Blog
Sometimes my travels to teach and lecture take me to new places. Travel is a major reason why I love to teach and lecture. It’s just plain fun to meet people from different places. I hope to be traveling internationally at some point but for now, I am excited to visit locales in the western US. Last week I traveled to Redding, Ca, located in the northernmost part of the central valley of the state. This was my first visit to Redding and about all I knew (before I did my research) was that it was HOT! Redding is at…
WordPress refuses to load my photos this morning so I’m doing a quick update instead. It’s been a whirlwind year for me so far. Yet there is so much more that I want to accomplish! But there is just not enough time for it all-I have to accept that. I definitely have a serious case of FOMO-Fear Of Missing Out. I want to do it all, but I am slowing realizing that I need to back off of some things. I had this crazy notion that I could finish a quilt, whose top is not even marked yet, in the…
It’s that time of year to create my annual donation quilt to one of SAQA‘s major fundraisers, the Benefit Auction. Artist members are encouraged to create 12″ square quilts that will be auctioned off starting Sept 16. This is an excellent time to get fabulous art to add to your collection. View the quilts here-there are already many gorgeous quilts and not all of them have been posted yet. My finished quilt-tada: This is a sateeen whole cloth quilt with wool batting and silk thread. The title comes from the number of visible “dots”. To me they look like an aerial…
I’ve only had a wee bit of time to quilt lately as my travel and teaching schedule has been insane for about 2 months. I had a moment to work on a few small projects and a realized that I use some tools/notions that are a bit uncommon. I want to share them with you-maybe they might be useful for you too. I use these “rolling rulers” to set grids and to create circles and oblong objects. I first saw them domo-ed at Houston and was intrigued. There is a You Tube here that is the. cheesiest. video. ever. You have…
I’m doing a happy dance times two! This weekend will be the opening of My Corner of the World, a Studio Art Quilt Associates exhibit that will debut at the Stratford Perth Museum in Ontario Canada. It is SAQA’s first exhibit to debut outside of the US. And my piece, Prairie Afternoon, is one of 41 pieces in the exhibit! The statement for the exhibit follows: “My Corner of the World invited the artist to examine a world, real or imagined, that represented what is important in life. It might be where the artist resides, works, or grew up. It might be…
After the Pine Tree Guild’s show last Saturday I drove straight to the Vallejo Piecemakers Guild show. What a treat to see two shows in one day! The Vallejo show is biennial and this is their second ever show, so I was pleased that I could make their show. Pati Fried was the Featured Quilter for the show. Pati is one of the few quilters who truly spans traditional, improv and Modern. She designs fabric, patterns and tools and writes the very popular blog SeeHowWeSew with Laura Nownes. And she’s so fun to talk to! Give Me Liberty is perhaps her best known…
It was a beautiful weekend for quilt shows-I hit two in one day! I started at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild‘s show in Grass Valley and then drove 115 miles to the Vallejo Piecemakers show. Yes, I know that was a little insane, but I had one day and two shows-what’s a girl to do? It was a fabulous day for me, filled with lots of quilts and quilting friends. The Pine Tree show was perhaps their best show I recall: Pine Tree holds their show on the Nevada County Fairgrounds. The show is spread out over two buildings with a short walk…
Sometimes you just have to do the stuff youdon’t want to do. After a month with an abundance of travel, I’m just beginning to catch up. I need professional photos taken of some of my work, so I’ll need to wash and then block them beforehand. My quilts are touched by many hands at the guilds and shops I visit and that does make for some very grungy quilts after while! I have refined my blocking technique over time so I want to share it with you here. Since I seem to be skilled at making wonky quilts, blocking is something I have gotten…
April has been an event filled month and I’ve been gone or at all day events for 14 days since mid-March. It’s all been great but it gives me comfort to know that in the next month I will teach just a few times locally and travel just once. I truly enjoy traveling and meeting other quilters yet I am itching to play with my neglected machine and get creative! I was one of 30 that presented at the Northern California Quilt Council‘s Meet the Teacher event which drew about 200 decision makers from guilds and shops. NCQC is a blessing…
Teaching at the Chicago International Quilt Festival was a first-time-through for me. I was excited to be able to teach and to be able to visit with friends and relatives after the show closed. It’s always a challenge just to get there with all my stuff intact. I shipped two huge boxes ahead since I made kits for every student in all my classes. It was tricky to fit in all my quilts, items for sale and personal items in the allowed luggage limits. It was no small task to move all this around by myself! My classes started out with a bang.…