Blog
It’s been a week of travel and tying up loose ends. I had a wonderful family trip to El Paso, finished a charity quilt, labeled and sleeved my 2 quilts that will hang in my guild’s upcoming show and got my silk quilt to hang kinda sort straight. And then there’s house stuff that takes me away from the quilting I love to do: new gutters and a sump pump out. I think I will write a book “How to Spend a Zillion Dollars on Your House in 2 Years”. Interesting: 3 of the 4 legs of my travel were…
I had a finish this week! Well, it only has maybe 30 min more work, but I want to share! “She Could Not Contain It” will debut at my local guild’s show (Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild) in early Feb: She has had an extraordinary journey. She has morphed more times than I can count. She has cause me grief and angst and joy. I have never had a quilt lead ME like this one. There is so much emotion there that I don’t even know yet if I like it. NOTE: This quilt is done😊 Please no suggestions on…
I enjoyed a madcap adventure on Dec 26, flying to and from Los Angeles in one day to see The Getty (art museum) and visit the Sewing Arts store. I met with friends made from my earlier visit to the Canyon Quilters of San Diego. What a wonderful adventure! It was a long day, but my energy did not flag and the day was fabulous from beginning to end. I have wanted to visit The Getty for over a decade. While visiting the Canyon Quilters, an idea was floated for a trip to The Getty, capped off with a…
I finished a charity quilt this week – yahoo! I try to do 2 a year, a low bar I know. I do contribute pieces regularly to other causes and try to do 2 for my local guild. I will probably finish the next one before year’s end, but this will be my last post for this year. Last year I decided that charity quilts do not need complex piecing to be useful and pretty. I take 4 or 5 coordinating fabrics and sew random width selvage-to-selvage strips together to form the top: It’s very happy/cheery! Yes, it could have…
I want to revisit blocking. I wrote about blocking in 2016, 2013 and 2012, but I have changed my methods since then; it seems like a good time for an update since I am currently blocking a quilt. This turned out to be long enough to be a magazine article! Please note, there are variations on blocking. I have found these methods work well for me and I have passed them on to my students with no complaint. You may do it a little differently. At the end of the day, what we want is a straight quilt. First, why…
I’ve been working on my “blue silk quilt” over a year. I have never had a quilt experience like this one. It sounds sooo artsy-fartsy, but this quilt told me very clearly what it needed as I worked along; it has taken me on several unexpected paths. I would head in one direction and it would stubbornly oppose me. When I finally heard the message it was telling me, it would purr. We have now become friends. To tell the tale of the many permutations of this quilt might bore you, so I will give you the Cliff Notes…
Please note: My weekly newsletter includes my blog post plus lots of other goodies – A Quilt of the Week, a good ole Snort Laugh, usually an article about another interesting artist plus additional content that varies. If you just follow my blog and not my newsletter, may I suggest you get my newsletter instead (which includes the blog post of the week)? This week I will be writing about my interesting Thanksgiving in my newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter here. It was a another great show for the Pioneer Quilters Guild! It is one of…
I love going to the International Quilt Market at Houston each year. It is a luxury for me to attend since I don’t have a brick-and-mortar shop. But I like to see what’s new and what I might add to my online shop. You can read about the quilts here in Part 1 and Part 2, and a post about the Festival experience here. There is a huge added advantage of being at Market – the show is already hung and you can get in to see it! There are very few attendees viewing the quilts during Market. I…
There is nothing like teaching at the world’s largest quilt festival! It is exciting, challenging and just plain FUN! It was a LOT more crowded this year, a very good thing! There is such a buzz and excitement of being on the show/vendor floor. For many, if not most attendees, the Houston show is a Bucket List item, long anticipated and planned for. You can find photos of quilts Part 1, Part 2 and interesting products from Market here. We are an aging demographic and there were lots of scooters! I usually get 20,000+ steps/day at Houston and this…
Continuing on with the quilts from the Houston Int’l Quilt Festival 2023; you’ll find this post much shorter. You can find Part 1 here, a post about the Festival experience here, and interesting products from Market here. I hope you enjoyed the show!