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I spent Christmas in Tucson with my youngest son and husband. As luck would have it, the first day we were there my son had to work. So I did my duty (woe is me!) and toured every local quilt shop-all 4 of them. It was fun to explore and see what was new and different in Tucson. I stumbled upon this book and I am smitten: It might seem a little odd that I purchased a book on beginning quilting since I do know just a little bit about free motion quilting. I like to read how different authors…
I am just too cool to carry my new tablet around in a plain black carrier: Seriously, this is just unacceptable. I purchased this carrier just to protect it and carry it from place to place. It’s just so ugly and pedestrian. But I didn’t want to spend a week creating a whole new carrier from scratch either. So I decided to make a colorful “hauler” for it instead. All I was looking for in a hauler was something that was attractive and would allow me to carry my tablet either in a clutch-like position or messenger-bag-style to keep my…
Finally-my last post of photos from Pacific International Quilt Festival 2013-enjoy! I’m finally catching on-anything by Sandy Curran catches my eye. Here, in “Human Beauty”, she deliberately chose unrealistic colors so that the viewer sees the play of light and shadow on the human body without being distracted by the humanity of the figure. Beautiful. Again, Sandy Curran, this time this gentleman “HOPE” is her subject. Sandy says he believes in something greater than himself and he is faith, hope, belief. This was appliqued and hand painted. Phyllis Cullen says she chooses to do her family album out of fabric…
I know Pacific International Quilt Festival happened in mid-October, but I am just now getting around to posting about it. I do think it was the best year yet. I only had a precious few moments to look at the show but I did get some good photos of some pretty spectacular quilts. This one received the Bernina Award, which is essentially Runner Up for Best of Show. I have not seen work by Sylvia Gearegian before but this piece, Magnolia, took my breath away. I love her quilting, her use of color and texture, her expert technical skills, and…
Sometimes the visitors are as charming as the quilts! Check out this Future Quilter and her Mom at the 2013 River City Quilt Festival. She was proudly holding her own Personal Quilt the entire time and was delighted to be surrounded by quilts-who wouldn’t be? The River City show is one of my favorites and it’s the last show of the year in my area. I try to get there early to get the best picks from their boutique and I got a nice haul of hand dyed Radiance from the vendors. The show was a great mix of traditional…
Okay-so this was supposed to be done in time to carry to Houston, but we’re just not talking about that. In the usual way, I did take a fairly simple project and make it unnecessarily complicated. Would you expect anything less? My local quilt shop, Meissner’s Folsom, had a sample of this bag in the store and I was intrigued. The Bailey Island Tote has structure built into the bag that is not from stabilizer. I liked that’s it was soft to the touch yet still stood up on its own. The Bailey Island Hobo pattern is made by Aunties…
I had a “Tailgate Critique” yesterday! How did that happen?? Read on. I am Co-Rep for the NorCA/NorNV region of Studio Art Quilt Associates. We held our quarterly meeting on Wednesday in Danville, a San Francisco Bay area community about a 2 hour drive from my home. One of the very best things about the quarterly meetings can be the car pool. Ideas get bantered about, and we all get to know each other just a little bit better. As luck would have it, Wednesday’s commute was just me and the Pixeladies-Kris Sazaki and Deb Cashatt, two delightful and talented…
There was a bumper crop of spectacular minis in this year’s show. Keep in mind that miniature, as defined by the Festival, is any quilt that is less than 24″ on each side. I don’t think any quilt I have pictured here exceeded 14″ on any side. This little gem has been inked, painted and quilted. This is the prettiest “Dia de Muertos” quilt ever-look at how much detail there is in this tiny piece! This incredible quilt is all silk dupioni. George is the absolute master of the mini and now he is working in “micro mini”. His 1″…
I’ll have a couple of posts on the amazing quilts at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Somehow there were some key quilts that I did not take photos of-grr! There was something for everyone in this show: Carol Morrissey interpreted a photo of roses sitting in her kitchen window and created this lively piece. The show does not give dimensions, but this is a pretty big piece and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I’d love to have this in my home. Cindy Henneke used commercial floral prints to depict the armadillos that wreak havoc on her garden.…