Jenny Bowker quilt from TCQC 02-11-24

I have long admired Jenny's work and have several small quilts.  I took a class from her some years ago at Road to California.  Great teacher, I enjoyed the class.  

"Hot Water - Dead Sea" 2009 Jenny Bowker - Canberra, ACT, Australia 

50 cm x 150 cm (19.7"W X 59.2"L)

"As the waters of the sea increase in temperature the sea will become more acid. Corals and molluscs will be unable to form shells and the reefs will die. For a while at least, coelenterates like jelly fish will fill the seas."

Cotton fabric, wool mix batting, layered appliqué, piecing.

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Pacemaker #4 01-21-24

Well, I'm getting along okay.   Maybe I have moved around too much as the pain is slightly more.  But not as bad as the itch!  I keep going around the edge of the bandage with the Cortaid sttick and that relieves it for a bit.   I also put on a bra to hold the boob up a bit,  not sure if it helps. Worth a try.   Wedid both walks today, just the loop, no "side trips".  Each walk is a bit less than mile and I no longer have to  sit down to rest.  I'll try driving the  loop tomorrow to see if I can drive okay.  

In 2012  Visions Quilt Museum hung 40 12"X12" quilts from the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  These were only part of  the 2X12s at that time.  Have added quite a few during the intervening years. 

Forty twelve-inch square quilts from the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.

Top row: Judith Roderick, Kristin LaFlamme, Terry Grant, Sherry Kleinman, Nelda Warkentin, Els Vereycken, Bodil Gardner, Kirsten Duncan.   2nd row:  K. Grace Howes, Sue Benner, Aileyn Renli Ecob, Karen Rips, C. Terry Meyer, Brenda Gael Smith, K.Velis Turan, Gerri Congdon.   3rd row: Terry Grant, Mary Pal, Doria Anne Goocher, Linda Colsh, Polly Bech, Els Vereycken, Ruth Powers, Sue Dennis.  4th row: Thom Atkins, Sandra Hart, Joan Sowada, Diane Perin Hock, Terri Stegmiller, Sally Sellers, Cynthia St. Charles, Chris Hanson.   5th row: Julia Zgliniec, Nanette Fleischman, Nikki Wheeler, Natalya Aikens, B.J. Adams, Nancy Morgan, Catherine Kleeman, Deborah Boschert.

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New quilt in TCQC 12-17-23

This past year I have gone overboard with quilts for the Collection.  But each one has been special.  This quilt was part of a traveling SAQA exhibit that ended recently.  Several years  ago when the exhibit first started I cut out a picture and pinned it on my wall. So, when I saw the actual quilt was now available, how could I resist?  

  "Can This Be Me?"  Bodil Gardner - Denmark  1999?

Cotton fabric, batting, thread, metallic net.  Machine applique, machine quilting

The appliques are sewn down with zigzag on the background.  After sandwiching the quilting is done with straight stitch on top of the zig-zag.

Two places have metallic net applied.

Lots of information, but no date or size.  I'll have to add that information. 

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Terese May quilt from the SAQA online 2023 Auction 11-26-23

 

I won the bid on six quilts at the online SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) auction.  One I gave to a friend who had admired it and who loves cats and  cat  images.  I did not photograph it before I  gave  it to her, so I copied  this from the  SAQA website.  Therese May is an art  quilter of long standing and lives  in the  Bay Area of California.  She started  using  paint on her  quilts before most artists  had thought of it.    Her  work is very individual  and unique in the quilt world.  

"Mental Health Cats"   Therese May -  California  12"X12"

Various fabrics, cotton batting and back.  Painted, Pieced, machine quilted. 

Therese's  Artist's Statement: "I truly believe that if we all could just pay attention to our mental health, there could be peace on earth."

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Cynthia Corbin quilt (1994) from TCQC 11-19-23

Still having problems with the space bar which is too frustrating for me.  Eight or more strokes to make a space!   So, here is a rerun from  August 2021.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Sunday again and here is another quilt from TCQC.   This is one of twelve that I purchased in the last century.  Doesn't that sound odd?  I started collecting contemporary quilts (now called art quilts) in 1985 but didn't have a lot of extra money and then life got in the way for about a decade.  So, all but twelve quilts have been added since 2000.  This piece is one of the very early additions and I am still glad I bought it and enjoy having it hanging some times.

