The challenge for January at my guild, Valley MQG, is to use Pantone color of the year, ultraviolet. That means, pulling out all of my purple fabrics, turns out I have quite a few.
Purple is a very hard color to work with. Some love it, others hate it. I find that blues, greens or reds, all play nicely with one another, but the difference between a blue-purple or a red-purple can be jarring. I’m up for the challenge.
Now that I have the Lemoyne Star ruler, it should be easier to make these stars. I’m still trying to figure out the size. I thought this was going to be a 12.5″ block, it’s more like an 11.5″. 
Tilting the star changes the block size.
At this point, I’m still playing. Needless to say, I won’t be making a pillow, or a small project, this will become a quilt. I decided to make it medallion style. I found a feather star pattern I like.
Unfortunately, it is paper piecing and I wasn’t in the mood. So I tried to adapt to piecing, using the paper piece pattern and adding seams.
It worked ok. As you can see, the complementary color of purple is yellow. This background has a lot of green in it, although it didn’t photograph that way. I worked along and it wasn’t going all that well.
The pattern is available for 12″ and 18″. I am using the 18″, except by accident I used the 12″ center. then there were problems with the corners….
Halfway through I switched to paper piecing after all.
Combing both my pieced and paper-pieced sections, I put the star together!
Now, to start building up the medallion. I like quilts to be used, therefore it is much better if they are rectangles. So right off the bat, I start elongating the block. I had a lot of fun figuring out the first border. Now to incorporate those first stars into subsequent borders as well, and to share what I’ve done so far with the guild.
This image isn’t mine. I found it online, although I see this building all the time, I haven’t photographed it.
Two elevator rides up and we are on the 70th floor. Looking down on the slide. My fear of heights prevented me from going down this. Others in my group did it and enjoyed it.
Well, maybe they didn’t enjoy it as much as they claimed……
I was happy to have my picture taken with the angel wings. So why did this not scare me? Because it feels stable and solid. Because that thick glass is high and I don’t feel like I will fall. That slide is 100% glass, sitting, even for a moment on the glass would have freaked me out.
The views! The day was so clear and bright, we had strong winds the day before. So the views were spectacular. You know me, I have a whole collection of images of the Hollywood sign from all kinds of angles. How about this one! 
Or the Broad Tower, with views of Santa Monica bay beyond. This is now the tallest building west of the Mississippi. The US Bank tower is on higher ground. But if they stood side to side, the Broad would be taller, and not only because of the spire. But they don’t have an observation deck.
Just looking south at the massive landscape of Los Angeles.
Staples Center, the Convention center and the old Hotel Figueroa. Also the cross of the 10 and the 110 freeways.
Looking down on buildings I only see from the ground. This is the gas flame of the Gas Company Tower. Built at same time as the US Bank building. Both bought air rights from the library, that money was used to renovate and expand the library. Next to it, well really across the street, is the Biltmore Hotel and in front of that, Pershing Square.
On the other side, The Bonaventure Hotel. A law that was rescinded recently said that all buildings over a certain height in Los Angeles, have to have a helicopter pad. The number indicates the weight that can land. The Broad was built after the law was changed, maybe now we’ll start to see more interesting rooflines on buildings.
Look at a map of Los Angeles, the streets in downtown are slightly torqued, they don’t follow the north-south grid. When the first design of Los Angeles was proposed by Lieutenant Ord, back in 1852, he followed the Spanish tradition of having the north facing streets be more to the Northwest, so that all angles would get more sunlight. I’m not sure that the Bank of America building is perfectly on the correct axis, but it is more so than all of its neighbors which makes it stand out like a sore thumb. As the city grew, the streets returned to a north-south, east-west axis.
City Hall looks so small from above. Beyond it, Union Station with the railroad tracks.
The yellow brick building is the Bradbury Building. I have often looked up at the glass atrium. It’s large. Looking down at it, I realize how very large it really is.
With the holidays over, it’s fun to have shows and events popping up. Every year it is fun to drive down to Ontario and see the quilts as well as enjoy a great shopping experience. I have to say, I often find the booths and vendors more enticing than the quilts.
This quilt grabbed my attention. Because with all the hatred of Israel it’s nice to find a little piece of love. I didn’t take down the names of the quiltmakers, I was running around enjoying the show. I know, everyone wants recognition, but I’m not publishing a book, just a blog.
The Ventura modern quilt guild is collecting blocks to make quilts for the victims of the Thomas fire. My guild is making quilts as well, I was happy to bring some blocks here. They have already given out 40 quilts to displaced foster children. Nothing warms a heart like a handmade quilt.
Had to get a picture with Latifah, she started the modern quilt movement and now is busy making a living with her own products. More power to her!
Red and white, right after I shot this picture I was told, no pictures. In this day and age, I don’t get that. If you don’t want images shown, then don’t put your work in shows. I understand a vendor saying no photography, they are selling items, and often taking a picture of something will mean you won’t buy the product. But a show is a show. 
