Exhibit at Visions Art Museum in SanDiego 07-21-15

"Amaryllis"  Ruth B. McDowell 2014  43"W x 39.5"L

 

On Saturday I drove to San Diego for the opening reception of the new exhibits.  In the main gallery is "Collector's Showcase" with quilts from four different contemporary quilt collectors, including quilts from Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.  One of them is the Ruth McDowell flower above - quite a spectacular quilt, I think.  I have yet to talk about it on my blog, but will soon.  There are also quilts from collectors Carolyn Mazloomi, Yvonne Porcella and the Brakensiek Collection. http://visionsartmuseum.org/calendar.asp  The reception was well attended with about 125 visitors and I had the opportunity to talk about the TCQC quilts that are on display. 

 

It wasn't an easy trip and took me three hours, mostly at less than 40mph!  We had the remnants of Hurricane Dolores so there was wind, torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Although I couldn't see the lightning my car radio sputters when it strikes and I was amazed at how much zapping was going on.   I thought about turning around and just returning home, but the northbound lanes of the I-5 were just a long parking lot.  So, I just kept going along and eventually about Del Mar the traffic became lighter and the rain stopped.  I had not made a motel reservation and couldn't find any place that had vacancies, so I decided to drive home after dinner at Ikiru, my favorite sushi restaurant.  Dry pavement and moderate traffic resulted in a 1 hour 45min drive, arriving home at 11:15.  I was tired, but it was an eventful day and I enjoyed the opening.

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Monday Browsing 07-20-15

I haven't done much browsing so have little to offer.   My root canal took up most of my time last week, ice packs  and Tylenol and lots of naps. 

 

Adult Coloring books:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/66663-coloring-books-grow-up.html

Taking pictures as you work:

https://thequiltshow.com/daily-blog/142-newsletter/23625-taking-photos-of-your-work?utm_source=Infusionsoft&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2015_07_20_Newsletter_7&inf_contact_key=1502c96f967d887978dd42233ef659b028c439aa1b832493eae634066af86c74

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Fiberlandia auction quilt by Deb Cashatt 07-19-15

I was immediately attracted to this piece by the well coordinated "hardware" and fabrics.

Deb designed the circuit board fabric.  She says, the fabric is "..based on the gajillion pc boards that I have photographed.  I found some sections that I liked; then in Photoshop, I copied/pasted/clone-stamped, rotated, filtered and blended layers together until I had a pattern that will find its way into a shirt for my husband when I find a few extra hours."   

 

"What's Next?" Deb Cashatt  2015  6"W x 8"L

Artist created fabric, commercial fabric, part of a CD player, button, gold paint.

The tag on the right is a label which, of course, didn't show when the quilt was in the matting.  I will take it off and sew it on the back when I do a heavier binding and a better label. 

 

Deb says she loves to take things apart and has a nice selection of pieces to use in her designs.  These are the buttons one pushes to play a CD player.

 

No label on this side, but, as I said before, the artists probably expected their little quilts would stay in the matting frames.  I'd advise everyone to put some identifying info on whatever they make.  Who knows where it might end up?    Great quilting on this, I wonder how she keeps such even spirals?

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Friday Feet 07-17-15

Three plain Janes.

No zebras were harmed to make these shoes.

Tres Elegant!

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Wordless Wednesday 07-15-15

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Rude Awakening 07-14-15

I woke up this morning to the sound of chainsaws, a noise that turns my stomach.  I looked out front and saw "men in trees"!  The owners had recently had the pine trees trimmed, but the house has been sold and the first thing new owners seem to do is cut down all the big trees.  Trees are "messy" and required regular pruning.  But they are beautiful.

 

Thirty years ago this view was full of tall trees, but only these three remain. 

It looked like they were cutting too low to be decapitating trees.

And it turned out they were only trimming the street tree, a crape myrtle which is about 22 feet tall.  They left the stack of trimmings and their warning sign all day until finally the chipper came and went off with the sign.  Whew! 

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Martha Wolfe quilt from Fiberlandia auction 07-12-15

Sorry I have missed a few days.  I had to have an emergency root canal and things didn't go so well.  I am better now and hope to stop the pain meds at the same time I stop the antibiotics.

Martha  Wolfe does wonderful bird quilts, including this one with the New Zealand bird, Pukeko. Martha was in NZ early this year for a Quilt Symposium and enjoyed some sightseeing. She says that the wildlife was elusive, but the pukeko could sometimes be spotted scavenging in the fields.  This bird is in the same family as our coot (sometimes called mud hen) and the purple gallinule found in Florida. 

"New Zealand: Pukeko"  Martha Wolfe - Davis, CA 2015  8"W x 6"L

Hand painted and printed fabric made on a visit to New Zealand, strip-pieced  cottons, painted organza and hand-dyed silk charmeuse. 

Fused, raw-edge applique, machine and hand-stitched.  

Great feet! 

Colorful label with all the pertinent information.

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