Viewing the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 09-30-18

I am frequently asked what I do with the quilts in the Collection.  Mostly they are rolled or stored flat, covered to keep out the dust, and labeled so I can find them - mostly with the help of my dear friend Liz Williams.  I couldn't do it without her!   But I do display the quilts in my house so that I can enjoy them.  There is always one at the end of the hall that I walk down dozens of times a day (and night) and usually that is where I hang the latest addition.  A few are always on display - like Terry Grant's "Yellow Bowl"  and "Blue Threads" by Elizabeth Busch.   Both of which are on stretcher bars, not something I usually buy, but sometimes cannot resist.  

I have a couple walls that are changing galleries, usually every three or four months.  With age I find it more difficult to hang the larger quilts by myself, so frequently hang groups of smaller quilts.  They might be grouped by subject, artist, color, design elements, whatever occurs to me at the time.   Tonight I am posting a "wall of red quilts", chosen just because I wanted to look at them for a while and they read RED.  Two are 80th birthday quilts from two friends, the others are rather recent additions to the Collection.    

  Petite Jungle - Jane Sassaman 2016, Round the Bend - Catherine Kleeman 2014, 
Pomegranates - Rosie Caudillo 2017, Hummingbird - Lenore Crawford 2016, 
Spring Chicken - Bonnie Damron 2018,  Birthday Bird - Patti Brooks  2018 

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Well laid plans sometimes go astray 03-06-18

My blog has been "dark" because I got sick.  I had a cold by Wednesday night at Asilomar and was really miserable by end of class on Friday.  I did go to the Red House for my Portobello Mushroom sandwich and stopped at Back Porch for one more yard of fabric.  AND to see if Gail Abeloe would like to hang the newest quilt in TCQC.  She did and it is hanging over the store room door on the right as you enter the classroom. 

"Hummingbird"  Lenore Crawford  2017   Approx 20"w x 15"L

(I didn't think to measure it and it is hanging in Pacific Grove!)

It is a very vibrant quilt and quilted  heavily.  Love those tulips.  

I drove to San Juan Bautista to spend the night at Mary's and went to bed immediately when I arrived - it was about 2:30pm!    Mary woke me up for dinner and I collapsed again, only to be up and on the road about 9am, heading home on I-5.  Each mile further south I felt worse... and worse.  I knew I was running a fever and the cough had developed.  I stopped at the Avenal rest stop and took a nap for half an hour, but I wanted to be home before dark, so I didn't linger.  By the time I arrived home I just knew I had the dreaded flu.  I called my doctor who called in a prescription and a very good friend brought it to my door.  I unpacked the essentials and all the classroom stuff is still in my car!  So, I have ached and slept and read, and coughed and ached some more and sniffled for almost three days.  Went to the doctor this morning and she did the swab test that showed I do NOT have the flu (phew), but bronchitis.  I guess the body aches were from over exercising and being tense.   So, now I just need to rest more, drink more fluids, take the pills and the cough syrup, and try not to cough too much.  This is just the current iteration of my almost annual winter bronchitis, and I thought I was going to make it through the winter without it.  Darn.  

After the doctor's visit I drove down to San Clemente to pick up my sweet KoKo dog.  Nancy Ota and Bud had kept him a few extra days.  What good friends!  So, now I have my furry hot body warmer to help me get well.  

I have not been able to finish the Surfside newsletter, but tomorrow I will.   Between coughing and resting and taking pills!   More classroom pictures later in the week. 

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Day 5 at Empty Spools with Sue Benner 03-01-18

I must admit I may be getting too old to being doing even an week at Empty Spools.  I am so tired tonight that I can hardly type straight.  It was a very windy, rainy day and I feel fortunate to be in the same building as my classroom.  I ate from my food bag for breakfast, another student picked me up a sandwich when she went to the snack bar for something for herself, and I ate the other half of that huge ham/cheese sandwich for dinner.  So, I didn't go outside at all until 4pm and time for the "walk about" when all the classrooms are open for other students to walk through and see what has been going on all week.  I drove over to Merrill Hall to see Lenore Crawford's class and to pick up a BIRD quilt a bought from her.  Then I stopped at Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer's class where they have been sewing all sorts of curves, and finally at Kathy Doughty's room where everyone was making a different quilt using 60degree angles (diamonds, triangles, hexagons, etc.) - it looked like a color wheel had exploded!  Very exciting work was being done.  I  moved quickly and only got a tiny bit wet.  

Back in Sue's classroom I really pushed to finish my eleven blocks.  I had to make the extra one because I didn't have enough dark fabrics to balance all the blocks.  They are pinned up on my design wall in a rough order  and I will not do anything more to them until after I return home and finish the Surfside newsletter which will be late! I like to get it out about 10 days before the meeting, but I haven't been able to work on it since I came up here, so I will be lucky to have it out a week before the meeting.  Sorry, ladies. 

Here are my eleven blocks.  Several have a tiny bit of brighter yellow and I will try to add that to each block.  One of the blocks has no aqua and I haven't yet figured out a way to add that.

This is my favorite block.  I imagine it is because it is the most flower like.

We will all pack up in the morning; we must be out of our sleeping rooms by 10am, and out of the classroom by 11:30am.  Lunch is included, but I think I will go to the Red House for lunch, stop at Back Porch one more time, and then head for Mary's where I will spend the night.  Saturday morning I'll be on the road home and on to San Clemente to pick up KoKo.  I surely have missed that little guy.  

I am exhausted! 

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