Empty Spools Class with Hilde Morin #2 05-09-14

Our class was in the Surf & Sand building which has three walls of windows.  The light is wonderful for working, but not so good for picture taking as the images are somewhat washed out.   

 

This project by Annie Tokarz is, I believe, Capitola, a colorful town on the California coast. Her inspiration photo is pinned below her work.

 

This is how much Annie was able to create in class - quite a lot, I think.

 



Janneke Van Der Ree used her  New Jersey home for her project.

Jeannie Spangler was inspired by the Monterey wharfs. 

 

  Becky Darden also did her childhood home.  Notice the hydrangea plant on the left, done with Solvy lace.

 

 

 

 

 

Empty Spools class with Hilde Morin 05-08-14

Here is a collage of all the pieces worked on in Hilde Morin's class - of course, they are not finished, but some are closer completion than others.  I will be posting some progress pictures for the next couple of days.  I think it is interesting to see how the work develops - especially since there were no patterns created, everything was based on looking at the inspiration photo and cutting/piecing.  There is no applique and no fusing in these projects.  Although, once the students have taken them home, who knows what will be added! 

 



Carol Esch did this fabulous window from a photo she had taken years ago. 

I think it amazing that she was able to make her work look so much like the photo.

 

Mary Kay Price did just a section of her inspiration photo - the upper right.

I don't know where this picture was taken - somewhere in southern Europe.

 

I took this picture from my hotel window in Denver.  I was struck by the crookedness of the floors and the fact that it is made from yellow brick.  I asked around and was told that this parking structure was built in the 1930s, but have no idea if that is true.   What a contrast to the high rises behind it.

In the early stages the windows were more accurately vertical, but that didn't seem to work, so I turned them horizontal.  And I chopped off one row of windows on the block on the left.  All along I kept auditioning fabrics for the foreground.  I didn't want to put the rain soaked flat roof there, so I turned it into a vacant lot. 

By the time the class was over it looked like this (and still does), but I hope to find some time this summer to work on it until it is finished.  I don't like the piece in the top center (under the sky piece) and will either delete it or replace it with something that seems to me to work better.  There is a lot of work to be done yet.  I used the photo for inspiration and had no intention of trying to make this project look like the photo. 

 

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Wordless Wednesday 05-07-14

Ruth McDowell honoree at Quilters Hall of Fame 05-06-14

RUTH MCDOWELL INDUCTION INTO QUILTERS HALL OF FAME JULY 17-19 – Karen Alexander writes; “The Quilters Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the selection of Ruth B. McDowell, Colrain, Massachusetts, as the 45th Honoree to be inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame, July 17-19, 2014. Ruth McDowell, a fulltime professional quilt artist, graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967 with a B.S. in Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in juried, invitational, and solo shows nationally and in Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. The inspiration for most of McDowell’s 520 quilts to date has come from nature. Her artistic style has shown consistent development and her unique approach to pieced quilts has inspired ten books. McDowell’s 1982 “Twelve Dancing Princesses (Or The Shoes That Danced Themselves To Pieces)” and “The Yellow Maple” (1988) were included in the 20th Century’s Best American Quilts, selected by a Blue Ribbon panel of the top foremost quilting experts of the late 20th century from many different fields of quilting expertise. Since that first quilt in 1972, McDowell has shared her exceptional design and teaching skills all over the world and her award winning quilts are highly sought by collectors. McDowell wrote her first book, Pattern on Pattern (Quilt Digest Press) in 1991. Her 1996 book Art and Inspirations: Ruth B. McDowell (C&T Publishing) was a retrospective of Ruth’s career at that point and features full-color illustrations of 97 of her quilts, many color details and drawings, and a fascinating text. As Ruth refined her understanding of both the designing and teaching of pieced quilts, she rewrote and further expanded her best-selling book Ruth B. McDowell's Piecing Workshop and now offers on her web site www.ruthbmcdowell.com several of her titles as print-on-demand and e-books. Visit her site to see many of her more recent quilts and some that are for sale.

Please join us in Marion, Indiana, July 17-19, 2014 to celebrate and honor the art and career of Ruth B. McDowell.” Karen’s email address is karenquilt@rockisland.com

Monday Browsing 05-05-14

I haven’t had any time for browsing, but here are a couple of interesting items. 

Here is a new twist for traveling quilters.  It is a group of quilt shops participating in a program...many different states and Canada.  When traveling one could identify a participating quilt shop and stop in and pick up their pattern.  There is a lot more to it see www.rowbyrowexperience.com

New pet?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/silkie-chicken_n_5200292.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl13%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D469067

More birds.  http://www.pinterest.com/tartansanta/quilts-birds/

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Driving home 05-04-14

I stayed with my friend Mary in San Juan Bautista for two nights.  Her husband Joe is in a Skilled Nursing Facility for physical therapy and after many months of caring for him at home she is finding herself at loose ends.  I wish I could have stayed longer, maybe I will take another trip up soon.

 

The area around SJBautista is part of the great "veggie garden" of California where so much of the produce eaten in the US is grown.  I was mostly making tracks today, but stopped at the beginning of my drive to take a few pictures.

 

Mary and Joe live up in the hills in a live oak woodland.  Coming down to the flat valley the road goes through rolling hills which this year are as dry as they usually are in August.  These trees are planted around farm houses.

 

Turning from where I took the first picture I see these very large hoops with their covers furled.

 

 

A little further down the road the covers are up shading what appear to be berry bushes.  Why some are covered and some not is a mystery - the covered bushes are thicker and taller than the uncovered.

 

 

Out on Hwy 156 the road curves through fields, gradually rising to go over Pacheco Pass and then down to I-5 and the inland valley. 

 

The drive was almost exactly six hours today, including a coffee stop and another for gas.  Southbound traffic was light with few trucks and I was home at 3:30pm where I promptly took a nap.

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