Just wanted to dash off a quick note to tell you how happy I am to be teaching again at International Quilt Festival in Houston this coming fall!  I hope to see some of you there…perhaps in my classes!  To learn more about the classes, click here to go to the Quilts, Inc. website.  From there you can download the PDF class catalog, register (online–easy peasy) for classes and/or events.

I’ll be very busy; my schedule begins on the Monday of Quilt Market (a to-the-trade only wholesale show) and continues through the week of Festival!

October 29-November 2, 2012 – International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas (click on images to view larger):

• Monday: Fine Finishes(edge finishes including perfect mitered corners!)
  • Learn to make a perfect mitered binding straight grain bindings, double-fold bias bindings, piping, and couched yarns.  Time permitting Sarah will share how-to’s for  fabric accents, curved bindings, fused bindings, wacky raw-edge squares, and couched-yarn finishes! By the end of this class you’ll have a “swatchbook” of samples and notes including a wide assortment of styles and techniques to finish your quilts and quilted garments.  See a previous blogpost about this class here.

   

• Tuesday:  Birch Pond Seasons(fusible applique)
  • Learn fusible applique, several techniques for “piecing” with fused fabrics, and how to make your own Birch Pond art quilt.  I’ll also cover facings as an edge finish and a range of fun ideas that will let you branch out on your own after class.  Kit fee ($20) covers the cost of the pattern and one package of white MistyFuse (except when taught in stores; then, please purchase these items from the store). See a previous blogpost about this class here.

   

• Wednesday:  Decorative Stitch Applique(use those fancy stitches on your machine!)
  • Make a small wallhanging or a selection of small blocks which take full advantage of all those decorative stitches on your sewing machine. Using fusible appliqué and an assortment of as many threads as you care to bring and use, you’ll see how versatile a single leaf pattern can be! The embroidery / decorative stitches you use in this class can be adapted to your choice of other appliqué methods; we will use fusibles in class so that you can make a wide selection of appliquéd leaves during the class. The project samples can be used for a quilt, a garment or home dec items. See a previous blogpost about this class here.

   

• Thursday Morning:  Machine Quilting Forum—Fun with Fancy Threads
  • I’ll share some tips about using fussy, fiddly threads and how to master them with the right needle, the right bobbin thread, and a fun little project/demonstration.  This Forum starts with an overview and introduction to six machine quilting experts.  Each of us will give a 9 minutes (not one second longer!) presentation. Then we break out into 6 stations…think of it as speed-dating for machine quilters!  We’ll do a 20 minute presentation, then the bell rings and off you go to the next station/teacher.  A great way to see if you want to learn more or book a teacher for your group.

   

• Thursday Afternoon:  Meet the Teacher,a free 30 minute demo on the show floor:  Collaged and Fused Art Quilts
  • I’ll show you my process for creating fuse-collaged quilts, with step-by-step examples of this small tomato-garlic-and-basil quiltlet.

• Friday Morning: Friday Sampler–QuiltColoring with Thread
  • Think of your sewing machine and thread as a big box of crayons… more colors than you’ve ever had in a box of crayons!  Then learn to use your machine and thread to color your art quilts and bring them to life.  This Sampler is a ginormous room with 20 or more teachers giving quick demos.  Participants can move from station to station as they choose.  It’s a great way to see if you’d like to take a class with a teacher or even book them for your guild.
• Saturday:  Sarah gets to relax and play today… I’m going on the bus tour to the Texas Quilt Museum in LaGrange.  Anyone want to go on the same bus?
• Sunday:  I’ll be visiting the booths and quilts today…including one of mine that has been juried into the show (more on that later, after the judging is done and it’s safe to post pictures to the internet).

I’m so looking forward to Houston this year…hope you get to come play, too!

SAQA Auction 2012–Week 1. See below for more information and larger images.

The Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) annual major fundraiser, the auction, begins tomorrow morning!   The auction is in four phases this year!  As in previous years, for the next three weeks, a given set of 12 by 12 inch art quilts will be auctioned; the price is highest on the opening day, then goes down each day until the end of the week.  This year, there is a fourth part:  some of the quilts…including mine (GULP) will be live-auctioned at the International Quilt Festival.   The process will be similar:  the quilts will go on “sale” on Wednesday night at preview at the highest price, then will go down each morning and each afternoon in a set increment.  (And I’ll confess right here and now, I’m nervous and sure hope someone wants to buy mine!)

To see all of the quilts in this week’s auction visit the SAQA website here and here.   To find out more about bidding and details of how the auction works, go here.  SAQA has set up a way for folks who will not attend Festival can place absentee bids.  For information on that, please contact Martha Sielman, the Executive Director of SAQA via the contact page on the SAQA website or write to me for her email address (which I don’t want to put on the web and generate tons of spam for her!).

If I had unlimited funds, here’s where mine would go this week!

Happy Wolf by Nancy Erickson. Nancy’s style is instantly recognizable, and I always love her wolves, bears and people. This wolf is no exception! (Click on image to see larger.)

Nancy Ryan’s Madrona Tree calls to me with those incandescent leaves. Click on photo to see larger.

Sizing Up by Mary Pal. What Mary does with simple cheesecloth and stitch is stupendous. Click on photo to view larger.

It’s All Blue by Benedicte Caneill. Usually I’m not a fan of abstracts, but the vibrancy of the blues, the play of value from light to dark, and all her wonderful surface design make me love this quilt. Click on photo to view larger.

What would YOUR dream collection be?

PS–I almost forgot…here’s my contribution!

Conversations 3, by me (Sarah Ann Smith) will be in the IQA-Houston portion of the SAQA auction. This part of the auction-fundraiser begins on Sneak Preview night Wednesday, October 31!

For the past two years (and the coming year) I’ve been the coordinator for our local quilt group’s challenge.  Last year, long time readers may recall, the quilts were to be 20 1/2 by 20 1/2 square and use an item from the grocery store as inspiration (see posts here and here).  THIS year we did the same size, but had to use a vintage block in the quilt.  This challenge was inspired by Mary Kerr’s Vintage Revisited exhibits which were shown at Maine Quilts.

The Coastal Quilters (Maine) 2012 Chapter Challenge

Mary graciously said of course we could do something similar!  So I went to troll eBay for Vintage blocks; no one set seemed to have enough for the usual 12-16 participants in our challenges, so I ended up buying two sets of blocks:  the red-green Ohio Star and the burgundy-cream Ocean Waves.

The results, once again, were STUPENDOUS!  We had the twelve completed quilts (several others wanted to make some, but life seriously got in the way…please send them comfort and healing).  From left to right across the two panels, the quilts are:

Top Row:

• Eleanor Greenwood — Vintage Ohio Star Medallion
• Jim Vander Noot –Three Sheets to the Wind and a Sail
• Sarah Ann Smith — Cardinal in the Pines
• Rebecca Hokkanen — Ocean Wave

Second Row:

• the Ohio Star block, description of the challenge, participants/quilt names, description of challenge Ocean Waves Block

Third Row:

• Prudy Netzorg — Waves of Fish
• Karen Martin (alas her black border disappeared on the black drape!) — Flight to the Past
• Mathea Daunheimer (sent all the way from New Zealand! where she now lives) — Progression:  Growth
• Gail Galloway-Nicholson (made with wool!) — Simply a Star

Fourth Row:

• Patty Courtney —  Leaving Ohio
• Maggie Schwamb — Railroad Colors
• Robinsunne — Expansion
• Barb Melchiskey — Block Swap (the blocks have velcro and you can move them like on a design wall!)

Here’s a close-up of the two blocks:

Our challenge blocks. The red-green blocks had some fading on the green but were meticulously hand-pieced. The Burgundy-cream were made from old-fashioned shirt ticking prints.

