Craft Napa 2020

• This was my fifth year to teach and play at Craft Napa – pinch me! I felt the magic this year both as teacher and student. Pokey Bolton brings in such a great group of teachers each year and I think that one of the best things about the event is the variety: painting, dyeing, free motion quilting, batiking, stamping, jewelry, improv piecing, collaging, piecing, art quilts, abstract, mixed media, improv, encaustic, water color and…tea bags? All in one place!

Although most students are from northern California, Craft Napa attracts interest from all over. This year I had two students from Victoria, BC, Canada.

There’s always a lot of prep for any teaching event but for Craft Napa there was much to do:

I decided to make one of these for each student. I’m glad I did but it was more work than anticipated. I wanted each student to feel appreciated.

Just in case students were not happy with their own “starter square”, I Misty-fused a bunch of fun fabrics into squares.

Maybe it’s just me, but this scene thrills me! All those BERNINA 740’s are waiting for their play dates. I was thrilled that BERNINA chose to stock the room with the 740 – tons of extra space in the harp and a big ‘ole honkin bobbin.

Soon all those machines were running and my 18 students playing!

It was a truly amazing class. There were 5 brand-new free motion quilters in this group and I was blown away by their work. Everyone embraced the fun and the challenge and just look at the results!

We had lots of fun!

I was over the moon at how well this class did. I think there is something about Craft Napa that encourages everyone to accept challenges without fear and just embrace the creativity.

I had a 3-hour night class in quilt design with 2 students. I forgot to take any photos at all. We had a great time working on 3 different quilts and both students were happy with the results. Everyone learned something new about design, including me!

On Friday I got to be a student in Pat Pauly‘s class, Dozen Ways Design for Art Quilts. Pat works in abstract so I assumed I would feel uncomfortable and inept, but I didn’t! Pat supplied us with 14 tagible ways to approach design.

There was a bit of a trunk show involved as Pat brought in her own quilts to show how she went from design to quilt.

This is the kind of work that makes me want to work in abstract. I know, a far departure from what I do now, but this desire is in me and will come out to play sometime.

Most of her work is huge, this was petite for Pat! See how she went from a random fabric sketch that she liked, to completed quilt?

I think this is the quilt that Pat submitted to the Houston show for the Saphire Celebration exhibit. It was rejected. If you went to Houston and saw the quilt, you would understand how this would not have played well with the other saphire quilts there. It was a bit of a chuckle.

Part of each technique was a critique by Pat. I learned more from that than almost anything else because everyone’s work was discussed. Here we had done a little bit of stack-and-whack and reassembled the components. When you cruise that expanse of various blocks, you really see blocks that please you and ones that don’t. It was a very useful exercise.

One thing we did was take random scraps, glue them to an index card, trim the edges and then quilt. We had about 2 seconds to quilt because there was a limited number of machines, so I just whipped right through that part. I actually like this composition. The idea is to NOT think and just create a bunch of these. Out of all them you might find one that works, or a spot that excites you.

Not all the execises were successful for me and I ran out of time on this one, but that way okay. The vibe of the class was very chill, which fanned the flames of creativity.

I didn’t leave Pat’s class without shopping. This gorgeous silk scarf was pricey but dang it looks good!

And these two pieces came home with me. They are made to be cut up. I think they might work well together, we’ll see.

I deliberately left this stack on my cutting table to greet me when I got home – all the fixins for two baby quilts. More about that next week.

So, are ya going to come to Craft Napa 2021? Save the date – Jan 13 – 17!! I’ll be linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, check out all the good links.