Road Trip - A Need to See Green...

So I said to Don, let's take a ride so we did,,,

Click on the map for a larger view and then sit back

and click away on the photos below.   After my last

post, there will be no words... just enjoy the ride.

See the tiny cars across the valley.  We'll be going up that

road as the trip continues...

Pine Trees Yippee...

Mission Accomplished... (Better than seeing Red) 

 

Quilted Runner Features Unique Flowers

 Meet the Flowers

The Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia or Papaver betonicifolium)

  isn't really a poppy at all. True poppies belong to the 'Papaveraceae' family. 

The Himalayan blue poppy is referred to as a poppy because of its similar appearance.

The flowers are four inches in diameter on average.  The True blue flowering plants

 are rare in the natural world, but the Himalayan blue poppy is an exception. 

It derives its blue color from the pigment delphinidin 

combined with the plant’s ability to maintain acidic 

conditions inside the plant cells. Both conditions must be present to 

produce the blue color of the Himalayan blue poppy.

.

I spotted this massive field of them in Sitka AK in 2013 and

snapped a few dozen photographs.  They  grow 7-9 feet tall and are 

of the Rhododendron Species.  (Probably more than you

ever wanted or needed to know about this fabulous blue "poppy".

As indicated on the title, this is a Giant Trillium which

I spotted while hiking with our hiking group in CA.  It grows to 

almost 18 inches tall and wide with leaves (usually mottled) and

up to 8 inches long.  And, this one shows off its unique blossom.

They are native to woodlands and scrub of North America.

The blossom of the Bitterroot is quite small, up to only about 2 inches across.

However its color is stunning but you have to keep your eyes

peeled to spot it... I was lucky once again while hiking with my

CA hiking group.   It is a culturally significant

plant for several Native American tribes in the West (Flathead, Kutenai, 

Nez Perce, Paiute, Shoshoni and others). Traditionally, 

the roots were gathered, dried for storage, and used for food or trade.

And this rare and beautiful Western wildflower was pointed

out to me by our guide from a small cruise ship tour 

we were on in Glacier Bay AK.  This was the best

thing we saw while on a land trek.  The Chocolate Lily

has purple-mottled flowers, whorls of lance-shaped leaves, 

edible immature seed-pods, and a sweet, edible bulb.

Looks good enough to eat doesn't it?   They grow  8-24 inches tall.

I wanted to make a table runner to be used on a bar height

countertop in our kitchen area.  Maximum size to be 

13" wide and 60" long.  Lots of pre-planning was needed.

As usual I did the designing on my computer, planned the individual

color combinations, printed it off

and took it to the quilt store to purchase the fabric.

I printed some b/w to scale photos

of each flower.

I then cut out each leaf

to create individual pattern pieces to use as a guide when

I cut the fabric for each flower.

Here's a close up of my stylized and modified  flower stitched to its

own unique piece of background fabric. 

I used a variety of techniques like raw edge appliqué

and spent hours at the sewing machine stitching the individual

pieces together and finally using blanket stitch to quilt all

the flowers down to the batting and backing material.

This is the backing material that I used which also wrapped

around all edges to create the 1 1/2" binding on the front

of the runner.

And the end result...

I didn't want the plates, napkins, baskets, trays and bowls to cover

up the flowers when I served cheese, crackers, chips, etc.,

to our guests so that's why the beige pieces were

pieced in between (and quilted with cloud shapes using a beige thread).

Important Blog Info...

 Hi Friends of Don & Nancy Harvey's Blog

"Blogspot.com" will be discontinuing the automatic e-mail notification

if you signed up for it...  and I know some of you have. 

This is the latest reminder that I received from them.

After August 2021, your feed will still continue to work, 

 but the automated emails to your subscribers

 will no longer be supported. 

So friends, this means my blog will still be posted on

harveyrider.blogspot.com

but you will not be notified when I post.

SO, you'll need to stop by my blog site occasionally

to see what's new.  Hope you continue to do so...

Nancy & Don

Windy, Wet Walk

A Wet flag was blowing in the Wind and a gentle

rain was still falling as I headed out the door for my morning walk.

When the forecast looked like this when

I got up, I decided to go for it.  Yes that says 72 degrees.

And you know from prior posts 85 has been our 

overnight low for weeks on end. 

 No chasing shadows as usual,

since there was no sun in sight.

But the stunning flowers of the Red Bird of Paradise

continued to bloom brightly in the grey early morning light.

We had hours of thunder and lightening  during

the night and every low spot was filled with water,

which created fascinating reflections.

And the desert was happy to have a drink as it had been

months and months  of a serious dry spell.

About a week ago we had a huge windstorm and many of the homes

along the desert were severely damaged.

Walking along the greenbelt is often shady but today

I wasn't worried about the sun.  However I had to deviate from

my planned agenda

several times, 

but it was well worth it because there was always

 a visual delight ahead.  And sometimes the  rain enhanced the

reflections.

My wet and windy walk got some help from the

sprinkler system too.

This was one of my favorite shots.  

(Remember you can click on any photo for a larger view.)

(When watching the videos, click on full screen to view

and then "esc" to return to the blog.)

A few of  my favorite birds also had something to say

about this windy, wet morning.  At first there were four

then two took off to catch a thermal and the remaining two

decided to follow suit, so I decided it was time 

for me to head for home.