Register to Vote by Monday

Become part of history, vote on November 4th.

In order to be eligible to vote in California on November 4th, your voter registration form must be postmarked no later than Monday, October 20th. Forms must be completely filled and please don't forget to sign it. Forms can be picked up at the public library or U.S. Post Office. Beware, in some areas bogus voter registration forms are being circulated.

The deadline to vote has already passed in many states, check at http://www.vote411.org/ to learn about voting in your state.

More Pacific International Quilt Festival XVII

As promised, here are more fabulous quilts from the festival. I'll start you off with another white-on-white quilt, this time machine-quilted.

There are other quilters who should join Overachievers Anonymous. There are those who can't seem to stop at making the front of the quilt beautiful, they have the need to embellish the back as well:

Then there was this huge quilt, note the bottom of it spilling onto the floor, made of impossibly small triangles:

From afar it looked like the small triangles were merely printed on the fabric, but no, upon closer examination, one can tell that they are all individually patched together:

This quilt I like because it appeals to my inner-recycler. The quilter was standing next to her quilt explaining how she made this. She started out with squares of fabric and cut out the quarter-rounds from one corner. Then she took the remaining piece, the negative if you will, and used it in an alternating pattern with the quarter-rounds. No waste!

There's something for everyone at this quilt show. Animals are a favorite subject. This one I included for tangobaby:

This tiger has the most contented expression on her face, like she's just had a great meal and is about to doze of for her morning nap.

The workmanship on this quilt was very impressive, thus the first place blue ribbon:

This mushroom quilt was one of my favorites:

"A Different View", by Kay D. Haerland, Australia

The details were incredible:

"A Different View", by Kay D. Haerland, Australia

"A Different View", by Kay D. Haerland, Australia

There were not one, but two embroidered rodents in this woodlands scene. The second one was inside the chantarelle:

"A Different View", by Kay D. Haerland, Australia

That's all for today. I'll have more for you next time. There's still time to go to the show, it runs through Sunday.

Oma on the Mend

Before I continue with more eye-candy from the this year's quilt festival, I forgot to share the fantastically wonderful news about my mother. She is much, much better! I attribute her healing to all of you who have prayed for her and kept her in your thoughts since April 22nd. She is fifty pounds lighter, which I'm sure aided her healing, and 90 percent better. She is off all her meds except for one half tablet of one drug per day. These months have been very challenging for our entire family and we all appreciate your support!


The quilt featured here is one Oma made in 2003; it was selected to be shown at the Pacific International Quilt Festival that year. My daughter was 12 years old and going through a serious butterfly phase at the time:

The tulips are of course a nod to Oma's Dutch roots:

She was particularly proud of the scalloped edging, made of patched strips of fabric.

The machine quilting was done by a professional quilter. I will post her name as soon as possible.
Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you, one thousand thank yous!

Pacific International Quilt Festival XVII

Viewers Choice - Manchester: "My Flower", Michiko Takakuwa, Japan

My mother and I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara this morning. It is the largest quilt show on the west coast featuring over 800 quilts, wearable art, and textiles. They also have 300 vendors who sell anything having to do with quilting or home sewing. Plus they offer workshops and lectures all weekend long. We spent just under two hours there, but most spend many more hours than that. This was the first quilt that "wowed" me:

I am not a quilter, my mother is, so please forgive me if I'm not using the proper terminology. I love white-on-white art of any kind because it emphasizes texture, form, and shadows. In quilting, it showcases the mastery of technique. This quilt is completely hand-quilted! Here are some close-ups:

When I showed these photos to my fourteen-year-old son, he asked for clarification on the term hand-quilted. "You mean there's no machine involved at all? That's retarded! That doesn't even look like fun". Ah, youth!

I do have to admit, this quilter is scary good. As in, if she was living in Salem three hundred years ago, they might have burned her at the stake.

Here's some examples of some great innovative, non-traditional quilts:

"Moon Garden" by Judy Coates Perez

Judy Coates Perez's quilt "Moon Garden" is the most popular photo of all my Flickr photos. Her blog is here. Her book "Painted Threads, Mixed Media Textile Art", featuring this quilt along with her other textile arts, is available here.

Best of Country Award: "Moonrise", Betty Busby, United States

I have more photos to show you but this is all the time I have for now. If any of you are within striking distance of Santa Clara, California, and you are even remotely interested in quilting or textiles, this show is worth attending. You can find more information here. More photos at Flickr here.