Friday Feet 01-27-23

I don't go many places to take pictures of feet or shoes.  When I was involved with Visions Quilt Museum there were many interesting shoes worn at the exhibit openings and many of the images I will post are from those occasions.  I haven't worn high heels in more than three decades, but I still have two pair in the bottom of my closet, I will have to dig them out and take a picture and maybe donate them somewhere.  I could never wear four inch heels, just too much of a tippy-toe for me, but three inch were okay.   One inch even better!

And I never wore something like this, but they do look elegant. 

I don't think I have seen ads like this for a very long time.  Guess I don't read the right kind of magazines or websites. 

These were part of an exhibit at Bower's Museum in Santa Ana.  The designer did far out clothing and even further out shoes.  Shown on a mannequin.

I couldn't resist taking this picture in a Staples store.  They are Scotch tape dispensers.  Wonder what the sign says, maybe "Glamorize your holiday."?

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Organizing 01-26-23

I desperately need to re-roll and re-organize the 370+ quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  Some are small and live in acid free storage boxes, about a half dozen are 3-D and have their own storage box, and the majority are rolled around stuffies or covered pool noodles, covered with fabric and stored on shelves.  My friend Liz and I have tried to develop a storage order, but nothing we have tried has been successful.  The extra bedroom is honestly full of junk that I keep thinking I can donate somewhere and put all the quilts in the same room.  It is a massive undertaking that I have not had the strength or concentration  to do in the past year or two.  The fabric coverings are all discounted fabrics from years ago - all different prints of all different colors.  We use what fits.  It suddenly occurred to me, after all these years, that it would be helpful if multiple quilts by one artist were wrapped in the same fabric covering!  Brilliant.  So, when I was in SDiego at Rosie's Calico Quilt Shop a few weeks ago I looked through their sale fabric for a bolt with 15 or so yards to use for all the Ruth B. McDowell quilts, some of which are very large.  What was I looking for beside quantity?  Not dark, not red or black or white, unlike any of the covers I already have, and inexpensive.  Some of the fabrics I use came from years ago when discounted fabric was $1 or $2 a yard!   I found this print for $7 a yard and it fits the bill on all counts including 15.88yards on the bolt.  This picture is the width of the fabric on end and it is slightly more aqua than the computer will let me show.  Loops of fabric flags seem appropriate for Ruth's quilts.  So, I need to get busy and start this major project.  First to clean out the room, there are things that have been in there since moving into this house more than 30 years ago.  What will I do with my mother's cedar chest?  And what ever is inside of it?  And there are boxes of photos and boxes of unknown things.  Oh, dear, I'm tired just thinking about it!    Onward.  

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Wordless Wednesday 01-25-23

 

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A reading addiction 01-24-23

What do I do all day?  Beside keeping KoKo walked, fed, excercised, and petted, I read.  It is a life long addiction, but much worse since Covid slowed the world down.  I have so many projects in progress or in my mind, but instead I read.  Other than Sci-Fi and fantasy I read just about anything.  There are some series that I especially enjoy, this is the latest in one of those.  . 

This is the sixteenth volume following Maisie Dobbs, an English investigator, from before WWI to 1942 in the midst of WWII.  I have missed the last two volumes, so I will have to read those.  I don't think Ms. Winspear is a terrific writer, sometimes she is wordy and sometimes simplistic, but she has a good story line and her research is valid as far as I can tell.   This book focuses on the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in which women piloted war planes from factories and air bases to the forward bases for the guys to fly into battle.  In the USA we had the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) doing the same job.  [For Surfside QGuild readers this is the service that our late friend Bette Bradley participated in during WWII]

Not a series, but I recently re-read "The World According to Garp" by John Irving.  I had enjoyed reading it in 1979 and always remember that my husband asked me not to read it in bed at night because my laughing woke him up, so I always have that it was humorous.  WRONG!  It is rather a downer with only a very few funny bits.  One of them being the son who hear "undertow" at the beach as "under Toad" and thus look for the toad whenever they were at the shore.  But Irving is a very good writer and I think I have read all of his books sometime in the past. 

This month the Book Group is reading "REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES". By Shelby Van Pelt.  I understand it is about octopi and how smart they are.  I will wait to read it closer to the meeting the third Wednesday of February, so I can remember enough to participate in the discussion!  

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Miscellaneous stuff 01-23-23

 

And I really don't have anything to say.  We did our two walks, I drove to the X-Ray "store" for a CAT scan of my kidneys to check on the stones or to see that they are gone!  Read some, did a bit of mending, threw Froggy for KoKo, didn't even talk on the phone.  It was a plain day.

High winds were predicted, like these ten years ago on January 14, 2013.

Then the palms were nearly turned inside out.  The picture is blurred because my cell couldn't take the picture fast enough. 

But no wind today and just a few clouds drifting around calmly.  Temp was up to 64F, but down to 39F overnight, supposed to be a repeat tomorrow.  

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Quilts by Elizabeth Barton in Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 01-22-23

Here are two quilts by Elizabeth Barton that I posted in June of 2009.  She has lately been doing more painting that quilt making, but I recently saw pictures of an exhibit of both her paintings and quilts which opened today 01-22-23 at the Athens, GA, Botanical Gardens.  It will run until 03-05-23.  You can see more of her work at www.elizabethbarton.com  There are other Elizabeth quilts in TCQC, click on her name on the sidebar to see them.  

"Red Gate" Elizabeth Barton 2003 39"W x 63"L

Cotton fabrics - hand dyed, screen printed - Machine and hand pieced, appliqued & stitched.

This is one of several quilts Elizabeth has based on her pictures taken in Whitby, an old fishing village in Yorkshire, UK. She says in one of her artist's statements, "I love the signs of age on old buildings and steps - the soft signs of the wear of many feet - the way the roof lines gently curve and the houses lean together." The photo she used as inspiration was taken many years ago and she felt it haunting her - it was 30 years before she made this quilt.

I had a thick folder on Elizabeth Barton's work before I ever saw one of her quilts "in-the-fabric". I had been looking at two different quilts on her website and knew I would buy one of them. Then in 2004 San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles featured Elizabeth in one of their exhibits and both quilts were included. I drove up to see my friend Mary and we visited the museum. I knew immediately which quilt I would choose. Elizabeth felt that since I had actually seen the quilt first in San Jose that the museum should have their profit, which I thought was an amazingly generous thing to do. Since then I have purchased three more E.Barton quilts directly from her and coveted quite a few more! I also count her among my quilt making friends around the world. A very special lady.

http://ebarton.myweb.uga.edu/index.html    http://elizabethbarton.blogspot.com/

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Elizabeth Barton Quilt in TCQC 06-21-09

"The Gatehouse" Elizabeth Barton 2004 37.5"W x 24.5"L

This quilt was on Elizabeth's website and it 'spoke' to me loud and clear. The colors are so very appealing - red-orange, golden yellow, several greens and teal. And that wonderful slatted fence, which I think must be a silk screen as I have seen it in other quilts she has made.

She told me that it was a larger quilt that didn't work, so she trimmed huge strips off the sides - until it satisfied her. They also satisfied lucky me. Later, perhaps when I was in Georgia to take a class with her, she gave me one of the strips she cut off. When I show the quilt to a group I think it is educational to also show the 'discard'. We sometimes think that the entire quilt that we make must stay that way, however, I know of at least half a dozen quilt makers who have reduced the size of quilts, even after they are quilted. And in every case, I agree with the artist - a little judicious trimming has improved the quilt.

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