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We recently hit 109 degrees here in the Sacramento area and I decided that I needed to build up my dress wardrobe in anticipation of many more hot days. When it’s that hot, no shorts are as comfortable as a dress. Linen is my choice for those hot days and I envisioned this lovely linen from my stash fashioned into a loose-fitting dress that will perform well in the heat. This Cynthia Rowley pattern from Simplicity looked perfect for the job. I’m about 3/4 through with this dress-I still need to add a band to the hem and fringe it…
The week before Memorial Day DH and I traveled to Maine to visit our son in Gorham. Gorham is just outside of Portland in Southern Maine. It’s just a wee bit different up there in Maine! Locals told me that it was the dreariest May in about 15 yrs-I don’t know if that’s true but it was overcast, cool, and drizzly the entire 6 days we were there, save a few hours of sun. But hey, I’m from the upper Midwest so that kind of weather doesn’t bug me that much. This was not a fiber-filled kind of visit-we were…
It’s been an intense two weeks for me: a week-long visit to see my son in Maine followed by almost round-the-clock work to hit a deadline. I’ll write a post about my trip to Maine later this week-it was a fabulous visit! “Black and White Whole Cloth” is finally done and now has a name: “Morning Breeze”. I’ll be writing on occasion about the making of Morning Breeze. Once it was finally done it needed to be squared up. (I can’t share full-on photos until it shows.) I wanted to make sure that it hung well and was properly centered.…
I’ve been working this “Black and White Whole Cloth” quilt for months now and I think (hope!) I am nearing the end. Even I am shocked at how long this quilt has taken me-I started it in November after all! It’s going to be a large quilt-maybe 60″x80″-ish, intensely quilted. I wrote about it earlier here and here. I only know how I work and I love to hear how others work their projects. Design is difficult for me so one way I help myself along in the process is to sketch my possible motifs and designs on paper. That way I…
It’s hard to pick a favorite local show, but the Pine Tree Quilt Guild‘s “Springtime in the Pines” is one of my favs. The Pine Tree Guild has a really nice mix of quilters from all genres and one unique part of their show is a gallery that highlights the Mountain Art Quilters. MAQ allows only 40 members and they are a skilled and dedicated group-I love their exhibit and look forward to seeing what they’re showing each year. “Naima” was the first piece I saw as I exited the Country Store. I love this ethereal piece! Roberta Baker took digital…
If my brain were a spreadsheet, all of its cells would be full and overflowing. The sheer wonder of my experience at the SAQA conference in Santa Fe overwhelms me. I met so many incredible artists that I hold in high esteem, I was professionally coached (in public!) on finding my voice and I savored fabulous food in The City Different. I was challenged, encouraged, supported and enlightened. And I have filled my soul with art from many genres. Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. As I sort through the events and changes of the week, what…
I just returned from the Studio Art Quilt Associates Conference in Santa Fe and I’m in a stupor. The word “amazing” is overused, but in this case, it applies. I am so overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of the experience, that today I am only going to post about the textures of Santa Fe. Texture-it was everywhere. I love the desert. When I’m in that desert terrain where there are few plants to distract me, texture comes front and center and just shouts. Be sure to click on the photos for larger, more detailed versions. I had only one afternoon…
I am currently in a funk with the quilt I’ve been working on for six months. Our Relationship began last October at the IQF show in Houston with the kernel of an idea and became a Committed Relationship a month later in November when I began to work on it. But he was thought of long before Houston. I’ve decided that I have a Love Relationship with the quilts I make. Like any Relationship, it’s unique. I create the quilts and once I’m done, I send them off into the world on their own and break off the Relationship. They may…
Lily-of-the-Valleys are one of my favorite flowers. I love their little upside down teacup blooms, their heady fragrance and their furling leaves. My Mom’s Lily Bed quilt captured some of that feeling. My Mom passed away a year ago in Feb and Lily-of-the-Valleys will always remind me of her. After I returned home from her funeral last year, my sweet friend Laura brought me a Lily plant. I thought that was such a beautiful and thoughtful gesture, especially since it is a very rare find here in the searing San Joaquin Valley. I knew I had to find a special…
I’m currently working on a large whole cloth quilt that has a lot of intense free motion work. It’s critical that the quilt sandwich moves smoothly so that I can make my movements with ease. I have seen my students struggle with this in class and I began to wonder if I could effectively communicate some ideas I have on how to best manage the quilt sandwich while free motion quilting. I’m going to give it a try: Here I’m working with the practice sandwich that I use to test tension, motifs, threads and scale. Most of the work on…