Some of you may have already seen some of these photos on Facebook, but many of you haven’t.  So in the interest of re-living a trip of a lifetime, here’s the first of many posts with our trip, inspiration, visual feasting and whatnot!  We left the house about noonish on Sunday, arrived at London Heathrow at 6:30 am (3:30 body clock) and kept going until just past supper time in London.  Going on adrenaline!

Some years ago I wrote a blogpost titled “This is not a minivan.” It is still not a minivan: this is the view from the inside of the 9 passenger prop plane we take from Owl’s Head–about a half hour’s drive from home– (Cape Air, love them!) to Boston, from which point we can get anywhere in the world. That’s Eli up in the co-pilot seat.  One does not put feet on footpedals!  Seat assignments are by weight so that the plane is balanced.

Here’s an aerial view of Maine as we left midday:

The Maine coast just south of Owl’s Head/Rockland as we headed East “across the pond.”

Methinks Paul was a tad nervous watching us head off on our great adventure. He didn’t want to go to England, so he stayed home and minded the house and critters so that Eli and I could have fun.

First and foremost:  thank you to Paul and Eli.  Paul for minding the home front, Eli for actually WANTING to go on a trip with his old mom!  Joshua and Ashley, you’re next.  Edinburgh and points beyond, the Smiths are returning to the UK–probably not for a few years (gotta teach and earn enough money to save up and pay for another trip like this!), but we are coming back!

Compare the cabin and view above and below:

Very clearly, this is NOT Cape Air, but in fact the British Airways flight nonstop to London. The cabin was warm, and tho I dozed an hour or two, Eli didn’t on this overnight flight.

I LOVE the in-flight maps. Here you can see the big picture, from Boston to London. I was tickled to see Vigo, Spain. I’d not heard of it before recently, but a classmate in the Sketchbook Skool has shared some of his drawings of Vigo. Fun to see it on the map! Can I say again how much I love the internet?  How I have met people and learned so much?

As the plane ducked under the cloud cover at just past 6 am local time, we got a spectacular aerial view of London, with the Thames, South Bank on the Left, more of the mass of London on the right, The London Eye (the big ferris wheel), Parliament, Big Ben, the Tower, and so much more in clear view.

The fields and hedgerows of England on the approach to London. A bit more countryside! Let there be quilting!

Rather a difference, eh?  One of the things Eli most wanted to do was run at Olympic Park, in the stadium if possible.  Alas, it was under major re-construction, but he got to take a refreshing trot.  That’s him coming around the corner next to the pink sign post. The velodrome is in the background.  The skies would look like this pretty much every day:  blue with clouds, some of which would sprinkle on us momentarily but–with the exception of one day–no real soaking rains.

We got exceptionally lucky and were able to check in early. So we ditched our bags and set out to see the sights, starting with Olympic Park.

This ended up being the only real running Eli got to do.  I don’t think he counted on Mom’s ability to go-go-go when on the road with things to do, people to meet and sights to see!

Eli under the Olympic rings after his run.

Then we took our Oyster cards, re-loadable fare cards for the London Underground (Tube / subway) and light rail system.  WAY easier than the old day of buying paper tickets!  After a bit of lunch, we headed off to King’s Cross.

King’s Cross Station, site of the somewhat-imaginary Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter/Hogwarts fame.

The above is the old part of the station, but with the old funky platform signs swapped out for the modern ones that report what train is coming in at which platform and when.  Easier for travel, but not as much character.  The photo below is the VERY new part of the station.  Beautiful, but…sigh…. I miss some of the old stuff.

The new part of King’s Cross station. Both the Tube and rail lines come in here. King’s Cross is the departure points for points north, like York, Leeds, Edinburgh and the fictional Hogwarts. Thank you to J.K. Rowling for giving such a wonderful world to all of us!

I had read in my guide book that you could visit Platform 9 3/4 at the station, which is why we went.  WHAT a disappointment!  It was on a wall between two shops, not the actual platform.  Of course, given the queue, I can see why they couldn’t put it between platforms 9 and 10, but…. it was the back half of a luggage cart with old suitcase.

Platform 9 3/4 is under that white tube thingy, on the other side the crowd waiting to take pics.

If you wanted to stand in line–on this day about an hour–you could wear a Gryffindor scarf and take your picture there.  Since Eli and I had been going for about 36 hours, that was SO not going to happen, but we snagged this photo instead.

Me, with some of the crowd behind me and the Platform sign barely visible. Happy to be there anyway!

Our next stop that day, just about as we hit the wall from tiredness and collapsed, was the British Museum.   As we would discover about all of London in August, it was PACKED with tourists.  But I’ll save that for the next post because the reason was one of my major reasons for taking this trip.  And yes, it involves art and quilts!

I’ve read all the articles, I’ve looked at online videos and tutorials, yet basting has been the bane of my existence for rather a long time.  No matter how careful I am, how much I follow all the directions, I just never managed to get it right–until I recently found the method that works best for me.  Luckily, that happened before Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine asked me to write an article on basting quilts!  And, drum roll, here it is, in the September/October 2014 issue (MQU is available at Barnes and Noble and other retailers, but you can order a single issue or a subscription, here–click on Order where you can select print, digital or back issues).

MQU September/October 2014

The article is SEVEN pages long, with lots of photos.  It opens with my newest major quilt, of Eli running at the Camden Hills course during Cross Country season last year.

