A quilt from the past 02-08-13

I was looking through some pictures from 2006, early in my digital camera experience, and came across this one I photographed that year, along with a few others.   This little quilt was made in 2002.

 
Seeing it reminded me of how long it has been since I have quilted anything larger than a postcard!  Two years, I think.  I need to find my creativity again.

 
"All Thumbs"  Del Thomas 2002  14" x 14"
 Cotton scraps, fabric markers, beads, cotton batting.
Machine pieced and quilted, FMQ.
The FMQ is my "floppy flower" design using dark red thread.

I made another version  with autumn colors that I donated as a Monthly Mini to a guild I belonged to.

 
I felt like I was all thumbs when I was trying to learn to free motion quilt.  But the "secret" I learned is that I have to keep in practice (which I haven't) in order to do any kind of a decent job.  I wonder if I am going to have to learn all over again....  when the creativity returns.

Tentmakers of Cairo 02-07-13

In 2008 I took a class with Jenny Bowker at Road to California - it was fantastic.  She had some pieces for sale that were made by the tentmakers and I wrote a check.  I love the color and the stitching is amazing.  However, with all the turmoil and the changes in Egyptian society the tentmakers are not doing great business.  A film maker is trying to raise the money to make a record of the work and the men who stitch the panels.  Doing this will make the information available in the future and, it is to be hoped, that current day tentmakers will have an increase in business.  These days the panels are used on beds, walls and draped over furniture.  The men also sew smaller pieces - pillow sized - that are more apt to be purchased by tourists.  But the workmanship is still excellent.

I posted about the piece that is in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection at
http://www.delquilts.blogspot.com/2008/01/cairo-tentmaker-hanging-01-21-08.html  

 

To learn about this fund raising project click on the logo in the right sidebar.
I urge you to made a donation.  Even ten dollars (US) will help, every penny adds up. 
 There are 23 days left of this funding drive and $12,085 is still needed.  Do it NOW! 

Wordless Wednesday 02-06-13

 

Monday Browsing 02-04-13

Amazing appliqué quilts in Australia:  There is a picture of the sign about half way through.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/luanarubin/sets/72157629531331686/

Birds in the air:  http://www.aol.com/video/rare-phenomenon-of-starlings-in-the-skies-above-israel/517656401/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdaily-buzz2%7Csec3_lnk1%7C263312

Valentine Postcard Tutorial:  http://stegart.blogspot.com/2013/01/valentines-day-postcard-tutorial.html

Amazing frost on window:  http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/katy99780/4414?gallery=CURRWEATHER

http://zoombaby.com/blog/2012/11/13/iqa-houston-show-2012-part-2.html#disqus_thread

One of my favorite browsing spots is Luana Rubin’s  Flicker pages showing her travels and Quilt Festivals around the world – USA, Russia, Ireland, Japan … more.   Chose from the sidebar –enjoy!    http://www.flickr.com/photos/luanarubin/

Not quilting, but fascinating art made of found items:  http://www.bluebowerbird.co.uk/info.htm


California Quail 

"Night Owl" by Judith Roderick from TCQC 02-03-13

I discovered recently that I only posted three of the 12" square quilts I purchased at the 2011 SAQA online auction.  Apologies to all the artists.  I will be showing them for the next month or so.

I want to urge you to try to see the "Brainstorms" exhibit at Visions Art Museum in San Diego.  It closes February 17th.  There are some great quilts on the walls.

 
"Night Owl"  Judith Roderick - Placitas, NM  2011 12"x12"
Whole cloth quilt done with soy wax and Tinfix dye.  Machine quilted.
Judith said, "This is my hand-painted silk image of a Petroglyph Owl, that was done with soy wax and Tinfix dye.  Machine-quilted and embellished with various buttons."
I do love birds and there are a number of bird quilts in the Collection.
 

 
He has such a great look on his face - sort of "who? me?"
 

 
Great grasping feet that are appropriate for an owl.
 

 
Judith has used the buttons on the owl very effectively, I'm not so sure about the green buttons, but they do add some "bling" to the piece.
 

 
The back is solid black so the quilting shows very well. 
 

 
A very rudimentary label.  I looked her up in the SAQA directory so I do have a contact for her.

Lunch with friends 02-02-13

Yesterday my friends Carol Bednar and Teresa Malinowski went with me to San Diego to see the "Brainstorms" exhibit at Visions Art Museum.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day - sunny and in the low 70s.  And it was an easy drive down - nice to be able to use the carpool lane since there were three of us in the car. 

I gave my docent tour, which Carol and Teresa seemed to enjoy.  I'm always surprised that no matter how many times I looked at the quilts I discover something I haven't noticed before.  There are some wonderful pieces and three of them have been sold.  The exhibit closes on Sunday, Feb 17th.  If you haven't seen it yet I hope you can squeeze in a visit. 

Then we went to lunch at Solare, which is in the same block as VAM.  It has changed owners and I am still  not sure it is my favorite restaurant, but it comes close.  I have a problem with the very heavy cologne worn by some of the waiters - interesting that the waitresses don't douse themselves.


Carol had beet soup that we expected to be cold, but it was hot.  I, of course, had to have a taste on the tip of my knife, and thought it was delicious - so did Carol and Teresa.
 

Carol followed this with a salad of different colored beets with with greens and shaved Parmesan.
 

Teresa ordered a pear/Gorgonzola salad which looked marvelous.
 

I couldn't resist the salmon with caper sauce and veggies - perfectly cooked, delicious.
 

Teresa and I both have a "sweet tooth" so we decided to share two desserts.  This is the out-of-sight chocolate torte with semifreddo (basically it is wonderfully rich ice cream).  The chocolate was like fudge - m-m-m-m-m-m.
 

This sphere is also semifreddo with a filling of raspberry and a light coating of cookie crumbs.   I can't remember what it was called on the menu - not a word I have ever seen.

  I checked with Solare and found that their name for this spherical desert is "Sfera".  I believe they have named it after this sculpture:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfera_con_Sfera

 

 

Cutting it open reveals the raspberry heart.  The semifreddo was different in this, more like frozen mousse than ice cream.  I think this is one of the best desserts I have had in quite a long time. 

 

We headed north on I-5 and stopped at Oceanside Museum of Art to visit the Quilt National quilts on display there.   This exhibit ends on Feb. 10th.   There are some extraordinary quilts in this section of QNational.  I especially enjoyed Elizabeth Brimelow's "Rook Road", so original and so beautiful.  Heide Stoll-Weber's " King Lake 3: Ghost Trees" is also awesome.  And ....  well, I like a lot of the quilts that are currently hanging at QMA.   I hope you get a chance to see them. 

 

Carol, Teresa and I are in the Book Group, so we spend some of the drive time talking books which makes the drive go much faster.  It is about two hours each way.  We were home about 6:30pm.