Blog
While wandering the vendor offerings at IQF-Long Beach, I ran into a booth that had kits to make a shrug from Minky. The shrug was adorable. So I bought the pattern (Kwik Sew K3717) and decided I would be making one when I got home. It takes 1 yd each of 2 Minky’s or a drapey knit. Have you ever worked with Minky? There should be a Fabric Annoyance Level Rating System (FALRS): Minky might be a 10, with velvet a mere 8. In a perfect world, you would have a giant vacuum system built into your cutting table, like…
Today I’m sharing the rest of the photos of my quilt tour at IQF-Long Beach: “Tidal Pool-After the Storm” by Holly S. Altman was so intriguing. Holly used a variety of techniques to achieve this interpretation of a tide pool. Holly was a Marine Biology student (can you tell?) and she tried to portray the fragility of the tidal pool in her work. This was included in the “West Coast Wonders” section. I took many detailed shots-I could have spent an hour with this one and still found new detail. Also in “West Coast Wonders”, “Lombard Street” by Susan R. Lane (California) was gorgeous…
I’m giddy, almost vibrating from last week! I just got back from International Quilt Festival-Long Beach and it was a blast. I met all kinds of fascinating quilters, saw some amazing quilts, enjoyed the balmy beauty of Long Beach and had a spectacular time presenting at the Saturday Night Sampler. The Saturday Night Sampler where I presented was so much fun! There were 15 presenters, each with a unique subject. Participants could freely roam the room and listen to the presenter of most interest to them. My talk was on “Fast Fixes 4 Free Motion Frustrations” and I covered the…
This month’s challenge on SewCalGal’s blog is by Angela Walters, a professional long armer, author and young Modern Quilter. She showed us how to use “tiles” as background fill. I really like the concept and probably will use it in future projects-thank you Angela! I have to admit, I am currently on the cusp of being burned out, so I only did a small section. My Visible Learning Curve is present: you will see in the lower left hand corner I started out using a different motif in each tile. That looked too busy. So I started to use the…
In an act of shameless self-promotion I’ll be giving away a reversible table runner at my Saturday Night Sampler presentation at International Quilt Festival-Long Beach this week. I want to attract participants to my talk about “Fast Fixes For Free Motion Frustrations”.My topic this year is the most common problems that free motion quilters encounter. I’ll be showing some nifty new tools and techniques as well as the best marking tools, how to choose the right batting for your project and more. I’ll also cover the number one most asked about subject-come listen and find out what it is! I wasn’t able to begin the table runner…
Tonite is the opening reception (7-9PM) for the “Masterpiece Medley Membership Show” at the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville, Ca. I’ll be there! There are over 100 works in varied mediums by Blue Line artists from all over the Sacramento Valley. There will also be works by fellow Studio Art Quilt Associates members Priscilla Read , Pam Berry and Sandra Wagner. My piece “Emerge II” will be on display. I wanted to rework and refresh my original “Emerge” that I wrote about here. I used Misty Fuse on the border this time, which created a much better lay of the fabric…
I am at that delightful interlude of life where my boys have left the house and have set their own purposeful trajectory. DH has retired and golfs and volunteers enough to give me the mental space to create my art. I have had casual, aisle-of-the-grocery-store type of conversations with three Moms and a Dad over the last week. They all had a similar theme: we actually like our grown children as people and somehow, we actually helped produce those likeable people! We have led very different lives: financially, geographically, spiritually and politically. Each of us had radically different approaches to…
Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) has selected my quilt “Lily of the Valley” to be one of 106 that will be on display at the SAQA booth at the Houston International Quilt Festival in November! I am so honored and excited that I WILL have a piece hanging in Houston this year after all. I was so bummed when I missed the submittal deadline in June-I assumed that I would not have anything hanging in Houston this year. I decided in January that I was going to see the show. I need to get my nose up to those spectacular quilts to learn…
Sometimes lessons come when you least expect them. In mid-July I’ll be given exactly three minutes to sell my skills to a group of shop owners, guild Program Chairs and others interested in hiring quilting teachers at the Northern California Quilt Council. I’ve been putting off the task of making six giant quilt sandwiches for this venue. I want the audience to be able to see what I teach in my Intro to Fearless Free Motion class from the back of a large room-hence the giant quilt sandwiches. I thought this would be a pretty mindless task, but it has been…
The June tutorial for SewCalGal’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge was provided by Cindy Needham. Cindy asked us to “divide and conquer” by creating a random areas to quilt by meandering a curved line across the surface of our sample. Cindy also provided some great tips for successful free motion quilting. I used cotton sateen, wool batting, various weights of Aurifil thread, as well as Superior King Tut, Rainbow and Silk Kimono threads. Since I recently went to the county fair and was especially taken by some of the youth art, I thought I would create a wholecloth piece with a naive style,…