Still playing with scraps 01-25-20

I know I have sewing I MUST do, but am finding it fun to play with the scrap pieces.  I'm sticking to the yellow, red, and some blue color scheme.  Since I recently cut strips from those colors I have lots of long straight end cuts to use.  

I have to go past my cutting table to use the bathroom so I just stop on the way out and lay on a couple strips.  Of course, sometimes I have to stop to rearrange, but by the end of the day I have a piece laid out.  Then to sit at the machine to sew things down.  KoKo is a big help with this.  Someday he is going to get his ear sewn into something. 

I have no plan on what to do with these pieces.  Probably add them to the piles of UFOs I have already!!

Yellow Scrap pieces #2 and #1. 

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Friday Flowers 02-24-20

This is an African Daisy - note the sweet orange dots around the center and the brick in the wall that brings out that color.  Neat! 

Shasta Daisy with the solid yellow center. 

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Another tour at Visions Art Museum 01-23-20

I'm driving down to San Diego tomorrow to conduct a tour of the Ruth B. McDowell quilts.  It is a group tour, but if anyone else in the galleries wants to listen in that is okay!  It will pretty much be the same talk I gave on Saturday evening.  But I don't read from notes so the talk is always a bit different.  I do love looking at, sharing, and talking about Ruth's work.  Although she has taught many students who will make quilts using her techniques, her work is always uniquely hers, partially due to the fabrics she selects.  I took many classes with her, hoping I could learn to do that, but I decided one must be born with a certain "eye" and, though I learned a LOT, I don't have that eye.  

Here is another yellow scrap thing, not sewn down yet. 

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Wordless Wednesday 01-22-20

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Winter Flowers 01-21-20

This is the time of year that the camellias bloom in Southern California.  Those that grow in protected areas, usually against a brick or stone fence or wall, are the first to pop out. 

This lovely variegated pink is against the brick wall of a garage and under an extended roof.   The wall faces west so it receives whatever sunshine is available. 

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Another Ruth B. McDowell quilt that is not in the exhibit. 01-20-20

This is a post from 05-27-12.   The quilt was not included in the current exhibit because of limited space. 

It always interests me to look at an artist's work over a span of years, so I am very happy to have purchased this early Ruth McDowell quilt from a private collector.  She had loaned this piece to the 2008 exhibit of Ruth's quilts at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, CA. When I heard that she and her husband had downsized to a much smaller home, I asked her if she would consider selling the quilt to me and she said she would think about it.  This year when I was at Empty Spools she said she was ready to part with it and I wrote her a check! 



"At Crocker Grove"  Ruth B. McDowell 1990 36"W x 47"L 
Machine pieced. Hand appliqued. Hand quilted. Commercial cotton and raw silk fabrics, cotton thread.
www.ruthbmcdowell.com
  When she began making quilts Ruth hand quilted everything, but gradually taught herself to machine quilt which has helped her to create over 500 quilts over the years.  I believe this is one of the last of her hand quilted works, so I am extra pleased to have it in TCQC.

  
She hand appliqued the thin horizontal branches,but before too many more quilts she had refined her piecing techniques and rarely hand appliques anything now. 

 
Ruth has never been hesitant to use whatever print fabric will give the look she desires.  This background drapery fabric gives the look of branches and grasses behind the trees.  

 
Ruth's hand stitched signature appears on the front at the lower left. 

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More on the Ruth B. McDowell exhibit at VAM 01-19-20

I was back at Visions Art Museum this morning for a presentation on critiquing art quilts given by Sandra Sider.  Afterward I took a few general pictures in the gallery, but will have to go back when there are not many people around to take a full set of every quilt.  Meanwhile.....

Right at the entrance is Amaryllis (2014  39.5"L x 43"W

which the museum people chose as the featured picture for advertising.  

Pumpkins (1998  44.5"L x 57"W)) 

 Carpet of Gold Thread (1990  52"L x 107"W)

Electric Chard (2006  32"L x 40"W)

Conversation on the Porch  (1993  37.5"L x 54"W)

Fort Morrison Jerseys  (2003  46"L x 65.5"W)

Looking the length of the main gallery to the Valya Gallery where Personal Landscapes, the work of Bonnie Bucknam are hanging. On the left of the picture is Ruth's

Cineraria (2005  39.5L x 46"W)

A Rash of Flamingos  (2000  52"L x 100"W)

Dutch Iris  (2000  36"L x 40"W)

Cineraria  (2005  39.5L x 46"W)

Watermelon Chickens [partial]  (2009  31.5"L x 58"W)

Middlesex Fells - Late Fall  (1995 65"L x 90"W)

Sandra Sider talking about her recent book
In the background:
Summer Lily  (2002  70"L x 58"W)
Electric Chard (2006  32"L x 40"W)
Conversation on the Porch  (1993  37.5"L x 54"W)

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