Wednesday 30 January 2013

Thousand Palms trail

Drove to the Coachella Valley Preserve Trail System in the Thousand Palms area. There along the San Andreas Fault are naturally occurring oases that are under natural management for hiking and site seeing.

We walked the McCallum Trail. At the McCallum Pond oasis was a gorgeous clear pond with cold water seeping up from the ground water system due to the pressure from the various cracks in the fault. Here natural fan palms, Washington Palm, grow. Notice in the pictures that these palms are kept natural and not trimmed of dead fronds as they would be on golf courses or residential areas.

We also were able to distinguish the various desert plants as many of them had stakes labeling them. We saw creosote plant, smoke trees, and even a dye plant that produces a very bright orange colour.

The Oasis


Some of the "Thousand Palms".   Natural "Washingtonia Filifera" or Desert Fan Palm surviving on water pushed to the surface by the tectonic faults.


The desert trail in between the oases.

Don found the only chair for a couple of miles around.  

Up on the crest of the hill overlooking the oasis.



Krista getting orange fingers with the "dye plants"




Shaggy Palms.  


The friendly road runner looking for a hand out.



Tuesday 29 January 2013

Living Desert

Toured through the Living Desert, a combination zoo and conservatory. Saw lots of desert plants and animals. They also had an African exhibition area. It was interesting to see some of the animals we saw on safari, but not as nice to see them in cages. Made me appreciate the safari last winter.

We treated ourselves to a fancy supper at the Cork Tree to celebrate Leah's completion of her UofW degree in International Development Studies. It was very decadent!

Egret with large plume feathers

Night Heron under a tree.  Smaller than the Great Blue Heron that we are familiar with in Holland.

This badger was digging a whole to find his previously buried supper, a dead squirrel!



A magnificent sample of a wolf.  Look at his marvelous fur!!

In the Africa section of the zoo we say this antelope feeding off a totally dry bush.  
Can't imagine there are many nutrients in it.

Leah is sampling Don's gin martini.  
Her Californiatini is with the orange slice and my Summer Breeze cocktail in the foreground. 

Toasting a wonderful holiday.

My supper of salmon, spinach and Yukon gold potatoes.

Don's supper of scallops with Himalayan brown rice.

Leah's supper of duck with sweet potato and green beans

Desserts too!  
Leah and I shared a sampler of fresh fruit, mocha creme brulee, sorbet, and turtle slice.  Yummy!!

Don's dessert was a sampler of different types of creme brulee.

Friday 25 January 2013

Last Run Through

We had 3 hours this morning to see the last of the show.   We wanted to leave in good time, as tackling the crazy LA suburb traffic to get home to Palm Desert is tricky.

I bought a few more goodies. (Yes quilting buddies I will share!). I stopped by Jaybird Designs to see Julie Herman, another modern quilt designer that we met at Angela's presentation. She had a very interesting ruler and book of designs that I bought.

Mostly though, I revisited the quilts to examine quilting stitches more closely. I realize now that the award winning quilts are very heavily stitched.

Photo with Julie Herman, modern quilt designer.  Great to see young up-and-coming quilters!!

Look at the density of the quilting on this piece.  Amazing!!

Some sky quilt stitching on an 'amateur' quilt that I admired.

Detail of a wonderful zebra quilt.  Looks like she used reverse applique to achieve the fine cut work.

People looking at the quilt entries.  

People shopping at the merchant mall area with hundreds of vendors!  Overwhelming!

The four worn out, quilting enthusiasts - Coreen, Jackie, Krista and Lorie.

Admiring Lorie and Barry's gorgeous home at Palm Desert.

My stash of goodies purchased at Road to California Quilt Show.  Lots to show and share!!

Presentation by Angela Walters

Modern Quilting Blends new fabrics and quilting styles with traditional techniques. I have been following Angela Walters blog - Quilting Is My Therapy, and have used many of her ideas on the long arm.

Thursday night Angela gave a presentation of her work. She is extremely bubbly and positive about quilting being a technique that you must practice to become proficient at. She is humble about her work and encourages others to create their own style. We all really enjoyed the presentation.

Angela signed her new book for me.


Whole cloth quilting on silk.  See some of Angela's marvelous free hand long arm quilting!!



A quilt designed, pieced and quilted by Angela.  Lots of negative space for the quilting to shine!!




Another original piece.  Notice the various stitches in the different areas.


Some samples of the fabric in her brand new line of fabrics, Collections, produced by Art Gallery.  These fabrics should be available at retailers after the market show in the spring.

Road to California

Wow. The quilts at Road to California Quilt Show are unbelievable!! Here are just a few photos to tempt you.....



Here I am standing beside a Karen Kay Buckley quilt.  Amazing applique that I was fortunate to learn through a one day workshop with her in Winnipeg.  (Afraid to say my sample is not finished yet!)


Here is a picture of the best of show quilt called Red Feathers by Claudia Clark Myers, quilted by Marilyn Badger from St George, Utah.

This amazing human figure quilt, Celise, was made and quilted by Carol Swinden of Cape Traverse, Prince Edward Island.

Grand Guard was made and quilted by Linda C. Anderson from La Mesa, California.


One Fine Day is made and quilted by Cynthia England.  The entire top is paper pieced!!

Up the Tram - Mount San Jacinto

Leah and Don Went up the Ariel Tram to 8600 feet elevation on Mount San Jacinto (Pronounced- San Hasinto) today while Krista is away to a quilting trade show in Ontario, California.  75F at the bottom and about 40F at the top.  You may ask why would Canadians escaping the snow go up a mountain to more snow??  Well, the ride up was phenomenal and the different biome up top is spectacular.  We went from desert with cactus, agave, and sand, to huge pine and spruce trees in the snow.  We did a 1.5 mile hike along the edge where we could see down over 8000 feet to the clouds and the valley below.  WOW!!  Enjoy the pics.


Going up 6000 feet and total of 2.5 miles in about 10 minutes.

On the largest rotating cabin tram in the world.

Stellar Jay up top of Mountain.



Leah looking down to the valley and clouds.
One of the few days per year the valley gets clouds


Leah beside a Jeffrey Pine tree.


Super Girl in a rough landscape.


cloud cover down in the valley.  

The view somehow gives me a sense of well being.


One very pudgy & happy Grey Squirrel amongst the pines.


Palm Springs is under the clouds.  

Various mountains protruding above.


We are heading back down.  The other going up.  

Each traveling about 25MPH.  Palm Springs way in the upper right.