Published!

I've been watching my mail impatiently for my early copy of "The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting", UK quilter and author Linda Seward's new book. It's been in the works for a very long time, but this book which is now on pre-order with Amazon is truly a fabulous compendium of every art quilt technique - fusing, dyeing, screen printing, appliqué, free motion quilting, digital imagery, beading, embroidery - it's got it all accompanied by very easy to understand step by step instructions and clear illustrations. Everything you need to let your imagination and talent run free.

And why was I anticipating my early copy? Well, because my quilt "Silk Fantasy A La Diane" is illustrated on page 179 in the free motion quilting section!

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Received that always longed for email this morning........ Bella Camellia has been juried into "In Full Bloom" a Special Exhibit of floral quilts at International Quilt Festival in October 2014.  The show will debut at Quilt Market the week before. This may mean a trip to Houston this Fall! 

The quilt is a digital image of camellias in our southern California garden, manipulated on the computer and iPad , printed on fabric at spoonflower, then painted, stitched and quilted.
 
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Soon to be Published!

I'm so excited that one of my quilts is featured in Linda Seward's latest book The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting to be published in June and launched at The Festival of Quilts in Britain this summer. It's been in the works for three years and should inspire a lot of quilters to step into the Art Quilting world. Can't wait to get my copy!
Here's the link... http://www.lindaseward.com/latest-book.html

Off to Paducah!

  

Well, at least my quilt is... I received a very welcome email from AQS that my quilt "Silk Fantasy A La Diane" has been accepted into the American Quilters Society Quiltweek show in Paducah, so it is off to Quilt City next month to be shown in April. Whether I'll go along too is still up for decision, but I've never been to Paducah and it's only two hours by car from Nashville where our son lives, so it's a real temptation.

I'm happy that AQS has forgiven me. Several years ago a quilt of mine was accepted, but I had made the stupid newbie mistake of mistakenly entering a quilt in two shows where the dates overlapped and both accepted it.  It's a cardinal sin in the quilt world to have to turn down a show once accepted and I feared that AQS would blackball me forever. They never answered my groveling "please forgive me but....' email so I feared the worst. I'm happy to hear that apparently bygones are bygones and "Silk Fantasy" has made the grade. It is a simple 9 patch block constructed in dupioni silk and features free motion quilting based on designs taught by the great Diane Gaudynski.

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 So happy that "California Dreaming: Asilomar" has been chosen to be part of the SAQA Southern California Regional Showcase  "Fiber Reactions" now on view at The Poway Center for the performing Arts  in Poway (San Diego County), California. Curated by Mary Tabar one of our SAQA Socal reps, this is the second year for this exhibit which shows off beautifully with  the long curved walls and high cielings of the Center. Now through December 27th with an artist's reception on December 14th.

 

 

"California Dreaming: Asilomar"

Antique Textiles in San Francisco

As many of you know in my other life as an antiques dealer I'm privileged to share one week a year each
October with some of the best and brightest antiques dealers in the world at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show presented by Enterprise for High School Students. This year the show ran October 24 through 27 and now home for a week or two I've had time to organize some photos and thoughts on the show and some of  superb antique textiles displayed .

This year's theme for the show was "Jazz Moderne, Art Deco and the Avant Garde"  and the huge stylish faux urns lining the entrance and centering a Pierre Chareau floor lamp circa 1928 exemplified it.

Textiles in the show carried forward the theme as well with this wonderful and whimsical 1920s-30s Belgian tapestry featuring fish swimming through sweeping waves  from 

Kathleen Taylor - Lotus Collection in San Francisco. 

As a quilter my eye was really taken by these small quilts made of scraps of indigo dyed cotton by the Miao ethnic group in southern China in the 19thc. I long to take all of those Asian indigo cottons I've been collecting and adapt this little quilt to an applique'd block.

This piece below reminded me of Brenda Papadakis' "Dear Jane" quilts with their small appliqued squares in many varied patterns. Again, from the Miao people of southern China.

