Upcoming show at the Faulkner Gallery

I am getting ready down to the wire finishing new work to go in my show at the Faulkner Gallery. The gallery is located at the Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapumu, in downtown Santa Barbara. I am excited to be hanging a solo show. It is called Faces and Places and will be a mix of old work and new, both portraits and landscapes. The picture here is of my son and daughter in law waiting for a trolley in San Francisco. it is entitled “Stand Back From Edge”.  My newest piece is of a warehouse in Carpinteria that exists only in photos and in people’s memory. It used to be a Bean packing house owned by the Fish brothers. I have an old burlap sack that was from that era. When I was growing up it was the headquarters of Bliss trucking. I have a photo of an old truck inside the old building. This piece depicts that building in a rather dilapidated state right off the railroad right of way. It is still being quilted, but I will try to post a photo as soon as it is done, early next week.
My show will be on for the month of March, from the 1st to the 30th, 2014. Do come and see it.

Dia De Los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary

Here is a photo of the altar we made honoring our friend Don Smythe who passed away last November. The centerpiece is a quilt of Don when he was a young Deadhead. 

My Chair

Here is my chair. It was bought at a yard sale in absolutely deplorable condition. I think it was a restaurant chair because the upholstery was beyond stained. It was Grrrrrrross. The wood part was chipped and in general shoddy, but it was a sturdy chair and I saw possibilities in it. The covering was inspired by a Jelly Roll quilt race that I participated in at Roxanne’s, a Wish and a Dream. I pieced the fabric, quilted it and then reupholstered the chair. It was fun. I love how it came out. See it at Roxanne’s in Carpinteria. It is for sale.

You can see a little of the old upholstery sticking out at the bottom of this photo. Here is a photo of the whole gross piece from the seat cushion.

I Madonari at the Santa Barbara Mission

I just got through helping my friend Marlene Ray do a chalk rendition of my skeleton quilt, Grateful Dance on the sidewalk in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Fun, but exhausting.

My quilt Santa Barbara Riviera was chosen to be in the West Coast Wonders exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach in July.

Open House photos

I had my open house on Saturday and almost 100 people came.    It looked really lovely with quilts hanging on the eaves of the building, on the fence and all around inside the studio. I made little party favors for everyone who came, served cookies and juice, and just celebrated with lots of really nice people.    Some of them had been to my studio before, but most had not.    It was a wonderful event.    There are more photos somewhere, but I will post this and look for them tomorrow.

slide show at Guild meeting

quilt guild Presentation 5-13-10

Here’s a sneak preview of the slide show I will be presenting at the quilt guild on 5-13-10. I am talking about my journey as an art quilter. The slides are to get to know me and to see some of my work and my environment. It will be lots of fun to present the show. I will also show some quilts.

yosemite quilt photo

I was reading what I have posted in the past and I realized that I have not yet posted a photo of my Yosemite quilt. There is one on the Coastal Quilters Guild website at coastalquiltersguild.org . look for Challenge 2009.

Angel and Nativity banners

I just completed these banners for the Community Church in Carpinteria. I am happy with how they turned out, but need to make the faces more distinct. The angel is based on a Botticelli painting, and the figure of Mary is based on Susanne, my daughter in law with Beatrix, my grand daughter. I searched for a traditional rendering of Mary that had her holding a newborn baby. Almost everything I looked at either had the baby Jesus as a miniature man, or as a chubby 6 month old or more. Nobody portrays him as a newborn. The photo of Suzanne with Bea was just right, and the expression on her face is one of pride and contentment. I think that is probably what Mary felt. There is a certain euphoria that comes when you finally meet the baby you have been nurturing for 9 months face to face.
I felt great satisfaction having the banners completed and hung in the church. I grew up in that church.

My New A1 quilt machine

Lynn Douglas and her husband Scott were here today to set up my new A1 quilting machine. I am happy!!!. The thing I really like about it, besides the fact that it is very lightweight compared to my Gammill, is that it has an automatic lift system so that the table can be raised and lowered with a little remote. So, when I get tired, I change the height of the machine, sit if I am standing, stand if I am sitting, and continue quilting.

I bought the new machine as an investment in my retirement. I hope to retire from my full time job soon and return to teaching and quilting full time. 

My other good news is that my Mariner’s Stopwatch quilt was accepted as a finalist in the Houston show. I hope to be going to Houston in October. I will also be entering my Wild Women series in Road to CA, which is in January. I have already registered for some classes at Road. I think that taking classes will get me closer to my goal of quilting and teaching full time.

I got my Yosemite quilt back from the First Thursday exhibit at Grant House. I need to quilt the borders more. I wanted it to look like a frame, so I put iron on interfacing on the back of the fabric so that it would be stiff enough not to quilt the outside border. However, the iron in interfacing I used shrinks with steam and makes the fabric bubble slightly. I know no one else sees it, but I do, and it really bugs me. I think that if I quilt the border more, it will take care of the bubbling problem. I just do not quite know what I want to do yet. I will have to take off the sleeve, but that is not problem.  I will photograph it “before and after”. ( if I did not have to work tomorrow, I would do it then. I plan to take Wednesday off to quilt. I have such a hard time taking week days off because i feel like if I am not there, the place would not function…Yeah, right…Oh well.. Work Ethic – we should be taught interdepedence, not independence.)

Enough night time ramblings. I will post photos when I get them taken.

My Yosemite quilt

I finished my challenge quilt at 10:00 the night before it was due and turned it in. The Challenge theme was The Art of the Travel Poster. I chose Yosemite for my quilt and used a photo that Leroy had taken when we were there in April with the kids and grand kids.  Here is the photo of Yosemite falls that I used as inspiration.

I do not have a photo of the finished quilt yet, because I forgot to photograph it before I turned it in, but my quilt won the highest award in the challenge, and tomorrow I am going to be interviewed by the News Press… I will post a photo after tomorrow. The quilts are on display at Grant House sewing center on Canon Perdido near the Sojourner restaurant in Santa Barbara. I do not have the full address, but if you know SB,  you can find it.

WOO HOO!!!