Blog
Lucky me, I finally got to go to a spring quilt show, my first of the season. “Prime Time in the Foothills” was this year’s theme for the Foothill Quilters Guild show last weekend. And it was indeed Prime Time-everything was in bloom and it was a spectacular drive to Auburn on a gorgeous sunny day! Freddy Moran was the Guest Quilter this year and there were probably 25 of Freddy’s colorful quilts on display-you just had to smile when you walked into the room. Who else can use color like this? Candy Brown was the Featured Quilter and she…
I’ve had a bit of a run of things that have taken me away from my quilting-all of them good! But upon my return, I see a sea of work that I do not like: It’s not that I don’t like the stitching, it’s just that I chose a thread color on the front of this piece that just fades- I need to change the color. And… you can see that the stitches are tiny, tiny and it’s going to take a long time to rip out a whole area of this. Ugh. One of my recent diversions was a…
After last week’s playtime with my hand dyed wool/sheer/cutwork piece, I was inspired to pull out a hand dyed wool piece I had purchased at my guild’s show in Feb. Patty Henderson dyed this beautiful piece and I knew I had to use it in a similar way. Spring is busting out all over Northern California and that inspired me to place a flower in the center, and surround it with stylized nature motifs and some curves. I find Patty’s artistry with hand dyed wool to be breath taking. I layered it atop some hand dyed silk organza and began to…
I took a fabric dying class from Linda Waddle last year and ended up with a treasure trove of beautiful hand dyed fabrics. I am always jealous when I see “fabric hand dyed by artist” in the description of a beautiful art quilt. This class gave me the chance to say that-hah! Today I got out one of the pieces from the class, a bright pink wool, and started playing. I’ve had it in my mind to layer some pretty wool over a sheer, to free motion a motif atop the two layers, and then cut out the wool. So I layered…
I recently began to work a large whole cloth quilt. In my eternal search for The Most Difficult Thread Combinations, I have settled upon a doozie. I chose black Aurifil Mako for the top and gray Superior Kimono for the bobbin. This presents a challenge not only in the different thread weights, but also in the combination of a light thread color with a dark. And that requires dead. on. tension. I thoroughly tested this and many other thread combos before settling on this one. One of my missions for this piece is to actually be able to see the…
Honestly, I will get back to my “regularly scheduled programming” but just one more boast. I’ve been published for the first time; my “Mom’s Lily Bed” quilt was featured in the March/April, 2013 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited. So get a copy and turn to page 79! I’m reveling in the joy of seeing that quilt in print. The timing seems especially appropriate since my Mom passed around this time last year. “Mom’s Lily Bed” is based on a strong childhood memory of a beautiful moment in time. A year ago I was lurching through the process of helping with all the arrangements with…
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching in both Long Beach (July) and Houston (Oct/Nov) for the International Quilt Association! This is my dream, to teach in the larger venues to a diversified audience. They say be careful what you wish for…. They accepted all of my proposals so I’ll be busy and that’s what I wanted. Here’s what I’ll be doing at Long Beach: -You CAN Free-Motion Quilt-all-day Thursday Aug 1. -Friday Forum: Fabulous Free-Motion Feathers-The Easy Way!-Aug 2. -Lazy Daisy Reversible Table Topper-Saturday, Aug 3. And in Houston I’ll be teaching: -You CAN Free-Motion Quilt-all-day Tuesday Oct 29.…
Last Saturday I had the best class! One of the stores I teach at, Shared Stitches, is closing-sooo sad. I held my last “Fearless Curves ‘n Feathers” class with 4 students. Sometimes it’s really nice to have a small class. Saturday’s students were a gift. Everyone came prepared and jazzed-fearless and ready to tackle feathers! I just have to show off their work. Kim decided to try a wreath, experiment with filling some shapes and using stippling as a fill against the feathers. Karen used a variegated Superior Rainbow thread on her green fabric to make these fabulous feathers and…
This is the first thing you saw when you walked in the big room: The art quilt group of the guild, Quartz, had a Red Line Challenge and these 14 quilts are the result. A 1″ red line at the side edges connects all the quilts and each artist made the quilt of their choice. It was spectacular! All of my photos of the individual quilts or detail shots were miserable due to the location and lighting. The audience loved it and there was always someone examining the red line, looking for details, enjoying the beauty. We’re pretty proud of…
Wow what a weekend at my guild’s 28th annual show! The theme was “Generations of Stars” and we honored our founding members that are still active in the guild. Those founding members created something special and I get to enjoy the benefits from all their work and dedication. It was a spectacular show, by far our best and we had superb work from every genre. I was honored with a First Place and Best Machine Quilting Ribbon on “Emerge” as well as a Member’s Choice for “Mom’s Lily Bed” (unjudged) and I’m grateful for that. I think this will be a…