It Will Be Green Again
by Daphne Greig and friends
click on quilt for full size view
 
Most you you will know that in July of 2018, a devastating and very large wildfire ravaged south central Colorado. The spring fire grew to 109,000 acres and on July 2, blazed through my little 40 acres of paradise, located in a high elevation fir forest. The fire literally came within feet of the house which was miraculously spared. The experience was life changing. 
 
A few months after the wildfire a parcel arrived. Inside was this quilt. It was a labor of love created by members of a quilt guild in Victoria, British Columbia. Quilter, designer, and teacher, Daphne Greig, organized the effort. It was an amazing and humbling experience to receive such a gift. I had never been on the receiving end of such an outpouring of love. 
 
The quilt is titled It Will Be Green. And, indeed the mountain is starting to come back. The oaks and undergrowth have skyrocketed. Previously I only had six or seven mature aspen trees. Those burned, but they produced thousands of offspring and the new aspen forest will be a joy to behold each Autumn. The fir forest doesn’t recover without help. To date over 2000 fir, pine, and spruce saplings have been planted. While many don’t survive, I feel there is a good survival rate and some of those planted in 2019 are now almost knee high!
 
This week, the first week of June, in 2019 was when volunteers arrived from all over to help put those baby trees in the ground. The outpouring of love is exemplified in this beautiful quilt and I treasure the friendships and love that continue to flow my way from my extended creative family.
 

click on quilt for full size view

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

Photos of the Week - Week 21

 

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 21, Silhouettes

Photo by Chris McCarthy

Click to view a larger image 

Chris says:

Silhouettes on the Shade. This is Kerry and PJ, with mommy getting a kiss. PJ, my daughter, is due in two weeks. And I could not pass up the opportunity to take a shot of her very pregnant shape. This started out as a solo shot of PJ. But Kerry wanted to get into the act. We took a number of pictures with various poses but this was my favorite.

This was taken in front of a large window in thier living room with the camera on a tripod. This is pretty much how it came out of the camera. I did crop it square and ran it through a topaz filter, which did not do much but added a little tinge of color to the shade.

 

 

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 21 - Loved Ones

 

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 21, Loved Ones

Photo by Marion Seasholtz

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Marion says: 

We are participating in Vermont Open Studio Weekend so my parents have our Dog Kenai during the day. Kenai loves riding in the buggy so they went out for a ride and stopped by because Mom had a question about her phone. He jumped out over the front a couple of years ago when he saw a ground hog, so she hangs onto his harness now :-) Looks like we need to give the buggy a bath!

 

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 21 - Troubled Waters

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 21, Troubled Waters

Photo by Michael Lindow

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Michael says:

Keifer is under the troubled waters in this shot with an ArtCard Toon filter applied.

 

 

 

 

 

Portuguese Cookies 
by Hugo Dos Santos

Portuguese cuisine it’s prosperous…very rich…you are going to eat a lot.

One of the ingredients that we use the most is eggs, and you probably are asking “Why eggs?’.

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, Portugal was the main egg producer in Europe (possibly in the world). Most of its production had a certain destination: to supply egg whites for use in the manufacturing activity. Egg whites were used as a purifying element in the manufacture of white wine and, mainly, to iron the clothes of the rich and elegant of the western world.

 With so many whites to be exported, Portugal had to use yolks that exceeded by large tons every year. In the farms and creations maintained by the Church, in the monasteries, and, mainly, in the convents that spread by the hundreds in the interior of the country, the gem was the main source of food for the creations of pigs and other animals, which in turn were the main source of food. source of food for monks, nuns, and villagers in the vicinity.

So these cookies you will find everywhere, bakeries, markets, supermarkets.

 

Ingredients:

 

  • 1+1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 cup of White Sugar
  • 60 g butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 4 tsp of yeast
  • 2 eggs
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  1. Combine all ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon.
  2. Let the dough rest for about 1 hour covered with a cloth.
  3. Line the tray with parchment paper.
  4. Spread small amounts of dough (1 dessert spoon) away from each other.
  5. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes(starting being gold) at 390°F.
  6. Let cool and serve.

