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What a year, aye? I don’t normally do an end-of-year wrap-up, but this year was a doozie and needed one. I have accomplished more in this year than ever, so let’s take a look: Remember when there were classes and hugs? It really wasn’t that long ago! I kicked off the year with a wonderful Start With a Square class at Craft Napa. I LOVE Craft Napa and I’m excited to be teaching again for the 6th year. This was just a wonderful class full of creativity, synergy and fun! We were so innocent then, lambs to the slaughter. Little…
I wasn’t sure I’d post today but I thought that I might bring cheer to some of my readers. I’m sharing my home with you today. Like most of you, we’re shut down and it’s a shame to not share our decorations with others. Usually our home would be full with our boys and my DIL and it’s so sad to be here alone. We certainly have many blessings, among them the impending birth of our first grandchild! Oldest son who works ER got vaccinated yesterday. Oh will the day come when we all have access? Soon? Let me share…
NOTE: I had written last week that I did not intend to write a newsletter or blog on Christmas (next Thursday!!), but I may change my mind. I’m going to wait and see. Also, In this week’s newsletter I will include an article explaining the closing of the International Quilt Association which sponsored part of the Houston quilt show. The show will go on, so don’t panic. I always include a link in my weekly newsletter to each blog post, so it’s the best way to keep up with me. You can sign up here. What a fun week! I…
It has been a very eventful week, but there aren’t a lot of photos to support that! It was the week of the virtual Houston Quilt Festival and it was a jam-packed: I am not going to show a lot of screen shots because to me, they pretty much all look alike. I was a panelist for both of the Machine Quilting Forums, presenting on Cutwork as well as an overview of free motion quilting. Each Forum had close to 500 attendees! If it were held in-person the limit is (I think) 150. Now you see why Forum fills early…
This will be short. I am getting ready to LAUNCH today. I will present at 10AM PST at the Machine Quilting Forum of the Virtual Houston Quilt Festival – “Easy Peasy Cutwork”. Then at 4PM PST, my big presentation to the general audience, “Quilting is a Contact Sport!”, yikes! If you have heard the lecture by the same name before, rest assured, this is a different lecture. Some of the stories will be the same, but the content is very different. And on Saturday at noon I’ll be part of a second Machine Quilting Forum and talk about “Yes You…
The pies won. They’re not made yet, so it came down to pies, or thoughtful blog post and the pies won. I am excited about Thanksgiving this year, the last without a grandchild. Life will change and next year there will be a wee one to celebrate with – can’t wait! Both boys and DIL will be here, along with masks. We are doing raclette again this year (photo from a few years back) which is perfect for social distancing. We’ll have 3 tables and 3 grills! How bizarre is this world? Oh, and that little pile of quilts next…
I had some fun quilting this week. I wanted a redo on a cutwork piece I’d done recently. I’ve taught it virtually and the class went very well but as I pondered my class sample, I decided I wanted to improve it. It was a bit of a risk, but it turned out well and proved my theory. I wanted to have more open cutwork space to better define the shapes, so I gave it a try: The class sample seemed a little dense with too much fabric; it needed more open space. It looked a little blobby to…
We’re going into another shut down here again, sigh. I just taught a delightful class at Meissner’s Main Store and was thinking how wonderful it was to teach in person again. Of course I forgot to take photos. This was a fun class, on Veteran’s Day, with a great mix of students including 2 sisters and a Hubby from one family. And every student was a veteran or raised a veteran – wow! Some had experienced grievous injuries. I am deeply thankful for all of you who served. It has been a busy week with 2 lectures and 3…
So lucky me, I got to see real art, in person this week – what a treat! I viewed the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit, “Thiebaud 100, Paintings,Prints and Drawings” on display at the Crocker Art Museum. I had to make a reservation to enter the museum and because of restrictions, there were few people there. What a delight! I was able to linger over each painting and not feel rushed. Before I show some his art I want to first show a blast from the past: My local quilt guild, the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild, formed a small group…
I finally just decided I was tired of festering over what to do with my trapunto bubble quilt. I loooove feathers, so I did a little sketch just to get a taste of what it might look like if I feathered it: Funny how the tiny filler bubbles define the feathers so much more than the micro-stipple does. That kind of surprised me. It will be a pain to fill in all the negative space but look at how it defines and enhances the feather! Step two was to do a bit of sketching on a piece of vinyl laid…