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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.…
I am still trying to wrap my head around all the overwhelming emotions, activities and experiences I had while at the Houston International Quilt Festival last week. I taught 2 full day classes and presented at 3 other events during the 5 days I was there. I’m exhausted this morning as I write this-in a Good Way! Fellow teachers told me “Sleep when you get home” and most of them taught even more classes. Just to set the stage, the Houston Festival is the biggest quilt event in the world, with total attendance expected of 55-60,000 quilt/art/fiber enthusiasts. This is…
I am thrilled to share that my wholecloth quilt, “Morning Breeze” received a Second Place ribbon at Pacific International Quilt Festival last week! I can’t wait to get the judges’ comments back-I am much more interested in learning how I can improve than I am the kudos though. This is one of my largest quilts at 49″ x 69″. It is my belief that if you make a large quilt you’d better have something to say! I have posted some of these photos before but I will include them here again. I know my readers are visual and they need…
I think this is the first time in my almost 3 years of blogging that I haven’t posted at least once a week. Sorry-I’ve been busy doing less-than-glamorous tasks! I’ve also been playing with various ideas for the class sample for my upcoming “Reversible Christmas Table Topper” class. I’m happy to show that today: This is really easy and forgiving free motion work combined with some cut work-plain old cut work by hand, not on the machine with a gazillion dollar attachment! I used a red batik for the “back” and regular quilting fabric for the green front, fused them…
I must be insane if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This will be the fourth time I will block “Morning Breeze” and I think I have finally figured out the problem. Each time I blocked this quilt I would find new, dark smudgy spots on its otherwise pristine white front. I would wash again and block, only to discover new spots. I know this sounds so obvious now, but the problem was that I was blocking it face down on my carpet-carpet that had just been cleaned about 2…
I’ve got two donation quilts that are soon to find new homes: one is currently in the SAQA Auction going on now and one I’m sending off to Houston today for auction in late October. The Studio Art Quilt Associates annual Benefit Auction is underway-you’ll want to check it out. This year over 421 pieces were donated and there are some spectacular pieces that want to become yours! Even if you don’t buy, you will want to cruise the quilts, either on the SAQA website or Pinterest. Either way, it’s great eye candy. This is my donation that I previously…
I just can’t work intensely for too long or I’ll burn out. Fearful of the Big Burn Out, I grabbed a charity quilt and a quick wall hanging to break the cycle. Both are for my local guild, the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild. Like most guilds, we make charity quilts for various organizations and we also need quilts for our Boutique in our spring quilt show. This is perhaps the easiest/quickest pattern on the planet so I pieced the top in a flash. But I forgot how tedious binding is-the binding took longer than the top and quilting! I…