My article on Basting in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited

It also shows how I basted Joshua’s graduation quilt, 87 x 97 inches (BIG).  Even though the back was pieced and is effectively a second “front” of the quilt, I managed to quilt it with not a single tuck or “oops” on the back!  Given that the improvisational piecing was less than perfectly flat, I was elated.  I’ve finally figured it out!

I hope you’ll pick up a copy–let me know how you like the article and if you have any questions.  That’s how I figure out what to teach and what to write in my articles.  ENJOY!  Now, I’m going back to read all the other wonderful articles.  Honestly, even if I didn’t get to write for MQU every now and then, it is a great magazine, the only one that specifically addresses machine quilting as its primary focus, and one that I read cover to cover every issue.  Best of all for those not in the US, it is now available digitally so you can enjoy it without having to pay outrageously expensive international shipping (wish a couple of the Aussie and NZ magazines would do that!).

Hi everyone!  I’m digging out from under from the wonderful trip to England with Eli.  Laundry is done, school has begun (meaning there is more of an order to our days), and the To Do list and list of things to blog about has gotten ridiculously LONG.  So I’m going to take things more or less by external rerquirements.  First up is the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Annual Auction which supports the ongoing efforts for this wonderful organization to promote the Art of the Quilt.  The Auction begins September 15, so mark your calendars!  You can read more about it here.  SAQA put out a call for folks to submit their Dream Collections–sets of six quilts they would buy if funds were endless.   I decided to play and created two collections, Transported and Portraits.

Transported is about quilts that take me to another place:  just looking at them my mind starts to weave a story about the imagery.

My SAQA Dream Collection; click this image to see larger.  To see on the SAQA website it is at the top of page 2, follow this link.  To view the quilt, after you get to the link, click on the image of the quilt.  To learn more about the artist, click on their name to visit their website.

The Auction has four parts:  the first three are online Reverse auctions a week apart.  The price is highest on the first day, $750.  You look at your budget and decide what donation to SAQA you can afford to get that quilt.  Each day, the price goes down a bit.  Most quilts sell during the week-long auction.  The next week, the quilts in group  two go up for auction following the same process, and ditto for the third week.  The quilts in the fourth part are on display at International Quilt Festival which begins in late October in Houston.  As with the online auctions, the price is highest day one and goes down.  Do you risk waiting another day?  I’ve been lucky to purchase a quilt at a price I can afford (while wondering why no one else snapped up these favorites early in the auction) the past two years.  Will I be that lucky this year?   You’ll have to browse the four auction pages to see which quilts are being auctioned in which section.  Here’s the SAQA link for How the Auction Works.

My second collection is one dear to my heart.  I think accurately portraying a person or animal is about the hardest thing there is in art, not just capturing the physical image, but the personality, too (both of the individual portrayed and of the artist).   Here’s Portraits, at the bottom of the page in this link:

Portraits in a wide range of styles; click on the picture above to see it larger. View the collection on the SAQA Website, click  here, and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Which quilts would be in your dream collection?  Has one of the SAQA members put together a dream collection you’d love to have in your home? Enjoy the visual feast!

Hi all…a quick note to let you know Eli and I are home from England, over 2000 photos later!  I promise I’ll share some but not ALL of the photos.  In the meantime, I wanted to share with you that I’m once again teaching in Houston at the International Quilt Festival.  To find out about online enrollment, which is now open, click here or in the link in the sidebar to the left. Here’s what I’ll be teaching:

Monday, October 27, All Day Class #128:  Let’s Machine Quilt–an intro to machine quilting, all day class, machines provided

Let’s Machine Quilt class sample–Right click to view larger

Coral Free-motion Quilting Sample, Click to view larger

Tuesday, October 28, Lecture #254:  How Did She Do That?  A lecture and digital presentation supplemented with in-the-cloth quilts sharing how I go from idea to image to quilt.  At 11:00, ending just in time to attend the Noon Luncheon.

Wednesday, October 29, All Day Class #339:  Birch Pond Seasons, an introduction to fusible applique and art quilting.  This is a fusing and design/composition class with no sewing.  You can see the pattern (which is included in the kit fee along with MistyFuse) here.  You can see a class in progress on this blogpost, and at the bottom of this post which includes a lovely winter version. This is the third year in a row that IQF has booked this class for Wednesday–yeah!

Thursday, October 30, Morning Event #460:  Machine Quilting Forum (alas, already full), with four other machine quilters where we each give a presentation to the full group.  Then you have about 20 minutes for a quick demo or lecture with each of us–think of it as speed-dating for quilters.

Thursday and/or Friday:  one hour SMALL demo/kit/hand-on class in the Fiber-on-a-Whim booth!   Exact one-hour class (at one end of the booth) to be determined, but likely printing with thermofax screens.  Class fee will include fabric, paint, paint brush to use and use of my thermofax screen(s) to make some printed fabric to take home.  More details to come!

A couple posts ago I shared Insalata, my work in progress with ginormous tomatoes.  It needed something for a background that wasn’t in my stash.  So I decided to MAKE some!

Here are some fabrics in the deep values: greens with berry and a deep burgundy.

And more: the ochres and greens.

A friend suggested really out of the box and try a blue, so I did. I like the color combination, but it looked too much like sky (for which the fabric was originally dyed). Not working for me.

I finally chose the ochre that is down three from the top in the second photo.  Once I get home, I hope to do a little surface design (maybe), then quilt this baby.  It will be  a couple months until I can share, but stay tuned!