                          

"Absolutes"  Cynthia Corbin  1994  35"W x 56"L

Machine pieced and quilted.  Cotton fabric, thread, batting.

www.CynthiaCorbin.com

 

I met Cynthia Corbin at Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar.  We were in a couple Ruth McDowell classes together in the early 1990s.  I admired her work then and still do today, but have never added another of her quilts to the Collection. I believe this was started in one of Ruth's Symmetry classes and the "border" was added after Cynthia was home in her studio.  I love the addition of brown in the border and those swirling "ribbons" pop out the center panel and add a lot of motion to the composition.  Cynthia lives in the Seattle area.

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Sue Benner quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 11-12-23

Sue Benner has just returned home from teaching at Art Quilt  Tahoe and has been posting pictures  of the landscape and of her students work. I am in love with this photo of a sunset  over the lake.  It made me hang one of her quilts that is in  TCQC.  Such amazing photos and quilts she creates. 

I haven't  posted this quilt  since Sep 2019 and this is a "reprint" of that long ago post. 

"Marsh #22" quilt by Sue Benner 09-22-19

This is one of the newer quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  I bought it from Sue last year after she showed it unfinished to her class at Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson, AZ.   I thought I had already posted it here, but cannot find it anywhere. 

It is part of her series "Marsh" and joins "Marsh #11" which I added to the Collection in 2001.  Odd that I should have both #11 and #22.  Guess I'll have to watch for #33!

"Marsh #22" Sue Benner - Texas  2018  46"W x 15"L

Hand painted fabrics by the artist, fused, cotton batting, machine quilted. 

The color in these pictures is brighter than the actual quilt, but I can't seem to adjust it very much; it is more misty and mysterious.  I have enjoyed having it hanging on the wall in the family room where I see it off and on all day.  And I see different things in it at different times.  Sometimes it does indeed resemble marshes, but also cities on water, sunset or sunrise on the ocean, views in the mesas and valleys of the desert....  I find it very peaceful, very calming.  

Detail of left side.

Detail of right side.

Title and signature on back.  Always in gold paint. 

www.subenner.com

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Quilts from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 11-05-23

Two pieces by Kathleen Probst, purchased two years apart. The first is a12x12 from the 2012 SAQA online auction.

"Simple Landform: Sand & Water" - Kathleen Probst - Idaho 2011  12"X12"

Fused, hand-stitched and machine stitched.

Kathleen  notes: "The balance between sand and water interests me, as they mutually agree on boundaries. Montessori landform puzzles were the inspiration for this piece. This is the first time I've hand-stitched one of my "Simple Series" pieces to create the chunky lines I've been craving." 

DEL COMMENTS: I am intrigued by the shapes and the stitching on this piece - besides, it is blue and yellow!

This one I purchased directly from Kathleen.

 "Wings #2: Pairing Up"  Kathleen Probst - Idaho   2012
27.75"W X 28.5"L  Cotton fabrics, Fused. Machine quilted.

www.kathleenprobst.com       kathleen.probst@gmail.com

You can also check Kathleen Probst on the right sidebar for past posts and pictures.

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Ruth McDowell quilt from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 10-29-23

I am surprised that the last time I showed "Pumpkins" on this blog was November  2008!  It took me a long time to find it in the archives and I am showing it in full from that long ago post.

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I am an admirer of Ruth B. McDowell and the magical quilts she creates. There are quite a few of her works in the Collection. I feel this is one of her very best and it fits right into this season of autumn and Thanksgiving.

"Pumpkins" Ruth B. McDowell -  Massachusetts 1998 57"W x 44.5"L
Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread.
Machine pieced. Hand appliqué. Machine quilted.

Using her unique techniques of curved seam machine piecing for the pumpkins and straight seam machine piecing for the leaves, Ruth has created an elegant image of this common vegetable. Her whimsical choices for the background fabric include round orange flowers with green leaves which reflect the color and shape of the pumpkins, shibori, hand dyes, batiks and plaids. For the leaves there are many different fabrics in a variety of greens including a vintage piece with buttons that could represent bug holes, or raindrops. She has make a rather realistic stem by piecing striped fabric together. The only appliqué used is for the bottom circle on the foreground pumpkin. The integrated border implies a frame, but blends into background to avoid crowding the central image.

Ruth B. McDowell and Del Thomas w/Pumpkins quilt in background. Photo by Karen Stiehl Osborn.

Last February (2007} a selection of Ruth B. McDowell quilts from the TCQC hung for several months at the Pacific Grove shop Back Porch Fabrics. It was a great opportunity for those attending Asilomar to see the quilts up close and to read what Ruth had to say about them in her various books. Pumpkins appears in "A Fabric Journey: An Inside Look at the Quilts of Ruth B. McDowell" on pages 18 - 21

http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com/

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The are now more than 30 Ruth B. McDowell quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  The latest was  added last fall,  "Day Lilies by the Pond". Ruth has retired from teaching and now lives in Minnesota, but she still makes an occasional quilt.

