Summer School

In less than a month, I've managed to take four workshops, resulting in 3 works-in-progress and one not-even-started project. It feels a little like summer school for this quilter.

The only progress made on the Agapanthus, since the Jane Sassaman workshop, was the purchase of some possible background fabrics and another which will become highlights on some of my petals.

At NQA last week, I took classes from Andi Perejda and Laura Wasilowski--two artists whose work I have long admired. Here's Andi and her class sample for Dazzling Dogwoods--this quilt is the center panel from her award-winning quilt, Branching Out, currently gracing the home page on her web site.



We painted petals, appliquéd them together and added a ruched and beaded center. Her approach to creating the branches is interesting (and new to me). I'm looking forward to creating a small quilt based on Dazzling Dowoods, but so far, I only have a single blossom and a possible background.



It's true, I'm usually at the bottom of the learning curve in any class environment--I'm just not very good at being creative and focused and productive in the noisy distracting environment of a class full of quilters. Add into the mix the fact that I somehow managed to buy--only last week--some of the infamous bad batch of fusible for Laura's class, which added extra steps to the process for me--just to be sure--and slowed me down even more. Here's one of Laura's beautiful samples and my beginning on a wood block quilt.



I usually manage to catch up and finish at the top of the curve with the rest of the class and I am motivated to finish both of these. I know I will create more woodblock style quilts, too, because after the class was over and I was on the road, I kept designing more of them in my head ... all the way home.

The fourth, unstarted WIP? I decided to give Quilt University a try and since I've never made a Stack and Whack quilt (but, of course have fabric in my stash for one), I signed up for Bethany Reynolds class. The timing wasn't great and I was already over commited, but I was sure I could catch up by the end of the session. We'll see ;-)

Synchronicity at the Quilt Show

As usual for me, as I walked through the NQA show, I saw quilts I wanted to show to someone, based on something they're doing or blogging about or just because I knew they'd love them.

I couldn't help but be reminded of the blog dialogue between Finn and Tonya about making quilts from orphan blocks when I saw this quilt, The Orphanage, made by Kay Olivia and Reggie Fross from San Diego, California.


(click photo for larger image and for the detail shot--next in the photo stream)

I was impressed by the diversity of blocks the quilter included, size-wise, color-wise, style-wise. I don't know if I could be so fearless. I love it, though, and am inspired.

I took a ridiculous number of photos at the NQA show last week. I will continue to blog those that I loved or that I think one of you will love, but if you want to cut to the chase, you can hop over to my NQA 2007 set on Flickr. Better make a pot of tea--a cuppa might not see you through the ridiculous number of photos.

Hail, Columbus

I had to smile when I saw Debra's photos and description of the fabulous destination hotel where she spent last weekend. I definitely went in a different direction for my trip to the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio. I found this Bed & Breakfast in the Short North neighborhood a few blocks walk from the convention center and decided it was perfect for me.



The Short North neighborhood was a delight. It claims to be the Art and Soul of Columbus--easy to believe as you walk past galleries, interesting restaurants and lots of art. There are several murals besides Mona. This one reminded me of the Art Image Challenge and all those takes on American Gothic by Grant Wood.



Here's another mural, next to a parking lot. I loved the contrast of modern vehicles parked in front of the ancient scene.



I encountered a couple interesting sculptures, as well.



From the left, Up To Our Ears In Art, In Dreams Again and Detail from In Dreams Again. Both pieces are dedicated to the artists of Short North.

On the edge of Short North and only a block from the NQA show at the Convention Center is North Market--a wonderful, colorful produce and food market. It was the perfect lunch destination.



I wasn't able to do it all while I was there--I missed out on the Art Fair and the Yarn show and didn't make it to the show connected with QSDS, but I thoroughly enjoyed my long weekend in Columbus and the classes and quilts at NQA 2007.

Ah Summer ...

Of course, it's not officially summer yet, but today was a picture perfect Summer day, complete with blue skies, puffly white clouds and green all around. It was a perfect day for a ROAD TRIP to NQA's quilt show in Columbus.

As soon as the weather turns warm in Michigan and Ohio, it seems there's at least two choices for doing something quilty on any given weekend. This is my first trip to NQA--for the first time I didn't have a conflict, so I decided to check it out.

There was only one little snag. Summer isn't just the season for Quilt Shows around here, it's also prime time for road construction. I knew there was headache of a construction project on US-23 between me and Ohio--a project so major it ha its own web page--so I let my fingers do the walking to AAA's online triptick site. I kept modifying my route going wider and wider around this project, then avoiding another in Ohio, until I had added nearly an hour to my trip ... I made such a big circle around the hot spots that I ended up driving through Indiana ;-)

The drive along the turnpike across norther Indiana and Ohio is very pastoral, passing through farmland with green fields filled with baby corn plants and neat, white-washed, farmhouses and barns. (sorry, no photos ... I was driving.)

