Collaboration exhibit at Whittier Art Gallery

Postcard from Whittier. A sliver of my piece is on the far left! Sorry about the small print. The show runs January 8-February 2. The reception is on January 11 from 2:30 to 5 pm. The address of the Whittier Art Gallery is 8035 Painter Avenue, Whittier, CA 90602, 562-698-8710. The gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 1-6 pm.

There will be artist talks! Joanell Connolly speaks on January 15 at 1 pm, and Jeanette Kelly speaks on January 25 at 2 pm.

Westcott group photo

Westcott family gathering on December 15th at Zov's in Irvine. Jim and Kathy were visiting down south. It's a good photo of everyone, although Pam is partly obscured.

From left to right: James, Cindy, Dave, Kathy, Pam, Bob, Denise with Alex, John, Jim.

Holiday Photos

I gave Warren an art quilt that I made especially for him. I call it "Positive Energy." (Get it? There are plus signs all over it) I used the marbled fabrics that I made at the Fibreye retreat last spring. I told him I was going to try to enter it in a show or two, so he may have to let me borrow it if it gets accepted.

Christmas was an opportunity for the Westcotts to inspect the time machine.

Three male cousins, photo opportunity!

Alex, Denise and my brother Bob

I am sorry I have been lazy lately in updating this blog. I will try to do better. I am hoping for some technical upgrades in the coming months that will make things easier. Thanks for visiting, and I love comments!

Hexie Challenge, First Friday Artists

The First Friday Artists had a hexie challenge. It was Stacy's idea; we made some hexagons, put them in a sack along with some other optional things such as buttons, more fabric, etc. Then each of us selected a sack. The plan was to create something with the items in the sack and give it to the person who made the original hexagons.

I will admit I was not 100% enthusiastic about this challenge at first. I have already made a few hexagon quilts in my day, LOL, and was so over them. But the sack that I chose had other interesting items in it, such as vintage fabric and lace from the Prom Dress Swap at the last Camp Watchapatcher, sequins, rick rack, etc., so I quickly started putting something together. Thanks, Peggy, for giving me an interesting sack of things to put on the quilt. I challenged myself to use most of them. The colors were mostly blue, purple and pink, so I expanded the palette, i.e. added more colors: lots of green, pips of orange, red, black, etc. Enough talking - here are the photos!

This is the one that I made.


I hope Peggy likes it!
 
I sure like the one Stacy made for me!







I love it. I already have it hung up in the family room near my chair. The quilting is beautiful! Can you see the hexagon shapes she quilted?

I almost forgot to say that photos of all the quilts in our hexie challenge are on the First Friday blog. I think the link is http://firstfridayartists.blogspot.com

New work for gallery

This is the second piece that I made for the Collaborations exhibit, which will be at the Whittier Art Gallery in January. This one is for the Red Light grouping,  and its title is "Red Lantern Tree."
The idea came about this October when my pomegranate tree was groaning with fruit. They were hanging from the tree like glowing red lanterns.

New stuffed dog

I made another stuffed dog, this time for a friend from my husband's office who is due any day now. She asked for pink and gray. I love how each one has his (or her) own personality. This makes four. Or is it 5? They are all on this blog.

My granddaughter's first ballet recital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBzpM5LUkaE&feature=youtu.be

The only way I could figure out how to post this was to cut and paste the link. Sammy is the littlest ballerina, on the left. The other girls are all four; she is 3 1/2. 

new work for Whittier Art Gallery

I am working on two pieces for an upcoming group exhibit at the Whittier Art Gallery. Each piece had a "prompt," and the prompt for this one was "Broken Pull Toy." My piece is called "Fear of Losing Marbles." I used the same marbled fabric that I made at the Fibreye retreat last Spring and have been playing with.

Do you want to know the story? "Losing their marbles" is the rather rude way my husband describes the cerebral maladies inflicted upon some of our elders. Nuff said.

