End of summer - back to school

What a lovely couple of days, weatherwise.  Perfect end of summer, not too hot, not too cold.  Granddaughter Cori has reached a "Mommie" landmark:  all four of the kids will be in school, at least a part of the week.  She'll have only the dog -- quite a dog!! a Bernese Mountain "puppy", now bigger than the two youngest kids.  But SO cuddly and lovey.

Cori takes photos and now and then sends me some of the kids. I have a new batch, one was posed just for back to school -- the  three oldest ones (Silas, the 3 year old will be doing pre-school a few days a week.) The photos was prompted, they actually enjoy school. (Remember you can enlarge photos by clicking on them)

Actually, they all like school. Their grandmother did a back-to-school celebration last Sunday with waffle sundae treats in the backyard:   crispy waffles, big scoop vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, fresh strawberries and a big pile of whipped cream.  No one ever did that for me ... I loved school.

Inspired by a quilt in Springfield

This was not one of the "OH, wow, that is so amazing!" quilts I saw at the Mancusco show last week. I took a photo of it because I immediately realized the blocks are easy to sew and "I can do this" with the plains and prints that I had in my scrap  bags.  I've been working on using up as many scraps as possible. The past week I've been sewing 8 inch square blocks using one plain and one of the print from my scrap bag.  I've made 64 of them and now they are laying on the floor of my sewing room. I'm trying to find a way to give them some of the coherence this quilt has. It's a stretch but at least partly possible.  I will continue to look at the arrangement I've got and shift them around for a day or two. They will have some coherence in colors and the arrangement of implicite diamonds is mostly possible.  I've even got a name already "Some Sense in the Scrap Bag."  I'll get it sewn together in a a few days and probably take a photo before it's quilted or bound (the part of the process that I like least).

International Quilt Show, Manusco, Springfield. MASS

This is not the whole picture of this quilt, I was especially stunned at the almost hidden giraffe drinking but also fascinated by the colors of the blocks along the side as I have a paper-pieced pattern for that twisted log cabin block.  The annual International Quilt show managed by Mancusco that Rachel and I have been attending in Manchester, NH has moved to Springfield, Mass. It's somewhat farther for us to drive but we don't have to go through the Boston. All thruways and easy to find.  It was SPECTACULAR, the workmanship was magnificent and the colors, as you see here, stunning. There were quilts from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Israel, So. Africa, Australia and New Zealand. (plenty of vendors too but we ignored them), over 300 quilts, one "oh, wow!" after. The revolution in art quilting is little known to the public at large although there was a good attendance. I didn't take a lot of photos because I know I will not attempt this sort of quilting but looking at it thrills me. Here are a couple other photos -- one with the sweetness of simplicity and the other (the root vegetables) so full of creative embellishment, it's just a WOW!

Remember, if you click the photo it will enlarge.
The ones with elegant simplicity were a visual relief after the ones, like the carrots which were very complex. Note how elegant the quilting of the white background is.

Bayberry Quilt Show, current

The annual Bayberry Quilt Guild show is currently taking place at the conference center in Hyannis  (quite close to where I live) Over 250 quilts are on display.  They are an example of the art of modern quilting; there are some traditional bed quilts and many untraditional quilts both meant for bed and for display. Workmanship is mostly excellent, choice of color and design is bright, beautiful and sometimes surprising. Techniques go from a few (just a  few) quilts which are entirely hand made to many new designs and techniques using the latest sewing and quilting machines and the high quality, brilliantly designed modern fabric. I have not take photographs that show the range of what is on display.  Today the Cape Cod Times featured  three color photos from the show.  Below are some photos -- largely from the small art quilt group called Uncommon Threads of which I'm a member.
Our most artistically brilliant member, Robin McGuire is the "featured quilter of the year" with  display of nearly twenty quilts have astonished visitors and brought praise from the curator of Cape
Cod's major art museum. These photos are poor quality and only hint at what the work looks like. I will attempt to get more and better photos tomorrow.

 These are two of three exhibits of work by the Uncommon Threads group. To tell the truth in the top photo, I have forgotten who did the two on the let. The big sunflower with a button center in mine.  In quilts in the bottom photo were from a challenge in the group to make a piece inspired by a well known artist. The top is by Meredith called "Georgia's landscape." The dark middle piece was also inspired by O'Keefe although I don't remember what painting, the colorful piece on the right is Elaine inspired by Matisse. The bottom pieces which are seashells are mine and also inspired by O'Keefe, and Kathleen did the piece on the right inspired by Peter Maxx.

There  is a third small exhibit of some of he  postcards we made in a postcard challenge.  (We meet approximately once a month and  make something to a "challenge" or prompt with no rules about style, size, material.

Below are a couple of quilts from  the show. The bicycle wheels are astonishingly complex quilt piecing as well as clever use of the bicycle theme. The other is a more traditional quilt with an ocean theme -- there are several quilts in the show with reference to the ocean.  Possibly I will have more photos to post tomorrow. This is not at all an adequate sampling.  Remember a click on the photo enlarges it.