Chilling with Quilting Arts TV!

It was an adventure to travel from sunny California to blustery Solon, Ohio (Cleveland area) for filming my segments for Quilting Arts TV. Look at this map!

It was very odd to travel this light:

I’ve arranged all my things by segment and this is all I took. I’m used to two 50 lb bags so this was a treat! Only after I arrived did I realize I should have brought some quilts for a backdrop for one of my segments….

You may recall there was a monster storm covering the Midwest to Northeast last week. Fortunately, traveling from west to east, we had no delays-and no delays coming back!

Three of us from northern California were filming at the same time and we got to fly together: Martha Wolfe, myself and Cathie Hoover. It was an o’dark departure, but we chatted and fretted the flight away. And arrived to this:

I really never “saw” Ohio while I was there-visibility was very limited. Surface temps were in the 20’s, with gusts up to 50mph! I am from the upper Midwest so it wasn’t exactly a surprise. But my cute little Robin’s Egg Blue California trench with its “liner” was no match for this weather!

Once we arrived and got a studio tour, it was right to work, readying for the next day’s filming. This is a compact process-you arrive the day before, hopefully in time to tour the studio and get set-up, film the next day and home the following day. They give you these huge cookie tray thingies to organize your stuff. I had rehearsed my segments a zillion times and had it all well organized.

One of the wonderful things about filming for QATV is the down time. Normally I am like a caged animal if there is down time. But we got to visit with each other-what a treat! When you travel to teach and lecture you run into other teachers but rarely get to spend much time with them.

Pepper Cory, Sherry Davis Kleinman and Laurie Russman had concluded filming that day and Malka Dubrowski and Enid Weichselbaum were there the day of my filming. And poor Lisa Walton, flying through a zillion time zones from Australia, where it’s summer-can you imagine? It was so nice to get to know these other artists better!

We all went out to eat together and I had to chuckle at this “Saguaro”. Just 3 days prior I WAS in Saguaro country!

So it’s Film Day. They have a real make-up station with a professional make-up artist-what fun! Too bad it was at 5 AM California time. I thought it would be really overdone but I loved what she did. I don’t remember any of the cool things she did though.

Once it’s your turn, you film all 3 segments in succession. Everyone says it goes so fast-and it does! I kept thinking I should be nervous, but I was excited. It was a blast to film! You have to mindfully set up your stuff before filming and you do a little run-through. But once they start filming, unless it’s grievous, they keep going. It’s very “real” TV. Apparently I had a few eye rolls when I couldn’t get something to show, but they do cut that stuff out. I’m working here with the Segment Producer and Jeanne Cook-Delpit, our on-site BERNINA rep. I was so spoiled-a make-up artist, Jeanne there to set up the machines-I could get used to that! Everyone from KS Productions was so helpful.

Susan Brubaker Knapp is amazing at this. She makes you feel right at home, asks you about the things you forgot and is very adept at gently guiding you along the way. She’s fun and friendly and relaxed. Really, the whole filming part was like Susan and I were chatting in my studio…with a bunch of microphones and cameras and props and people helping.

So funny story: they suggest 3 different outfits, one for each segment. I wanted just one new thing for the shoot, so I headed to Target. I like their clothes and their prices. I found this adorable bright yellow top, perfect underneath a jacket. I wanted a bit of a necklace over it so I headed to Nordstrom’s, fully decked out in my jacket and cute yellow top. So the first thing the Nordie’s sales person says is “I love your top-did you get that at Target?” Busted! I felt like there was a flashing sign on my forehead, “Cheap top bought at Target”. But dang, that stinkin’ top was dog gone cute! So of course, all the other presenters pretended to snark at me and ask, for every outfit, “Did you get that at Taaaaaarget?”.

Told you this was fun!

It was just Cathie and me on the way home. The blurry photo is perfect-I got up at midnight California time to make the flight back. I am thrilled that I didn’t get sick with back-to-back trips, temps from the upper 80’s to 16 degrees, Daylight Savings Time and 3 time zones!

I return home with salt on my luggage wheels-this is a new scene for me!

And look what happened while I was gone!

I do love northern California! It was great to visit Ohio and truly, the weather didn’t bother me that much. A better coat would have helped. What a wonderful privilege and experience to film for QATV! My segments will be coming out in July and Jan, 2018. My segments are:
……….Free Motion Bubbles 8 Ways
……….Before You Take a Stitch-Top Tips for Free Motion Quilting Set Up
……….Cutwork-Daisy Scarf
The names may change for publication, but this is the gist of what they are. I’m linking up to Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday-the best linky party around!