Monday Browsing + Portal 12-30-13

Keep your eyes on ….what?   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/watch-keep-a-close-eye-on_b_4476313.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D423004

Where are you from?   http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0     [My map showed  Sacramento, Stockton and Salt Lake City, places I have never lived.  At least it showed I am a Westerner. Del]

Ads worth a second look…  or a third… or many: https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/mgCIKGIYJ1A?hl=en&fs=1&autoplay=1

I’ve checked up on Viewpoints9 – they have done some interesting work in the last few months.

http://viewpoints9-2.blogspot.com/

 

Aliaga home in Lima, Peru  Photo by Nancy Ota November 2013 

A Corky quilt in TCQC 12-29-13

This is one of my favorite quilts and it is even more precious now that Corky has died.  I think Diane captured the special look of this dear little poodle and she had never met him.  She used pictures from my blog to create her design. 


"Corky Encounters Nature"  Diane Perin Hock - Healdsburg, CA  2011   12"x12"
Cotton fabrics, illusion netting, cotton batting, fusible.  Machine appliqued and quilted.
 

I especially loved Corky's tidy little feet - they weren't quite this bony, but I think Diane's fabric choice is amazingly accurate.  I must say that Corky never paid any attention to the critters he encountered; I've seen him ignore a pair of ducks that walked within two feet of him.  He didn't even mind cats as long as they weren't in his yard or mine.
 

I've put in this duplicate which I sharpened so you can see the illusion netting that covers the entire quilt.
 

The white-on-white fabric really shows up in this picture.  Who knew that someone prints fabric with poodle curls on it? 
 

Diane is a member of the 12X12 Int'l group and this quilt was part of the gift of 12 they gave me because I sponsored their touring exhibit.   She didn't put a contact on the label - guess she hasn't heard me nagging people to do so. 
 

The backing and sleeve are a beautiful cabbage print.

Thank you, again, Diane.

Christmas Lights 12-28-13

I'm not really big on Xmas lights, but I tend to like the more subdued ones best.  The Book Group ladies were talking about where there are spectacular lights in in our area and I happened to pass one of those streets, so I took a look.  Only about a dozen houses in a cul-de-sac and only two did not have decorations. 

I thought this might do as a "Portals" image, but one cannot even see the door. 

Nice reindeer - they have an opaque "skin" with the lights inside.

Lights done like this are more effective when there are many trees of the same kind.  But there is something especially charming about these two rangy specimens.

Friday Feet and Jacaranda tree 12-27-13

Czech women predict on Christmas whether they will marry in the next year by throwing a shoe over their shoulders while standing with their backs to the house door. If the shoe lands with the heel toward the door, the woman will stay single for another year.
(From Huff Post - World  12-24-13)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pod that I posted yesterday comes from a Jacaranda tree.  The trees bloom in early June and the pods are revealed when the leaves fall in the autumn.

Jacaranda Tree in bloom - Orange, CA  June 2009

Wordless Wednesday 12-25-13

 

The end of the 2013 Xmas cartoons 12-24-13

 

 

 

 

Monday Browsing + Portals 12-23-13

Winners at 2013 Houston Quilt Festival:  http://www.quilts.org/winners.html

Interesting comparison of “-ough”:  http://dictionary.reference.com/?sshow=ough

For dog lovers:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2X3cecTU3w&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL6FDA762F19FD9F3B

Who is deciding what we read?   I find this more than a little frightening:
 http://mail.aol.com/38236-111/aol-6/en-us/mail/DisplayMessage.aspx?ws_popup=true

Crossword Puzzle addicts might appreciate this.  [WA is for the state of Western Australia.]

http://www.watoday.com.au/national/centenary-of-crosswords-word-nerds-pay-tribute-to-puzzle-inventor-arthur-wynne-20131220-2zqyz.html

Now, THIS is a happy dance!

 http://www.edisproduction.de/2013/10/20/man-with-awesome-dance-moves-will-amaze-you/

This blogger talks about speakers who have visited her QGuild in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Interesting.

http://rebecka-rasmataz.blogspot.com/search/label/Quilts

 

A Holiday Portal - San Clemente - 12-17-13

"A Rash of Flamingoes" Ruth B. McDowell 12-22-13

Just a few weeks before the current exhibit was hung at Visions Art Museum an estate auction company in Olympia, WA, contacted Ruth McDowell (using the contact on the quilt label - hint, hint) about this quilt which they found in the possessions of a lady who had recently died. The estate people had never seen anything like it and had no idea of its value.
After talking to the lady, Ruth told her that she might know someone who would be interested in buying the quilt and gave her my number.  Then she called me.  I could hardly wait.  When the call came I told the lady that I could not go to Olympia for an auction, but I was interested in buying the quilt outright.  We came to agreement on the price and I called my credit card company to warn them - my limit isn't very high and wouldn't cover the quilt.  And the estate company wanted either cash or credit card.  They shipped the quilt and I had just enough time to photograph it and get the photo in the gallery guide.  Whew.  Since I was taking it to VAM I didn't hang it in my house, so the first time I ever saw the quilt on the wall was at the gallery.  It looks fabulous!  Thanks to Ruth for making the quilt and for making my connection.


