Looking south from the ranch headquarters porch, a.k.a the cabin.
Showing posts with label color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label color. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Delicious Northern New Mexico Autumn
With a title like that, you're probably expecting an apple recipe or some other thing besides a post about October here at The Nickel and Dime. But I promise a few more apple recipes soon, really.
The other day I took Ms. Pearl for a walk and was wowed by the fall colors against our blue sky. This shot is from our driveway which has pasture on one side.
I can watch the wind work its way toward us. It moves in the far trees and the grass, its path rippling through the amber like a wave through water. It's like I am in the ocean on a surfboard watching a golden swell come closer.
The air feels crisp but the sun is warm. Ms. P decides we should walk toward The Enchanted Forest. She swims in the beaver pond which makes her day complete.
On the way back, Pearl alternately trots alongside and disappears into the trees, but when I call her, she reappears, just like a magician's assistant. "Here I am," she says. "Why are you worrying?"
The grass swishes against my jeans legs and little teensy burrs grab onto the denim. I use a broom to sweep them off when we get home.
The other day I took Ms. Pearl for a walk and was wowed by the fall colors against our blue sky. This shot is from our driveway which has pasture on one side.
I can watch the wind work its way toward us. It moves in the far trees and the grass, its path rippling through the amber like a wave through water. It's like I am in the ocean on a surfboard watching a golden swell come closer.
On the other side of the driveway the oaks look brilliant.
The air feels crisp but the sun is warm. Ms. P decides we should walk toward The Enchanted Forest. She swims in the beaver pond which makes her day complete.
On the way back, Pearl alternately trots alongside and disappears into the trees, but when I call her, she reappears, just like a magician's assistant. "Here I am," she says. "Why are you worrying?"
The grass swishes against my jeans legs and little teensy burrs grab onto the denim. I use a broom to sweep them off when we get home.
Delicious
autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly
about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Happy First Day of Fall!
We spent the last days of summer in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, shopping, doing errands, and generally just bustling about town. It takes a little getting used to, the traffic, noise and people, but we adapt and I try to remember to drive with purpose while in town so no one honks at me to get the heck going.
Here's a shot of Albuquerque in October during the balloon festival.
Coming back home is a relief, though. This is how it looks on our way home. Breathing is easier and my face loses that squinchiness it gets when I am stressed.
At our place fall is making its presence known. The maple tree is losing its leaves.
The three loaded apple trees are An Event, since we only get apples every three or four years around here. Late frosts kill the blossoms.
I am trying to wrap my head around preserving them all. Drying, making apple pie filling, applesauce, and storing the very best ones seem like the way to go.
The grapes surprised me. I did what I thought was a klutz job pruning the vines and wondered if they'd even live. Here are the grapes from just one third of a grapevine.
Two baskets full of grapes made three and a half quarts of concord grape juice. I did the whole canning thing, crushing the grapes, extracting the juice in a big pot, and bottling and canning the juice. I wondered if it was worth all that work for three and a half quarts of juice. Then I looked at how much a quart of organic grape juice was at the supermarket. Dang! I made $24 worth of grape juice!
This winter I will climb the stairs to our bedroom closet, the coolest place in the house, and select a jar of grape juice. In the the kitchen I will open the jar and pour the summer of 2012 into my glass. Then I will inhale its essence and say, "Yep, it was worth it."
Here's a shot of Albuquerque in October during the balloon festival.
Coming back home is a relief, though. This is how it looks on our way home. Breathing is easier and my face loses that squinchiness it gets when I am stressed.
 | |
| That's not our home, but it's pretty, isn't it? |
At our place fall is making its presence known. The maple tree is losing its leaves.
The three loaded apple trees are An Event, since we only get apples every three or four years around here. Late frosts kill the blossoms.
I am trying to wrap my head around preserving them all. Drying, making apple pie filling, applesauce, and storing the very best ones seem like the way to go.
The grapes surprised me. I did what I thought was a klutz job pruning the vines and wondered if they'd even live. Here are the grapes from just one third of a grapevine.
Two baskets full of grapes made three and a half quarts of concord grape juice. I did the whole canning thing, crushing the grapes, extracting the juice in a big pot, and bottling and canning the juice. I wondered if it was worth all that work for three and a half quarts of juice. Then I looked at how much a quart of organic grape juice was at the supermarket. Dang! I made $24 worth of grape juice!
This winter I will climb the stairs to our bedroom closet, the coolest place in the house, and select a jar of grape juice. In the the kitchen I will open the jar and pour the summer of 2012 into my glass. Then I will inhale its essence and say, "Yep, it was worth it."
