In an April long ago 04-18-20

Looking back in my picture files again.  Just typed in "April" and found a few quilt images. 

This is from April 2005 in a class at Empty Spools with Sylvia Einstein.  Sylvia did wonderful wedding ring pattern quilts and had us use the same templates with original settings.   I think I called mine "Green Trails".  It has yet to be quilted.

This picture is from April 2003 when this quilt hung in a big show in Pennsylvania.  It is a group quilt with blocks made by friends of Judy House who subsequently died of cancer.  It started out as just a few blocks from Empty Spools friends and spread to her friends all over the country.  Unfortunately we didn't put any dimensions on the request for blocks so there was no uniformity.  It took me forever to put it together and I had to make some small blocks as fillers.  I still get a kick out of the chicken in the lower right with a block of three eggs right below it.  Looks startled!  After her death the family donated the quilt to a children's hospital or clinic in the Washington DC area.  Might have been Walter Reed.  As difficult as it was to put together I think it is the most fun quilt I have ever worked on.  

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Very small quilts from TCQC 08-05-18

 Tonight I am posting some very small quilts from several different makers.  There came a time after I had been collecting contemporary quilts for a while that I had to decide how small could a quilt be.  Did I want to hold to 12X12?  Or would fiber postcards be okay?  And what about those artists who only made small quilts?  When I first started the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection in 1987 most quilt artist were making fairly large quilts, but as the years went by it seems that they get smaller and smaller.  Which works for me because I have less and less storage space.  I do have a box full of fiber postcards and I have made quite a few myself.   The standard size is 6"x4", but very small quilts (less than 12X12) come in many sizes.  I'll show you a few this week and maybe continue next Sunday also.   

"Just Because"  June Underwood  2005  5"WX4"L

Whole cloth.  Cotton fabric, machine quilting.

Simply but sweet, I keep this one hanging in my bathroom.  There are several of her quilts in TCQC, all larger than this tiny one.  

June's distinctive signature  "jou" is rather joy like.  

And what a pretty back - with a dedication.  Nice.

"Cherished Friends Flourish"  Tracy Chapman  2007  4"W x 6"L  

Cotton fabric  and glass beads.  Hand quilted and beaded. 

The beads are threaded on while quilting.  Notice the picot bead edging. 

The back shows her tiny stitches.   We have sort of lost touch in the last eleven years, but I still consider Tracy a dear friend and I cherish this symbol of that friendship. 

 "Happy Birthday"  Judy House  2003  8"Wx6"L

Machine appliqued and quilted.  Cotton batiks and glass beads. 

Judy and I became friends at Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar.  She was very talented and made some great quilts.  She succumbed to cancer in 2005, all of her friends, and there are many, still miss her a lot.  

The beads are hand sewn. 

She sang Happy Birthday on the back.

Vest Pocket Tour II   Joan Schulze  2001  7.5"Wx7.5"L

Cotton and silk fabrics.  Printing on fabric.  Machine pieced and quilted. 

Here is Joan's machine stitched signature on the front lower right. 

On the back of the quilt you see her signature in reverse and this long skinny label. 

This is one of several quilts in the Collection that have Velcro for hanging.  I never use Velcro hangers and I would take this off, but I have a hard time seeing black on black, so I left it on. 

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Healing Quilts in Medicine 07-21-16

I came across the latest exhibit of "Healing Quilts in Medicine" and found some wonderful quilts.  Healing Quilts started in 2004-5 with  the first set of quilts made by friends of Judy House, a contemporary quilter from Virginia who was fighting Cancer.  She thought that the waiting rooms for Chemo and other treatments were too drab and needed some quilts to cheer them up and give the waiting patients something to look at.  I don't find those first quilts online, but there are several subsequent exhibits, the latest being done by quilters in New Mexico.  http://healingquiltsinmedicine.org/  You can also see a video of some of those quilts at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQpDF0Kbmw 

 

Back in 2004 I selected the plant Woad which is an imported, invasive plant growing in waste land and highway verges throughout the country.  It is used sometimes as a substitute for indigo dyes.  But it also has possibilities as a cancer drug.