"A Rash of Flamingoes"  2000  Ruth B. McDowell - Colrain, MA  100"W x 52"L
Commercial, hand-dyed, batik cotton fabric; cotton batting, cotton threads.
Machine pieced and quilted.
This quilt appears in Ruth's book "Fabric Journey", publ by C and T 2005. and in "Ruth B. McDowell's Design Workshop" publ by C and T 2007.

Ruth sold this quilt in 2000 to a lady who lived in Alaska, so I'm happy that the Flamingos are finally in the sunshine of sunny Southern California.

Ruth does such amazing things with her fabric choices.  Who else would use one fabric between the legs and others in the background? 

A rather realistic eye staring out at us.

Notice the flowery fabrics (like 30s reproductions) used for feathers.
I think of the silvery ribbon fabric at the bottom left as the water the flamingos are wading in.

The value contrasts make these guys look three dimensional.

This is a quilt I could hang with the back out.  Merimekko is wonderful, isn't it?

A fancy label.  Notice that there is a street address so someone can contact the artist.

What a mess! 12-21-13

Before I can do much sewing I need to clean up this mess. 

Clouds 12-20-13

On Wednesday it was cooler and we had these fantastic clouds.  Clouds are not as much a part of our "skyscape" as they are in other parts of the country.   And these are most unusual clouds.  The sun was just starting to dip behind the horizon creating the pink cast.  

 

Somehow they look different when the trees are eliminated.

These were not rain clouds.  Those came yesterday with rain, thunder, lightning and, in some areas of the LA Basin, hail.  Anaheim, which is about a mile down the street, had the highest rainfall, about 3/4 an inch.  So, everything is washed off and crisp and green and shiny.

Temps will be in the low to mid 70s for Christmas Day.  

Wordless Wednesday 12-18-13

12-26-11  LHC, AZ  Click to enlarge.

Monday Browsing + Portals 12-16-13

How about using fabric instead of paper?   I’m trying to work out a method for fusing.

http://www.stampingwithbluemooncreations.com/my_weblog/iris-folding-instructions-and-video-tutorial.html

Separating eggs tutorial:  http://www.handimania.com/diy/egg-yolk-trick.html

Make a tiny bow:  http://www.handimania.com/diy/tiny-bow.html

Nature photographer:  http://www.tmurphywild.com/

Dad becomes an artist:  http://distractify.com/culture/coloring-in-kids-drawings/

Cat lovers:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/dogs-terrified-of-walking-past-cats_n_4276499.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Women’s History:  http://www.makers.com/blog/day-womens-history?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D415880#/blog/day-womens-history/9

I am ashamed that I had not heard of some of these women.

Paper piecing from Germany:  http://www.lenzula.de/en/

Paper piecing expert  Debby Kratovil   http://www.quilterbydesign.com/lessons.html   

        or Google her name.

Scrap quilt ideas from Martingale Press. 

http://blog.shopmartingale.com/?utm_source=Stitch+This%21+blog&utm_campaign=25348a9f54-Daily+Email%2C+Quilting&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ab6bb44864-25348a9f54-296416441

Creation Station - Buellton, CA  09-03-08

Earlier Ruth McDowell quilt in TCQC 12-15-13

This is one of the quilts in Ruth B. McDowell's "Pieced Flowers" book, published in 2000 by C&T.   The design layout is shown and photos of the individual blocks, but a picture of the entire quilt didn't make it into the book.  Ruth put all the samples up for sale on her website in 2004 and I purchased several of them.  


"Hollyhocks on Black & White"  1999  Ruth B. McDowell  19"W x 52"L
Ruth has made three full flowers, four leaves, two partially open flowers and a block of buds at the top.  This is all straight seam piecing.  

 
She chooses fabric more for the value and texture than for the printed motifs.  On the left is the bud block.   Notice that she has added a black zig-zag line that sort of outlines the plant and gives it more definition.  

Here is one of the open flowers which shows the delicate yellow/green in the center and the embroidered French knots that form the stamen.  

And here is a full leaf and a partial one down at the bottom. 

She has used an old Marimekko print on the back.  Their fabrics are slightly heavier than regular quilting cottons, which causes the quilt to lay more flatly on the wall.  Many art quilters have followed her lead and use furnishing fabric on the backs of their quilts. 

Always a nice label.  I have removed her address since she no longer lives there, but I think I will print her website address on the empty spot.   Even with the possibility of Googling her name to find a contact, I think it is best to have something on the quilt that gives a contact for the artist. .