Aullwood Audubon Exhibit

Two of my quilts are just returned from the Aullwood Audubon Exhibit, "It's A Green World" in Dayton, Ohio.

I've participated in this show a couple times before because I really love the nature-based themes they choose, suits a lot of the work that I do.

A very nice quilter Michigoose (Lisa Broberg Quintana) blogged about the entire exhibit, and did a review of my two quilts, so check out her blog if you want to see more of the art quilts that were displayed.

The first is Creation City.

The statement I wrote to go with it is: "An idealized vision of a city whose purpose is to create. The city is immersed in and completely a part of the natural world which surrounds it."

And here's a detail so you can see the quilting a bit better.

And the second one is Sun Garden.

The statement I wrote about it is: "The sun rules this garden where traces of it remain in all the flowers and plants."

And here is a detail shot so you can see the crazed-sketch quilting. I remember choosing to use this dark green/brown almost black because I thought it would give a sketched quality to the collaged fabric.

Vast Beauty of Crater Lake

Crater Lake (Oregon), was our next stop. I'd forgotten just how jaw-droppingly beautiful it is and wanted to share it with you here with a whole ton of pictures.

We were greeted by little critters at every stop as we drove around the rim of the crater.

I couldn't believe how many beautiful flowers there were, just growing out of the pumice left behind by the volcanic explosion that created the crater that is now a lake.

As we drove around the Rim Trail the color of the lake changed with the cloud cover and color of the sky.

The deepest lake in the US, a closed ecological system with such amazingly clear water.

I love this picture of the broken sign, it looks like Zach is running away after breaking it.

There is Wizard Island, a cinder cone in the center of the lake. We missed getting to take the boat tour out there by 1 minute (the people in front of us in line got the last seats of the day, sigh).

The whole foreground in this photo is all pumice which is so weird and soft and crunchy to walk on. Can you still see Wizard Island?

So many cool rock formations all around the lake.

Danger Kid!

Rock. Sky. Cloud.

Vidae Falls.

Even more different flowers at Vidae Falls.

I wish I knew all the names of the flowers. The pictures will have to suffice.

This one might be a lupin, but don't quote me on that.

Looked like an effortlessly perfect garden planting. I suppose it was!

This is the Phantom Ship which is supposed to look like a pirate ship.

It wasn't visible unless you were at the right viewpoint.

It may not really look like a Phantom Ship but it is certainly picturesque.

The Pinnacles is a grouping of volcanic spires, never seen anything like them before.

They are what is left over after the lava flow from the volcanic eruption that made Mt. Mazama into Crater Lake. Just so strange and delicate looking.

Windblown flowers on the edge of the crater.

We snagged a fellow tourist to take our picture. Too bad my lens was dirty, oh well.

A closer shot of Wizard Island.








And closer still, just look at the color of that water in the smaller pools!

To end the picture extravaganza, some lowly lichen. Such a brilliant color!

Underground and On The Water

Back from vacation, and trying to get back in the swing of things. Here are some pictures from the first part of our family trip. We went North. Our first stop was Lake Shasta. It seemed really low on water, but we were told that this was the highest water level in several years (yikes!).
I took a lot of pictures as we walked along the floating houseboat dock in Holiday Harbor. We checked out all the houseboats for rent, it looks like a lot of fun to do with a group....maybe next year.
I'm always fascinated by how things (and people) look reflected in moving water). I love this one of Zach at the bottom of the boat launch.

Oh and rusty things, of which there were plenty being on the water and all.

Winches with rusting metal. Some newly painted.

Some not. Near our campsite were osprey nests, way up on the top of the power towers.
This one was totally giving me the evil eye, probably because I was lurking around underneath taking pictures.

A rare shot of Mt. Shasta's summit! I've never seen it, always was covered in clouds whenever I've been here.

Right before we left, I asked on Facebook for recommendations of fun stuff to do on our trip, and Maureen said to go to Lake Shasta Caverns. So we did! It was super fun, and if you like going deep into Mother Earth and don't have trouble with stairs and confined spaces, I say go for it! You take a boat over to the other side of the lake and a bus ride up the mountain to the visitor's center where I found a bear to pose with. Go Bears!

I didn't take notes or anything on the tour so I can't recount what all these formations are, except to say "Wow!"

and "Cool!"

Cave People!

This is the original ladder down into the caves, so glad you don't have to that way anymore.

Looks like a fancy wedding cake to me.

Or maybe beautiful curtains.

Cave Alex! Ask him how many steps. He counted. The big "cathedral" ceiling. Breathtaking.