 

 

"Woad"  Del Thomas 2005 24"W x 30"L

Commercial cotton fabrics, hand-dyed cotton, cotton batt, cotton threads.

Machine pieced and quilted. 



Previously posted in 2008:  http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2008/02/woad-02-24-08.html

Scientific Information (2005): Dyer's Woad (Isatis tinctoria) An ingredient, Indirubin, is reported to have anti-neoplastic activity and is widely used in China in the treatment of leukemia.  A chemical compound isolate from Indigo,  Indirubin,  is being used in China for treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, and various synthetic  derivatives are in preclinical studies in Europe and in the US.

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"Angel's Trumpet" by Judy House 09-05-10

"Angel's Trumpet" 33"W x 42"L Judy House 2003

Machine raw-edge applique, Machine quilted.

Brugmansia, the plant that many of us know as "Angel's Trumpet" comes in many colors and some flowers even have a fragrance. I've always thought that they look more like angel's skirts than trumpets, but the trumpet name has been around forever. Some day, when I have taken enough pictures of both the flowers and quilts inspired by the plant/flowers, I will make an angel's trumpet quilt.

This one was made by Judy House of Virginia who succumbed to cancer in 2005. I met Judy at Empty Spools classes at Asilomar, she was a long-time friend of Mary Leakey, who I also met at Empty Spools. Judy taught contemporary quilt making techniques and had a large following of friends and students. She fought the cancer for years and bemoaned the fact that the waiting areas of hospitals were so drab - she spent many hours there when she went for chemotherapy. She organized a project to put quilts on the walls at Walter Reed Hospital - inviting 37 quilt artists to create a quilt based on a plant or animal that has shown promise as a cancer fighting drug. You can see these quilts at: http://healingquiltsinmedicine.org/ and read more of Judy's story.

Quilt from TCQC 03-09-09

It was a very busy but wonderful ten days with Mary and Joe in San Juan Bautista. Lots of rain, but we weren't out in it much and when the sun was shining the hillsides were green, the birds were singing and the new little sprouts were 'misting' the trees. If you look just a little bit aside from straight on the leaves are there. It was great to visit our Asilomar friends and hit some of our favorite restaurants. I was having such a good time I didn't want to come home. But the drive home yesterday was also spectacular with miles and miles of blooming almond trees. More on that w/pictures another day.

"Oak Trees" Mary Leakey 1999 38"W x 30"L

This is a very special quilt for me because my good friend Mary made it using Ruth McDowell piecing techniques. And I was there to see it go together. The tree trunks are made of silk from the Talbots (ties) Outlet in Carmel Valley. [And now there is another Talbots outlet in Gilroys' huge outlet mall.] Mary and Joe live in an Oak tree woods with this particular tree growing in front of the house. It is such a quiet location up in the hills away from the 'flat land' hustle and bustle. Mary was a very good friend of Judy House of Virginia who attended Asilomar classes for many years, but unfortunately she succumbed to cancer in July of 2005. Judy is the one who talked Mary into taking the Empty Spools Seminars classes. So, I also owe her a debt for this gorgeous quilt.

Chickens - again 11-17-08

Last night, truly the 17th, I had this blog post all ready to go. I hit the 'Publish Post' box, the post disappeared and my computer went down. So, I went to bed! This morning I had to reconstruct part of it, which takes longer in the morning than it does at 1am because I have a night owl brain. I know I have 'done' chickens before, but I ran across some pictures of "Odd Flock" and wanted to share one.

This little guy or gal is starting early with the 'chicken crossing the road' business.

