Wordless Wednesday 06-01-22

 

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Wordless Wednesday 11-19-14

Road Trip -Athens, OH - Paducah, KY 05-28-13

I am writing this in Metropolis, IL, just seven miles from Paducah, because the HIE only had smoking rooms in Paducah (I'd rather sleep in my car) and the clerk directed me to this location.  However, I was so tired and feeling a bit puny, so I went to bed early and was asleep by 11pm Central Time.  And not up until 7:30am or so.  Feeling great today - amazing what a good night's sleep can do for me.  I did wear my earplugs to keep out all the unaccustomed noises and the banging of doors - endemic to motels I find. 

All that said, this is the post for Tuesday, May 28th - a bit of a catch-up look at my travels.


The University Inn looked lovely with white painted fences and railings and fresh spring flowers, mostly in pots.  But having stayed over a day I realized that the decor was probably for the two weddings that took place whilst I was there.  One on Sunday evening at four with the four bridesmaids in an earthy grey, each with a different neckline.  Is this the trend now?   On Monday the plant company came and removed many of the pots and tidied up what was left.  I had planned on photographing a gorgeous pot on the front steps, but I waited too long and it was gone when I went out to the car. 
 

One pot that remained is this arborvitae with a white trumpet vine growing up through the tree.  I pointed out to the plant guy that there is a bird's nest deep inside.  He said he knew and then he talked my ear off about everything under the sun. I had to excuse myself and go back into my room until he left so I could take the pictures I wanted.
  

Here is a view of the bird's nest - I was too short to get a view from above.  But you can see the fuzzy top knot of the baby bird - I believe there was only one.  I had watched the adult(s) flit in and out as they returned to feed the chick and then take off for more ,,more  ..more!  I believe it is a robin's nest, but could never get a good look at the adult(s) since I had other things to do beside waiting for them to appear.
 

 
This is the little herb garden at the Dairy Barn Arts Center.  It is enclosed with a tall fence and has a weighted gate that will close automatically.  I presume it is to keep out deer.  I sat on this bench for a half an hour on Monday, watching the birds and contemplating the green-ness of Ohio.  I had a broad brimmed hat to protect me from the sun. 


And then I was on the road again, this leg (498 miles) was from Athens to Paducah.  I had thought about stopping there before I left CA, but left the decision for later.  When I mentioned that I was thinking of bypassing the National Quilt Museum someone asked, "When were you there last?  When will you ever be this close again?"  Good point, I may never be here again, which made the decision for me.

I took a surface road that goes along the river through many little towns.  Not much traffic and a chance to see something other than the Interstates.  Lots of living going on across this huge country and it is nice to have a glimpse now and then.  Makes one appreciate what one has in their own part of the world.  I was not attracted to this sign, but to what was displayed all around it.
 

There were somewhere close to a hundred colorful gliders, rockers, and stationary "chairs" in these bright colors.  I imagine the makers have stocked up for the summer tourist season.  The inventory is all made on site and, of course, the owner figured I was a customer and came out to greet me.  He was friendly and said pictures were okay.  I took the shot of the sign before I left - if you are ever looking for lawn chairs along county road 7 in Ohio you'll know where to stop!
 

Lots of Interstate with few vehicles.  I felt like it was MY highway.  Blue sky with some clouds, a bit of a sprinkle now and then, lots of lush green trees and bushes and some wild flowers.   The temperature was in the mid-eighties.
 

Naturally, since it is summer, there was some of this, but not much.  With so little traffic it was difficult to slow to the designated speeds - down to 35mph in places. 
 

I'm always amazed by the layers of earth that are exposed in road cuts and I take a lot of  inspiration images to use in the future.
 

Take from the bridge between Paducah and Metropolis, IL. 

