More Fiber Postcards - from 2006 09-18-09

Since I have postcards on my mind and I don't want to share what I am working on I'm sharing some from the past. These were all part of the FFAC sale at Quilt Festival 2006 and measure 6"W X 4"L. The "pumpkin" background is a scrap from my quilt "Cactus Flower", the rest of the backgrounds are strip pieced from my scrapbag. I should have gone back and cropped these a little more... too late now!

"Bluebird in the Pumpkin Patch" Postcard Del Thomas Aug 2006

Owned by Ruth Powers of Carbondale, KS

"Little Green Bird" Postcard Del Thomas Aug 2006 Owned by Franki Kohler Oakland, CA

"Duck in a Maze" Postcard Del Thomas Aug 2006 Owned by Jeri Riggs of Dobbs Ferry, NY

"Green Bird" Postcard Del Thomas Aug 2006 Owned by Katherine Ferris Nicholson of Vermont

Fiber Postcards 09-17-09

Time to get serious about my postcard obligation - I joined an exchange group last spring and have not completed any of the "sets" I need to make. Mine will all be wildly different because I have not been able to make many at a time and by the time I get back to that particular set my mind and inspiration have moved on. I hope they won't mind. I don't feel I can show those until I actually send them out, so I am revisiting some from the past. All of these belong to someone else now.

"When the Shark Bites" 6" X 4" 2007 Owned by Mary Leakey of San Juan Bautista, CA

"Spring" 4" X 6" 2007

This is one of the least successful cards - perhaps because it started out as a larger work which didn't work. I don't think this works very well.

"Cactus Buds" 6" X 4" 2007

"Night Cactus" 6" X 4" 2007

This is the negative cut from "Cactus Buds" - two cards from one cut!

Wordless Wednesday 09-16-09

Cat Tale 09-15-09

(this picture is right side up!!)

This is Stanley Mahoney when he lived in Cheyenne, WY, in August 2004 - he is part Maine Coon cat and (I think) part monkey. He was up on top of the kitchen cabinets, staring down at me. He now lives in Tustin, CA. What a guy!

And he is the lead in to this wonderful cat cartoon:

What on Earth? 09-14-09

I have purchased a few quilts on the SAQA 2009 Auction - three, so far - and they are each little gems. But my BIG expenditure at the end of the summer has been a Noritz tankless water heater - something I have lusted after for several years. Yes, it is very expensive, but the decadent pleasure of having endless hot water that is really hot is, I think, worth it. I could have purchased a bunch of little foot-square quilts instead, but my water heater gave out and I came home to find water running out toward the big door. Sometimes it is necessary to "bite the bullet"! I'll let you know if my gas bill and water bill decrease in the next six months or so.

Joan Sowada quilt from TCQC 09-13-09

"Pink Purses in Rome" Joan Sowada 12" x 12"

This quilt was a purchase at the 2007 SAQA online auction. Since the 2009 auction is now in progress it seemed an appropriate quilt to show here. When I started collecting I wasn't interested in a lot of small quilts, even though my first purchase (also at an auction) was a small quilt, I wanted quilts with a presence. But in the last decade the quilts on the market seem to be getting smaller and smaller. I even have a collection of fiber art postcards that I continue to add to. I have found that these twelve-inch square quilts display very well if a number of them are space across a wall - either horizontally or vertically. I have a lot of respect for SAQA and their growth during the past ten years - I want to support them all that I can. Even though my acquisitions budget has taken a hit in the last year, I have set aside something so I can bid at the SAQA auction. Since so many people are in the same fix, this might be the year that you could start a small collection of small quilts - there will be bargains, I'm sure.

I have been interested in Joan Sowada's work since her quilt, the amazing "Cosmic Bicycle" was in Visions 2006 where it won the Cathy Rasmussen Emerging Artist Memorial Award. I don't know how 'emerging' she was at the time, but I had not heard of her. She doesn't have a website of her own, but you can see her work at http://www.avacenter.org/usergallery.php?ID=10

AVA Center is a group gallery in Gillette, Wyoming, where Joan lives. On the site she states, "The process of building image from fabrics, paint, oil pastel, embroidery floss and thread, creates multiple layers of visual interest and meaning."

I hope I will see more of her pieces in the future.

The Anniversary Cake 09-12-09

This is the gorgeous cake from Carol and Dick's 40th Anniversary party on August 29th. Their sister-in-law made it... from scratch! I didn't know anyone made cakes from scratch these days. She did all the decorating, of course, and I learned that she took the design and color from the napkins. It was quite a large cake (in diameter) and I wonder where they found the charming cake stand to hold such a width. I didn't taste the cake because I had to leave before it was cut, but Carol said it was a white cake.

I am up prowling in the wee hours, much to Corky's disgust. And I realized I had written this blog post, but never posted it. Another of those 'senior moments', I suppose.