Santa Fe bound!

I'm packed and ready to leave at 6 tomorrow morning for a Santa Fe road trip with my book club (eating club)! We rented a beautiful house full of Southwest art with a hot tub and spectacular views, but the cost split six ways is a real bargain. 

Meantime, back in my neighborhood the desert plants continue to provide glorious color. These are from my morning walks, which are getting closer to dawn because the temps are now in the triple digits.

Have a colorful day

Happy Solstice!

 

"Water, Earth, Wind and Sun"

Summer Solstice has always been a favorite day of mine because I love the sun and sunshine and color and warmth. Well, maybe not Tucson's summer warmth, since it's going above 100 all this week, but it sure beats a dark, rainy day.

Detail of a wool appliqué quilt.

This year, I thought I'd show some of my sun-related quilts for the Solstice. Ever since I was little and growing up in Pittsburgh I dreamed of living in the desert with its clear blue skies and abundant sunshine, and my quilts over the decades have reflected that fascination with the sun. And now I finally live here!

"Light" (one of my favorite quilts)

"Beach Houses" (above and below)

"The Purple People Celebrate Summer"

This one was juried into the International Quilt Festival 

in Houston about 20 years ago.

Detail of a sampler quilt highlighting different sewing techniques. This one includes two circular faced fabric windows and free-motion quilting.

Inspired by mosaic tiles.

Experimenting with woven quilts.

I love the sunshine and shadows on "Garden Gone Wild" during an outdoor photo session.

Detail of a quilt for my daughter showing places she has lived.

One of my mandala quilts inspired by the sun and red rocks of Sedona.

Below, another sun tucked into a quilt.

I hope you find time to chill out this Solstice! I made this from a photo of sweet Bunners.

To see what other fabric artists have been up to this week, check out Nina-Marie's blog: the-color-cabal-its-thing-on-off-wall.html

Have a colorful day!

The saguaro fruit is ripe!

The white flowers that showed up on the crowns of saguaro cactuses in Tucson this spring have yielded to sweet red fruit bursting with juice and seeds. The birds, like this white-winged dove, are feasting!

 

The birds aren't the only desert dwellers eating the fruit. People of the  Tohono O'odham nation, to the west of Tucson, harvest the fruit by knocking it down with saguaro ribs from dead saguaros, like this one below. They use the fruit and seeds to make a variety of food products, including ceremonial wine that's used in their harvest ceremony.

Two or three of the ribs are lashed together to reach the tops of tall saguaros.

I took all of these pictures this week at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson. Besides the doves feasting on the fruit, here are some other desert creatures that I saw:

Northern Cardinal on an agave stalk

Dragonfly in the wildflower garden

Lizard camouflaged on rocks

And me, always with my water bottle!

Have a colorful day

Wall quilts for sale

I've decided to sell some of my wall quilts so I can justify making more. Email me if you're interested at sherriequilt@yahoo.com.

First up is "Flowers and Cocktails" (the red vase quilt), which is $175, including shipping. It's 19 inches wide and 22 inches high and has a hanging sleeve on back. Why did I add the cocktails? Because I had the fabric in my stash and its colors went so well with the vase and flowers! So why not? Flowers and Happy Hour! It's collaged, fused, and free-motion quilted.

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Next is "Pink Vase," also $175 including shipping and 19 by 22 inches. It's done in the same style -- collaged, fused and free-motion quilted. Besides the bountiful blooms, this one has a bunny and owl for fun.

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"Fish Lake, Moon Girl" is another collage, but this one goes back to 2006 when I had my daughter pose for the dreamlike scene. A fish jumping over the moon -- anything is possible in a dream! Turtles, plants and a starry sky complete the scene. Hanging sleeve on back. Size is 16 inches wide and 21.5 inches high and $150 includes shipping.

Have a colorful day

Cooling off in Pinetop, Arizona

I just got back from five days of cooling off in Pinetop-Lakeside up in the White Mountains about four hours northeast of Tucson's broiling heat. My friend Nancy and her husband used their timeshare points to get us into a beautiful condo in the pines.

The first morning we were having coffee on the deck and this well-rounded squirrel came up to welcome us and look for a handout. We didn't give it anything and it never came back. (Fair weather friend.)

 

We went for a walk in the woods behind the condo, crossing a spring and traipsing alongside a meadow. The altitude of 7,200 feet took a little adjusting to when we hiked but it wasn't too bad. It's a ski area in the winter.

Another day we walked around the lake at Woodland Lake Park. The highs were in the 70s, which felt glorious after the 90s in Tucson. 

And of course we looked up quilt shops. We found two, and this one was our favorite. Lots of fabric that we loved and there was even a display of award-winning quilts for sale upstairs, but the lighting was too dark to get good pictures. I bought a jelly roll of Christmas fabric to make a couch throw.

At the quilt shop we asked for recommendations for bakeries and were told about Baked In Pinetop. It was fabulous! The Danishes were to die for, but everything we tried was really good.

We also went to a raptor training show at White Mountain Nature Center. The trainers gave an excellent  entertaining and educational talk while they showed us how they trained various raptors. This one is a Eurasian Eagle Owl, which can have a wing span of up to six feet and flies silently.

One evening we went to a free outdoor concert with our music from the 60s and 70s. I took a video of the line dancers, but I can't figure out how to get it onto the blog. After that was dinner at Charlie Clark's, which has been there since 1938. I had salmon and -- since I was on vacation -- loaded mashed potatoes! We were all too full for dessert.

Have a colorful day