this pattern.

You can see some of the construction photos on Flickr.

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Micro Terreriums

Micro Terreriums by joeysplanting

I saw these Micro Terrerium being sold at Michael’s. They remind me of these mini terrariums that I had when I was a kid.

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Dusty Sakura Quilt is Now in Tokyo…

I just read that the quilt I donated to Quilts4Japan.org has just arrived in Tokyo :)

Quilt4Japan-Arrived-in-Tokyo

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Finally Found a Good Web Page Capture App…

I finally found a great free app for the Mac that will capture a whole web page from Safari. I’ve been trying to find a free app, but haven’t found one I liked.

The app is called Skitch and I’ve actually been using for a while now. I just discovered the web page capture function today by accident. The commandto capture a web page from Safari is Snap Safari under the Capture menu item.

I’ve use a Firefox plugin called Pixlr Grabber for work, but it crashes so much. Every time I release final files for a HTML emails, I need to send along a screenshot of the whole page and the Mac’s built in screenshot only captures a portion of the screen. I think Skitch will help me out a lot.

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StellarQuilts…

I was searching Vimeo for quilting videos and happen to stumble upon Jimmy McBride, a really talented quilter, in the Etsy.tv’s video “Handmade Portraits: StellarQuilts“. I followed a link to his Etsy shop, stellarquilts, and found some pretty amazing quilts.

StellarQuilts-Etsy-500w

I then followed a link to his blog, Intergalactic Transport, and read some of his entries about how he made these space-inspired quilts. I love how he uses old shirts from thrift stores and it looks like he paper-pieced most of the quilt. That’s one thing I really want to learn.

I’m inspired and want to try out Jimmy’s techniques, so I’ll trying to think of a small project that I can possibly do… maybe a Christmas present for someone. Hmm?…

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Quilts4Japan’s Photo of My Quilt…

I just saw Quilts4Japan post a photo (on Facebook) of the “Dusty Sakura” quilt that I made and donated to their organization. I feel so proud… Like my kid is going out to college. I hope it fines a good home.

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Near Freezing Temperatures?…

I just heard on the news that some cities in the Bay Area may have near freezing temperatures tonight. Oh man! I’m not even for cold weather yet… I haven’t even taken cuttings from my Coleus to overwinter indoor… and I’m almost out of Jiffy Jumbo Pellets so I have to get more.

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Flickr Geofences…

Flickr Geofence

I just discovered today that Flickr has added geofences… which are locations where you can specify different geo privacy settings to. I made a geofence around my house, and my relative’s homes. Now the photo taken at these locations will only show geolocation data to family members and not to the general public. In the past, I used to manually remove the geoleocation of photos at home… but now, I don’t have to do that because Flickr will automatically do it for me.

More Geofence info on Flickr’s blog: blog.flickr.net/en/2011/08/30/introducing-geofences-on-flickr/

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Mystery Alameda Street Tree…

As I was walking down Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda, I saw a few trees growing along the street and wondered what they were.

Each branch has 6, 8 or 10 leaves in pairs on opposite sides of the branch. Some of the tree have a bunch of suckers growing at the base of the tree. The younger stems are reddish brown. I crushed a leaf and there is really no distinct odor.

Here is a photo of the whole tree along the street.
Unknown Alameda Street Tree (4/4)

More photos: Continue reading

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Embarrassing…

Facebook mobile has been screwing up this evening and posting my photo comments to other random photos. A friend of mine posted a photo of her topless jeep. I commented “Sexy!”… and it ended up on a photo of her grandfather… How embarrassing!…

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