12X12 quilts from Thomas Contempoary Quilt Collection 10-24-23

I just can't seem to keep this blog going.  How did I do it every day for so many years?  I think my life is now so boring and limited I can't think of anything to say most days. I take the neighbor boys  to school only on Tuesdays now.  Immanuel goes to high school and  must  be there by  7am.  Julian is in fourth grade and I drop him  off at 7:15am.  And sometimes, like today, I have a nap when I get home.  Old age is creeping up!  Have a  lunch date tomorrow,  we are going to  our favorite spot, Fitness Grill  in Yorba Linda.  Then I hope to sew in the afternoon.   

I usually post TCQC quilts on Sunday, but I hadn't taken the pictures before the sun went down.  So, I'm showing these three today.  They are very special quilts because my SDiego friend Andrea Bacal made them and the images are actually my hats. She needed to meet a Challenge for Canyon Quilters with the theme "From Above". She called and asked if I would send  her some pictures of my hats, taken "from above".  I took  a  half a dozen and these are those she chose from that selection. The cream hat with the shiny green bow she submitted to the Challenge.   I casually mentioned about 50 thousand times that I would like to have the other two.  In 2020 she finished them and they look fantastic hung together on my cream walls.  They are fused with the raw edges stitched and she has done wonderful quilting to indicate the texture of each hat.  I think her use of colored pencils to show the bow and shadows is inspired.  They all have the same background and the  same fabric on the back. 

"View from theTop"  2013  Andrea  Bacal - San Diego 12"X12"

And the back.

                       "Del's Hat #2"  2020  Andrea Bacal - San Diego  12"X12"

And the back.

"Del's Hat #3"  2020  Andrea Bacal - San Diego  12"X12"

Detail of the stitched texture.

And the back.

A thousand thanks to Andrea for such special quilts, done perfectly.  I owe her a quilt and she wants one I started in Sue Benner's Tucson class.  I'll find  it in my mess somewhere, add the binding and label, and it will be hers.  Of course, I have to find it first!!!

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Quilt from TCQC 10-15-23

Purchased from the SAQA 2012 online auction.  Another tree quilt for that expanding part of TCQC.   I don't know much about Elisabeth, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, but she has a very nice website showing her work and listing all the places around the world where it has been shown.

"Chiaroscuro" Elizabeth Nacenta de la Croix -  Switzerland   2012   12"X12"

Batiks and hand dyed cotton fabrics. Bamboo batting.  Rayon threads.  Fused applique.  Free-motion machine quilting. 

https://www.elisabethdelacroix.com/.

 
I like the way she has used batiks with tree twig like shapes to give depth to the forest - not overpowering the background, just a spot here and there.  The tree fabric is a nice choice with shadows of branches and twigs.

 
She has FMQ'd with what I think of as "tree bark" lines vertically over the entire piece.

 
Rather than binding, Elisabeth has chosen to satin stitch the edges.
 

 
Lovely backing fabric and a generous sleeve. However, she didn't leave any slack in the sleeve which is a problem I see a lot in quilts made outside the USA/Canada.  It really is necessary for shows that use the round rod and drape set up - without any slack the top of the quilt is bent over to accommodate the bar. 

 
Nice clear label gives two ways to contact the artist.  I have added the size for my use.

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12X12 Quilts in Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 6 09-02-23

Another six quilts from past SAQA Benefit Auctions.  These are all leaves or trees from various years and countries.  I am fond of trees and their leaves, but I also look for different techniques and artists with a  distinctive style.  Four of the artists  shown here show their particular style.  

"Autumn Leaves"  Aileyn Renli Ecob - California  2012   12X12 

Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread.

Beautiful hand applique.  

"Rainbow  Trees"  Nikki Wheeler - Canada  2011  12X12

Various fabrics, fusing, machine finished edges, Machine quilting. 

"Evergreen"  Brenda Gael Smith -Australia  2011   12X12

Brenda's distinctive style.  Commercial cotton fabrics, Machine pieced and quilted. 

"Possibilities"  Deborah Boschert - Texas  2009 12X12

Deborah uses many of the same motifs in her various quilts. 

Cotton fabrics,  fusing, sequins, embroidery, Machine quilting. 

"Coastal Patterns - Banksia"  Susan Matthews - Australia  2013  12X12

 Canvas, ink, polyester thread, wool fabric.

