puffy polyester broken dishes quilt

This outstanding polyester Broken Dishes pattern quilt came from an eBay seller in Georgia, and its thick batting gives it a three-dimensional quality. The quilt is 64" x 84" and has about 3/4" loft. Some great, bright fabrics, post 1965-ish, probably made in the 70s. The lime green patches really jump out. A fun addition to the collection!

this is cool

This image is called a QR code, and you can scan it with your smart phone. I like this code because it includes my logo. A free online QR code and logo generator produced the code, after I specified the URL and added my artwork. So cool! I tried scanning the code on my iPhone using the Red Laser app, and it worked!!

Go ahead, try it, and see where it takes you. :)

More Ken Pincus Pottery!

a gorgeous slab plate, deep turquoise green

Over the last few years I have attended the annual Aki Matsuri exhibit of Ikebana at the Buddhist Henjyoji Temple in Portland. Each time I came home with beautiful pieces of Ken Pincus pottery, and today was no exception. I bought a beautiful slab plate and covered jar. Both pieces were blue/green/turquoise. I love these colors in my home, they really pop against the wood and earthy colors.

think I'll use it as a ginger jar

Although I always go shopping with the intention of giving the pieces as Christmas gifts, I've held on to more than I have let go. Here are several of the pieces I've bought over the last few years. Of these, the only one I don't still have is the turquoise cylinder in the picture with the pair of cylinder vases (below).

two cylinder vases 

I love the glaze!

sake bottle

covered jar, I use it for coffee beans

Ken Pincus signature on the bottom of the slab plate

green slab plate, maybe a gift for someone :)

tall bottle with beautiful, dripped glaze

For more information about Ken Pincus and his marvelous pottery, visit Ken's web site. Click here!

Japanese Fall Festival Aki Matsuri 73rd Annual Ikebana Exhibit

The Japanese Fall Festival, Aki Matsuri 73rd Annual Ikebana Exhibit was on display over the weekend at the Buddhist Henjyoji Temple in Portland, and it was another beautiful exhibit. My friend David Komeiji worked on several of the arrangements, and he used greens from my yard in two of them.

The last two arrangements include greenery from my yard. I told David he could take as much as he wanted, do a giant arrangement, my shrubs could use a good pruning!

I always love looking at ikebana. It's so simple and beautiful. The emphasis on shape, line, and form are certainly appealing to the artist's eye. While I was at the exhibit, I did a little shopping from the pottery vendors, and came home with two wonderful pieces of Ken Pincus pottery. More about that in the next post. 

Cotton Couture swatch book- thank you, Susan Beal!

When documenting 21st century quilts with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild yesterday, Susan Beal had a great sample book of Michael Miller Cotton Couture fabrics, and I coveted it. This handy little collection of fabric swatches includes a full spectrum of colors used often in modern quilts.

Each year, Michael Miller has provided fabrics and challenged modern quilters across the U.S. to make blocks out of the fabrics. Quilts made from one of the challenges appeared at the first QuiltCon earlier this year in Austin, Texas, and Portland Modern Quilt Guild was well represented. So, the connection between Michael Miller and modern quilting is very important!

documenting "Graphic" last summer, photo courtesy of Susan Beal

At the end of the day, Susan gave me the swatch book - omg, Thank you, Susan - she had another one stashed away at home, and could see how much I loved it. This swatch book is very specific to modern quilting, and will be very useful whenever viewing modern quilts from the early 21st century. I'll make sure to preserve it, and maybe I should also collect some quilts to go with it.

documenting 21st century quits

Center Star, 2013

Yesterday I helped document quilts for the Oregon Quilt Project with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland's Pearl District. It was a fun afternoon. Elizabeth Spannring and Janis Pearson were there observing. Elizabeth is the Executive Director of the Association of Pacific West Quilters and Janis is a director who oversees the treasury. Fun having them there!

screen shot from Susan's web site, West Coast Crafty

We documented a handful of quilts including one of my own, Center Star, and three from one of my favorite local artists, author Susan Beal. Susan is well known among modern quilters around the world. She's written several books, is the past president and current historian of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and is involved in any number of creative projects at any given time.

"Oceanside" 2012 by Susan Beal 

The Picnic Quilt, by Susan Beal

It was a relaxed day, not too many quilts, but thoroughly enjoyable. Love the idea of documenting 21st century quilts, and I'm certain the Portland Modern Quilt Guild is the first to do it. The Oregon Quilt Project welcomes all quilt makers and quilt owners in Oregon to document their quilts and contribute them to the project for inclusion in The Quilt Index. Documenting a quilt is fun and simple. Just go to the web site, print out the forms, fill in the details, and get a picture. All documentation records will be part of the Oregon Quilt Project database in The Quilt Index. If you've never seen The Quilt Index before, you've got to check it out. Click here to go there. 

big yo-yo

Here's a full view picture of the monumental size yo-yo quilt I got from a friend in Washington last summer. It is approximately 94" x 122" and each yo-yo is 1 & 1/2" in diameter. The thing is huge!

It looks like it was made in the 1970s and appears to be all polyester. The circles are stitched closely together, giving it more stability than your typical yo-yo quilt. There is very little space between yo-yos. I never thought I'd own a yo-yo quilt, but this one I just couldn't pass up. It's amazing!