Thursday, December 31, 2015

New Little Quilt from Scraps

I've added a log cabin block on the header partly to remind me I want to make a log cabin quilt in the near future. It will be mostly dark and light blues as I have a LOT of smallish blue pieces I want to use up.

This quilt is small - it's draped over the sofa and one can't really tell the size from the photo. It's sbout 40x42, which is to say crib size.  I made it in the last two weeks. The half-square triangles were all scraps from a year of block swaps in which snowball blocks had bright colored corners. I saved the cut offs and sewed them into strings of two-inch block and saved them. So the difficulty of making the half-square pieces had been done.  I suppose this can be called a "Modern" quilt as it's bright with a lot white and a very simple design. I did quite a bit of machine quilting, especially the folded ribbon design in the white strips. It was a very satisfying little project. I'll give it to a child for a birthday present.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Another warm Christmas

A strange Christmas  photo for a strange Christmas eve day  (yes, that's the way it was described on the morning news, odd as it sounds)

These lovely red fruits, from a market in Guanshu, China (if I remember correctly) are a fruit that has its devotees but the fruit is banned by the big international hotels. They are durans. When fully ripe and cut open for eating the smell is a great deal, I'm told, like a latrine. But their fans say the taste is sweet and delicious.  It's an experience  I did not seek out.

The only thing this has to do with Christmas is that they're a pretty red and the day is as unusual, as the fruit is.  It's over 60 degrees here today.  It rained hard, about an inch and a half, and I have just returned from the nearest supermarket which has a large paved parking lot known on days like this as Star Market Lake. Their drainage system has always been bad, today was the worst I've ever seen it. The  available parking spaces were reduced by about 80% and, conscientious as I am, I parked in a handicapped space because there was nothing else where I wouldn't get my feet wet.

I don't have to talk about global warming. Last year Christmas and early January were unusually warm also. Then we got hit with record breaking blizzards in February. It's going to be this way, that is to say unusual and unpredictable, far into the future. An article I read last week about the plight of Miami Beach and the rising sea level was dire.  A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money. Extrapolating, because all the seas are going to rise, not just in that southern most American penisula, but up here. This northern peninsula, not in my live time I assume, but in what is the foreseeable future for those who are willing to take a serious look, disappearance is inevitable. At least we don't have a  mile of tombstone-like high rises  that will become accessible only by motor boat -- or gondola.

What cheery thoughts for a happy holiday!  Well, it feels nothing like the stereotypical holiday so my thoughts are not at all stereotypical.  We will have a festive dinner tonight and tomorrow will be a quiet day ....possibly with a long walk on the beach as Iwill take within the next hour today.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

On Display

This woven quilt -- the second large one I've done, (30"x42") is now on display at the Yarmouth Cultural Center here in Cape Cod.  They do many, many art shows a year in their converted bank building with a great central room and three little rooms in which to do smaller shows. To fill the center room for a couple of weeks they published an open call for art works by people of all ages, no show fee, and they encouraged people who do not ordinarily think of their work as art that will be displayed in public.  The wanted to know the decade in which the artist's age fell.  They will sell any quilts that have a price noted.

I thought it was a grand idea so I took this quilt on Tuesday. Along with all the other entries it was hung that evening and a reception was held last night -- the reception was also for three small art shows in the other rooms.  It was so well attended parking was a problem. I went and enjoyed seeing the variety of art.  I think there was a six-year old's crayon drawing. I remember a combined display of two pieces of art the same size, one by a seven-year old and the other by his 77-year old grandmother.  Although the quality of the art was not exceptional, there were several pieces by recognized local artists. Two other quilts were on display, both by people in my age group, both representational, one a "tide line" quilt -- quite nice -- and another of a huge butterfly, closely stipple quilted with the words "Hope is the thing with feathers."  Not only did I dislike the visually distracting quilting but a butterfly is NOT "the thing with feathers."  I am literal enough to be irked by that ... plus I have been working on a small fabric/quilt book with Emily Dickinson quotes including that one -- which will be illustrated with birds and an actual feather.

I was pleased they hung this quilt in a spot with good lighting. It has small beads on the squares (which are diamond quilted  as well); the beads catch th light very nicely.  If it should sell that would be fine.  Looking at it and at the autumn quilt I just finished which also has a woven background, makes me want to do a few more in different colors. I have the next one in mind ... but I have no idea when I can get around to it. It will be a spring quilt so I  hope I can do it by spring.