A busy this ‘n that week!

This was a busy week of this ‘n that. I did figure out a better way to hold a weight in the bottom of my yellow silk quilt (“Tree of Life”) quilt, courtesy of Susan from Canada, a reader of my newsletter. What? You don’t get my weekly newsletter? I always include my weekly blog post, upcoming events, a Quilt of the Week, usually an article about an interesting artist aaaaaand, the ever popular Snort Laugh of the Week. You can sign up here if you’d like.

She suggested a thin plexiglass slat – perfect! I actually had it made at TAP, a thin, plastic slat. I sanded the edges for a smooth finish and created a silk organza sleeve to hold it. I received other great suggestions like a wooden slat or a blinds slat. I’ve got all the input I need on that one, thanks to my fabulous readers!

It does annoy me that I put the seam to show; I have time to fix that. Here’s a view from the side:

The quilt laid perfectly flat before I added the slat, BUT, when a quilt that I’ve blocked hangs in a humid environment, it can curl. The quilt may sell, and if so, I want it to hang flat, even if it finds a home in New Orleans!

I am dying to finish my blue silk quilt, hoping to be able to enter it into the Houston show with its May 15 entry date. I ran out of the silk I wanted to use for the Prairie Points; ugh! I went searching at Silk Baron (online) where I get most of my dupioni. I didn’t see it there; who knows how long ago I bought it. I thought I found it on another site, waited for 5 excruciating days for it to arrive and…..it is not the right silk. It is sooooo close but the quilt loses some vibrancy with it. I will have to pivot on this one and I’m not sure which way yet.

Beautiful silk, yet, but not the vibrant color I wanted. Believe me, I searched the entire internet, it’s not out there and I know where to find silk. BUT, if you ever want to put Prairie Points on your quilt, Susan Cleveland’s tool and book are a must! They will be perfectly accurate, easy peasy. I need 100 for this quilt, so the tool is a huge bonus for me.

Tuesday was an outrageously busy day (all good) that started with a drive to Pleasant Hill for the Northern California Quilt Council‘s Meet the Teacher event. NCQC is the only organization I know of that sponsors an in person Meet the Teachers. There may be others, but I am unaware of them. So it is special to be able to meet in person and view each teacher in action. NCQC’s mission is to bring together teachers, guilds, long armers, judges, shops and industry professionals to exchange ideas and collaborations.

Each teacher gets 3 min to speak, and before and after the event, shops and guilds can talk to the teachers at their table. Contracts are sometimes signed on the spot! I am Director of NCQC, so I presided over the business part of the meeting and also presented. We had a great turn out:

The NCQC Board had not been together in person in awhile, so it great to see each other. We have our July 9th meeting planned:

Cathy Medich and Anelie Belden will hold a panel of guilds and teachers – “How to Market Your Guild”. Both are pros at marketing and creating panels, so we’re excited about the July meeting. Northern California guilds, you don’t want to miss this!

We had speakers come from as far as Southern California to Washington state! Patricia Belyea traveled from Washington state and I was thrilled to meet her in person:

I have long wanted to join Patricia on one of her trips to Japan. Someday… She is closing her shop and will be having a 50% off sale, this Saturday, April 12th only! She sources exquisite fabrics and notions.

Ah, but that day was not done! I had a 3 hr turnaround before I headed out to the Antelope Quilters Guild, a small but mighty guild of 55 members (I think). I counted 30 in attendance at the meeting, so a great turnout. (I’m a counter, I count stuff, I estimate crowds accurately, and count random things.)

This was a happy, fun and talented group. Get this – membership, 55, charity quilt count to-date (April!), 85! Annualized, that is 295 quilts! I’m excited to be teaching free motion quilting in June to this bunch.

I love what I do! Sometimes the week is more packed than I’d like, but it’s all good. I hope to touch my sewing machine over the weekend! I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday