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The Sierra Gold Quilters Guild was hit hard by the recent fires but their show went on! Fortunately all the fires were gone, the fairgrounds were untouched and it was a beautiful fall day. The guild’s Opportunity Quilt was especially appealing to me but no, I did not win it, sigh. NOTE: For some inexplicable reason, I took many of my photos of the card and missed the title. If you know the title of those without, please let me know and I’ll add it. Sue Green was the featured quilter and she brought a sea of exquisite appliqued large quilts.…
So, funny story: I took a 5 1/2 day class from Diane Gaudynski at Empty Spools/Assilomar. Right next to us was a group whose mission was to legalize marijuana. They were an odd bunch, no two ways about it. The men were wearing rumpled message t-shirts with phrases like “If the whole world smoked weed, peace would break out”. The women wore mounds of fabric on their bodies. And many did appear to be, um, compromised, and pretty happy. They were a peaceable bunch and tended to take their breaks around the same time we did, which led to some very interesting…
There were two local quilt shows in one weekend-I had to clear the decks to get to both! I’m glad I was able to make the Elk Grove Quilt Guild show last weekend-a bi-annual event that is always worth the wait. Here are a few quilts that caught my eye: Clydeen created this using Thistledew’s Block of the Month. There is so much to like here: the fabulous colors, the texture, the embellishments. Kathy used Donna Greenwald’s technique of creating flowers in fabric, topstitching them and then submerging them in water. This creates a soft 3-d look of a real flower.…
It’s the beginning of the Fall Quilt Show season-yippee! The first show in my area is the Gold Bug show, which is always a good one. This year they had more space and even better lighting, which made for a better show. The Gold Bug guild has a nice mix of quilters of all genres: applique, spectacular piecers, great quilting and this year, some nice Modern quilts in the mix. Enjoy: This was a show stopper for me. I was surprised to find out that Paula used commercial fabrics for this. She added embellishments, inked and quilted shadows and added…
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…