Of course, eventually the countryside faded away and I found myself, in the city with a million other cars in the afternoon commute, curiously also on US-23.

For the most part, I avoided the dreaded orange barrels and construction delays. I knew I was almost at my destination when I saw this landmark.



Isn't she fabulous? She surprised me because I didn't expect to see her reclining. Here's a longer view of Mona and the critical turn at the alley.

Last Week ... Next Week

Last week, I spent two days in a workshop with Jane Sassaman.



Some time ago, I just happened to surf past the web site of the West Michigan Quilt Guild--a large guild an hour's drive away--and noticed she was teaching. So I attended their previous guild meeting, taking two friends along, and joined ... so that I could sign up for the last spot in the workshop. It was well worth the trip and we also got to see a fantastic trunk show by Pat Sloan, too.

My (still unquilted) Allium quilt was the product of my last workshop with Jane. Here's an early work in progress photo of my abstraction of an Agapanthus bloom.



Next week, I'm headed to Columbus for the National Quilt Association annual show ... and more workshops ;-)

QSDS is also in town (with an associated show). Do you think that there's such a thing as quilt overload?

I haven't decided whether I'll swing down to Quilt National before returning to the mitten state or plan another road trip to Ohio, later this month so I can also see the Sacred Threads show.

Nudged by 7 Things

I've been nudged back to blogging by Kate, who tagged me with the 7 things meme.

So here goes . . . and here are 7 things people probably don't know about me:

1. I play the flute.
   
2. In most interactions, I am happy to be the listener--I think this may be why I read a lot more words on other people's blogs than I will ever write in my own.
   
3. As a toddler, I rode my tricycle down a flight of stairs--I wasn't injured, but I am still a little afraid of stairs and will usually opt for the elevator.
4. I have moved 27 times since college graduation. I'm not sure where my tumbleweediness comes from--my mom still lives in the house that my parents bought when I was 4.
   
5. Before I injured my back about ten years ago, I spent nearly every weekend in winter on a ski slope somewhere ... I started quilting several years post-injury.
6. I gave up eating meat for Lent earlier this year and am still not eating meat. I don't miss it which really surprises me. (I still eat fish)
   
7. I have always opted to fill my life with too much of everything. As an undergrad, I took all the required classes in my curriculum, then piled on others that interested me and still managed an active social life. I graduated a year early, with honors, at the ripe old age of 20. Since then, if any interesting opportunity for an adventure comes my way, I always say yes and figure out how to do it all later.
   

I haven't had much success with the tagging thing, but if anyone reading this has become an infrequent blogger like me and needs a nudge to write ... consider yourself tagged--it's an interesting exercise.

Earth Day

For Earth Day, I made these fiber postcards to swap with friends on the quilting forum on quilting.about.com



The design for birth cards came from a doodle of an Aspen leaf ... I'm happy with both interpretations. Next we'll be making and swapping fiber postcards for orWorld Turtle Day on May 23.

Please Bear With Me ...

Can I blame this on the vertigo? A blonde moment? I updated my template and, of course, lost ALL my ring code (and everything else from my side bar). Ugh ... suddenly this feels too much like work.

Please bear with me ... I will get it sorted out soon.

Through the Camera Lens

Does this happen to you? Sometimes I don't see something until I look at it through the camera lens. Like Joyce Murrin's quilt, Artisan Gate: Architectural View, from Tactile Architecture 2006.



I was so involved in looking at the detail, that I didn't see the door knob and hinges in the border that make it a door ... until I was framing the photo.

You can see the rest of my photos from this show, here: Tactile Architecture 2006.

Sometimes, I don't see something until I've uploaded the image to the web or printed it ... like the owlets in Out of the Northern Forest: The Great Horned Owl Family by Grace Errea from the Celebrate Spring! quilts I posted earlier.



I completely missed those little guys until I was looking through my images on Flickr to make sure all the descriptions and artists' names were there.

It works the same when I take photos of my own work-in-progress--which is why I'll be disassembling my little Carolina Byways quilt and fixing something I never noticed before I started auditioning borders and taking photos before I add those borders ... sigh ...

Quilt (show) In A Day

I've attended IQA's Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago since its inception. In the past, I've stayed for the duration, from preview night to Sunday afternoon. This year, I decided to join my friends on the local quilt guild's one-day bus trip.

We left Lansing, Michigan at 6:30 AM (EDT) and arrived at the Rosemont Convention Center just as the doors were opening at 10 AM (CDT). We left just as the show was closing at 7 PM and arrived home around midnight. It was a long day.