Speaking of quilts Jeff Bridgman of  Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques and Flags of York County, Pennsylvania showed  this very large antique quilt sewn entirely from souvenir flags from the 1876 Centennial celebrations in Philadelphia. The center featured printed cotton images of George and Martha Washington. The date 1876 is hand embroidered over the portraits. It is in a remarkable state of preservation.

I've always loved early English embroideries from the 17th and 18th centuries. This wonderful example shown by Mallett of London included wool and silk embroidery, stumpwork, and amazing beadwork. It dates from the Charles II period, mid 17th century. 

Our stand's next door neighbor Xanadu on Maiden Lane in San Francisco featured some exquisite Asian pieces including this gold thread and silk woven robe  from a Japanese Noh theater costume for a phoenix bird.

And finally, Frank's Fisherman San Francisco's iconic Fisherman's Wharf showed a collection of English "Woolies". These are framed woolwork embroideries done by English sailors on those long 19th c. voyages. I especially loved the graphic quality of this one with its panoply of signal flags.

Oh, just have to brag a little - here is a photo of our own Richard Gould Antiques stand - no antique textiles for us this year, but lots of antique English and European ceramics, objets de virtu and Chinese export porcelains.  Our gorgeous flowers - orchids, peonys and roses were done by 

San Franscisco's Paul Robertson.

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Camelias

I have been truly touched by the many "likes" and positive comments on my Friday Facebook post of my latest art quilt "Bella Camellia". 

Many thanks to all of you.

Camellias are an inherent part of many, many Southern California gardens and bloom consistently and abundantly in our mild winter and spring seasons. Our 1935 house in Westwood boasts many venerable examples, now almost trees, which must have been planted 60-70 years ago. My quilt was based on my own photo of blooms on one of these old bushes last winter. The name of the variety is lost in time. 

I manipulated the photo on my Ipad and in Photoshop on the computer and printed in on cotton. I then added textile inks and paints for added color and dimension, thread painted the flowers and leaves and free motion embroidered the central bee. I then double batted the blossoms and the foreground leaves for a 3D effect and finally free motion quilted it in very fine silk thread,  

The popularity of camellias here may be due to a few factors. One is the establishment early in the 20th century of two world famous gardens that feature huge plantings of camellias - Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge and the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. The second is the presence of one of the world's foremost camellia Nurseries - Nuccios's - in the hills above Altadena.

Nuccio's is, to me, a magical place. I remember going there as a child with my mother every winter. The Nuccios have been in the nursery business since 1935 and nestled on acreage in an Altadena canyon since 1946. founded by Giulio Nuccio and his sons Julius and Joseph and now run by their sons, Tom, Jim and Julius, they grow, hybridized and sell top quality camellias and azaleas to nurseries, collectors and gardeners all over the world. Some of the most famous varieties of camellias in the world were hybridized right there in Altadena. 

 My husband and I make the pilgrimage to Nuccio's at least once or twice a year. The beauty of the spot captivates us - high in a sycamore, eucalyptus and chaparral studded canyon above the LA basin, the air is soft and clear. Hawks circle above and occasionally screech - that's all that disturbs the quiet. The growing yards go on for acres and invite a meditative stroll. Near the rather ramshackle office ancient redwood benches are laden with the morning's cut blooms for appreciation and selection. Nothing has changed here since I was 10 years old. The modern world is at the door, however. There is now a website, but to order you have to either go there in person or write a letter.... there is no published email address. 

 We ask questions about growing culture, feeding and which variety might be best in a particular place in our garden and the Nuccio brothers/cousins are always so friendly, knowledgable and patient. They take us out in the yards and help us select the perfect plant. We always go home happy and refreshed and with much more in the back of the car than we had planned.

 Our hearts were heavy when we learned that the nursery was threatened in the Station Fire in the Fall of 2009 and so happy when it survived untouched. We fear the day when like so many others in Southern California this beautiful canyon becomes a victim of urban sprawl and subdivision. Until then, we continue to visit and enjoy.

"Bella Camellia" is dedicated to the Nuccio family and their wonderful nursery for all the lovely afternoons... It's truly one of Southern California's gems.

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