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The most recent regional meeting of Studio Art Quilt Associates was held at the Crocker Art Museum, where an exhibit of the work of Faith Ringgold was showing. I had previously only seen photos of her work and it was wonderful to see it in person. It is hard to capture in words the diversity of the exhibit, how it was both whimsical and profound and explored some deeply disturbing history. It was thought provoking. There is much rich detail in each piece which my photos do not capture. The Crocker described the exhibit better than I can: Best known…
I’m trying to hit a deadline. I had my idea all firm in my head, sketches were done confirming my idea. I did some preliminary stitching “off-line” just to make sure. Then I started stitching. Ack, the thread color was wrong. On the bobbin side it looks like a spider just laid a web. Didn’t I just try that thread off-line? But it really was not right. Rip. Try again. Oh, but those motifs were the wrong scale. Really? Didn’t I just check them too? Ack. Rip. Now I’ve got it right. Oh dear, there is some funky thing going…
Every once in awhile I travel to a new and intriguing destination. Gualala is about 115 miles north of San Francisco and to me, it’s a rocky, windswept and dramatic place. Nature is right in your face-the cliffs are steep, the wind strong and the sweeping views are stunning. The Pacific Piecemakers brought me in for a 2-day workshop and lecture. The guild is small and very talented, as Gualala seems to attract artists and craftspeople. My hosts completely spoiled me and showed me a fabulous time. This was my view from the studio where I stayed and I was…
One of the highlights of this year’s conference was an exhibition of work by the Texas Region of Studio Art Quilt Associates. The theme was “Everything Texas”. I not sure how many pieces were in the exhibit, I’m guessing about 25? I got scooted out before I got a second pass through, as I was viewing at the end of the day and they needed to close up. There were no statements included with each quilt so I will show them without much comment. Here’s what I did get to see: Can’t you feel the heat of the sun and…
I spent 4 fabulous days in San Antonio Texas at the annual Studio Art Quilt Associates Conference. I always find it difficult to describe why I make it a point to go as often as I can. One of the best things is the people: You find yourself hanging out with the most amazing people! And everyone there gets you-they’re all artists too after all. I met so many people and learned so much about…everything from teaching to travel to food and of course art. I met people from Portugal, Canada, Australia, Norway. And you would too if you attended.…
Last week’s visit to the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association in the San Jose area was memorable with a very enthusiastic response, a fun workshop and an eventful trip to the Central Coast of California. This was a car trip for me and it is nice to be able to bring every single thing I want. My trunk was full of quilts, teaching materials and goodies. The drive down was spectacular with the wide horizon filled with verdant hills, puffy clouds and landscapes ranging from hills to coast, ocean and farm land. I arrived to claim my hotel room with…
I had a most wonderful and magical visit to the Southwest Florida Quilter’s Guild in Ft. Meyers last week. It was quite the eventful week. Read on. Yup, it started with an uneventful flight save a few noisy young passengers but all the while Southwest was plotting to divert my luggage. Actually it was the luggage for all through passengers from Chicago Midway to Philidelphia to Ft. Meyers. As a result, there was a line of unfortunate passengers. According to my observation, it takes 15 minutes to process one claim–there were about 10 0f us. It was a wait made…
This was the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Yuba City Quilt Guild and they chose Red and White as their theme. It was a spectacular display of red and white quilts and hands-down, their best show ever. Get ready for some red and white! I had to save some time this week-I will post the quilt’s name, maker and quilter largely without comment. I think these quilts speak for themselves! Enjoy: What a feeling when you walked in! It truly reminded me of the Houston Quilt Festival Show for their 35th anniversary. It was dramatic! Just a portion…
It’s been a busy quilty week here but nothing to show here. The biggest news of the week is hair! It seems like such a vapid subject but I am increasingly convinced that it has more of an impact on how others perceive us than we realize. Here’s my take: Here’s my BC look-Before Color. I liked that look just fine. But as I aged, I became more invisible. Frequent occurrence: standing in the front of a line of people and they look over me at the person behind me and hail them forward. I would say something like “But…
I have a knack for somehow starting with a simple project and making it difficult. This time I came up with a doozie. Start with a black whole cloth quilt. That doesn’t sound that difficult does it? Well let’s choose a design with a lot of marking. And add trapunto. And probably some metallic thread. And probably not just plain ole metallic thread-I can do that one. Let’s make it a silk core with a metallic wrap. Oops, just crossed that difficult line! I’m just going to cover The Great Search for The Perfect Marking System today. Spoiler alert: There…