Friday Feet 03-17-17

Aren't these mola boots terrific?  I'd wear them in a minute, but I don't think they would go with my "style" these days.  Lots of interesting shoes at Empty Spools sessions. 

 

 

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A week after Empty Spools 03-16-17

Surfside Quilters Guild had a great meeting on Tuesday.  We sang Happy Birthday to our three most senior members - in their 90s and still going strong.  Amazing ladies.

 

Our speaker was Sylvia Davis from Los Angeles who talked about her quilting journey and showed quilts and quilt tops from three large suitcases.  She is a great speaker - informative, humorous, full of joy for quilting.  Her forte is scrap quilts and she has come up with some new ideas on how to put them together.  I recommend her if your guild is looking for a new speaker. 

 

 

I think I am recovered from my week at Empty Spools.  It seems to take longer to put everything away than it does to pack it all up in the first place.  My stuff is not all put away yet and I have to keep stepping around it.  Wonder when that will get old? 

 

KoKo had a good time at Nancy's - there were grandchildren to play with!  But he was happy to be home and checked out every detail on our first walk, it took almost half an hour.

Then he slept for the day. 

 

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More traveling photos 03-15-17

Driving up to San Juan Bautista on March 2nd it was a beautiful day with little wind.  It was rather clear for the valley and I think I could just see the outline of the Sierra against the blue sky, but the camera couldn't define it. 

The Sierra is in the distant haze.

 

And it became much hazier in the distance.  

 

About half way on the drive, just before crossing Stockdale Highway there is flooded land on both sides of I-5.  The land here is not under cultivation.  Ducks and geese stop by for a rest, don't know what they have been doing the last four years when there has been no standing water here...or anywhere else in California!.

But this time of  year, mostly what one sees is almond trees in bloom.

On both sides of the highway.

With the ground covered in fallen petals like the trees are standing in pinkish snow.

The orchards stretch into the distance - miles and miles of them.

Almond blossom (2013) - the pink cast comes from the center of the petals.

 

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Empty Spools - Sue Benner "Abstraction" (cont'd) 03-14-17

Final post about the Abstraction class with Sue Benner at Empty Spools - Asilomar. 

 

I recommend this class to anyone who is interested in expanding their repertoire of techniques and skills in the world of quilt making.  Sue is an excellent teacher; well prepared, knowledgeable, attentive to the needs of her students, and fun!   

 

Adele Beher started with the photo from Sue at the top left and abstracted it to the piece at top right.  She doesn't show her inspiration for the five smaller pieces across the middle of the board.  And she was able to get to the large piece at the bottom - great color.

 

 

Marianne Moutoux has her large piece, that she did last, at the top of her board.  Below that are two small pieces abstracted from the bridge.  And below that the orange ball is her abstraction of the photo from Sue.  I don't know about the others on the bottom.

This is a larger image of the large pieces by Marianne Moutoux  

 

 

 

Kimberlie Moutoux shows her abstraction of Sue's photo at bottom right.

She brought the appliqued map from home and built the trees on top of it.  Her six small pieces are in the middle left.

Here is Kimberlie's large project in progress. 

 

 

Bambi Reile accomplished all of this in class.  In the upper right is the picture from Sue and Bambi's abstraction of it.  In the upper left is the inspiration picture from home and all the other pieces are taken from that photo.  She has a good start on a large piece at the left of the board. 

 

 

Florann Ramsey had the top left picture from Sue and abstracted it to the one on the right.

Second from the top on the left is her inspiration photo from home and all the smaller tree-like images are from that phto.  On the right she has started working on her larger piece.

This is Florann Ramsey's larger piece in progress.  The photo at top center is her inspiration, it is in the shape of a nautalis shell with gold fish in it.   

 

 

On the lower left Susan Tomanek worked from Sue's picture on the bottom to create the piece above it.  She doesn't show her inspiration for the five small pieces or the large piece she has started at lower right.

 

 

 

Diana McClun worked from the inspiration image at the bottom to create four smaller abstract works.  

 

 

Charlene Dakin's abstraction of her picture from Sue is at the top left and next to it the picture.  Her inspiration photo of turtles is at the top right with three small pieces around it.

I think that the picture on the turtle skim fabric is a paper collage.  



 

Here are Charlene's image and the three abstractions she created.

Sue Benner on the last day of class.

 

I apologize for the quality of the pictures.  We were in Scripps classroom which has windows on all sides and is terrible for taking photos.  I hope that I have given you a good idea of the class and what can be accomplished with a good teacher. 

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Empty Spools - Sue Benner "Abstraction" Class (cont'd) 03-13-17

Here are more pictures I took in Sue Benner's class at Empty Spools at Asilomar.  There will be one more set tomorrow night.

 

Suzanne Gaensbauer used this picture of apples in a crate for her inspiration.

This shows the original and a paper collage made with pieces ripped from magazines.

Here are six abstractions from the original inspiration. 

This is Suzanne's first project with the picture that Sue gave her on the right and her abstraction on the left.

 

 

 

LaDonna DeCamillo abstracted these from her inspiration image from home.

 

 

 

Carroll Hirsch received the picture at top center from Sue and created the abstraction at top right.  Her other abstractions are from her inspiration photo at middle right. 

 

 

Mea Lee  worked from the magazine picture at top left to create the abstract on the bottom.  She started her smaller work with the very faint picture at top right which is a cabin in Tahoe.

She created these three abstractions of the cabin, each more abstract.

 

 

 

Margie Bushaw worked from her inspiration photo at top left.  On the bottom right is one she called "Abstraction Playtime", made from scraps.

At top left is the picture she received from Sue and the abstraction at bottom right.

 

 

Jean Impey worked from the picture at left to create this great abstraction on the right.

 

 

Here is Jean's board with the inspiration photos at left and the abstractions on the right.

A little closer up on two of Jean's pieces.

 

 


 

Nancy Bourns' board - on the left side are the abstraction from Sue's photo with the actual photo below it.  Next to her name is the inspiration photo she brought from home and then the six smaller pieces she created from fabric. 

Here are two larger abstracts that Nancy Bourns brought from home to share. 

 

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Empty Spools - Sue Benner "Abstraction" Class (cont'd) 03-12-17

 Annette Friedlein receive the magazine page on the left - her abstraction on the right.

 

 Annette Friedlein larger work.

Annette Friedlein's inspiration at top, her abstraction at bottom

Annette's further abstractions of the flower image.

 

 

 

On the left the magazine picture and Barbara Friedman's abstraction on the right.

 

Barbara's inspiration for these four small studies was in a book and I didn't get a photo.  I believe it was a picture of large stones.

 This was Barbara's inspiration for a larger work. The top is a photo, the bottom a Xerox copy that she has divided into a grid.

 

Here is Barbara's abstraction of the photo above.

 

 

 Cheryl Wood's inspiration is at the top left, with her five abstractions.

 

Cheryl's magazine image at left and her abstraction on the right.

 

Cheryl Wood's large piece - an abstraction of her cabin inspiration.

 

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