The white is the freezer paper pattern piece (the Ulu or breadfruit block), the red will be stunning!

Teaching Hawaiian style applique is always so much fun, waiting to see how the designs look in the different fabrics.  I offer students a choice:  dive in the deep end of the pool and begin with a block that finishes at 18-19 inches, like the one above, or give the technique a test-drive on a small 6 inch block before moving to a larger piece.   Many students like the somewhat fiddly smaller pieces because they can practice on it in class, then work on their “special” full-size block at home where they are comfortable and have all their fabric stash and thread.   As you can see… we had happy students…this is good!

The pink thread (top half is stitched) really adds a nice dimension to the blue and white pineapple block...well done!

then

Here is the same block being stitched, plus the "negative" or "opposite" block, white pineapples with a deep blue field

For the small blocks, students have a choice of the Taro leaf or a turtle.

Really vibrant taro leaves

And some turtles--really love the pattern on the batik of the turtles, looks like water currents

More Taro leaves being stitched

And turtles AND taro leaves!

Here’s a picture of the classroom:

Sewing, sewing, sewing! As you'll notice, we requisitioned another table from the hallway to go down the center... the narrow tables were not roomy enough for three students each! Thanks to all the ladies for being so gracious about the cozy quarters.

And a few more of the larger squares… I just love the variety in the fabric selections!

This photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful fabrics!

One student used her "positive" cut-out to test various decorative stitches, then wanted to work on the negative (white pineapple, dark background) at home. Great way to test...she did what I always suggest, writing notes right on the white fabric to remember which stitch, what settings. Really like that spike-y stitch!

Lovely range of pinks in the Ulu block

The cut-outs from the plumeria pattern started to look a bit bat-like on this print

(Oh…. tacky moment:  these patterns are all from my Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul pattern available here.)

And finally, two rousing red blocks.  This student looked at various threads to satin stitch, from black to white to red, and settled on an orange that will set off the edges but not scream:

You cut one square of red (carefully) and fuse it onto two white backgrounds--two blocks for the price of one!

I had a total blast teaching in Nebraska.  The students were great, the many volunteers who put this event together were great!  Thanks so much for inviting me, ladies, and hope you my readers have enjoyed visiting with me!

To continue the story of my trip to Quilt Nebraska….

The next day, Friday,  I was in the new convention center located a short walk (less than from the far reaches of the Hilton in Houston to the convention center floor, and they are all attached!), which was lovely.  The rooms had not been completed when they toured the facility (it was still under construction, the place is SO new), so some of us ended up in rather cozy classrooms.  The students were incredibly gracious about the tight quarters…not one single person complained (at least to me) and they all just figured this was what we had, so work with it, and we did!  I moved my stuff to the floors to create more workspace, and the rooms had these really nice counters in back which we appropriated for work and cutting surfaces.  They also has an awesome front-of-room thing with a white board, pull down screen, and two “doors” that covered it that could hold either a large pad of paper or on which you could PIN stuff… PERFECT!

Friday, the second day, I taught one of my all time favorite classes to teach:  Fine Finishes.  I teach four basic techniques, but share a number of others.  Depending on how quickly students work, they can explore some of the other techniques… I just have them tell me which one, then I explain that one to them….there are enough hours in a class day to teach all the techiques, so I cover the essentials then let students learn what they came for.  My theory is that I am there for them to pick my brain and learn as much as they can and as I can teach, so I share as much as possible!

One of the best moments was toward the end of the day when a student asked something I’ve never been asked before:  how to bind an *inside* corner.  Fortunately, I remembered how.  We used one of her quilt mini-sandwiches to do up a sample.  I liked this so much I’m going to make up a sample to have on my own to add to the offerings!

Two students shared their bias strips to try piping with a binding…they look great!

This striped fabric looks a bit bold, but when used as a piping it was subtle and fabulous!

And on Saturday, another totally fun class, Hawaiian Applique by machine!  Stay tuned for the many photos in part 3!