Here I am trying to figure out how the designer made the overlay image fit perfectly into the background. I think it’s easiest to see with the giraffe, it’s all the same pattern, but the colors are different. I didn’t read the label, just stood and admired.
What I love, take a pattern, and make it different ways. 
Combine the idea of a woven coverlet and yet make sure that it looks like a quilt.
I’m pretty sure that most years the winner of the big award has applique. Yes, I am impressed with the workmanship here. Color, design and quilting are also exquisite. 
English paper piecing, I’ve seen this quilt done before, but usually have only seen a picture. Nice to see one IRL.
Nothing in particular about these quilts, I just liked them. There were many others I liked just as well, but I didn’t take pictures of everything.
I fell in love, I knew the pattern wouldn’t be available until at least September. When it was, it seemed to be sold mostly as a kit with these specific fabrics. Makes sense, Annie Brady is a new fabric designer and to showcase her line, she designed this quilt. Luckily I was able to purchase just the pattern.
With most of my quilts, I’m happy to dig into my stash, but it’s always fun to buy a few new fabrics as well.
I like calling this method of construction the Elizabeth Hartman method. Using half square triangles, all kinds of snow balls, one creates the animal. In this case Annie Brady used some pattern pieces as well.
At this point, I called the quilt done. I hadn’t paid attention to the size listed on the pattern, 60″x 70″. Numbers don’t mean much to me, but this is a baby quilt. Another row of 10″ blocks all around would make this a very nice youth or lap quilt. So I stopped here. 
I usually use cotton batting for a baby quilt. No more! All I had was wool and it made the quilting so much easier! I used my ruler on most of the bear, you can see it in the ear. I also did ruler work to create diamonds in the background. It worked really well.
Then I went off on vacation in Belize. I was anxious to get back and finish up this bear. This picture is taken after a wash and dry in my machines. Unlike cotton, it crinkled up some, but not a lot, which to be honest I prefer. I find that with cotton batting crinkle, you lose all the quilting definition. Here it isn’t quite as crisp as it was before washing, but the quilting designs still stand out.
See what I mean? Especially on the background. Where you can’t really see the quilting is on the very busy print fabrics.
I mentioned having fun with rulers. I used them all over the bear itself. 
I’m so happy that my ruler work is improving. Using wool batting is a big part of that success. Working on a small quilt is also much easier.
Using up stash fabric for the backing. You get a better sense of the quilting on the back.
Some artistic shots.
These dogs at Duplooy’s have a very good life.
So do the birds, they have their own special feeding area, this Aracara is related to the Tucan. I love the markings on his beak, that make it look like sharp teeth.
Yellow wing Tangier, lucky for me they had a bird guide right there. Although I must say, the people who work here do know all the names.
A vulture cooling its wings.
The Kinkajou, a little marsupial that comes down for bananas most nights.
Not all birds are alive, this is the doorknob into a resort in San Pedro.
A spider monkey enjoying the Mayan ruins. We also saw an agouti, the picture was so blurry, not worth sharing.
How often have you seen a Charlotte’s Web spider web?? Tiny but so perfect.
I wasn’t very close to this iguana, we were floating by in the river – he is yuuuuge!
A frog decorating a fence. Happy fellow. 
A tunnel made out of living bamboo.
A very narrow tunnel in a banyan tree.
Doesn’t get any redder than this.
Or otherworldly than this.
our resort, Ramons’ Village, is lovely. Cabins set in a jungle like,e setting, as small as the property is, we’d get lost at night trying to find our cabin. Here is the view down the path to the beach. 
The beach, this island really doesn’t have much beach, this resort built out a sea wall and imported a lot of sand in order to create a large beach. 
The colors are pure Caribbean. 
some structures need help.
Old anchor 
School is one block up in town. They have an hour and a half lunch break. Some kids go home, some hang out on the beach. 
Christmas isn’t quite over, I tried hard to frame the elf, Jesus, the church and the palapa in the background. Sort of tells the story of this town in one shot. 
Many buildings in town are painted brightly, every street sign has a fish atop it
The whole area is tiny, so seeing the back of houses is not unusual. If you think these people are poor, take a look at the air conditioning unit. The tropics take their toll on buildings quickly. The traffic is like LA but with golf carts, bikes and a few vans. 
I have no ice what this caveman in the traffic circle represents. 
we rented a golf cart and with a young couple we had met at DuPlooy’s we drove 10miles north to Secret Beach. It isn’t secret anymore, but the last 4 miles were on a very bumpy dirt road. There were a lot of people here. Because of the road condition we didn’t want to stay for sunset, so we went back and stopped at a place called the Truck Stop. A bar and food trucks all in shipping containers. They had an area for games, they show movies outdoors on Wednesday nights. It’s only two years old, but it is thriving. 
They are on the lagoon side, so this is no joke. We didn’t see one, but other people told us they had. 
someone’s heaven.
It was the perfect place to watch the sunset. 
Goodbye to Belize and a wonderful vacation.
