Presentation on Modern Quilting

Because I am the Queen of Modern Quilting, I was asked to give a presentation on Modern Quilting to the Denham Springs Quilt Guild this morning.

The night before I was to give the presentation, the dog ate my notes.

Do I need to tell you WHICH dog?  

And before you ask the question, the paperwork was on the kitchen counter, under two books.  He had to search for it!   

He does it on purpose, you know.  I had taken him to the vet for his itchy skin and they gave him a shot. 

So.......I gave a presentation about how the Modern Quilting movement got started to the Denham Springs Quilt Guild this morning at the Denham Springs Walker Library. I also talked about what elements make a Modern Quilt modern.

As I looked out at the sea of very traditional quilting lady faces I knew I had a very tough job! LOL. 

I had prepared some copies of works from Nancy Crow, Joseph Albers, Yoshiko Jinzenji and Gwen Marsten and they beginning to warm to the idea of Modern Quilting. 

Kelly Surace's Quilt

I prepared a handout for them with the elements of Modern Quilts like no borders, exaggerated scale, negative space, etc, and we went through the quilts I brought and talked about the elements of each one. 

See how skinny I am !!! 44 lbs 

Lori Steib's Quilt won Honorable Mention at GSQA Show this week

 

In the end, I think I may have enlightened a few and changed some minds in the process! And I learned some interesting facts about the beginnings of our Modern Quilt Movement myself!

Thanks to those who lent me their quilts,
 

I appreciate having the diversity of quilts to show them.

Improv Support Group

Thanks to my Improv Support Group who answered my desperate pleas seeking approval in that last post.  You helped me tremendously.  

If you didn't see it at first, the pattern is called Winter from Sujata Shah's book called Cultural Fusion.  Hers are more controlled colors an textures and look beautiful.  She is a master of improv.  My computer keeps auto-correcting and telling me I need to improve my skills in improv. 

I was thinking I  could find a nice center medallion and use these as the border........I will look  into that possibility.  

Ohhhhh.....Secret Secrets......

I am seeking a few dog (or cat - you guys are wonderful too) lovers to help me with a project that I am not going to publicize on my blog.  I will contact a few of you I know who might want to do this tiny little project, but if you want to step up and help, let me know.  It will literally take you less than 15 or 20 minutes and cost under $1.  But the benefit will be incredible.

I won't ask publicly again, so email me at obed101 (at) cox.net if you want to help.

It is a good thing to do.  Contact me.

A Water Day

 We have had a nice water day today.

First - There was an event at my friend Dale's shop, the Backpacker where you could try out several kayaks in the LSU Lakes.  We headed out early but it was still blazing hot in the sun.  However, under the Cypress trees that lined the lake it was actually cool!  We tried several styles and decided we liked this one.

We recently sold our canoe and were looking for a lighter alternative.  I am surprised at the weight of the kayaks, and the price!

The one we liked is a Sit In Recreational Kayak by Mountaineer.  Look at that seat back!  My canoe was so comfortable we didn't need one.   It was nice to be able to lean back in this one though.













I was chuckling  about Frank's finger in these shots..........yes, it was funny.  I am glad it wasn't in ALL the photos.  But he does frame me nicely in the right one! 

I don't have any pictures of Frank because I was on the phone to Paula at the time.  Checking on her.  She's fine.

Second - I bought a water fountain for the dogs to drink out of.

Two of them tested it out and were unimpressed.  McGee, on the other hand, refused to even look at it.

It came from Amazon through the Amazon Smiles program.  You can buy something and they will donate a percentage of it to CAAWS at no cost to you.  Win - Win!  Go do that for me next time you buy something on Amazon.

Those people on the box are so happy their cat is drinking out of her fountain!



 It came in pieces and with advice to clean it every two weeks.  I guess I need to put it on my calendar!

Chloe was suspicious about this odd thing that just appeared in the kitchen.  She was cautious but she did taste the water and finally drank from the bowl part. 

DiNozzo drank because I told him to.  He is such a good dog.

McGee was not interested and wanted nothing to do with the new bowl.  

I think they will like the freshness of the water.  Now I have to fill the bowl fresh for each dog each time they drink. 

This will be better..........I think.

Buggy Barn Dogs

I need to call them something else but that has described them for a long time now.  Pointer Pups, maybe.

I saw a quilting design on one of the modern quilts and thought to copy it.  I snapped the photo into my iPad and used it to practice on some pads of paper.  When I was comfortable with the design, I sat at the machine.  Bam, busted a needle.

I didn't have a needle for that machine so I used a Schmetz Universal.  Hey, doesn't work.  After 4 frustrating attempts, changing thread, changing bobbin, changing the feet, I gave up and brought out my Husqvarna from the sewing room.

Here is one of the dogs yet to be sandwiched.


I did wide double loops all over in a random pattern.  After I finished, I looked at the picture and saw where the quilter had put three of these loopies in a group so that it looked sort of like a flower or leaves.

Oh well, I like the really modern look of the quilting.  It matches perfectly with the modern colors and the modern dogs.

If you want to try the double loopies, definitely practice first.  After all the frustration with the needle, I found I forgot to look at which direction I started the looping.  It matters because you come out of the loops headed to an already quilted area or an open area.  So about half way through I began stopping and thinking about which way I needed to go.  It was a good lesson.

I guess Buggy Barn is not really modern, go with me here.

One thing I did not do is to take the whole quilt picture for Anne of the Desert.

Give me a sec here...........ok, here ya go!  I am thinking black binding.

DiNozzo and McGee. Get Ziva and head over to the murder scene on the Naval Base.

In keeping with the NCIS theme I introduce you to Special Agent Tim McGee, NCIS.





He is severely undernourished with ribs showing.  But like DiNozzo, he is a really happy boy with no  ill will toward humans. 
Like DiNozzo, he gets car sick.
He still has has manhood for the next few days.
He is mostly white, but like DiNozzo, he has no black.
His sexuality is questionable, while he is intact, he is totally interested in choosing DiNozzo rather than Chloe.  He has no  interest in Chloe at all.  Or the cat.  He definitely prefers DiNozzo, much to Dinozzo's chagrin.




His face  is long with ears that hang from here to tomorrow.  Just like DiNozzo. 
I think he probably was a repeat breeding from a puppy mill.




He will stay with me until he is vetted and gains some  weight.  And he may have a very  special place to go.  We shall see.
glen