Blog

Spring Quilt Show Season Begins!

By Jenny | March 30, 2011 |

I enjoy going to area quilt shows, so 2 weekends ago I headed out in a raging downpour to visit a community about 50 miles outside of Sacramento to view the Valley Quilt Guild Show. I had never been before and I wanted to share some of the quilts that struck my fancy. Unfortunately I did not keep record of the makers of most of these quilts-my appologies to the makers and quilters. x This quilt “A Primitive Garden” won Best of Show and it was gorgeous in person. The maker, Emily Hyatt, hand appliqued each piece with hand-sewn blanket stitches. x Lin Squires long…

Mission Impossible-Pants That Fit

By Jenny | March 20, 2011 |

I knew I was hard to fit in pants, but this story is ridiculous. I was on a quest for a pair of light weight pants that fit well, so I went to Nordstrom’s, known for their excellent sales staff. Despite the heroic and aerobic efforts of the saleswoman, after trying on 22, twenty two, pairs of pants, we both gave up, exhausted. Two of the lovliest things about Nordies are their “vanity sizing” and the fact that they use just two words to describe any fit problem you might have: “athletic” or “tiny”. So, in Nordie’s vernacular, I was unable to find pants that fit well because…

Accepted: Paducah and Long Beach!

By Jenny | March 8, 2011 |

Wahoo-I just picked up my mail and found an acceptance letter from Paducah! I have been juried into the “AQS Quilt Show and Contest” in Paducah, Ky. My quilt, Golden Moments, was juried into the “Small Quilt, Home Machine” category and will hang in the show from April 27-30. This is my first entry into this show so I am especially pleased! Also I was recently accepted as a presenter at the Saturday Night Sampler at the International Quilt Festival Show at Long Beach. The Saturday Night Sampler is an opportunity for participants to see a variety of demonstrations by various…

Welcome To My Unconventional Studio

By Jenny | March 6, 2011 |

I’ve wanted a “real studio” for years. I pursue this quilt/art quilt/garment/teach thing pretty seriously and it was getting to the point where I felt like I needed to do something about a studio. But when I looked at the configuration of our house and lot, there was no good solution: couldn’t build up or out, DH already had squatter’s rights on the extra garage bay, nothing seemed to work. I had also made a couple of guidelines for myself regarding a studio: -I would not take over a “public” room like the dining or living room, the den. -I wanted…

Fabric Trip! Britex and Stone Mountain

By Jenny | February 27, 2011 |

Tayo’s Fabrics of Fair Oaks sponsored a bus trip to the Bay Area to vist two landmark fabric stores: Britex Fabrics in San Francisco and Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley. We were dropped off in Union Square, close to Britex. x Britex is a San Francisco landmark-if you are a sewist of any type and you visit the city you have to make time for a stop. They have 4 stories of fabric-more fabric than you can comprehend in one visit. They carry a wide range of garment, home dec and quilting fabrics as well as notions, buttons and…

Details

By Jenny | February 19, 2011 |

I spent a lot of time working my guild’s recent show which gave me the opportunity to really immerse myself in all the quilts, garment and fiber creations. My take away from show this year was about detail and how much is enough. Some of these pieces had a lot of technique and detail yet it did not overwhelm, and some had just bits of detail that were perfect in their simplicity. Looking back I found these details caught my eye: x x x I loved this beautiful red folded fabric corsage on Jeanie’s jacket. Some of the other details…

Seeing Red

By Jenny | February 14, 2011 |

I’m decompressing from all the work of my guild’s show and I see my surroundings with new eyes. And everywhere I look, it’s red-and not because it’s Valentine’s Day! I just have  to share all this red with you. x x I love this red Cordyline set amongst the blue/gray/green of the Hen n Chicks-it’s just so dog gone pretty this time of year. When it’s back lit from the sun it just glows red/pink. x x x x xx x x I don’t know the name of these trees but they line one of the streets going to my house. For most…

Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Show

By Jenny | February 12, 2011 |

The Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild show opened today and it’s spectacular. I loaded up a fairly random group of quilts from the show that I especially enjoyed. It’s a lot of work to put on a large show like this and it has consumed my life as of late, but what a great show. Enjoy looking at the gallery of pictures:

Epilogue

By Jenny | February 5, 2011 |

One of the unexpected benefits of all this organizing is the discovery of intriguing fabrics long ago lost. Look at this beautiful hand dye that I unearthed-it’s stunning in person and I see all kinds of possibilities with it. It has a kind of ethereal quality. I don’t know who I got it from, but I suspect it was from Linda M Designs. Isn’t it fabulous? This whole process was not really about “cleaning” or “organizing”, it was about creating a space that allows me to work freely, to be intuitive, to not spend time looking for tools or pushing…

Still Organizing….

By Jenny | February 2, 2011 |

I had no idea the monumental task I was undertaking when I decided to organize my stash. DH called me a “whirling dervish” (in the nicest way!). x I decided to take over #1 Son’s room use an existing closet for storage. First thing was to get all the stuff-my car was filled with boxes and containers-none of this is cheap! I thought it would take an afternoon, two days max. So far, I think I have put over 50 hours into this and I’m on Day 6. x x xx I started out using the Polar Notions cards to…