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It’s not been a very Instagram-worthy kind of week. I’ve been prepping and putting together a goodie bag for my students and getting packed for the weekend ahead. I’m stoked about teaching at a retreat center for the South Valley Quilt Association. The group has not gathered together in 2 years and everyone is excited about meeting in person. The retreat center has a strict safety protocol so everyone feels comfortable meeting. I feel honored to be leading such an event. I’m prepared for a lecture on our first night and then 2 days of free motion quilting fun. I…
It’s been an interesting week. I took a great class from Cristina Arcenegui Bono from Spain – online of course. Gotta admit, I am getting tired of zoom, but sometimes it is so worth it to take teachers you would never be able to take otherwise. And it was worth it to take Cristina’s Pictorial Quilts class last Friday. If her name is not familiar to you, please click on her site and see the quilts she has made. Her pictorial quilts have ribboned at Houston and are just spectacular. I wanted to know how to do that! Okay,…
Soooo, I’ve been working on this quilt for over 2 years and…..I just finished quilting it! I’m not ready to reveal the whole quilt. That might be silly, but I have decided I don’t want to show the whole thing until it juries into a show. The idea of the quilt is that it is made with white silk dupioni with inserts of randomly pieced strips of varying widths. In addition, there are big ole honkin trapunto’d bubbles scattered across the piece. I love it. I think it is a very joyful piece and it makes me smile. I could…
This was my seventh year at Craft Napa and this year looked different than any other for sure. CN had two parts this year: an online portion and an in-person part. I am thrilled to be back to in-person classes, but many are not ready; my class sizes reflected that. But no worries, it was still the vibrant, creative, eclectic event, vibrating with energy and ideas. It’s hard to describe the vibe, but just know, it is unique. I had two classes this year and my students were The Best! Even with small class sizes, I was so happy with…
Wed, Jan 12 – This will be a quick post – I’m heading out the door shortly to go to Craft Napa! I co-presented this morning to the Northern California Quilt Council (NCQC) at our annual Jumpstart meeting. This year’s guild topic was fundraising. There are some exciting, innovative and new things happening in guild fundraising. I am proud of the work that NCQC does for the guilds, teachers and shops. I benefitted for years from their events and now I’m happy to serve on the Board. I am also excited to be teaching in person again. Next week’s post…
I’ve never gone 2 weeks without posting before, so this is a first. No one reads blogs during the Holidays! I’m back and a lot has happened: First, I must introduce our new family member: Yahaha is a 2 yr old Australian Shepherd female. We heard about her through a local source and we got her from a Utah breeder. Yahaha (more on that name later), was bred twice. She did not enjoy the process, so her breeder wanted to find a good pet home for her. She comes from a line of Shepherds bred for pets; she does not…
I love to pack a day! I had a simple plan that grew as the day went on: drive to the Bay area to meet up with Catherine Redford and maybe have a moment to drop by for a precious few moments with Grandson (and parents!). Driving to the San Francisco Bay area is something to be planned and timed. Traffic can be insane. I was to meet up with Catherine at 4, so maybe if I left at 9:30AM-ish I’d have some time to play while there. That was a reasonable assumption given that the commute should be 2…
Okay, it was a mishmash kind of week with no clear direction. I’m playing and catching up – it’s wonderful to be able to have the time to do these things. DYEING I have put my hat in the ring to submit a piece for Prism Play, a Regional Studio Art Quilt Associates exhibit. The concept is that each piece in the exhibit will be based on a single color, pulled from Joen Wolfrom’s color tool. The exhibit will be hung continuously around the gallery showing the entire spectrum of color. Isn’t that just the coolest concept? Can you imagine…
Miss me again? It was a great Thanksgiving for the Lyon’s and I even had a finish! Let’s start with the finish: I really enjoyed making this piece. I love the sentiment, it’s one of my favs and so. true. Really, you are never ready, so start now! This piece shows yet another way to work with sheers and incorporate them into your work. I have a super simple method of doing those letters, something I’ll be demo-ing in my Blooming Sheers class at Craft Napa in January. And it will be in-person, in beautiful Napa. I sure hope…
NOTE: I won’t be posting next week on Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy a lovely day of thanksgiving with those you love. I will have my full family here and I’m excited. I will be back the following week, 5 lbs heavier! I’ve got a treat with a whole lot of great quilts to share! I know you’re not burned out on quilts, even though my last two posts from the Houston Int’l Quilt Festival had a total of around 80 quilts. I’m posting this out of chronological order, as the Houston show happened after PIQF. But I ran…