Vespa table runner

My sister bought me three small pieces of Japanese fabric in San Francisco when she was there on a recent trip, and I wanted to make something with at least one of them before she came to my house for a visit this weekend.  I went to the local quilt store--- Quilter's Attic----to look for ideas and found a table runner pattern on sale. Doesn't the end result look cute on my kitchen table?

I've always had a thing for Vespas (maybe it was that semester of college I spent in Italy?) so I was really happy to get this fabric, even it was only a small piece.  Here's a close-up of the pattern....and the best thing is that my Vespa looks a lot like this one, cream colored with a dark seat. ;-)
Aren't sisters the best?

A quick quilt for my Dad

I used my block lotto winnings to make this lap quilt for my dear father, who unfortunately has Alzheimer's and lives in an assisted living facility in New Jersey. I gave the quilt to him yesterday when I went to visit. I'm not sure that he understood that I'd made it (with a lot of help from the Block Lotto quilters) or even that the quilt was his to keep, but I hope that one in awhile when he sees it he'll know it was made for him with love.

Velda Newman at the Shelburne Museum

I snuck a few hours for myself at the Shelburne Museum while I was in Vermont for my oldest son's college graduation last weekend (hurrah!) and saw this fantastic exhibit of quilts by the California-based quilt-artist Velda Newman. Until then, I was not familiar with her work, but I'm a huge fan: the exhibit was really memorable. Here's the blurb about her from the museum's website:

"An internationally recognized contemporary textile artist, Velda Newman’s award-winning  quilts have a three-dimensional quality to them. The Californian artist works in vivid colors and close-up detail of her subjects – shells, flowers, fruit are a few examples – creating stunning works of textile art.

Many of the works are on loan from the artist’s private collection."

It was a little tricky to get good photos in the exhibition space, but here's what I was able to come up with:

The quilt to the left is called Hydrangea.

This one is called Catch of the Day, and was made for the owners of a restaurant. The name of the restaurant is embroidered in the cream-colored background of the quilt near the top.

This quilt, called Wings, looked better in person than in my photo. I loved the butterfly's wing hanging below the edge of the quilt.
                                                                                                                                                                                       

Bass: In Your Dreams, was made from a combination of fabric and paint. Again, the end result was really stunning in person.