Happy First Day of Autumn!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-Quilt Colors in Nature
It wasn't until recently that I was able to choose colors for my quilt projects. Forced to harmonize fabric that went with a particular print, I was usually paralyzed and relied on my color savvy friends to help, or I bought everything in a particular fabric line to ensure that it all went together.
I'm not so much into matching anymore, but I do want my colors to harmonize and look like I made at least a few thoughtful choices. After a "Doh!" moment, I realized selvages help a lot, but I will save that for another post.
A couple years ago I bought the book Portraits from Nature by Jean Wells which showed how Jean uses photos of natural places to choose colors for her projects. This is good, but I took her idea a little further, exploring color generating websites to see what colors they could pull out from my photos.
If you read yesterday's blog post, you saw this photo below of the area behind our house in all its fall glory.
I found Color Palette Generator at the DeGraeve website. What you do is stick a photo's URL address into the box and in a minute or so it pulls out the major colors from the pic.
To the right of the photo are many, but not all, of the photo's colors. I was disappointed not to see the yellow-orange leaf colors, but heck, even this member of Densa International could figure that out.
Here's a shot of the Growing Dome from last spring, one of my favorites because of that beautiful blue sky. I tried Big Huge Labs website to see if there would be a difference in how many colors it could pull from the pic.
And yep, there was a big difference! This site picked out five more colors than the first one did. Some are close to alike, but still, I thought it was pretty neat-o.
Now if you were to have an ipad or other tablet computer, you could take a screenshot of the webpage and tote it to your LQS as a reference when choosing colors for a quilt. Or, if you have a color printer, you could print out the page and leave the hardware at home.
I'm not so much into matching anymore, but I do want my colors to harmonize and look like I made at least a few thoughtful choices. After a "Doh!" moment, I realized selvages help a lot, but I will save that for another post.
A couple years ago I bought the book Portraits from Nature by Jean Wells which showed how Jean uses photos of natural places to choose colors for her projects. This is good, but I took her idea a little further, exploring color generating websites to see what colors they could pull out from my photos.
If you read yesterday's blog post, you saw this photo below of the area behind our house in all its fall glory.
I found Color Palette Generator at the DeGraeve website. What you do is stick a photo's URL address into the box and in a minute or so it pulls out the major colors from the pic.
To the right of the photo are many, but not all, of the photo's colors. I was disappointed not to see the yellow-orange leaf colors, but heck, even this member of Densa International could figure that out.
Here's a shot of the Growing Dome from last spring, one of my favorites because of that beautiful blue sky. I tried Big Huge Labs website to see if there would be a difference in how many colors it could pull from the pic.
And yep, there was a big difference! This site picked out five more colors than the first one did. Some are close to alike, but still, I thought it was pretty neat-o.
Now if you were to have an ipad or other tablet computer, you could take a screenshot of the webpage and tote it to your LQS as a reference when choosing colors for a quilt. Or, if you have a color printer, you could print out the page and leave the hardware at home.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Quilty Pleasures-Taos Color, Quilt Inspiration
Orlando's New Mexican Cafe is my new favorite restaurant in Taos, but I'm not here to talk about the food, which is reviewed extensively by all the Yelpers and Trip Advisors and any other organizations out there devoted to finding good food while you're on the road. Suffice it to say that my stacked blue corn chicken enchiladas topped with green and Tom's blue corn soft tacos were excellent. We're here to talk about color today and how quilty inspiration can be found anywhere, even in a bathroom!
Taos is a town devoted to art, with galleries and museums on every block and around every corner. Orlando's decor reflects the artsy vibe in Taos, its outdoor dining patio and even the bathroom bathed in color.
When we walked up to be seated, all I could say was, "Oh!" Beautiful flowers abound and multicolored shade umbrellas keep the sun off diners on the patio. I love the horse trough planter and the tin can hanging pots. I will have to steal these ideas for my own yard.
This is the bathroom. There are a million ideas for quilts in here.
I wanted you to see the sun over the sink. I love the black tile, which gives the eyes a rest. I wish I had photographed the tile work on the right side of the photo, too. Next time, I guess.
Even the sink gets into the act. If I were to make a quilt, even the sink could provide color cues. I know you are out there, quilters and artists who also find inspiration in the bathroom. Where have you spotted some good ideas?
Taos is a town devoted to art, with galleries and museums on every block and around every corner. Orlando's decor reflects the artsy vibe in Taos, its outdoor dining patio and even the bathroom bathed in color.
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