And on display at  Maine Quilts 2012 in the Chapter Challenge aisle:

The small Chapter Challenge aisle at Maine Quilts 2012 (www.MaineQuilts.org), put on by the Pine Tree Quilt Guild, Maine’s statewide guild

If your group would like to have a similar challenge, we had very brief requirements this time.  I wanted a consistent size as the quilts look better, more cohesive on display.  For our statewide show, Maine Quilts, the small challenges must be pinned to a backdrop.  A couple years ago I bought some plain black in an estate sale and use that for my drapes.  The consistent size also makes it much easier to arrange the quilts and estimate size of the final display (required on the Maine Quilts entry form). The rules were to use at least 40 percent of the original block on the front of the quilt  and that the fabrics must be recognizable.  As luck would have it, we ended up with almost an equal number of quilts from each block.  Barb was so inspired that the muse carried her away to a slightly larger sized piece (on the bottom right).

In my next post, I’ll share my quilt, Cardinal in the Pines.

Janome has introduced a new longarm line/suite of products, the Artistic Creative Suite.  One of the items is a longarm (well,  a couple actually).  You can read more about them here.  Since Janome has been kind enough to include me in the artist/teacher program lo these many years, I in return make projects or write brief articles they can use on their website, blog or wherever they need.  In late spring I lent them several free-motion quilting samples for possible use in print media, and I decided one of this year’s projects I would make and just GIVE to them in return for their years of support:  a 17″ x 42″ banner with the Artistic logo (albeit made on my/their Janome 7700)!

Here’s the banner while being quilted. You can see that I used blue washaway pen to mark the logo and segment the background for quilting into different filler patterns.

The logo is red, so initially I thought I would paint inside the lines to re-create the flower and lettering.  This was a test of various paints on the white cloth:

Testing the red color and paint for shade and for bleeding using acrilyc ink, inktense pencils, and textile paint. Ick. Some were too orange. The ones that weren’t looked like fresh blood spots. Ick. So I opted to outline with red thread only!

Here’s a close up view:

A close up of the quilting in-progress. I modified the convertible free-motion foot. It is a closed metal circle, which is perfect for some uses. But I wanted an OPEN circle (not a U shape, which is another of the convertible options, not a large clear plastic disc which is the third alternative). So I bought a second presser foot set, took out my trusty dremel and removed a small portion of the circle to improve visibility!

Here is the finished banner–I’ll do another post with close up pictures of the free-motion quilting!

Artistic logo banner made by Saran Ann Smith for Janome-America, with thanks for their ongoing support!

Usually I don’t take my digital SLR because it is heavy!  But I am so glad I did on this trip because I would never have been able to get this shot without the full 2 second shutter exposure…. definitely the best night shot I’ve ever taken!

Can you say breathtaking? Taken from our 2nd floor room on the beach in the Florida Keys

I propped the lens on part of the balcony railing and held my breath so as not to wobble while the shutter was open.   I later got an email invitation to enter a quilt show with a specific theme, and my idea is for a night quilt, so even though the exact subject matter will be different, I KNOW I will use this photo of the moon and reflections on the water as one of my source images!

I’ll also, over a series of posts this coming month, share many more of the photos I took on this trip.  Nothing like a change of venue to wake one from the doldrums and start snapping madly with the camera! Enjoy the pics, and back in a few days, perhaps even with actual QUILTING.  What a concept…

The banana “flower” after the fruit has formed. I totally LOVE the rich red colors and the dried, curled up petal/frond/leaf thingies (not sure what they actually are, biologically speaking)

Loved the way these unopened flower buds are silhouetted against the darkness of the background foliage.

More of the glorious silver-gray-silver-curly-haired palms that enchant me

Not sure as this was growing shrub-like, but I think this may be white (?!!!) bougainvillea. Lovely not matter what it is!

And this suitably exotic and colorful … ummm… flower? leaf? sepal? whatchamacallit????