I like how it turned out. The robot-like head sits upon shoulders that resemble a car. The piece is small, 8" x 10", in an 11" x 14" frame.

The second piece is almost done. I'll post it soon. The "prompt" for the second one is "Red Light."

Trick or treating

Sammy's eagerly-awaited photos from Halloween have arrived! It was a cold and rainy night, so a raincoat was a necessary part of her costume. Her mom made the great bat mask. Isn't it great!?

Sammy went trick or treating with friends in Hamilton. One photo shows the batmwings with a green spider in its web.

A quilt for Marion Elise

I just finished this baby quilt for the new granddaughter of Dave's old friend, Leroy. I was told the mother, Erin, doesn't like pink. Requested colors were green, yellow and tan. So I did those.colors but added more. Hope they like it!

more quilts from the American Folk Art Museum

 Here are more quilts that I saw at the American Folk Art Museum in NYC.

 Can you tell which ones are fabric and which ones are paper?

Okay, this one is made from Tyvek envelopes. It really was beautiful.

Off topic, I was a docent at a home tour in Orange, California, yesterday! Thanks to my friend Peggy for getting me in. It was fun but tiring. I got to talk to groups about the back parlor AND a sewing room at a beautiful Craftsman home.

American Folk Art Museum, NYC

 A month ago in early October, we were in Manhattan. We headed to the American Folk Art Museum, and there were quilts all over the place! I liked this one, a combination of traditional and artistic techniques.

 Some of the quilts were made of paper! Specifically, recycled envelopes, both paper and Tyvek. They were very interesting.

This one was a real quilt on a real bed. The little man, actually Ben Franklin, looks like he is sitting on the bed, but it was really an optical illusion. I should have taken a photo from another view so that you could see what I mean. The little man is only visible from this point of view.It is a flat quilt.

I took a few more photos of this exhibit, but they're still in my camera. I'll try to download them soon.

visit to falmouth, massachusetts

I went to Falmouth to see an exhibit of  Salley Mayor's work at Highfield Hall in Falmouth. Salley was gracious enough to invite me to her studio afterward.

She is a very talented fiber artist. Her studio was a delight to see. with whimsical works in progress and finished ones up on her walls. Thank you, Salley! Her blog is http://weefolkstudio.com
Check out her "Birds of Beebee Woods "

We wanted to stay in Mystic. CT, but ended up staying in Stonington nearby, instead. It is a quiet but charming village.
I am almost all done with photos from this trip.

Two quilts at Quilt Festival in Houston

My quilts get to go to interesting places.

 "Grocery Shopping With Sammy" is at Quilt Festival in Houston this week, in the "An Exquisite Moment" special exhibit, curated by Dinner at Eight Artists..

 Detail of my husband in the background.

 I also have a quilt in the "What's for Dinner?" special exhibit, also curated by Dinner at Eight Artists.

It's called "Ravioli di Verdura." It's a cool looking exhibit, with the quilts placed on a long table. How fun is that!?

If you are lucky enough to be at Houston Quilt Festival, I hope you will see these quilts!

Sagamore

 Bear with me. I'm trying to finish the photos from our trip to NY, and I am almost done. This is fall color along the way there.

 Sagamore is a resort on Lake George in NE NY.

 There is an indoor pool.

 We rented a boat for an hour, Dave drove.

 Breakfast on the veranda.

 This might be my favorite photo from the whole trip. She is holding a piece of bacon.

preschool

 One more farm photo - this is a vegetable garden area, with the chicken coop on the right.

One day I was lucky enough to tag along to preschool at a local library. Sammy is the second from the left. What a big girl she is getting to be!

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Around the Farm

Do you know what this is? It is hops, which is used to make beer. A long time ago, this used to be a hops farm. The smaller barn was used to dry hops. Jack is continuing the tradition.

 Mimi the cat. She earns her keep as an excellent mouser.

 The ancient apple tree is laden with apples. After we left, they made gallons and gallons of cider.

 The path to the pasture.

Rustic harvest.