Empty Spools - Last day of Session One 03-30-12

Not enough energy to post much tonight!


This is a path leading to Asilomar State Beach on Monterey Bay.   I'll have a few days rest and will try to catch up with the pictures of the class. 

Empty Spools - Day 5 w/Ruth B. McDowell 03-29-12

The time has gone so quickly - always does!  Tomorrow we need to have everything out of our sleeping rooms and our classrooms by 11am, so I need to do some packing tonight and, as usual, am sooo tired.  Necessity decrees this will be a short post. 

 
The pink Calla Lily is being created by Karen Melvin.  Her inspiration on the left, quilt in progress on right.

 
And these are the fabrics she brought to work with.

It is always interesting to see the fabrics that students bring to class (and purchase after they arrive here) and how they deal with them.  Some are very tidy and fold each piece after cutting.  Others just let them pile up and then stop to do a folding/tidying session when it becomes necessary.  Here are some examples.

 
These are for the Eucalyptus Tree.

 
These are for the magnolia blossoms.

 
In the suitcase and background are fabrics for the puppy and in the right foreground for the tree/corral.

 
This selection is for the rock wall and all the vegetation around it.

 
And at the adjacent table are selections for heliconia flower/foliage.

Empty Spools Day 3 & 4 w/Ruth B. McDowell 03-28-12

It was a bit of a stormy night - not wild, but rain and wind.  When I left the campus to drive into Monterey to Kinko's (which I know is now FedEx, but old habits are hard to break) the water in the Bay was still running with large breakers and flying spray.

I drove along Sunset, which is the longer way to go, just to see the white/grey/black colors.  Several couples were walking on the beach and I had to wait for this one to stand where they were against the sand rather than blending into the rocks. 

Back in the classroom this is my view when my table mate Martha Calahane has gone off somewhere - Kathy Calahane sits at the table to my right.  It is usually quite colorful in Ruth's classes and Wednesday is usually when the fabric comes out.

After the drawing marathon on Monday the students spend most of Tuesday and at least part of Wednesday refining the drawing, marking the seam lines and putting tick marks over them so the cut out pieces can be matched when they are sewn together.  With very complex designs many different colored pencils are helpful. 

After the design on paper is complete, it (or a copy) goes up on the design wall and fabric selection starts.  This is Carole Garcia's Eucalyptus Tree with the sky fabrics cut out and pinned where they will go.

Pat Thompson is selecting fabrics to indicate the water and stones behind the egret.  She found the perfect fabric with a circle within a circle for the eye.

Here is my Fuchsia with the picture pinned to my design board and half a dozen fabrics I have picked up at the fabric shops.  I'm considering the blue and white printed ikat fabric for the background.  I pinned up the red/pink/white/chartreuse piece in the middle just to keep things interesting.  "You aren't going to use that one are you?" has been asked several times.   

This evening a group of five old friends went to Passion Fish in downtown Pacific Grove for dinner.  It was a happy group and we enjoyed the excellent food.  I had sea scallops that were almost two inches across and cooked perfectly - they came with braised celery (one of my favorite veggies) and ...something else that was not memorable.  Perhaps it was polenta w/a slightly tomatoey sauce.   Sorry, no pictures - guess I'll have to go back!

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Empty Spools - Day Two with Ruth B. McDowell 03-27-12

Although today (Tuesday) was actually Day Three, I didn't take a single picture!  But I have those I took yesterday when Ruth was demonstrating how to develop a photo or drawing into a usable quilt design.  She pins up each student's design source, covers it with tracing paper and shows how it might be divided up into sections that can be sewn by placing the cut out fabric pieces face to face, sewing and pressing the seam. This drawing procedure is a complicated process and after making over 500 quilts and developing her original methods she is very quick and accurate.  With the exception of the full size drawing of the tree/corral all of these drawings must be enlarged and further work done to define seam lines and backgrounds and borders. 

Carole Garcia brought this picture of a solitary eucalyptus tree.  The dark lines are the sections that will be sewn together after the smaller pieces have been assembled.  The yellow is to help distinguish between the pieces that are sky and those that are tree. 

Toni Silvera came with a completed drawing and an idea to sew the corral section with straight seams and the overhanging tree with curved seams.  After the top and bottom sections are joined she plans to applique a group of people as the final layer before quilting.

Pat Thompson brought two images of egrets to choose between.

After some discussion about the pros and cons of each image the one on the left was selected and Ruth divided it up into sections and then continued to mark subsections.

Maria Lansberry brought a picture of a small girl collecting shells on the beach.  Ruth's hand with the pencil is pointing out a particular seam and explains why it is drawn a certain way.

This is the picture I brought with me - taken in Corky's neighborhood four years ago.

This is Ruth's drawing of the way it could be pieced.  I will need to enlarge the drawing and work on adding further piecing lines, background and border. 

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Empty Spools - Day 2 w/Ruth B. McDowell 03-26-12

Sorry about not posting yesterday, I was so exhausted I fell into bed about 10pm and slept until 4:30am!  Unheard of!  But it had been a busy day and lots of in & out and up & down.  My sleeping room is one that I am always happy to have in Pirate's Den (building) and the classroom is Nautilus (my favorite classroom here on the Asilomar campus).  Unfortunately they are not in close proximity and I have to go up/down stairs to the parking lot.  I'll survive, but it is very tiring and makes my ankle hurt.  Next session I will be in Pirate's Den again, but the classroom will be right across the driveway in Merrill Hall, so it will be much easier for me. 

 
Ruth B. McDowell with her quilt "Miner's Lettuce" 2007 35"W x 51"L  http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com/clients/rbm/catalog.cfm

Day One is just two hours - from 4 to 6pm - and Ruth showed some of her quilts and talked about them, pointing out things we should keep in mind when we are designing our own work.  I brought two of her larger quilts from TCQC to share with the class and to show on Thursday evening when she gives her talk.

 
On Day Two Ruth devotes the entire day pinning up each student's design inspiration (photo or drawing) and showing how the image might be developed into a quilt design.  It is a long process with 21 students and 21 entirely different designs so she is wiped out by 4pm.  Everyone watches and listens and takes notes and photographs to learn how to approach many different images.   On Day Three we will all work at creating a full size pattern from our design inspiration.  


I've been coming here for 21 years and long ago discovered that the best thing to do after class, especially the first long day, is to get away from the classroom, the students and the ideas whirling in my head.  My favorite escape is to drive along Sunset Dr., which follows the shore of Monterey Bay, and to stop to contemplate the view.  This was one view about 5pm today as the sun was sinking and the rain clouds were gathering - rain is predicted for tonight.  And my umbrella is in my car!!  Oh, well, maybe it won't rain. 

There were many otters playing around in the water, but it is impossible to get a picture without specialized photo equipment.  With my point and shoot I took this shot which has two of the little guys - one in the middle directly above the rocks and another toward the top right hand corner.  The other double dark spot is a rock. 

 
While I was trying to take pictures of otters this California Gull was looking on with disdain!