Temptation

Can't believe it is December. Where did the year go?

The Janome 6600 went in for service before Thanksgiving. Just as I was about to pull out my backup machine, the shop called to say it's ready. Great timing!

Not only does the shop provide excellent service, they also sell new machines and sewing & quilting supplies. I test drove two new machines with wider 11" throats - new Janome Horizon MC8200 and a Bernina (sorry didn't note the model). The Janome fmq'd more smoothly.

Tempting as the new machine was, I came home with my 6600. I can't really justify a new machine. Yet. Might change my mind after wrestling with the next quilt beast. In the meantime I'll finish the year with my fmq quest: samples and smaller ufos. Quest to continue in 2013 with larger works.

Meanwhile, Three 1 and Three 2 are part of the Alameda County Arts Commission Exhibition at the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak St., Oakland, CA. It opens today and runs until 2/21/2013.

So Cal art whirl

When schedules suddenly aligned for an unencumbered week, I seized the opportunity and ran drove to southern California. When I go out of town, I like to know what to see, where to go and how to fit it all in. Monday was an eight-hour drive to San Diego. I laid out an ambitious schedule of exhibitions and venues for the next three days:

• Northern Stars: Twentieth Century Finnish Designs at the Mingei International Museum, San Diego (vintage Marimekko)
• Dyed Elegance: Asian Modernism and the Art of Kuboku and Hisako Takadu at the San Diego Museum of Art (roketsuzome - wax resist dyeing)
• Art Meets Science, Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection, and Magical Mystery Tour: en homage at Visions Art Museum, San Diego (quilts)
• California Design, 1930-1965: "Living in a Modern Way" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (comprehensive view of modern design)
• Breaking Ground: Chinese American Architects in LA (1945-1980) at the Chinese-American Museum, Los Angeles (googie architecture by Helen Liu Fong)
• Folding Paper: the Infinite Possibilities of Origami at the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles (mind-boggling folds)
• Claire Falkenstein at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles (she sculpted entrance gates for Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy)
• Pasadena to Santa Barbara: a Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1951-1969 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Karl Benjamin's abstract compositions would make great quilts)
• Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch House at University Art Museum University of California, Santa Barbara (he was great at marketing)

I didn't have time to see much more at each venue. I just missed San Diego's Craft Revolution: from Post-War Modern to California Design. It looked great even as the Mingei staff were dismantling it. But I maxxed out and even saved the Eames House in Pacific Palisades for another time. But I did manage to connect with friends in San Diego and LA for dinner.

Making it all possible meant a one night stay each in each city - if it's Tuesday, it must be ___ - and two-hour drives each day in crazy southern California traffic. To cap off the trip I spent one relaxing non-scheduled day in San Luis Obispo before returning home.

You may think I'm nuts, but this was a great vacation - full of art and inspiration. 

March madness

Life in March has been ricocheting about like the unpredictable weather. But no whining about all that boring stuff, let's talk about art and quilts in two noteworthy events. For eye candy, be sure to click on the links. Better and more comprehensive views than I can provide.

First, EBHQ - my local quilt guild - had it's biannual show, Voices in Cloth. I helped with set up and take down, but spent an afternoon enjoying the show. Even though it's non-juried, there was a fabulous variety of quilts from traditional patchwork to contemporary techniques, from realistic to abstract. Beautifully created garments and vendors too. For this new venue, we got the weather to cooperate with a break from the rain. With excellent lighting through the windows and skylights our visitors were dazzled. See the quilts and garments here.

I also caught the travelling exhibit of Quilt National 'll.at the San Jose Museum of Quilt and Textiles. Not every quilt that was at the Dairy Barn, but - wow! - quilts aplenty for inspiration. Going with two artists added a lot to the experience too. The museum website has two videos of the museum curator leading a tour of the show. Don't miss the highlight in part 2: Bonnie Smith talks about her creative process. Good pictures in their newsletter too.

Next post: art in an unexpected place.

Photo op

Despite enough photos of my own quilt, I asked my friend, Joyce, to take one of me next to Orange Rhyme in the special exhibit, New Quilts of Northern California, at PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival).

Proof it was there. Proof I saw it there. That feels kinda weird.

Rhyming again

Orange Rhyme

Woot! Woot!

Ricky Tims has selected Orange Rhyme for All That Jazz: Improvisational Quilts exhibition during the Road to California show held at the Ontario Convention Center, January 19-22, 2012.

Woot! Woot!

Rhyme & reason



Orange Rhyme

Today I started out feeling tired and overwhelmed. But after focusing and crossing off multiple to-dos, I was feeling quite accomplished.

Then to top it off, I received an acceptance letter. Orange Rhyme will be at the Pacific International Quilt Festival as part of the New Quilts of Northern California exhibit.

Woot! Woot! I'm rhyming with orange!

At the guild's Monday general meeting, they announced 2780 people attended the EBHQ's biannual show, Voices in Cloth, held three weekends ago. That averages more than 200 persons each hour! Wow! Good show! Thank you, my buddies, for coming. 

Great quilts! I will post some of my favs from the show. Start with this delectable eye candy.

Joan Samuelson stitches a face every morning. She put together 49 for this arresting assemblage.

Take a closer look. Terrific fine motor control. So expressive and impressive.

See more of Joan's terrific faces on RoseGardenQuilts.

The house that Mad Elena built

The architect Richard Neutra was was instrumental in introducing the International Style of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe to the United States. A 1947 Time Magazine article named him second only to Frank Lloyd Wright in making an architectural mark on the United States. In 1949 he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine (read the cover story to find out why it's captioned Architect Richard Neutra, What will the Neighbors Think?). His renown residence - Lovell House - perches on a steep hill in Los Angeles and epitomizes his geometric and linear forms.

Neutra House is my homage to him and attempts to emulate his architectural lines. It is 35w x 38h and will hang in EBHQ's biannual show on April 10th and 11th - Voices in Cloth where I will be a white glove hostess at the show each morning from 10am to noon. If you're there, come and say hello.

It's back!

Straight Talk came back from Hampton, Virginia where it was on display at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXI. This year's competition theme was Cheers! – how has your quilting come of age? As my first finished quilt, it signifies a new phase of my quilting life.

I also marked it for the Amateur Entry category: Amateur entries are defined as entries created by persons who have never taught quilting for a fee, published books on the subject of quilting, made money from their quilting through selling, designing or stitching, or won prize monies at a quilt competition. All true.

The judges, Bobbie Bergquist and Christine Porter, wrote: We agree you are a quilter! An interesting & unique original design. We encourage you to continue quilting & entering competitions.

Hurrah! They were too kind!

Quilted for exhibition

I am co-curating another local guild exhibit which opens at the end of October and runs into January. My two co-curators will have quilts in the show. So why not me? Yes, why not? It is non-juried. I scrambled to find something to finish.

I picked a top created last spring in Nancy Crow's Improvisations workshop, previously shown here. Now it's quilted. Yeh! Another tally toward the goals! You can see this and others from the fabulous East Bay Heritage Quilters at:

Alameda County Arts Commission 2009 EBHQ Quilt Exhibit

Alameda County Administration Building

Tax Gallery, 1st floor & Board of Supervisors Gallery, 5th floor

1221 Oak St., Oakland CA
October 26, 2009 to January 14 , 2010, Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm

A tasty tidbit before of the guild's bi-annual show, Voices in Cloth, April 10-11, 2010.