The SAQA Benefit Auction is coming up next month!

I’m always happy to make a small 12 x 12 inch quilt for the SAQA Auction. This year I went through years of floral tographs and found 

a cactus orchid , an epiphyllym to those botanically inclined, that sat in a pot resting in the notch of the jacaranda tree off our Southern California patio. I had featured these in a larger quilt years ago. They are the remains of several similar  plants that we inherited from my husband’s grandfather over 30 years ago. Hence the title. 

I manipulated the photo in Photoshop for more saturated color and a watercolor effect and sent it off to Spoonflower to be printed on cotton fabric. 

I added some extra paint and shadow when it came back, thread painted and quilted it. I always respond first to color and I liked the very bright pink juxtaposed with the gray and blue of the tree bark. 

The last image is the original photo that I printed on the label, the image above is the final quilt. 

Hoping it will find a forever home during the auction which starts September 13th. 

Quilt Festival Houston 2017!

So happy to be in Houston, TX again for International Quilt Festival. It’s a lovely feeling to be standing

in freont of your own quilt -here my East/West - on the floor amid this gathering  of the best quilts in the country!p

Traditional quilts, art quilts, contemporary, modern -they are all here in abundance in the 

World of Beauty IQA Judged Show. And then the Special Exhibits from all around the world bring 

more of the best of the best to Houston.

A highlight for me was seeing all of the Cherrywood Van Gogh Challenge jquilts displayed together for

the first time. Here I am with my “Starry” and below are shots of the exhibit all hung together on 

A back wall of the exhibit space. A symphony of art in shades of blues and provencale influenced yellows. 

The exhibit got a lot of attention and the newly published book sold out by the second day of the show!

Meeting up with friends is always a happy part of the Houston experience. 

Three happy travelers -Robin, Roberta and myself in a  serendipitous reunion of our January trip to Japan on a textile

 tour with Susan Ball Faeder’s Quilters Express to Japan. Alison was also in Houston, but didn’t make it into the selfie!

And fellow artist and Fiber Fanatic member Sherry Kleinman was at the show with her

Daughter from New York. Both Sherry’s pieces in the World Of Beauty competition were representations 

of her grandchildren.

           Maria Shell who visited and taught at my quilt guild Westside Quilters in LA just last week won a  third lace prize in the abstract category! We celebrated with her over dinner on Thursday night!

               

Viewing the all the quilts and the over 1100 vendors is quite a proposition. I made it to half the vendors, 

but saw all the quilts on display. I was hampered slightly by a small accident  stepping unexpectantly off a

curb and severely wrenching my knee on the evening of my third day which resulted in a lot of ice packs 

and  ibuprofen in our very lovely room at the Four Seasons. 

So I missed my Saturday class and some vendors, but I’d spent  more than enough money, anyway!

Home to LA tomorrow... can’t wait for next time!

Check out more blogs at Off The Wall Fridays 

Quilts for others...

Recently I've been thinking and musing about some art quilt projects - waiting for inspiration - but nothing has totally gelled for my next big project, so instead of pushing forward I've been spending my time on some pieced charity quilts. One for Quilts From the Heart and another for the Transitional Housing and Education program at the Santa Monica YWCA. I'm also sharing a project with a friend to be sent to Hurricane Sandy victims through a quilt guild in New Jersey.


The most meaningful project, though has been a little pieced child's quilt for Operation Kid Comfort. It took only an afternoon to put together and another day to quilt but in this season of giving and giving thanks, it seems so very appropriate to do something for the kids of currently deployed military personnel.

From the Military YMCA website: "The Armed Services YMCA’s innovative Operation Kid Comfort program creates custom-made quilts and pillows for children of deployed U.S. military personnel who experience grief from missing their mom or dad. Photos of the deployed parent are printed onto fabric and sewn into the quilt or pillow. Each child received a quilt/pillow depending on age. Children 6 and under receive a quilt, 7 and older receive a pillow. Both quilts and pillows contain pictures of the deployed parent. Each quilt takes eight hours of volunteer sewing, as well as $50 worth of quilting materials. The program started at the Armed Services YMCA Fort Bragg Branch as has expanded to serve military families nationwide." for more information, or to volunteer yourself check out the Military YMCA website at http://www.asymca.org/index.php/what-we-do-3/national-programs-services/operation-kid-comfort/

The kit to put together the quilt was organized by the Santa Monica Quilt Guild and included all the fabrics and fabric printed photographs for the quilt - photos of the little boy named Michael with his Marine Corps Dad and the rest of his Camp Pendleton family. I just hope that this little quilt will make the holidays while his Dad is deployed, little brighter.





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