Saturday, April 1, 2017

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies 15, Bees and the Guild Show Prep

Bees and Butterflies

My darling QS sent a butterfly card she made. It's beautifully tinted. So clever of her!

From April 2015 to April 2016 the cultivated honeybee population declined 44%. Bees typically die off in the winter when food sources disappear but for the last two years we've lost as many during the summer as the winter. You understand why this is a problem: bees pollinate 35% of the world's food.

Scientists generally agree that species face extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, and rampant chemical use. We can help by not using pesticides and keeping some "weedy areas" in our yards. Bees like to live in dead/dying plants.

Here's an interesting article about entomologist Robin Thorp's continued search for the Franklin bee. Since this bee doesn't make honey, why should we care? Monoculture creates increased risk for species collapse. When a disease strikes a species, the greater the diversity of related species, the more likely they are to recover. Remember the die off of American chestnut trees and the battle against oak wilt? When one tree becomes the singular street tree it may look "pretty" in a mechanical way but greatly increases the transmission of disease. There is strength in diversity. {Hmm. This hits some political notes today.}


SCVQA Quilt Show in Santa Clara

Our biennial quilt show runs this weekend. I'm part of the the stand take-down crew. We start after the 300+ quilts are down. It's a quick operation and much easier since we recently purchased new rods.

Not only is SCVQA a larger group but we have a wide diversity of quilting - art, traditional, modern, really a bit of everything. Each show highlights one or two noted quilters. This year Mel Beach and Sue Bianchi share their artistry. Both are award-winners. Mel, known for her lively colors and modern style, has several quilts touring with challenge quilts. Meanwhile Sue frequently creates works based on photos and/or heavily embellished with buttons. Both are talented artists with unique visions who enjoy sharing ideas. The show's up through Sunday! {Hint, hint.}

It was worth the effort to get Spiderweb and my old Sampler finished in time for the show. I also entered Boxes {finished in 2016} and hope to share details of these next week.

Here's a portion of the Sampler as it was being blocked.

Sampler Medallion quilt
Block the Sampler before the show

There's still some time to link up with #AHIQChineseCoins.

Although {once again} I haven't made a kaleidoscope or butterfly block, I plan to share a design next month. Tune in and let's see how colorful we can be in May.

Enjoy the day, Ann

InLinkz removed because it was hacked.

8 comments:

KaHolly said...

Excellent post. I linked up with an older post...I hope that's okay. XO

Ann said...

We're singing in chorus and this is the time of year to raise our voices. Frankly, we're running out of time. I think we all need to change our yards to native, without chemicals and quit blaming someone else - farmers, etc. Change begins at home. Thanks for posting.

PaulaB quilts said...

When they widened the main arterial here in Monona, a number of big old trees were removed. But they have replanted with many varieties including some flowering ones, so there will not be the monoculture problem again. And here in Wisconsin all the roadsides are being restored to prairie habitat. It's so nice to see cornflowers, echinacea, Queen Anne's lace and milkweed in bloom wherever you go. The first prairie restoration occurred right here at the UW arboretum. It's so nice to see these good changes.

Monica said...

That is great that you got spiderweb done for the show. Down to the wire! I have not seen that sampler quilt before. The centre block is gorgeous! Very impressive. Is there a pattern somewhere?

Ann said...

It's a Godey Book design from 1858 which I believe I found in an old Jinny Beyer pattern book. I drafted it myself.

Ann said...

How wonderful that Wisconsin is restoring habitats and replanting native trees in variety rather than monoculture.

Monica said...

Wow! Great job. I love those triangles around the edge of the circle. Imagine a smaller version as a repeating block. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Janie said...

Beautiful quilt and butterfly card from your friend.
You are busy, SCVQA is a great guild I've been a member in the past
hope to be able to be there again.