Saturday Stories - Writing 06-18-16

When Diane was growing up she loved to write – stories, poems, limericks, little songs.  During the 40s and 50s there were a number of children’s magazines which took submissions from readers to be printed in one of the issues.  Diane’s favorite was “Playmate” and she was successful a few times, but can no longer remember any of her writings.  Well, some phrases.  She wrote about her uncle “My uncle’s name is Jake.  He has no more hair than a snake……..”  And there was a poem about “The Drought of July” – yes, there are droughts in the western regions of Oregon.   The dust on the country roads was 5 or 6 inches deep and when the rains came the drops created smoking volcanoes until everything turned to a giant mud bath.

She is writing again, but only for her own amusement…  and yours!

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Friday Feet 06-17-16

 

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Another Del Quilt 06-16-16

 At one time I was a member of Kansas Art Quilters, which was a very active group with lots of opportunities for exhibiting member's work.  For a few years they did the quilts for the Fabri-Quilt fabric company booth at Quilt Markets.  They would send us the fabric and sometimes a theme and we would create original quilts for them.  They hung in the booth and were for sale after the event.  I don't know that any of them ever sold, I know that mine did not!  And this is probably the least of my efforts.  I determined to use all six fabrics I received; four on the front and two on the back.  I think it is a clumsy quilt - there is no "balance" to it.  That sometimes happens to me when someone else chooses the fabric.  I wasn't very good at doing custom quilts either.

The hat brim is actually loose from the back and I threaded a wire in to keep it stiff.  But the wire crinkles up and needs to be straightened whenever the quilt is handled.  And, of course, it cannot be rolled or folded.  Not a successful effort on my part.  

"Hat in a Blue Chair"  Del Thomas 2004  30"W x 28"L

Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread, polyester ribbon.

Machine pieced, machine broidery pers raw edge applique, needle turned applique, machine quilted.

 

Here is a detail of the broidery pers type raw edge machine applique.  The flowers cut from one piece of fabric are individually applied.

 

 

 

 Not much of a label - no contact, no size.
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The first quilt in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 06-13-16

When I bought this quilt at a guild quilt show auction I wasn't intending to start a collection.  But it was the first quilt I ever purchased, so I consider it the beginning.  I still hang it on the wall frequently because I still love it as much as I did when I purchased it in 1985. The color in the top picture is pretty true to the reality.

 

"Straight Furrow Log Cabin"  Judy Mathieson  1985  20"W x 14"L

Raw silk.  Machine pieced and hand quilted. 

 

Read what I had to say when I posted it the first time in 2009. 

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2009/04/quilt-that-started-it-all-04-06-09.html

 

And check out what Judy is doing now:  http://www.judymathieson.com/

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KoKo meets the Sevens 06-12-16

The art quilt group I belong to meets in San Diego, so it is always at least a two hour drive for me.  In June the hostess invites me to stay the night before the meeting with her and another member.  The other member brings her dog Sadie, so this year I took KoKo along.  He and Sadie got along very well and enjoyed the free run of the beautiful garden. 

 

Sadie is eight and has lost the puppy qualities that KoKo, at two, still exhibits. 

At breakfast KoKo took over Deb for a mutual love in.

Pictures by Andrea Bacal.

 

One of the orders for today was trying to find a new name for the group since there are nine of us now, rather then seven.   We got pretty hysterical proposing silly names.  On the more serious side we are each to propose five possible names which will be narrowed down to a list so we can vote on which name sounds best.

 

I drove home this afternoon and delivered KoKo to his mommy, so I am alone again tonight.  

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