Collagraph printint, lino block printing, fusing, free motion machine stitching.

"Laurel Leaves"   Terry Grant - Oregon  2008  12X12

Cotton fabric and thread.  Machine applique, machine quilting.

Terry does very exacting work and experiments  with  new techniques  that   she reads  about  or  invents for herself.  This quilt has such depth.  

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12X12 quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 5 08-27-23

I didn't realize time was slipping away from me and I didn't blog all week.  As always I will try to do better.  

Here are six more 12X12 quilts in the Collection from the SAQA auctions over the years.  I do have quite a few  birds and will show more in a future post.  The 2023 SAQA Auction starts September 14.  You can see all 380 of the quilts at   www.saqa.com/auction and read how you can register and bid.   I always go through them all several times and make a list of those I am interested in.  This year there are 24 on my list.  Depends on the price and who is bidding,  but I will  probably acquire  3 or 4  new pieces for the Collection. 

"Steller's Jay"  Terry Grant - Oregon  2011  12"X12"

Machine Pieced, Appliqued.  Machine Quilted.  Cotton Fabrics

"Night Owl"  Judith Roderick - New Mexico  2011  12"X12"

Silk  painting, Buttons, Machine quilted.

"Another Collector"  Diane Wright - Connecticut  2012  12"X12"

Artist painted background.  Machine pieced, appliqued.  Hand quilted.

Cotton Fabric and thread.

"A Little Birdy Told Me" - Terri Stegmiller - North Dakota  2011

Hand Painted, Machine outlined. Machine quilted.  Cotton fabric and thread tangles.  

"Blue Wren"   Helen Godden - Australia  2016

Machine appliqued and quilted.  Cotton Metallic fabric.

"Tree Top Parrots of the Palisades"  Sherry Kleinman - California  2009

Machine pieced, Appliqued, Quilted.  Machine Buttonhole.  Buttons.

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12X12 Quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection. 4 08-21-23

Although I love flowers, for some unknown reason I don't buy many flowered quilts. Here a re a  few that vary greatly in the techniques used.  I do  look for a variety of techniques and styles when  I  am adding quilts to the Collection.  Especially so with the 12X12 pieces.   Here  we have embroidery,  fusing, beading, cut and rearrange, and hand applique. 

"Fantastical Garden'   Gillian B. Moss - La Jolla, CA  2012  12X12

Lovely soft colors of thread against a screen printed square with holes left for the hand stitched flowers.  Straight stitches, cross stitches, back stitches, stem stitches, running stitches, fly stitches, single chain stitches - done in perle cotton and sewing cotton threads.

Cotton fabrics. Fused, machine applique and quilting.

Cute machine stitched June bugs are in the upper left quadrant.

"Gold Scarab"   Thom  Adkins  2010   12X12

Thom is known for the elaborate beading on his quilts.

"Ode to a Cabbage Rose"  C. Terry Meyer - Espanola, NM  2011 12"x12"
Cotton fabrics, metallic gold thread.  Machine reverse applique, machine quilting. 

It appears that Terry made nine blocks (there are nine 'surface' fabrics) and then cut them into fourths and recombined them to make four patches.  The edges of the patches are butted together and stitched with mono filament.
 

"Calla Lily"  Aileyn Renli Ecob - California  2010  12"X12"

Cotton fabrics. Fabric  pen. Hand applique,  Hand quilted.

Aileyn does the most exquisite hand work of anyone I know.

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12"X12" Quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 3 08-13-23

Here is another set of three by one artist. The art of Linda Colsh just fascinates me,  there are five of her quilts in the Collection. These 12"X12" quilts are from the SAQA auction,  but three different years.  When  Linda made these she live in Belgium and did her dyeing, printing, screening, etc. outside in the summer and fall when there was no snow!  Her old ladies and other images are from photos she took in Europe.  Several  years ago she and her husband moved back to the east coast of the USA where they originated.  Her current work reflects that change of location. 

"Cache"  Linda Colsh - Maryland   2011

Cotton fabrics: painted, printed, and dyed by the artist. Machine pieced, machine quilted. Screens from the artist's drawings & photographs

"Gentle Reminder"  Linda Colsh  - Maryland  2008

Cotton fabrics: painted, printed, and dyed by the artist. Machine pieced, machine quilted. Screens from the artist's drawings & photographs

"Cache" - Linda Colsh - Maryland 2011

 Cotton fabrics: painted, printed, and dyed by the artist. Machine pieced, machine quilted. Screens from the artist's drawings & photographs

https://lindacolsh.com

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