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Did you know the Carson Valley Quilt Show was a National Show? I didn’t! I was blown away with the quality and variety of the show. There are judged quilts, many of which are top prize winning quilts, and also non-judged quilts. I loved that mix! I appreciate a variety of quilts in a show. I get fatigue if every single quilt looks like it took 3 years to make. I enjoy seeing lovely quilts that are to be used as…quilts, as well as quilts that will grace the wall of the maker’s home. I hope I can go to…
Teaching is always waiting to give you a surprise, one of the things I love about it. I taught an international group this week, the Israeli Quilter’s Association, a group that draws from the entire country. I had no idea what I was in for. This was a group of highly talented, experienced quilters with a wide variety of skills. I taught “Blooming Sheers” in 2 3-hour zoom sessions. This is a class I have taught several times before and it has been a rousing success each time. I love that class! There were 11 enthusiastic women in the class…
I got a lot of responses back from my last week’s post about my thoughts on judging. Some responses were private and held surprisingly strong opinions. It is just my opinion; I want quilters to do what gives them joy – whether that be to compete, or just enjoy their own quilts and share them with friends and family. Just like last week, I’m going to post photos of my landscape, just for grins. This week it is photos from previous years and seasons, and some plants and trees that are no longer with us. Based on the responses from…
After another competition quilter revealed her judging comments last week, it got me thinking. I have a well-reasoned opinion on judging, for me. These are my thoughts about my quilts being judged. I think they might be useful, or at least entertaining for you. I don’t have a lot of interesting photos about judging, so I am going to include photos of my yard this spring😊 Let me set the stage: – I like to have a quilt hanging in the show if I am teaching there. – I actually don’t care that much about ribbons. Really. I don’t even…
I’m crazy busy this week prepping for my 3-day Free Motion Freedom Seminar this week but I’m excited too! I did have a finish: Each year SAQA‘s premier fundraising event is an auction of 12″ x 12″ works created and donated by members. All proceeds help support SAQA’s exhibition programs, publications, and education outreach. The auction will run September 9 through October 2 and donations are due June 30th. I wanted to get ahead of the game as I am desperately trying to finish a piece for Houston due May 26! I started with an ice dye by Debra Linker.…
What a trip! I’m back from Paducah, trying to catch up. I have an in-town 3 day seminar next week to prep for also, so life is very full right now. Oh, and I just got an idea for a quilt I want to try to get into Houston…that I haven’t even started. Uh oh. When I do these major festival/shows, I break it into two blog posts (or more) – the experience and the show itself. So here goes with the experience. It felt so. good. to go to an in-person show that felt normal. Yes, there were masks,…
NOTE: I will not be writing a blog post or newsletter next week as I will be in Paducah! If you want to follow along, I’ll be posting on Facebook and Instagram. My donation to Pokey Bolton’s Handmade for Ukraine fundraiser is a wrap! I’m pleased with the result: As always, it was not a direct path. That border gave me fits! A few of my attempts: Oh that design was soooo pretty! I even tried different threads. Nope, this was awful, did nothing to enhance the center; in fact, it detracted. I noticed in my research that a…
I’m writing this at the last minute – I simply forgot to write my post. This is never a good thing – I really need posts to “marinate” before posting to catch all my editing errors. There surely will be some grammar errors or misinformation, so bear with me. I’ve got the fam coming for Easter! I’ve got lots of prep to do so I will not have a newsletter this week. I don’t know how I got all this done this week, as you’ll see below. I don’t sleep much, that helps. I completed my Ukraine donation quilt this…
It’s been a packed week with a wide variety of action; I love it when I’m working different types of events! I volunteered to demo at Blue Line Arts in Roseville in conjunction with the “Forever Changed” exhibit, a SAQA Regional exhibit which focused on the lasting impact of the events of 2020-21. I demo’d free motion quilting and Frances Dack did a collage activity with children. Kinda funny how this all went down; Frances had a packed house of happy kids and their parents: On the other hand, I had TWO visitors, but had a grand time with fellow…
It’s been a great week since I last posted. I had a wonderful 3 1/2 day visit to the Minden, NV guild, the Carson Valley Quilt Guild. Oh so sad, I had to drive by Lake Tahoe on my way: Where does the lake end and the sky begin? They don’t call it “Tahoe Blue” for nothin’! While there, Christina from the guild took me on a hike. What I really want to do when I travel to guilds is hike, walk or see art. This was really all three: I did no color correction on any of those photos…