Japanese Garden Ideas

Traditional Landscape design by San Francisco Landscape Architect Richard Kramer

I like this fence.

Traditional Landscape design by San Francisco Landscape Architect Richard Kramer

Lower maintenance than a pond, a rock stream.

Modern Landscape design by Austin Architect Urban Jobe Architecture

Nice benches.

Asian Landscape design by Santa Barbara Landscape Architect Margie Grace - Grace Design Associates

Lovely Buddha.

Asian Patio design by Los Angeles Design-build HartmanBaldwin Design/Build

Very Nice passageway.

Asian Landscape design by San Francisco Landscape Contractors Home & Garden Construction Group

Another nice fence/wall option.

Asian Entry design by San Francisco Photographer Ali Atri Photography

And another fence/gate option.  For the very rich.

Asian Landscape design by San Luis Obispo Landscape Architect Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Ohhhh la la.  Succulents in pots. How...succulent.

Christmas Decorating

 Sam's in charge of putting up the snow village.

 I used a cheap Big Lots vinyl round tablecloth for a tree skirt after having a 26" square piece of plywood cut to fit atop a low table as a Christmas tree stand.  Jojo and Milo are keen to pee on anything new in the house and that includes a Christmas tree and presents.  This is a pee proof arrangement.  The tree was decorated completely by the children.

 

Details, details, details...

Quilts of Years Past

This is Sam's I-Spy quilt I made for him in 2002.  And below it is a picture of the back of it.  Sadie and I ran outside and used clothespins to attach it to the dog pen chainlink fence to take a picture.  It was getting dark and a cotton picker was picking cotton in the field next to us.  It had its lights on because it was getting a little hard to see.  There is a rosemary bush growing by the pen and we kept knocking it as we worked and could smell the scent of rosemary.  I asked Sadie to check her ipod to see what the weather was going to be and suddenly, it began to sprinkle.  All that came together to make an odd little memory.

 

I call this quilt "Pearl Harbor" because of the fabric on the back of war planes and the Hawaiian feel of the fabric on the front.  Jojo chewed a little hole in the center, his loving contribution.

This quilt I call "Haiku: Early frost on Koi Pond" because that's what I kept thinking of when I made it.  The fabric on the back reminded me of bubbles in water.  If I had to do it over, I would have probably use something a little more subtle than that bright orange inner border.

This was the first quilt I ever made.  I think I did it in like 1990 after attending a class.  I wish I'd added some lighter colors to give it sparkle, but oh, well.  It's a crib size quilt.

This is Sadie's nap quilt, another I-Spy.  I pieced it and Drue handquilted it.  As a toddler, it freaked Sadie out because it had bugs on it and she wouldn't sleep under it.  In fact, she didn't even want it on her bed once she saw the bugs.  So much for the sentimentality of handmade gifts for one's children.

This is the back of the quilt.  I bought a bunch of this fabric for backings because it was so cheap at the time.  It reminds me of Hawaii, though I've never been.

I'm taking the Big History: The Story of Us All quilt to work today to work on the binding.  I'm monitoring a computer lab and when no one shows up or doesn't need help, I can do a few stitches.

Hand Quilting

 

I've never handquilted a quilt top. I'm thinking this is going to take close to forever to finish, but I like the way it looks.

 JoJo in camoflauge.
The kitchen on a less than stellar cleaning day.

Pieced Tops From Ten to Twenty Years Ago

As an ADD sort of person, finishing stuff is not my forte.  Here's lots of UFQ's.

This was my second quilt; I made it maybe in 1990?  Drue helped me add some more blocks, find a border fabric and redo it to make it look nicer.  I loved that shade of blue/purple with the pink and black.

This one I made in 2002.  Yifan and I had gone to China when we were married.  I was very enchanted by a Buddhist Temple that was called The Garden of the Sleeping Buddha and the green fabric in this looked like a Buddhist garden.  I added fabric with koi, gingko leaves, maples leaves, ferns and chrysanthemums.  Those two light diagnol streaks remind me of light shining through the trees in the forest.

I made this about 10 years ago for Sadie.  It's a big I-spy quilt with the diamonds having the object pictures in them.  I made Sam one too, but actually paid to have someone machine quilt that one.

This was a much too ambitious project for me!  I could barely sew when  I made this!I had no idea how to sew those circles on their faces so they all look a little funky!I did however do the quilting with my sewing machine.  I started the binding and it looks very hideous.  To fix this one, I'll have to do a little work!

This one is pretty blah.  I wanted to make a light colored strip quilt.  I'll have to think what to do with it.  Maybe applique circles on it or something.  I probably made it in 2001 or 2002.

I made this when I lived in Arizona, maybe 1997?  I loved the honeysuckle border fabric and wanted to do something with stars.  It reminds me of Civil War Quilt colors.