Thank You Elephants

Some perfectly lovely strangers let me stay with them in Denver whilst I visited. I want to say thank you in a tangible way, which in this case means elephants.

My dear friend was childhood friends with their son and he considers them a second family. They were so wonderful and offered to let me stay with them. I think that kind of generosity and kindness is stellar. Before I went, I tried to find out what the lady of the house likes. I discovered she collects elephants. I knew my local quilt shop had this elephant print so off I went and purchased some coordinating bits. 

They obviously needed more embroidery so I took the floss, needle and clippers on the plane hoping to get them done before I left Denver. That didn't happen, so they came all the way home with me to get finished. The family's last name starts with "S".

They are pieced and quilted. The stitching shows up well on the insulbright and I'm always happy when the spaces turn out evenly without measuring. 

While there I found out that she used to cross stitch a lot. Hurray! So there will be favorite elephants and little x's made by me and printed on the Baby Jane fabric. 

 I'm hoping to get these done and mailed off this week. After all, there are still swap makes to make, a tote to finish and hopefully a skirt and top to sew before Sewing Summit. 

"They Knew You Were Coming..."

My visit at the Denver Museum of Art ended with the most perfect view as we rounded the corner to the front door. We both paused in amazement and my friend said, "They knew you were coming." A whole giant workshop to make your own quilt blocks. Here it is

(On the right is a piece by Bruce Price that I believe is different gingham fabrics applied to paper.) There were embroidery threads, fabric markers and embellishments. You better believe I caught my breath in excitement. I've been involved in the fine arts world pretty much forever and this visit was a great combination of art and fiber art worlds. The Denver MOA was accented perfectly by scattered fiber art showcases in almost every exhibit. There were also stations to learn to hand quilt or help crochet a coral reef. Below is some of the loot from the make your own quilt block space.

On the left is a Navajo rug with a fabulous sense of symmetrical design and movement. It was in a smaller exhibit of red and white Navajo rugs. I didn't find an artists name associated with this rug. On the right is "Paper Dolls" a fabric panel designed by Jacqueline Groag in 1967 for a child's room. The fabric was manufactured in 1969 by Jonelle Ltd, England. It reminds me of some of the Alexander Henry lines.

I got quilt and graphic design inspiration from these Native American pots, rugs and corn husk books. I'll go back in my notes to see if I can find artist names and if I do I'll edit them in. (The corn husk books didn't have artist names.) Last but not least is a Chinese children's appliqué quilt that shows five poisons. The animals bodies were stuffed and appliquéd so it was quite dimensional. I just wasn't sure if the quilt was to warn or to teach. Either way, it's a great idea to incorporate more texture in little kids quilts.