Blog
One of my pieces was rejected this week from a regional SAQA exhibit. The Juror was Yvonne Porcella! I hold Yvonne in the highest esteem. I have met her a few times and found her to be gracious and delightful person as well as an amazing artist. I would have loved to have been juried in by Yvonne. But my piece did not make the cut. Okay, it does not feel good to have a piece rejected. Was I surprised? Not really. I had the idea for this piece in my mind for quite some time but I made the piece pretty…
My quilt sandwiches are now ready for my Houston students-whoop! Last year I was frantically assembling at the last minute because I severely underestimated the time it would take as well as how much fabric I needed. All of my Houston classes are already full except for a few spaces in Monday afternoon’s Fills and Frills class-wahoo! A note about how IQF handles a full class: you can check current availability of classes here. Even though a class might be full now, keep checking back, as students might drop and choose another. Online enrollment closes Sept 25. But if you’re…
Whooop- Something on my Wish List has happened-I will be teaching at an exciting new venture January 7-9, 2016, CRAFT NAPA. Registration is here and you’ll want to register soon if you are thinking about coming. Students were signing up even before the site was officially announced! Pokey Bolton is the event’s founder. Her concept focuses on high-end art retreats in various venues around the Napa valley. Topics will include quilting, sewing, fiber art, surface design, art journaling, and mixed media and will be paired with wine tastings at top wineries, savory cuisine from world-renowned chefs, gallery visits, and scenic walks for picture-taking and sketching. A complete description…
Please check back later-I’m running behind in a very busy week but I have exciting news! The post will be up by Friday morning, if not sooner. Thank you for being patient!
It’s been crazy around here! We are considering a move instead of a remodel and that makes for a chaotic week of looking at houses, endless spreadsheets comparing options, getting bids on needed work on a house we might buy, etc. But my artistic and teaching life must go on-Houston is only 67 days away plus there are looming deadlines in the meantime. You may be surprised to know how much prep work any teacher goes through in order to be prepared to teach a great class. If you teach at a big venue like Houston, Paducah, etc. there is…
This is my fourth and hopefully my final post on Frixion pens. A recent discussion on FaceBook prompted me to explore this one last time. Some prominent quilters and artists have said things about the Frixion pens that I have not found to be true in my own experience, so I needed to get the facts. I ended up talking directly with a rep at Pilot to get the facts. If you’re not familiar with Frixion pens, they are a line of pens and highlighters made by Pilot that are heat erasable. Frixion pens make a crisp, clear mark which…
Don’t forget to check out last week’s post here-it was supposed to auto-post and did not. My DH and I just returned from our third cruise to Alaska. I know that sounds odd-three times? If you choose to cruise Alaska, there are pretty much two ways to go-the inside passage to Skagway and back, or one-way up to Seward. We have cruised the inside passage twice and to Seward once. Each trip was at different stages in our lives: In 2004, our boys were rising Sophomore/Jr’s in high school. In 2007, they were rising Freshman/Sophomore’s in college! And in 2015, we are now Confirmed…
It’s been a busy week with not much exciting stuff to post about. I am working on a small sample of what I hope will be a large piece. I’m playing around with shadow and light in a whole cloth format a little differently than I have in previous pieces. Usually I have a lot of curve going on, but in this piece I’ll be using straight-ish lines. My inspiration for this piece comes from this book-oh this is a fabulous book! The photography is excellent as is the writing. The work of Ms Jinzenji is exquisite. It’s very minimalist…
Warning: Post contains graphic images of water! Residents of the western US and other drought-stricken areas may want to avoid these graphic images. Californians especially are forewarned that viewing such images may cause a strong urge to water the lawn and flush toilets. I’m from Ottawa, Illinois, a small-ish town 90 miles southwest of Chicago. Of course you are aware that it sits at the convergence of the Fox and Illinois rivers, it is home to one of the richest deposits of silica sand which is/was used in glass production and Bakelite products, it was home to the founder of the Boy Scouts,…
I mentioned in my previous post that I entered the Houston show and that I would write about the story behind that entry. I was shocked to find out that I juried into the World of Beauty show! The reason that is so surprising is that this is the third time I have entered that quilt! I wrote about making Morning Breeze here, here, here and here. I tried to capture the beauty and texture that I enjoy on my daily morning stroll through my garden. It is a true two-sided quilt with one side white with black cotton thread…