Come play with me on Thursday at International Quilt Festival…Easy Peasy Inside Out Bags, class 491, is in the afternoon, total play, and you’ll become addicted to making them. So far I’ve had every. single. student. nearly finish or finish a bag in the three hours including the quilting and zipper! Once you grasp the concept in the class, you can go home and make an iPad (or Kindle, nook, etc) case, a notebook cover, you name it. Here’s a link to registration and Thursday classes: http:// http://www.quilts.com/quilt-festival-houston-classes-and-events-thursday.html

AFTER you get home, you can have fun spreading your wings and seeing how to adapt the pattern as I did with my notebook cover:

If you’ve got questions, PLEASE DO WRITE to me…just use the contact button! Full class descriptions for all the classes listed below along with Supply lists are on my Class page. Here’s the list of all the classes I’ll be teaching…hope to see you there:

WOOT! The International Quilt Festival Houston catalog is starting to ship and online registration–yes, ONLINE, with instant knowing if you got into the class, goes live in July (I’ll post when it does). If you’d like to take a workshop with me, now’s your chance because I’m teaching a ton of my favorite workshops. For more detail on any of these classes, please visit the Classes/workshops page of my website and scroll down to the individual class–you’ll find a supply list PDF and sometimes links to blogposts about previous workshops sharing student work. Here’s the list including class numbers:

To look at MY classes, head to the link for all classes and search by day or by name. The classes are listed in numerical order: #100 series are on Monday, #200 on Tuesday and so on, with the exception that Friday is #500, Friday EVENING is #600, and then Saturday is #700. That way you can find what classes are available on the day(s) you are at Festival.

I’m thrilled that Quilts Inc. booked both days of my Quilting the Garden workshops! On Tuesday, learn my Collage the Garden process for creating fused quilts. You’ll learn how to create a working plan/pattern from photos and fuse an 11×14 collaged quilt of a flower, but the process can be applied to anything including people, animals, landscapes, you name it.

On Wednesday, Thread Coloring the Garden is all about the machine quilting and learning how I select and use thread to color and bring the quilt top to live To eliminate the stress of worrying about messing up that gorgeous top you’ve worked so hard to create, we work with a photo of a day lily printed on cloth (class has a kit [fee] with flower, thread, etc.) so that you gain confidence learning the quilting before you tackle your own masterpiece.

Thursday is a busy day. In the Morning I’ll be presenting at the Machine Quilting Forum, where I’ll share some of my current work and share some tricks for working with what some folks think are fussy fiddly threads but really aren’t so fussy or fiddly!. In the afternoon, it’s a TOTALLY FUN half day class making my patented Easy-Peasy Inside-Out Bag–they’re like potato chips, you can’t stop with just one!

Friday Evening I’ll be part of the Date Night Sampler, where I’ll show using paint on cloth to work smarter, not harder! And if you’d like an immersive paint on cloth workshop with me, stay tuned–good news for a 3-day class in August 2020…will be able to share in September.

Hawaiian Style Applique by Machine is on for my final teaching day. Though I am known for my art quilting, I love ALL types of quilting, and my love for Hawaiian style quilts launched my career in quilting, and I love it to this day. Come for a day of fun and learning!

I hope to see you in Houston, especially in my classes! I might even still be coherent (?) by Saturday evening, though I think a Margarita may be on the menu once the teaching is complete!

Hi all! I’m delighted to share my newest major piece: Coach’s Clipboard: Win by Fall, which has just been selected for the traveling exhibit of A Better World, curated by Susan Brubaker Knapp and Lyric Kinard. The exhibit will debut at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston this October/November 2019, then travel to various venues. Big thanks to eQuilter and PAQA-South for sponsoring the exhibit!

The concept behind the exhibit is to feature someone that has helped to make a better world. Here is what I wrote for my entry:

Coach’s Clipboard:  Win By Fall

From world class cities to the smallest villages and towns on every continent, there are coaches who give their time, skills and knowledge to the children of the world.  Their names may not be instantly recognizable the way many of our heroes are, they may not receive the appreciation our first responders do, but they are appreciated nonetheless.  A top high school wrester, my husband Paul volunteered for 11 years as a wrestling coach, starting when our eldest signed up for wrestling in sixth grade through our younger son’s final high school year.  He was the clipboard guy, keeping notes on what the wrestlers did well, what needed practice in the coming week, their scores in meets and the team scores.  Win By Fall, for those not familiar with wrestling, is what you want:  to win by pinning your opponent.  Luckily, that was a fairly frequent occurrence in Eli’s high school career.  

This quilt is a father and son moment, but it also represents the generosity of Eli’s coaches in other sports gave to him as well as coaches around the world who work, one kid at a time, to make them better people which in turns makes it a better world.  Thanks to Eli’s middle school coaches including Jim Morse (Cross Country, Track and Field); True Bragg and Paul, and when Eli visited the high school Levi Rollins (Wrestling), and assorted soccer coaches.  In high school, thanks to Becky Flanagan and Helen Bonzi (Cross Country);  Patrick Kelly, Perry Goodspeed,  Jack Kelly and Paul and all the alumni wrestlers who came to help the team; and Sarah Mismash (Track and Field).

 

This completes the family quilts–Paul is notorious for scowling at any camera, but I finally got him! The others, in the order they were made:

I’m delighted to report that my ocean quilt, She persisted in her quest to reach the shore and sing the anthem of the sea, will be a part of the Sapphire Celebration at International Quilt Festival Houston 2019 and any additional venues! WOOOHOOO!

2019 is the 45th anniversary for International Quilt Festival. Five years ago, they had the Ruby Jubilee celebration for their 40th anniversary, and shortly thereafter decided to have a similar celebration for their 45th. This time, the traditional gem for the 45th anniversary is the sapphire, so what is better than an exhibit full of glorious blue and white quilts? The call for entry wanted traditional, modern and art, and from the announcements I’m seeing and messages I’m receiving from friends, it is going to be a glorious exhibit. So delighted to have made the cut and be a part of it!

Yep, 2019 is shaping up to be a great year because I’ll be able to tick off a Bucket List item: in early April I’ll tape an episode of The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson! Here’s a preview I taped with Ricky while I was teaching at International Quilt Festival 2018 in Houston last November. I’m so psyched–gosh they made my work look SO GOOD!

Interview with Ricky Tims about my upcoming visit to TheQuiltShow.com . I’ll tape the episode in April and it will air later in 2019, I’m guessing towards late summer or fall (August to November for those not in the northern hemisphere). If you’d like to get my monthly newsletter, sign up on my home page, here.

 We haven’t finalized the topics yet so can’t share what it will be, but it’s bound to be something along the lines of art quilts, painting, fusing and/or quilting. I know I can’t fit in everything, but I hope to inspire you and maybe even generate some teaching jobs. If your group or show is interested, please contact me using the contact page on my website. And if you’d like to follow this blog, please click on one of the options to subscribe in the sidebar to the left.

And OMG: SEE YOU ON THE QUILT SHOW! Yep, I’m shouting in delight!  Thank you Ricky, Alex, Justin and John–can’t wait, and some quilty friends will be there for taping too…SQUEEEE!