Quilts from TCQC 09-26-08

"Crowsline" June Underwood 2002 45"W x 20.25"L

A long-time attraction to the antics of crows led June to do a series of quilts with crows and dragons. When I first saw this quilt I thought the crow in the center foreground was a little too strange, but not long after I hung the quilt on my wall I saw a crow with the same body language on the curb across the street. He was indignantly complaining to his fellows who were bathing in the gutter. Guess he must have moved here to be near his quilt!

The first June Underwood quilt I saw was one she made to celebrate the birthday of a friend "Zee and the Crow-nies". http://tinyurl.com/5yzptr

I was enchanted with the imagery and found the crows to be very crow like, and sparsely drawn. Of course, it belonged to the honoree, so I looked at June's website often to see what was new, which is how I happened to be "Del on the spot" when "Crowsline" was posted. June creates the fabric she uses in her quilts - painting, dyeing, discharging, stenciling, over dyeing - whatever it takes to get the look she wants. She does extensive quilting which gives a wonderful texture to the fabric surface. There are several June originals in the Collection. Check her website: http://www.juneunderwood.com/

Quilts from TCQC 09-25-08

I apologize for not posting this last evening. Unfortunately my Broadband connection disappeared and I couldn't identify the problem. This morning the problem has solved itself - computer gremlins, no doubt. Del =============

"Getting My Ducks in a Row" Pamela Allen 2005 33"W x 46"L

And a detail image.

Artist's statement: "I had been feeling glum after a string of sad events, when my little grandson gave me a picture of a duck he had drawn. Seemed like a signal to me to get on with life, so I enlarged his drawing and this quilt was born."

This quilt 'spoke to me' the minute I saw it. The color, the balanced design, the intense quilting, the "get on w/life" aspect and those lovely skeleton ducks across the bottom. My only hesitation was about the embellishments. The clouds in the sky are raining strings of beads and the lady's hair is also strings of beads. They are perfect for this quilt. However, I do trunk programs and ship quilts to museums and galleries, which is very hard on embellishments. The quilts in the collection are rolled, covered and stored on shelves, except for those for which I need to invent special storage. Now I have an archival box large enough to store this quilt and a few others flat, unfortunately it still hasn't found a permanent place in my house! But soon.

Pamela's quilts are so individual, unlike any others I have seen - this is one of several in the Collection. I doubt that at my age I could loosen up enough to imitate her, but I have signed up for a class. It will help me understand her methods and it might even teach me how to play. www.pamelaart.com

Quilts from TCQC 09-24-08

"Copper Tree" Joan Colvin 2003 26"W x 65"L

This quilt is on page 38 in Joan's book "Joan Colvin: Nature's Studio". For quite a few years I had been asking her to sell me one of her quilts, but it never seemed to work out. Then in 2005 we were both at Asilomar and she had this quilt to show the students - the perfect quilt for me - I wrote the check and brought it home.

Great fabric selection, some are her own hand dyed (or discharged) fabrics - the little twigs in the background are a commercial batik fabric with a pattern of sea coral - and she included silk ribbon and copper wire ribbon twisted make some of the branches. With a studio light on it the copper sparkles as I walk past the quilt. It has a ethereal beauty common in Joan's work.

Joan died just a year ago, Sep 9th, 2007, a great loss to the art quilt community.

Quilts from TCQC 09-23-08

The photos I am showing you are from my files and are not professional images. If I had started at the beginning having professional pictures taken and continued that way it would have been spread out over time. But to have it done now would break my bank. Several years ago I started asking for a slide when I buy a quilt. Most artists have professional slides made and retain a number of copies, so it is not a great expense for them to include a slide with the quilt.

"Orange Peel Surprise" Freddy Moran 1997 62" square

I saw Freddy sewing the binding on this quilt in the hotel lobby at PIQF in Santa Clara. It was instant love! I didn't even ask the price when I told her I would buy it. Several months later I received the quilt and the bill. I was surprised at the price, but, as you see, I paid up and added the quilt to the TCQC. The moral is, I suppose, that one should ask first and then decide. But don't wait too long, a really great quilt will be gone in a flash - I have missed several by waiting too long to decide.

This quilt was sewn with Karen Stone papers in Freddy's unique choice of fabrics and colors. The 'surprise' is on the back - a wonderful bright fabric with cupcakes and hats and noisemakers. I always tell viewers that there is a birthday party on the back.

Freddy does not have a website.

Quilts from TCQG 09-23-08

Dijanne Cevaal is an Australian textile artist whose quilts I find fascinating - there are four in the TCQC, plus some fiber art postcards. In addition to creating fiber art, she teaches classes in Australia and Europe and has a wonderful self published book "72 Ways Not to Stipple or Meander (Ideas for Free [motion] Machine Quilting)". Info on the book be can be found on her blog at:

http://www.origidij.blogspot.com Or her see her earlier quilts at:

http://www.picturetrail.com/dcevaal

"Forest II" Dijanne Cevaal 2003 46"W x 42"L

This was the view from the window of Dijanne's studio in Victoria, Australia. The background is her hand dyed fabric. It is embellished with photo printed images of guinea fowl feathers drifting down from their roosts in the trees. Machine embroidered, Machine quilted.

This detail image shows the appliqued fabric guinea fowl feathers and some of the artist's outstanding quilting - usually with rayon threads.

"Banksias" Dijanne Cevaal 2005 12"W x 40.5"L

Free motion embroidery and quilting express the shape of these flowers very well. Banksias are native only to Australia and grow wild in Dijanne's yard; in the USA they are usually sold by the name Protea.

Quilts from TCQC 09-21-08

The Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection continues to grow. This fascinating quilt by Linda Colsh arrived last week after the traveling exhibit it was in concluded. I actually bought it in May 2007 when I saw Linda at the Studio Art Quilt Associates Conference in Athens, Ohio. Linda is an American, but currently lives in Belgium in connection with her husband's job, and she had carried from home several quilts for a traveling exhibit. I liked this one best and paid for it, agreeing that it would not come to me until after the last venue of the traveling exhibit. I'm so happy it is here now and hanging in my "prime" spot where I always hang the newest quilt - unless it is too large for that wall!

"Ewe Alone" Linda Colsh 2007 25-1/2" square

Artist's Statement: This the second in a small series about one's place in the vast universe - both the universe of place and also the universe that is time. Here, a cold and aloof ewe, very alone, stares out at her world, commanding it, daring the elements, staking out HER place.

Linda uses various surface design techniques to create the fabric patterns. Using images from her own drawings and photographs, she has applied computer printing and silk screening to plain white fabric. The fabric is then cut up and pieced together to make the front of the quilt. This piece is Machine Pieced and Machine Quilted.

Linda's quilts are seen in all the major exhibits, both in the USA and Europe. http://www.lindacolsh.com/index.html

She has donated a 12" square quilt to the online auction of the Studio Art Quilt Associates. It is on Page four at: http://www.saqa.com/newsebulletins/Squares08_1.aspx

Last Night at Camp Del 09-20-08

I think Corky knows today will be our last day for some weeks. When we were on our walk he 'shunned' me. I had to stop for a minute due to the heat and we sat down on this bench in a neighbor's front yard. He looked so cute, but he refused to look at me. Usually he will ham it a bit for the camera, but I took six pictures and he is looking away in all of them. He really knows how to hurt a gal, doesn't he? For several days I will be waking up at night wondering where he has gone - I'll even hear him in my sleep. I now sort of understand what mothers go through.