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Here’s part 2 of my local guild’s fabulous show – the Small Quilt Room. As before, this year my comments will be very brief as I’m super busy right now. And some amazing work is not represented here due to my lack of photography skills! Cream and Sugar, Dee Cavanagh. From Bunny Hill Designs for Dee’s daughter in Scotland. Quartz Architects, Joan Barker. Joan responded to a challenge to create her own unique building. Adaptation of In Full Boom, Beth Kondoleon. Beth changed some of the design elements to make Sue Spargo’s “In Full Bloom” her own. The Blue Door,…
The Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild is my home guild and we had The Best Show this year by far! I was so proud of our show, the diversity of quilts and styles and the number of members who participated. It struck me this year how skilled the quilting was throughout the show, whether it be free hand long arm, panto, digitized long arm, walking foot, free motion or hand quilting – it was all good! I had a last minute cancellation of a gig in central California (weather – snow!) so I had more time at the show than…
I hope you don’t think quilters come up with a great idea and just go into their studio and create it. It ain’t so! It is always a circuitous path for me, never direct. I created this diagram awhile back: I am somewhere in that jumbly area to the left on that drawing. Even getting to where I am now was a muddle. I started out with this fabulous idea for a happy, trapunto’d whole cloth quilt on metallic linen. There were all sorts of logistics issues, not the least of which was dealing with the significant glare from…
I had The Most Amazing Day at my Book Signing at Meissner Sewing Folsom last Saturday. It was wild and vastly exceeded my expectations! I am pretty good at estimating crowds and I would guess around 60 attended in total throughout the day. The signing lasted longer than the hour we allowed, giving me time to talk with friends and to meet others. Meissner’s ran out of books! Meagan said she has sold 35 and took orders for more. I will drop in and sign them before they call people to come in and get their copy. Wow, who…
Okay, a heady title for a blog post about making a quilt! I do think that quilting digs beneath the surface and taps into our inner soul. This week I was tested. I needed a small item as a give-away at my upcoming book signing. I am hard-pressed for time and needed to keep it simple. At first I was going to give my recent project using the tea bags I made in Libby Williamson‘s class at Craft Napa. But there was a lot of work in that piece and those bags were precious to me – I don’t…
This was my fourth year at Craft Napa -what a thrill! Craft Napa is The Most Fun venue. I finally figured out what makes CN unique: the students it attracts are so engaged, so creative, so open to learning. It IS a different experience at Craft Napa! I wish I had taken more photos to capture the moment. It was intense for me as on Thursday I taught from 9AM – 9:30PM with breaks for lunch and dinner. I was thrilled that my energy did not flag, not once. I was so pumped by what was happening in the class,…
I’ve spent my week prepping for Craft Napa. After losing a week to an annoying rash, I had some catching up to do. I am so excited to be teaching at Craft Napa again! It is an experience like non-other and I have added many new friends from my time with Craft Napa. I pinch myself that I’ll be there again; could it possibly be my fourth year? This year I won’t be taking any classes because the ones I wanted were either on the same day as I am teaching or were already filled. I will be vending for…
Craft Napa is coming up next week and I can’t wait! Among the preparations were creating donation piece(s) for Pokey Bolton’s fundraiser, Stay Pawsitive which this year is raising funds for Wags and Whispers, an organization that is helping the pets from the Camp Fire in Northern California. Pokey had asked for postcards, which I fully intended to make. But when it came time to make my pieces, I was not feeling it, so I dug into my stash for some inspiration. I stumbled upon this gorgeous wool hand-dyed by Linda Waddle and decided to start there. I wanted to…
It was time for some downtime, maybe even a bit of lounging around. Shocking, I know! Hubby and I went to Tucson to visit Youngest Son and just to enjoy the city. I actually did do a little of this, the relaxing thing. We chose the El Conquistador, a golf-centered resort. When it comes to vacations, I just want to go and I’m not too picky about where I go. I just want to be active and have fun. Hubby loves the golfing in Tucson and wanted to try this property and its surrounding courses. I am struck by the…
I get together with my friend Lynn on occasion for some sort of outdoor adventure. I’m pretty fit but Lynn is the real deal-she bikes and hikes and climbs both rocks and ice. I just do my weights, walk and swim. We decided to meet halfway between us, in Las Vegas, but not THAT Vegas. We were there for the outdoor playground that surrounds Vegas. We didn’t even get close to the strip and did not play any slots. We only had 3 full days so we didn’t make it to the Hoover Dam nor did we see any…