Sunday, October 12, 2014

Quilt Visions 2014 - Opening

Last night was the opening reception for Quilt Visions 2014, "The Sky's The Limit", at Visions Art Museum in San Diego.  This is always such an exciting event with many of the artists in attendance (24 out of 40 this year) along with the staff and most of the volunteers for the Museum.  It is always over too quickly and I want to gather all these people back again for more discussion and visiting.  These pictures were taken at events that happened today - a breakfast for the artists, a walk through with the artists talking about their quilts, a panel discussion about the process of jurying for Quilt Visions and Quilt National. 
 
 The Museum is not large and was very crowded, as you can see.  This is the reception area and gift shop with the Alcove Gallery on the left.  The artists with quilts hanging there are telling this squashed together crowd about their work.

These are the artists gathered for a picture.  I cannot identify each one, but will do so and run this picture again soon.  The quilt on the wall behind them is Emily Richardson's "Swiftly" which received the President's Award selected by the President of the Museum Board of Directors, Andrea Bacal.
 
A few of the artists didn't fit in one frame! On the wall to the left is "Points In Time" by Vicki Carlson of Fort Collins, CO.
 
Charlotte Bird is the chair of the exhibit and has managed, I believe, four of the previous Quilt Visions exhibits.  She is the person who puts all the pieces together and we all need to say "Thanks for a job well done."

Janet Steadman (Langley, WA) on the left is a long-time quilt maker whom I had not met previously,  yet one of her quilts has been in TCQC since 2000.   Friend, Visions volunteer and fellow artist Judy Warren-Tippets is on the right.  On the wall between them is Marianne Burr's (Coupeville, WA) "Eleven 3 Eleven" which won the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Recognition Award.  On the left above Janet's shoulder is Elizabeth Busch's (Glenburn, Maine) "Summer Walk". 
 
 
Mariam Machell is shown with the quilt that received the Mariam Machell Award for Beauty.  Mariam is one of the founding members of Quilt Visions.  The quilt selected by her friends at the Museum is "Ryu, Gwan-Sun by Shin-hee Chin of McPherson, Kansas.


Saturday, October 11, 2014

Friday Flowers 10-10-14

Looking back at the lupine fields in a wet year - 2010.  This year I drove I-5 almost the same weekend and there wasn't a lupine in sight. 

Blue Dick (Brodiaea) in field of lupine at Grapevine, CA.  03-21-10

Field of Lupine near Grapevine, CA  03-21-10
I-5 in the very top of the picture.

Oregon Grape flower  (Mahonia aquifolium)
Oak Harbor, WA  04-26-13
 
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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Looking back, again. 10-09-14

FYI - Yesterday's bird is a black-crowned night heron photographed at Dana Point, CA. 
\
Sorry, I have my dates messed up.  This quilt is from the 2010 SAQA Auction.  NOT 2007. 
I looked back today to see when I started putting images of quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection on my blog.  It was September 26, 2007 and below is the post from that day.  Although this is not the quilt that started TCQC, I'll have to show that one of these days.   I still think Joan's quilts are amazing and I am happy that this quilt is part of the Collection.  Check out her website at http://www.joansowada.com/ , a change from 2007!
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~09-26-07~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I had a note today from Joan Sowada a Wyoming quiltmaker whose small
(1 foot square) quilt, "Pink Purses in Rome", I purchased from an online auction. I admire her quilts - they are amazing. You can see more of her work at http://www.avacenter.org/usergallery.php?ID=10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Wordless Wednesday 10-08-14


Another newsletter completed 10-07-14

My job as newsletter editor for the Surfside Quilt Guild rolls around once a month.  It takes me longer to do it now, because my eyes bother me when I work too long.  Which means I have to start earlier in the month.  I didn't do that for the October newsletter and posted it very late.  I'll try to do better in November.  Especially because it is November Fest time and we need people to come to our meeting and enjoy brunch, raffle baskets and a live auction. 

http://www.surfsidequiltersguild.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ME1kqdndm5A%3d&tabid=152&mid=668
 
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Monday, October 6, 2014

Monday Browsing 10-06-14


If you are a fan of Kaffe Fassett, you may enjoy these 2 video interviews - with Sophie in Houston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozMovyV4pdI&feature=youtu.be
And with Luann a year ago in Birmingham: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5y0rvOKqg&feature=youtu.be

Here are 2 different tutorials on binding.  The gluing seems tedious to me, but might work for you.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/327777679103592149/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE&feature=relate

Nov 15 – Feb 15th, 2015 American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870-1940 
Muzeo, 241 S. Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim, CA  714-956-8936   Exhibit from the Int’l Quilt Study Center& Museum at the Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Also a special exhibit of California Art Quilters with quilts from Sherry Kleinman, Linda Anderson, Cindy Cooksey, Jamie Fingal, Sheila Frampton-Cooper, Joe Cunningham, Lura Swarz-Smith, Kerby Smith, Terry Waldron.  Hours: 10am—5pm Closed on Mondays Directions:  http://www.muzeo.org/directions.html   Website: www.muzeo.org
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Sunday, October 5, 2014

Mary Mattimoe quilt in TCQC 10-05-14

This is the fourth and last of the quilts I purchased at the recent Visions Art Museum fund raiser, "Sip, Savor and Stroll".  When I first looked at this piece I didn't know what it depicted, thinking that it might be the cliffs on the coast of Kauai.    But I finally figured out that it is a gigantic wave.  I think that the two very straight white streaks in the wave are confusing.  If they were curved as the water is the overall effect would be better.  But the  quilting is wonderful, as is the fabric selection.  
 
"Ojali"  Mary Mattimoe  2014   12"x12"
Cotton fabric, cotton threads, cotton batting, machine stitched.
 
Tiny machine quilted "bubble" show texture from a distance and become bubbles close up.
 
This shows a close up of the water beneath the foam.
 
Mary chose to face the back.  You can really see the wave quilting here.
 
A rather inadequate label, sort of an after thought - needs a contact, at least.
 I don't know what ojali means, I tried quite a few languages, but the only one that gave me a translation was Swahili in which the word means "responsive".  Doesn't seem right to me!