Quilt Festival - LBeach #1 07-27-09

Quilt Festival - LBeach opened with classes midweek and the exhibits and vendors opened on Thursday evening. I didn't go until Saturday when I worked two hours at the SAQA booth, then wandered around for about a half hour before going back to check on Corky. On Sunday the PParents were both home and they took Corky to the hospital. They dropped me off at the LBeach Convention center about noon and I had three hours to see what I wanted to see. I don't usually do the vendors and I didn't this time either. The galleries were so spacious there is plenty of room to see all the quilts completely from near to or a long view. I did take about a hundred pictures, but half are of the signs that match the quilts. I am only posting one quilt tonight because I am still tired after being asleep for about five hours and need to go back to bed. I will post some more photos tomorrow.

I am showing this quilt because I posted this past week about lightning depicted in quilts - this one is quite wonderful. It is an actual photograph applied to the fabric as a photo transfer. Good choice of quilting lines. You will be able to see them by clicking on the pictures.

I like this small horizontal slice of reality at the bottom.

Other images of quilts included in the Quilt Festivals in Chicago and LBeach:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leannderthal/
http://www.handmadebyalissa.com/long-beach-quilt-festival/

I have also posted for 07-23-09 - delayed due to computer problem

Lightning 07-16-09

Lightning is not something we have much of here in SCalifornia. In the mountains and in the desert all around us, but here on the coast it is a rare event. Back in 2003 I was working on a series of small wall quilts I called "Weather or Not" and one of them was going to be Lightning. I went online and looked for an image for inspiration, but didn't have much luck. Could be I wasn't very good at searching, but also there just weren't that many lightning pictures available online. Not compared to the millions we can access today.

I wish I had access then to this fabulous shot by Paul Cichocki taken in July 2006 in Las Vegas, which gets terrific thunder/lightning storms during the summer. Even though I'm sure it was hot there, the image has the cold, sharp, menacing aspect I was looking for. When I look at this picture I can almost feel the crackling in the air.

I used about a half a dozen pictures to do my sketch and came up with this wall quilt. It is much more 'gentle' than what I intended and I think I went overboard with the skinny subsidiary cracks. They look more like falling fireworks than part of the lightning. I know I will never make another quilt w/lightning, so I must be happy with this one. Live and learn, eh?