Scary technology tales

I was at the American Quilt Study Group conference over the weekend where we enjoyed many visual presentations. However, a few frightening technology events occurred:

Horror #1: Quilter A was relying on slides for her presentation. During her talk, her foot became entangled with the projector power cord. The entire projector flew off the table and landed loudly, upside down, on the floor. Loud gasps! The determined speaker picked it up, set it on the table and miraculously, it kept working just fine. ahhhhh.

Horror #2: Academician B created a super power point presentation on her laptop. She got onto the plane and discovered it had disappeared from her computer. She was able to have the images forwarded from her office and spent the next day recreating her presentation. Her audience never knew the trauma she suffered. Again, ah....

Horror #3: Halfway through keynote speaker C’s talk, a slide stuck. People leaped to the rescue but then a greater horror ensued: as they worked, we shuddered as we heard the sound of slides dumping out of the tray. Keynote speaker C gamely ad libbed, the slides were restored (albeit in a different order) and she finished with her great sense of humor intact.

Like the potholder above that illustrates these stories so well? It's the newest member of my collection, bequeathed by Bobbi Finley, via Carol Jones. I have nearly 40 of these potholders with faces. I need to do my research and find out when and why they became popular.....

A party for Joyce Gross

We enjoyed a reception at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles in San Jose Thursday night.

It was in honor of Joyce Gross, longtime quilt historian and collector. Pictured above are Kathy Ronsheimer, Merikay Waldvogel and Joyce in her leopard jacket. “It’s not hard to get into collecting,” Joyce told an appreciative crowd (of many quilt collectors in town for the American Quilt Study Group seminar).

On display in the museum gallery were quilts Joyce collected and the one she made (below) for her grandson Dylan. She worked on it from 1974 until 1984.

Scraps again, NOT too small at all

I made some blocks the easy way - I added triangles that were WAY too big and cut them down to size.
SO I had some SCRAPS. They were strips: several inches long, averaging about 1 inch wide.

I resolved I would not save them. No way, I would throw them out......
and as they piled up on my cutting table, I noticed a red remnant sitting right there that would look SO nice with them....so I cut it up. My strips varied in size a little, but ranged from 7/8" to a little over 1 inch wide...

I sewed until I ran out of red fabric. I cut and turned and stitched. The skinnier the strips got, the more interesting I thought it looked.
Here is the little quilt I came up with. I need to trim it, back it and quilt it.
It didn't take long at all.

Remember, there are no scraps too small to save (hardly). Try it! It's like playing with fabric!

Reading, finishing...

I've been reading and have two items to share:

The first is on editing, courtesy of Eden's Outcasts by John Matteson. Bronson Alcott wrote this in 1882 about Ralph Waldo Emerson editing his work:

If I from Poesy could not all abstain,
He my poor verses oft did quite undress,
New wrapt in words my thought's veiled nakedness
Or kindly clipt my steed's luxuriant mane.

Editing, Matteson wrote, was not often so sensual.

The second is from a book about people I've always been curious about, Sara and Gerald Murphy, oft-mentioned running mates of the 1920s American ex-pats in Europe. The book is Living well is the best revenge by Calvin Tomkins. Gerald told of one summer spent in the company of the first Picasso family: "I also remember his (Picasso's) habit of creeping up behind people on the beach, waiting for them to stoop over to pick up a shell or something, and then photographing them from the rear. He had a remarkable collection, including some rather well-known people."

Well!

In case you think i've lost my mind, I can also report finishing some projects (and also a little editing). Here is the log cabin quilt I made for my mom.

Flea Mall find

We stopped at a Flea Mall near Birmingham, Alabama where I found this sweet summer spread. The edges are finished but the quilt has no backing or batting.



The block pattern is odd but repeated faithfully - I'm eager to see if it is in the Encyclopedia of Pieced Patterns. Many of the pieces are patched together. The fabrics run the gamut - a few conversation prints, several synthetics, some seersucker binding and vintage cottons.


Best of all: it is hand pieced with sturdy string. I'll be repairing a few pulled apart seams as we head north.

My friend Pat Kyser

We visited longtime friend and quilter Pat Flynn Kyser at her home in Huntsville, Alabama yesterday. I was happy to see her Color and Light quilt on the wall (made using a Jeff Gutcheon pattern called Judy in Arabia. (A take off on 54-40 or fight.)

I remember when Pat was collecting fabrics for it in the late 1970s. She worked hard to find these fabrics, searching far and wide as we had to do then. Pat said it took her two years to gather all the gradients of color she wanted... and she could do it in a day now with the vast quantity of fabrics available.

She showed me her studio where she’s been doing some expunging lately. 19 bags of fabric left these shelves and went to a good cause. Look up high, you can actually see some empty shelves!


Pat and I have been friends for 30 years. I met some of the most important people in my life at that time.....

My black square medallion quilt

We found this quilt several years ago at the end of a long day of antiquing in central Indiana. My friend Barbara said that is a great quilt and I agreed but I was so tired I almost passed it up. I’m glad I didn’t.

The fabric is a looser woven cotton than the fabrics we buy at quilt shops today. I’ve repaired it – when I bought it many of the scant seams had pulled apart. The colors of those fabrics are very soft, likely faded with time. And it features a black block in the middle.

My friend Frances pushed me to use black as we designed blocks for our 2002 book Quilting a Poem. I would shriek but now I see her wisdom – using black can add so much depth to a quilt.