Wordless Wednesday 09-12-12

 

More on "Hat on a Blue Chair" 08-18-09

I had some interesting and useful responses to yesterday's post about Hat on a Blue Chair, so I am going to use today's post to share them. Some were sent as comments and some as direct e-mails. Since sometimes people don't comment because they don't want their name on the blog, I will not ID anyone. The responses are below. Further comments are welcome - this is a chance for me to learn how others view things. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#1 Well, it's just my opinion but the aqua chair "out shines" the beautiful green hat because it's so intense! Similar value but grabs the attention. Maybe it's because I am not a fan of aqua....Love the hat, love the chair but not the color of the chair....well, you asked for comments, so that's mine...
----------------------------------------------------------------#2 Maybe some shadow so that the hat looks as though it is actually sitting on the chair instead of floating there?
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#3 I was looking at your chair and hat quilt. I don't think it looks like it is floating at all. My impression is that the hat is fancy...I love the hat!!... That the chair is so plain..perhaps that is the culprit? Does the chair need to be fancier? I don't know...
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#4 I really like the hat on the chair. It reminds me of a hat my mother wore. It was woven straw with orange, pink, and red flowers. She wore hats well. How large is the quilt?

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#5 I was intrigued by your quilt that you don't feel "works". I thought it might be a fun challenge to open it in PhotoShop and play with it in answer to your "how would you improve it?" question. Attached are two possibilities, though these changes could not be made to the quilt at this point. So it is just for fun.What a travesty to mess with someone else's work--I feel a little guilty! But it was a fun

1. I thought the colors used for the background, chair and hat were too close in value and could be livened up, so I changed those colors, giving them more contrast. I also thought the composition would be stronger if the sides, with background color were cropped off.

2. After making the first changes, I thought the flowers you used were so starkly different in mood and tone that they didn't work very well with the simple, flat background, so I would have found a fabric with flatter, more stylized flowers to add to the hat.

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Del says... Of course, one of the limitations in making this type of quilt is that one is limited by the requirement to use only the fabrics from a certain manufacturer. I often find that sample quilts made to show the possibilities of a fabric line don't work very well. I don't remember what other fabrics were available in the 2004 line. I know that the large pink/red flowers were the only possibility for broiderie perse, so I limited myself with that first selection. I like the aqua fabric, and after making the chair I liked the white/aqua combination. However, the hat kills the chair and the chair kills the hat!! For me the "virtual" yellow/orange/red/pink flowers are MUCH more effective - those hot Mexican colors have always appealed to me and I use them frequently in my quilts. I don't care for the dark blue background, but I'm not sure what color might work better in my eyes. As I recall I had a polka dot fabric that I tried, but it distracted too much from the flowers on the hat.

I think that I will have to learn Adobe PhotoShop once I have Microsoft Publisher down pat - what fun to take a quilt that doesn't work and try to improve it as a "virtual image".

Some quilts don't work! 08-17-09

For several years the Kansas Art Quilters, of which I am a member, created small quilts for the Fabri-Quilt booth at Quilt Market. The requirement, of course is that one must use just Fabri-Quilt fabric. It was an interesting thing to do, but some quilts were less successful than others. I never quite figured out if it was the limited fabric, the concept or a lousy quilt artist! This is one that I was very enthused about, but it doesn't work. My concept was to have a very plain , flat, sort of primitive chair as a background for a fancy hat covered with flowers. And I do have both of those elements.

I have always liked pieced backgrounds, but I didn't want a lot of color, so I just pieced, cut and re-pieced the fine black and white squiggly fabric to give a little more texture.

"Hat on a Blue Chair" Del Thomas 2004 31"W x 28"L(Thanks to Christine for the reminder that I had left this line off. Del 08-17-09)

The brim of the hat is attached to the crown, but is wired on the edge and loose all around so that it can be adjusted. I tried quite a few ribbons to dangle off the edge, but this was the best I could find without distracting from the flowers.

The flowers are fused and machine appliqued in a modern version of broiderie perse. I think they work great. It is just the combo of chair and hat that bothers me.

What do you think? How would you improve it? I doubt that I will do more work on it after all these years, but one never knows when a brainstorm will lead me to revisit a quilt.