Five mountain hikes this week!

I got in FIVE hikes in Tucson this week with friends! We hiked Catalina State Park twice in the Santa Catalina Mountains, the Wild Burro Trail in the Tortolita Mountains, and the Monsoon Trail and King Canyon, which I think are both considered in the Tucson Mountains

 

The King Canyon Trail took us about a mile up a rocky trail where we enjoyed a rest stop at the top at a rustic picnic area, above, and a sweeping view.

We also found this old rock building. We couldn't tell if it had been a house, a lookout, or something else.

Then we descended into a wash where we found petroglyphs scattered on the rocks. Afterward, we had pizza at Bianchi's in town.

Barb exploring the King Canyon wash. 

The Tortolita hike ended with drinks and lunch at the Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain. The resort is next to the Wild Burro Trail, and we were grateful for its cool drinks after a hot hike. We sat at a shady patio overlooking the pool, where Tere and I had buffalo tacos. Barb and Tere had beautifully colored mocktails while I stuck with iced tea.  

Pool and buffalo burgers at the Ritz!

Here's Tere by one of the giant saguaros before we retired to the Ritz, just to prove that we did more than eat that day.

Another day, Barb and I did the Monsoon Trail west of Tucson and accidentally detoured up Recoil Peak. By the time we realized it, we were halfway to the top so we just went the rest of the way and were rewarded with a panoramic view. Here we are, above, after making it about 300 feet to the top.

In Catalina State Park, we found water and horses. The very sweet horses were a mother and daughter, and their owners brought them down for the winter from Washington state, my old stomping grounds. We encountered them twice on the trail, and each time we all stopped for a nice long chat.

Here are Beth and Barb on today's hike in Catalina. It was another glorious Tucson winter day, with blue skies, balmy temperatures and a nice breeze. We're trying to get in as many hikes as we can before the sizzling summer temps arrive.

Have a colorful day

Color, color, color!

This is Week 4 of the Feb./March Challenge, and I switched gears to delve into a few more projects.

During the first weeks, I painted fabric for borders on one of my quilts and that got me into painting again. So here I am, all geared up to paint a few more pieces for who knows what. I just love the colors and it doesn't matter if I don't know what I'll use it for.

The nine-patch is a leftover from an old project, and I tossed it on a piece of my new fabric to see how it would look. 

Then I pulled out my giant basket of strips that I've been saving for YEARS for making coiled bowls.

As I dug down through the layers, I found these two bowls that I made a long time ago and had totally forgotten about. It was like going on an archaeological dig.

I decided to start a big bowl out of yellow, green, pink, and a dash of turquoise. I'm still working on it.

The other project I considered this past week was making a jelly roll rug. I have the pattern, jelly roll, and strips of batting, but I decided to hold off and do the bowl instead.

And the last project I considered was another curves quilt, like this one.

I pulled out these fabrics, then decided to hold off. I'm not sure I want the pale pinks. I'm not sure I want any of the dusty colors. I pulled them off the shelf because I like them -- I'm just not sure if I want a subdued quilt on my walls. But I haven't ruled it out. I threw in the orange-yellow batik to zing it up a bit.

And in between the sewing is hiking! Here I am with Beth and Barb on our Sunday hike at Catalina State Park. It does look like a bit of a moonscape in the background, but the clear blue sky and sunshine were glorious.

I'm linking up to the Feb./March Challenge here: 

feb-march-challenge-week-4

Have a colorful day

Fun and sun at Tucson Botanical Gardens

The first thing I noticed on my visit yesterday to the Tucson Botanical Gardens were the dozens of white cups capping the tips of the cacti. They were protecting them from our recent below freezing temperatures at night.

The next thing was the really fun exhibit of a "cactus car" and "food truck."

The cactus car is an old VW Bug literally sprouting cacti!

Even the tire rims are adorned with plants.

The food truck is a 1955 vintage truck attached to a former World War II ammunition trailer that has veggies growing from straw bales under grow lights.

It even has a menu listing the 29 edibles growing inside, everything from artichokes and arugula to snow peas and winter savory.

Also in the gardens are citrus trees, including this sour orange one. Sour orange trees have been used in Tucson landscaping for more than 100 years according to the sign. The sour or bitter fruit is perfect for making marmalade.

And of course there are flowers in February due to our sunny warm winters in Tucson.

I sat for quite awhile on a bench enjoying the verdant view below, listening to birds, feeling the sun.

Back home I have my own flowers -- a double dozen tulips from Trader Joe's!

Have a colorful day

A cat and a bowl

I used to make coiled fabric bowls and I have a big pile of them in a closet, so I sent one to my daughter's boyfriend for his cat. I've seen other cats take over the bowls, and I thought Charlie might like his own. She posted this series on Instagram.

Well, Charlie is a very cautious cat so he took his time getting used to this new thing. It took him all day, but finally ...

... he settled in.

I think he needs a bigger one.

Here's a link to one of my bowl posts from -- can it be? -- 11 years ago:  

bowls-of-color.html

Have a colorful day

Challenge Week 3 and a new shirt

It's week 3 of the Feb./March Challenge, where I challenged myself to finish three applique panels that I made 10 years ago. This past week I finished the second one by adding borders and doing minimal quilting.

Since I had painted all of the fabric for the panel, I pulled out some old fabric that I painted and used it for the borders. I didn't have enough for the binding, so I painted another piece:

Here are some closeups of the embroidery. I can't believe I did this 10 years ago!

Here are the two pieces I finished and the third one that's still waiting.

I also made another shirt from the Simple Elegant Tee pattern. I made the cap sleeve version and added my own pockets.

I used a soft rayon batik that I found at a quilt shop.

It's cut out in one piece, except for the neck binding strip and the pockets.

After all that sewing, I got out of the house this morning for a hike with a friend on the Linda Vista Loop Trail. It was 3.2 miles of mostly very rocky elevation. The first mile plus was up, up, up, then down, down, down, and finally a brief level stretch back to the car. 

I'm linking to Lynda Heines' blog for the challenge: feb-march-challenge-week-3

Also linking to Nina-Marie's a-visit-to-art-museum-on-off-wall-friday.html

Her post this week is a great one on how to make the most of a museum visit.

Have a colorful day