The last week of July, I headed to Nebraska (with trepidation given the weather forecasts for 100+ days everywhere in the midwest).  I left a cloudy Maine and snapped this photo on the way out of the midcoast:

Outbound...love the picture of the land through the clouds.

To get anywhere, I either drive a long way and spend the night (more expensive for the guild) to catch a plane out of Portland or Boston, OR I leave from Rockland/Owl’s Head, which is about 30 minutes from home.  Mo bettah!  Still not inexpensive, but less costly than an overnight.  The plane is small — here is a blogpost from last May — perhaps 9 passengers total, one of whom sits next to the pilot.

Once I got to Nebraska via Rockland to Boston to Detroit to Omaha to a car to 2-3 hours to Kearney (phew), I taught three classes:  Art Uncensored, Fine Finishes, and Hawaiian applique.  Since there are a ton of photos (and I’ve skipped a bunch), I’ll break it into two posts.   I must say, I seem to have taken cooler weather with me.  The 100+ temps abated and it was a quite tolerable (thanks to A/C) 90-ish during the days.

The first day I taught in a conference room in the Holiday Inn since the class was small.  This is the first time they have offered classes on Thursday, and I think many were low on students.  We still managed to fill up the room!

three students filled up the entire conference table (along with all the STUFF I schlep for them to try)

They did a great job and produced a lot of nice surface-designed fabrics, using both my carved blocks and the raw materials and ideas of their own:

An end-of-class collage of pieces made

And even more end-of-class samples by the students; techniques include lino-cut rubbings, rubbings with Shiva painstiks, stamping, printing, stenciling.... lotsa fun!

I particularly liked how the student used the sequin waste and shaded colors to create the berry clusters here:

The green-on-white is a "paper snowflake cutout" stencil, the other two are the berry/grape/hydrangea (take your pick) clusters... really like them!

And one lady actually made a postcard…

collaging fabric to make a landscape

I’ll be back in a couple of days with the final two classes:  Hawaiian Applique and Fine Finishes.

Hi all… at 2 pm east coast time today, the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) annual fundraising auction began here and here.  If you’d like to help support SAQA by bidding, or just would like to see and enjoy the stunning small (most are 12×12 inches)  art quilts, surf over to the SAQA site.  The price begins at $750, then is reduced this week in increments…does one risk waiting too long for a lower price and losing a gem?  If I were independently wealthy….

SAQA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation.  Their quarterly journal has become one of my favorite “magazines” because it not only profiles great art quilters, but also addresses issues of interest to us from creative blocks to marketing.   Anyway, Martha Sielman, the SAQA president (and also the curator behind the two wonderful Masters Art Quilt books from Lark–click on the links for more info for Volume 1 and Volume 2) invited us to be virtual curators ourselves and pick some of our favorites as an online show.

La Mere de la Tranquilite by Genevieve Attinger, above, is one of my favorites.  The Title translates literally to the Mother of Tranquility, but is also a play on the French for the Sea of Tranquility on the moon.  Stunning!

Mary Pal’s study of Jane Goodall is stunning in its simplicity and its complexity.

Composition XIII, by Deidre Adams, is another favorite.  Though I generally prefer representational art, I am one who is thrilled by the quilting line, and this piece thrills.  One of these days I hope I’ll muster the courage to quilt something, then paint it!

Kate Themel’s GottaHavaCuppa is another joyous celebration of line and stitch…and steam!

In next week’s auction (there are three sessions), Terri Stegmiller’s quilt charms me:

A Little Bird Told Me, by Terri Stegmiller

Which quilts are your favorites?  I’ll try to post again in the next two weeks with more of my favorites… so many quilts, no lottery win (yet)!

A brief moment of whimsy….  the wild turkeys are plentiful around here, and in August we were treated nearly daily to the extended family outings…we love the family sitting on the nearly-rotten fence that divides the area we mow from the lower meadow:

The turkey clan hanging out on the fence....

and one more–there are 19 of them including 4 adults and 15 “chicks” (currently the size of chickens!):

The turkeys forage in the meadow, then take a break on the fence. We've actually seen them all fly...they are BIG birds!

Gobble gobble!