Even in San Juan Bautista, where they should be accustomed to it, chickens don't seem to like to have their photo taken. One must stand very still and wait for them to stroll within range. I was standing in a front yard waiting for this showy guy to hustle his bustle in my direction. I don't think Mary thought it was nice to stand in some one's yard like that - especially since the people were home! "Those crazy touristas!"

I rather admire this fellow, he looks like he is made out of parts - one specked front plus a lustrous backside. He is grazing at curbside. The San Juan Bautisita chickens wander everywhere in town and are adept at avoiding being run over. The citizens are somewhat divided into 'love the chickens' and 'hate the chickens' camps. I suppose having a garden would automatically put one in the 'hate' category.

I used this photo in a blog post previously, but can't find it to give you a reference, so I am just re-posting it. I think he is the most handsome of all the roosters in town. And he is a BIG BOY, so he probably thinks he should be the Rooster King.

The hens, on the other hand, are mostly rather scrawny. Maybe it is because they have to run so much to keep away from "King" and his followers.

In 2004 when our friend Judy House was putting up a good fight to beat cancer, I started collecting chicken blocks for a friendship quilt for her. I did not expect the project to expand across the country, but once the word got around friends of Judy's sent wonderful imaginative blocks to tell her that they cared. It took me longer than it should have to get it together and it was an amazing test of my layout abilities. I put all the blocks on my design wall and moved them around until they were roughly in a rectangular shape. Then I started adding little borders around some blocks and making strips to fill in the blank spaces and constructing some small chicken related blocks to help fill out the quilt. I was amazed that the quilt came out so flat and I delivered to the long-arm quilter who did a lovely job of the quilting. And finally I wrapped it up and shipped it to Judy who was surprised and touched at such a gift. It is a bed sized quilt and she put it on her bed where it could keep her warm until the day she died. Sadly, not too many months later the wonderful long-arm quilter died of cancer also.

Among the blocks are several very clever ones. In the bottom row is a bowl of chicken soup made with chicken printed fabric for the soup. In the same row is a filler strip with three eggs - I didn't realize what an amusing juxtaposition it made with the astonished looking chicken above it until the quilt was finish and photographed. Margaret Miller sent the two strips in the top left corner, "egg - chicken" and I copied her lettering for the "peep - cluck" in the bottom right. Something was needed to sort of balance things. Freddy Moran sent the block on the right edge made from her original chicken design - I think Judy was in the Asilomar class when Freddy was developing that block. In the center of the quilt the speckled b&w chicken on black with a thin red border is "Spring Chicken" with little springs for legs - my brain will not retrieve that quilt makers name, but it has given a lot of smiles to viewers of the quilt. This photo was taken at Quilt Festival in Houston and the quilt won a ribbon at the Pennsylvania Mancuso show. So, a lot of people have enjoyed looking at all these chickens. The coordinating black/white/red/yellow fabrics are from "Fowl Play" an early collection from Free Spirit.

PIQF - Thursday 10-11-07

I am tired tonight after a long day at PIQF. It is a great quilt show, but not as good as some past years, in my opinion. One reason is that there seem to be many 'statement' quilts with dark messages or connections. The war in Iraq, African starvation and AIDS, child abuse, and even one quilt made to cover the quiltmaker's coffin someday (which is quite lovely I'm sure, but.....).

Thursday seems to always be the busiest day, so it was hard to take pictures in the crush, and several of mine were interrupted by moving bodies. But I will be able to retake them tomorrow along with seeing the rest of the quilts.

For years I have taken pictures of Angel Trumpet Flowers (Brugmansia) with the idea of doing a quilt, so I am always interested in what others have done. The Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection contains a lovely quilt (shown above) by Judy House with her interpretation of the plant (33"W x 42"L). And there are two Angel Trumpets hanging side by side at PIQF in the "New Quilts from Northern California" exhibit. One very realistic (about 30"W x 38"L) by Diana Roberts of Windsor, CA:


And one abstracted view (about 28"W x 20"L) by Gennie Becker of Sebastopol, CA:

More of PIQF tomorrow evening.