Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Last color splash of the year


This last week of the year has been sun-splashed and warm in Tucson, so I'll wrap up 2023 with some colorful photos. The first one is Christmas morning, when I gave Don the log cabin block made with colors from our California trip. Since he has limited wall space, I just made one block and stretched it over an 8x10 frame that can either be hung or propped on a book shelf.


He gave me these books for my birthday and Christmas. The bird book is beautiful, with quilted, embroidered and felted birds by artists from around the world. "The Secret Lives of Color" is a totally unexpected cultural treatise on color as it relates to history, fashion, politics, art and war.



Speaking of color and fashion, here's a photo of my daughter, who only has eight more days until her due date!!!


While Don was here, we ate twice at my favorite restaurant, the very colorful Guadalahara Mexican restaurant. How can you not smile when surrounded by those decorations? Last night we polished off dinner there with a big piece of chocolate cake.


We also wandered around downtown and some of the fancy resorts, soaking up color and sunshine. Here are some shots from our meanderings.






We ate lunch outdoors at Cafe a la C'Art after touring the Tucson Museum of Art. The museum had an exhibit on textiles of Andean South America, and this next piece mesmerized me and I think it will inspire my next quilt. (Ignore the window reflection in upper left.)

It's a woven tie-dyed garment made by a Wari artist in Peru in 600-1000 AD. The 64 stair-shaped pieces were each loomed separately and then dyed before being stitched together. In Andean culture, cloth was never to be cut to make clothes, so these pieces were woven to the exact desired shape.


The historic pink Arizona Inn provided more color in the desert, with its view of the mountains and its lush gardens and patios.



Last night's sunset spread a warm orange and gold blanket over the desert. 

I'll leave you with this last thought for the year by an anonymous writer. May you find endless glimmers in the coming year!


Have a colorful New Year

3 comments:

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

What a lovely way to spend the end of the year! Happy New Year, and may 2024 be even better than 2023 for you and all of us!

Lynda Heines said...

What a beautiful post ending with a wonderful quote. May 2024 find you more glimmers, great health and lots of joy. Happy New Year, my friend.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Will take your lead and try glimmering into the New Year! Don sure has good taste in perfect-for-you books. I can see you spending many hours over them. As for you, perfect idea to "downsize" your gift to him as a single mounted block to remember your trip by.

Thanks for all the color - I stopped short when you said you dined outdoors, thinking of my own chilly weather lately, but oh yeah, you live in a warm sunny place! Fingers crossed all goes well with the birth of your granddaughter. :-) What a way for them to start the New Year!