Here we are on the Macal river, with a canoe and no guide. Joel went up to ask where he is, he’ll be right down. Nope, he never showed. Our salvation came in Roxanne, the resort accountant, although she had never canoed down the river she was game. So were we, let’s go on an adventure.
A group of canoes came upstream, luckily for us, we were going downstream. 
We had to navigate some rapids, being in a metal canoe meant we scraped up on some rocks and had to avoid low hanging branches. No one fell out!
Cows grazed along the shore. Roxanne told us her story. She was born in San Ignacio, due to an aunt in Tulsa OK, she was able to go there and study accounting. Now, she is back home, working at DuPlooy’s.
A tiny waterfall. We joked about her job description. How this can be an additional part of the job. 
Over two and a half hours rowing on the river is a long time. By the end, the river was wide and flat and we were tired. Of course we were thrilled to see the bridge that indicated that we had arrived! Just make it under the bridge and we are there. 
look who else came out to greet us, a very large male iguana. He is yuuuge!
We landed. 
we made it safely. We wore the life vests, for whatever they worth. Roxanne otoh didn’t have one. Ah Belize.
Since this is her hometown she now became tour guide. The resort sends everyone to a certain restaurant in town, that is where the oars and vests are stored. That is where pickups are arranged. I’m sure the food is good, but we wanted local. 
So we went to her favorite local place, yup, just as good as Benny’s. Then she borrowed her moms car, and we drove back, seeing her home, her elementary school and her moms restaurant. We would have gone there, but it’s closed on Mondays.
this is a small archeological dig, but just right! To get there we needed to cross a river. 
we crossed on a hand cranked ferry. 
For years I toured the Central American gallery at LACMA, so I know how little we know about the Maya. I take information with a bowl of salt. At this site most of the structures or this Temple were rebuilt. People won’t come to visit an area that only has faint footprints of buildings. So they rebuild. 
The smooth rocks are original, the jumble of rocks above are what was rebuilt. Clearly the Maya took more time and effort. One of the ideas about the smooth stones is that they burned the limestone, ground it to dust and then created smooth bricks. That takes a lot of clear cutting and burning trees. So no, the Maya weren’t great stewards of their environment. 
These glyphs are reproductions, based on the remains they found. Gives you an idea of how tall the Temple was. 
This would never be allowed at the bigger sites, or heaven forbid in the US, very different rules here. Just so you can see how high up we are:
There is a small ball court. There are so many theories about the game, I think it was just a precursor to soccer.
A very compact site. There is a lot more to uncover, but it’s not clear there is the money to do so. The Mayans were a very stratified society, rulers, who could read and write. Middle class who did most of the higher level work and then the masses of hard working laborers who did all the manual work. So as the surroundings were degrading, society fell apart. The lowest class probably melted back into the distant forests, with the skills to survive. The other classes, not so much. With them was lost the lore and The ability to read and write. Many claim to be descendants of the Mayans, genetically, they are, but none of the culture survived.
On our way back we watched horses go on the ferry, then it was on to the best restaurant for rice and beans and stewed chicken. These foods are common throughout Central America, yet each country has it’s own spices and flavors. The Mayans May have had beans, but no rice (Asia) or chicken either. They probably ate the local rodents.
A visit to San Ignacio, the nearby town. You can see what I mean by bright colors. A three story building is unusual, I was wondering, is this Art Deco, or Mayan influence? I’m going with Mayan.
The colors! The population here is one big melting pot, native, African, European, East Indian and Chinese. They all seem to mix. One the surprising things was to learn that there are. There are Mennonite and Amish communities as well. Most of the Amish are up north, we did see one woman with a long blue dress and a Mennonite with her tiny bonnet and floral dress. 
Love the name of this street. Just around the corner we stopped for a rum tasting. We got a history lesson along with many tasty rums. I do enjoy visiting local distilleries when possible. Who knew rum was so good on its own. 
The Macal river, the bridge was built in 1949, the other side is Santa Elena, but they operate as one town. 
So glad we didn’t stay in this ‘hotel’. 
A row of typical houses. Especially the unfinished second floor, that is a hallmark of third world countries. I like how the blue house on the corner fits into it’s unusual shape, especially that roofline. 
A church, the countryside is full of them, every denomination is represented. 
English is the official language since Britain controlled Belize till independence in 1981. Most people speak a Creole or pidgin. I just Love these signs.
We were greeted by a Goddess and by Rosie. This is the way I see her every day. No work for her.
More garden statuary.
These fearsome Collared Aracaris get first choice at the fruit. 
Only later can other birds join in. 
A Kinkajou is tempted down most evenings with bananas. 
30 years ago this area was stripped bear for farming, but wasn’t doing too well. The DuPlooy Family bought the land and painstakingly brought back the jungle. Along with the lodge they have created the biggest ecological garden in the country. 
some of the flora in the garden.
Jungle and bridge.
Bamboo is not native to Central America, it thrives. Look at the tunnel it creates. 
The beach, and the cliff on the other side of the Macal river.