Quilt Festival - Long Beach '12 07-28-12

After three days I have yet to see even half of the quilts!  I have spent a lot of time talking to people about the Visions Art Museum while volunteering at the Visions table.  The biennial exhibit, "Brainstorms" will run from October 20 through February 17 and this is a good time to get the word out.  We are passing out bookmarks with the exhibit information and a little map on the back, along with brochures for membership (you should all be members!) and a card with info about the museum. 
Here are a few pictures I took today of quilts that caught my eye.


 

Such a soft and gentle image and done in colors that seem to reflect the 1947 world.  As always, I am attracted to quilts that have a little of the old in with the new, in this case the basket blocks down one side. 

It is very difficult to take pictures of the labels with the shadows cast by the pole lights - this label was not nibbled by a mouse! 

There are always a few tide pool quilts at large quilt shows, but this is the best one I have ever seen.  It appears that these are actual shells and stones and plants - NO, they are all fabric and thread.

The corrugated red shells appear to be pleated organza.

The barnacles are fabric and the wonderful sea star appears to be wrapped cord.


As most of you know I sponsored the Twelve by Twelve exhibit for Houston, Cincinnati and Long Beach.  And it has been a phenomenal success at each venue.  I am so glad that I was able to help so many quilters see this amazing set of 288 12" square quilts.  This is the first time I have seen them in-the-fabric and I am so very impressed with the growth of these twelve dedicated quiltmakers over the past five years. 

The quilts are hung with each artist's work located in the same place on each panel.  The top left pieces are all done by Deborah Boshert, the top center pieces by Gerrie Congdon... and so on. 

The Twelves book only shows the first set of quilt created according to themes selected by each member.

 

The second round of quilts is based on colors.  Again chosen by each member.  These twelve quilts reflect the colors of the eruption of Kilauea volcano, a color selected by Kristin La Flamme, the member who lived in Hawaii.  The placards below have very small print, but if you click on each image they will enlarge.  

The fourth round of the Colorplay series was purple/yellow, selected by Karen Rips.

I took these pictures at the very end of today when almost everyone had left the hall.  At most other times the area looked like this image below. 

Preview night at QFestival - Long Beach 07-26-12

Preview night at Quilt Festival is always a chance to look at the quilts without the crowds.  I didn't go around looking tonight as I was working at the Visions Art Museum, but tomorrow I will go back - looking, photographing and visiting.  I hope to post some pictures tomorrow evening. 

 
Del Thomas, volunteer, and Beth Smith, Director of Visions Art Museum, at Quilt Festival - Long Beach, CA.  Hanging behind them is Karen Cunegin's quilt "Change Your Mind"  2011 54" x 63" which was part of the Secrets and Stories exhibit that just closed at VAM.

Wordless Wednesday - Bird

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Original designs from my computer 07-24-12

Sometimes my computer presents me with her original version of a picture. Some of these are interesting enough that I snap a picture and occasionally I play around with the Picasa collage feature. The three below are possibilities, I can imagine them as quilts.



 
I am usually not able to go back and access the unmessed up photo, so I have no idea what this might have been originally. 

 
Same with this one - although I can imagine it as a lovely garden.  It is a cropped version of the image below.

The Ruth McDowell class in Kalispell June 6 -10, 2012 07-23-12

I had not planned to take more than a month to post pictures from the class with Ruth McDowell in Kalispell, MT.   Somehow my computer caught a "Mal" and had to be stripped to the bones and reloaded.  I am still having picture problems and need to talk to Picasa about them.  I have only good things to say about the online back-up service Carbonite.  They were very helpful in restoring my files and they are based in Maine so their English was excellent.  I can't say the same for McAfee - I had a difficult time communicating with their agents in India and I felt that their goal was to sell me further coverage rather than solve my problem.   My mental prowess is not what it once was and I have had a lot of trouble negotiating the ups and downs of this problem.  I hope I can solve the last little problems.  Several readers have sent names for computer "gurus" who might be available to help.


The class was held at the wonderful Quilt Gallery in south Kalispell. Shop owner Joan Hodgeboom has a good eye for fabric and carries a wide range of styles to serve her wide range of customers.

I've put together pictures of the progression of the different student projects.  Not all the pictures are great, but all the projects are represented.  It was a lovely group of ladies and the quilts they created were wonderful.  I was the only student who did not get into fabric, but anyone who has been in a class with me won't be surprised - I almost never do. 
  

https://picasaweb.google.com/DELQLTS/RuthMcDowellKalispellClassProgressionPix060612?authkey=Gv1sRgCIHE7Ov2ta3_hgE#

Deborah Boschert quilt in TCQC 07-22-12

Deborah Boschert, who is a member of the Twelve x 12 group http://twelveby12.org/index.html ,
   repeats many of the same motifs and techniques in her quilts, but she mixes them up so that each quilt is different.  This is the third quilt added to the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection. 
 The other two have been posted at:
 http://www.delquilts.blogspot.com/2012/02/deborah-boschert-gift-quilt-02-26-12.html
http://www.delquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/possibilities-deborah-boschert-2010-12.html

"Meandering Home" Deborah Boschert 2011  12" x 12" 
Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton embroidery thread.
Fusing, hand stitching, machine stitching and quilting.

The little two-branched trees are a reoccurring motif on Deborah's quilts, as are the long stitches over the center area of the fused binding. 

 She also repeats these tiny houses, and curving tendrils.  Deborah enjoys adding hand stitching to her quilts. On the sides she has used machine satin stitch instead of binding.

 She covers the backs of her quilts after the stitching is done - I'd much prefer to see the stitching, no matter how chaotic it might be.  A nice hand lettered label on which she lists her website as a contact.  www.deborahsstudio.com

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