I was slowed down a little because I woke up with vertigo like I've not experienced for a couple years (since my spectacular auto accident), but I came prepared--with a list, by booth number, of must-see vendors and a spare one-time-use battery for my digital camera so I wouldn't run out of juice ... unfortunately that spare came out of it's package DOA, so my photo-taking was cut short. I did manage to take a few hundred photos before that unfortunate moment--the first of which, the quilts from the juried show, Celebrate Spring! I've uploaded to the Flickr set Celebrate Spring 2007.

It would be hard to pick favorites among the fabulous quilts in this exhibit, but two quilts by Barbara McKie had me walking away and wanting to learn more about disperse dyes. The disperse dyed polyester fabrics in her quilts were amazing.



Duel for my Dahlias won an Honorable Mention ribbon.



Detail from McKie's quilt, Afternoon Seduction.

The range of interpretations of all the quilts which celebrate the season is impressive. Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy the show ...

Quilt Show

Two years ago when the Capitol City Quilt Guild's show came around, I was brand new to the area and the guild and noticed that certain names kept appearing on my favorite quilts at the show. Last weekend, when I attended the show, I was still drawn to quilts by those familiar names--now associated with familiar faces and friends from the guild. You can see all my photos from the show in the flickr set CCQG Show 2007.

I think this show really showcased the best thing about this guild--the many, active small groups. There were many quilts created as the result of small group block exchanges and challenges. Here are some from the Charming Ladies. They dyed a rainbow of fabrics together then challenged one another to make quilts from their hand-dyed fabric.

(click for larger images)

GASP (Grosbeck Appliqué Support Providers) made journal quilts in which a block was made for each day or week of the year during 2006.


(click for larger images and to go to the album to see the whole quilts)

Linda's quilt is named One-a-Day. The blocks contain capsule-shaped I-spy type fabrics that represent the events of the day. Everyone journaled their year on their quilts. I really loved these.

There was a bit of drama in the silent auction corner of the show . . . no, not because of the last minute bidding and re-bidding on Sunday afternoon--although there was plenty of that, too--but because some auction quilts that were sold at rock bottom "sell it now" prices in the first hour of the show on Saturday morning. The idea to sell off some auction quilts this way was one person's decision made after all the quilts had been made and donated with the understanding that they would be auctioned. The cowboy quilt, Home on the Range, that the Wacky Westerners made was long gone by the time I got to the show. It was especially frustrating because at least two of the Wackies came to the show with plenty of cash and expected to outbid all comers and bring home our quilt.


(click for larger image to see quilting detail)

Probably my reaction to the missing Cowboy quilt is why I bid and came home with this small wall quilt from the GASP small group. The stylized daffodil block in the center of the top row was my contribution. I think it will be a sunny, happy piece of art for my cubicle at work.

More from Blue Ridge Quiltfest

We were a small group--made smaller because of some last minute cancellations--but that didn't stop us. We had workshops. We shopped. We won door prizes, lotto blocks and Lou won the featherweight.



Becky Davis' handpiecers were focused and after class, they continued to work on their blocks all weekend.



Janet's Carolina Byways class was fun. I think everyone had a different vision for their quilt. Krista made a mini; Ellena brought wonderful Civil War repros; Lou had wonderful fabrics, too ... I brought pieces from my scrap bin. Krista finished her mini quilt the next day. I brought home a pile of light half-blocks and dark strips ... but I have since made some progress. I'm auditioning border fabrics now. You can tell that the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains made an impression on me.



Friday night we had Show & Tell in the Living Room.



Click the photo of Dorothy and Becky (with the vintage quilt top that Dorothy is finishing) to see the rest of my Show & Tell photos.

On Saturday, a bunch of our crowd headed to the galleries and quilt shops in Asheville, while three us spent the day with Meg Manderson making miniature landscapes.



Meg is a local fiber artist who creates beautiful landscapes (and other interesting work.)



Saturday night, we gathered for more door prizes and the block lotto drawing. I still can't believe I won.



Afterward, Krista pulled out her big box of fabric and made a few baby quilts from some I-spy swap fabrics.



The first top went together quickly and after a bit of excitement with a shattered needle and some EMTs, a second top was completed.



By the end of the evening, two quilts were "birthed," and ready to be quilted and a third top was almost completed.



On Sunday, some of us were on the road early, some spent a leisurely morning at the country club, packing up, checking email and saying goodbye.

I was a little worried when my suitcase seemed quite full when I'd only packed the fabric. Everything fit ... just barely.



Janet and Dorothy and I headed into Asheville to check out a possible venue for next year and lunch before I headed to the airport and home. On the way to the airport, I picked up a new pair of travel scissor so I could work on my landscape.



The longer my flight from Cincinnati was delayed, the happier I was to have handwork to do.