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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A momentos day 09-01-23

Today was my 85th birthday.  How did I live so long?  I am now older than my mother and both  my grandmothers when they died. I find I am a little obsessed with this birthday and I just don't know why.  Anyway it has been a good day and cooler than the last few weeks. I had lunch with friend Carol Bednar at  our favorite lunch spot, Fitness Grill in Yorba Linda.  It was quite comfortable in the patio and it wasn't crazy full.  Pictures below.   I have a beautiful mixed flower bouquet which is  so tall I could only photograph it on the kitchen floor!  Lovely soft colors and no lilies which are beautiful, but the fragrance is too much.  Also picture below.

Grilled salmon sandwich with a sort of  mixed salad with thumb sized tomatoes.  It  is no longer on the menu, however I like it so much they are willing to make it  for me.   These days I cannot eat the entire thing, so I have half left for tomorrow's breakfast.

Chicken grilled on skewers and roasted veggies on a bed of rice.  Carol felt it was a perfect lunch. 

Since it was a birthday event we shared a dessert. An almond, raspberry bar with  fresh fruit and whipped cream. 

And to top off the day, Dave, the mail carrier, sang 'Flying me to the moon'!!  He has a very nice voice.

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Wordless Wednesday 08-30-23

 Edit - This is what was hot when I started high school in 1952. Del

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Construction 08-29-23

There is construction in the park behind us and several new roofs being installed around the area. It is about time for a new roof on this house, so I have been paying  attention to the different roofing projects  and  think I will  go with  Brea Roofing - depending  on the  estimates.   This is one of their projects a couple streets to the west. 

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The first step is taking off the old roof. Under the asphalt shingles are on bare 1X4 slats.  The house is 55 - 60 years old, so this can't be the original roof. However, for at least 40 years the standard for new or replacements is to put 1/2" plywood down under any shingles.  There were ten guys in pairs on the roof working at scraping off the shingles and throwing them in the truck backed up in the driveway.  Scraping, putting the debris on canvas tarps, carrying them to the truck location, and dumping them. One guy in the truck bed stomping them down to compact  them. 

The next day they had all the old shingles off and the stacks of plywood (with red edges) lifted onto the roof.

Two white stakes on each plywood pile keeps them from sliding.

You can see the slates that open into the attic.  They have to plan the plywood layout to go around vents, etc. 

The next morning they had a truck with a belt on a long sort of crane.  The bundles of shingles were loaded by a guy in the bed of the truck and lifted up to a guy on the roof  You can see that almost all the plywood has been laid  and nailed along with some metal flashings for the chimney and various vents.

This guy lifts each  bundle of shingles onto his shoulder and hustles up to a pile on the roof top.  Then  he hustles back before the next bundle comes up.  He was working very hard.  

The final day they are putting on the penultimate shingles before the roof cap .

The trailer is in place for all the scraps and wrappings.  I wonder how many trucks and trailers of trash they took to the dump for this one roof replacement. 

This morning all was quiet with the roof finished and all the debris removed.  It took them about six days.  The crew was well coordinated and worked well together.   KoKo and I sat on a wall across the street to watch and take pictures.  

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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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Miscellaneous 08-20-23

It has been a very active week and I have not had the energy to even think about my blog.  So much going on in addition to our normal schedule.  Today, as I'm sure you know, we have had heavy rain and this evening  the strong wind came up. No problems that I know of, but I do have ponds in both front and back yards. They will be gone when the rain stops.  There are adequate drains with normal rain, but when we have a deluge the water just backs up. 

Our park is being renovated to provide more activities which I hope are not too noisy.  On Friday and Saturday there were about18 guys out there pouring and  smoothing the cement which was piped in from the revolving trucks at least a 100 feet away.  I believe they were trying to get it all poured and smoothed to benefit from the rain to help set it.  They have been working on the "frames" and foundation for a couple weeks.  The green at the bottom of the image is a mesh material on the chain link fence to help control the dust.  It runs right along the top of the flood control channel.  

KoKo's friend Bun-Bun, one of three Bijons in the neighborhood, returned from the  boarding place where she stayed for a month while her family vacationed.  They were very happy to see each other and wove a net with leashes trying to smell every part of each other.  This is about the only dog KoKo tolerates.  Sam and Mary walk the dog but I have never met the mother. 

On Wednesday I drove to Claremont,CA.,for the monthly  Book Group meeting.  One of our members relocated there several years ago and she drives down for our meetings which are now at 11:30am, bring your own lunch.  So, occasionally we carpool up to her house.  The  book  was  Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell.

Yesterday, Saturday,  I  drove to San Diego for the meeting of the Art Stream  group.  Our design challenge  was Connections and because I am such a sloth these days I did not have mine finished - only about 2/3's done.  However, others were more diligent.  Please don't pass these pictures on to anyone. 

Nelda's connection is the bridge on Highway One near Big Sur.  Great piece with a gorgeous bridge and amazing sky. 12X12

Andrea didmany connections in a rich autumnal palette.

Maybe 18X20

Ellen has been experimenting with various dyeing techniques, this one is an ice dye. 

This beautiful water-looking piece is done with arashi shibori. 

  The traffic both going and returning was generally light for a Saturday on the I-5, but still a bit of a slog.  KoKo  spent the day with Nancy Ota  and  when I picked him up she and I had a cup of tea and a short visit.  He loves being with her, but when I  show up he immediately latches on to me.

He might be a tiny bit spoiled.

Today wasaday of rest, which I REALLY needed.

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