                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

   

Photos of the Week - Week 20

 

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 20, Multiplicity

Photo by Marion Seasholtz

Click to view a larger image 

Marion says:

Soooo, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with this one! A dear family friend is playing chess with Dad 3 times a week. They often wear hats, and always have a great time. My Dad has the board set up hours before Peter gets there. I tried this on Wed but I had some issues with my camera, and although it came out ok I wanted to try again. Peter is a great sport and brought props including the fake mustache. Dad's hats are handmade felted hats that a friend makes. I removed a sky light and a light fixture that were annoying. I couldn't decide whether to submit the unfiltered version or this one. Dad looked at them both and said this was a much better photo! Lol!

 

 

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 20 - Forks

 

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 20, Forks

Photo by Beckie Belsaas

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Beckie says: 

Pitchfork S'mores. I rarely compose setup photos. But this week, I decided to give it a try. I placed large marshmallows on the tines on a pitchfork and burned them. Then, I inserted matches into each marshmallow and lit them as fast as I could. I took the photo at night in my garage and tried to just use the light from the matches, but ended up using a small flashlight off the side. The background is graham crackers that I shot as a texture. Before I blended the two photos, I used a radial blur filter on the crackcers (PS). I used the Overlay blending mode for the composite montage (PS).. No significant edits in LRC. My inital plan was to have a background/texture of fire, but couldn't figure out how to safely do that.

 

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 20 - ROYGBIV

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 20, ROYGBIV

Photo by Helen Walsh

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Helen says:

Such a perfectly timed theme, the local Ginger Factory has installed this art project, by Sophy Blake, which is so photogenic. I think business is booming as a result. I drove there for the photo and left with a bag of candied ginger and a jar of ginger marmalade! Edits in phone.

Ricky's Challenge Photos

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 20, ROYGBIV

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

 

 

 

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Critique Group Challenge:

Week 20, Multiplicity

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2022 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Thanks to Hugo for once again being a good sport. I sure wish I could have set this up in our historical fort saloon, but my bedroom had to suffice. Ignore the level or blinds, please. Since I decided to have overlapping elements, the editing was a bit more challenging, but it turned out okay I think. I think this is "Read 'em and Weep, Fellas"

 

 

 

Love is Love by Ricky Tims
81"x81"

Click for detailed view. 

Love is Love is the most unexpected quilt and pattern I’ve ever created. It happened when two significant events collided. June is the month for LGBTQ awareness and the perfect time for sharing this quilt and the story behind it. Many of you will remember the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre that occurred on June 12, 2016 where a gunman took the lives of 49 souls and wounded 53 others. For me, that day married triumph and tragedy. You see, I had become a huge fan of Hamilton (the musical). I was so inspired by the genius of Lin Manuel Miranda that I wanted to go to NYC and see him and the original cast before they left the show. On June 6, 2016, I did. Six days later I was back in Colorado and I was excited about the Tony awards which were to take place on the evening of June 12, 2016. Hamilton was the projected favorite to win Best Musical. I woke up that morning to the news of the shooting  in Orlando. It was such a shock—numbing. I wondered how it might affect the Tony awards, which would surely proceed as planned, but the mood would, no doubt, be somber.

 
Lin Manuel’s acceptance speech for Best Musical was poignant. It ended with this…
 
"This show is proof that history remembers. We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger. We rise and fall and light from dying embers. Remembrances that hope and love live longer. And love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside." 
 
I was so moved by the words that night that I immediately designed Love is Love fabric and made it available for sale on Spoonflower.com. I ordered my own yardage, and when it arrived, I felt strongly that I needed to use it somehow in a quilt. I had little time, so I decided on big chucks. The diamonds of a Lone Star seemed reasonable. As I moved forward, it (the quilt) was begging for another round of diamonds to become a Broken Star. The quilt then pleaded for appliqué with the words, LOVE IS LOVE - and those became the feathery appliqué. The pattern is available. The Love is Love fabric is only available from www.spoonflower.com
 
The fabric sales allowed me to contribute to the LGBTQ community and to help raise awareness... that love is love is love is love is love and cannot be killed or swept aside. 
 
 
 

 TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

  

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