Autumn Festival

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to advertise my quilting class at the Autumn Festival held at the Veterens Memorial Senior Center where I teach. It was an Open House event held on Saturday. They had about 25 boutique vendor booths, food, and various types of entertainment. The Center asked its instructors if they wanted to have a booth to advertise their classes. Barbara Hall, who teaches the quilting class on Monday afternoons, and I decided to split our time at the event with a "booth" showcasing some of our class projects. We handed about quite a few flyers and it looks like we will be getting some new students in January. I was a little surprised at how interested some people were in taking the classes. I snapped a picture of Barbara in the booth before I took over my shift. It was a pleasant day and I got to talk to a lot of very nice people.

On another note, our table was across from the Watercolor instructor, Guy Magallanes. What an amazing talent he is! He has a sparkling personality and huge talent. I hear that his class is very popular and is always very full. Check out his website if you have time.

The Art of Art

Lance and I had quite a discussion recently about what "is" and what "isn't" art. Or rather, what is one person's art versus another person's art. I won't get into the issue right here and now, but I wanted to share something with everyone. Now THIS, I consider art. Click on some of the pictures for a closer look.

The first rule of quilt club...

I can't imagine that there are many people out there who are quilters AND have seen the movie "Fight Club". The two things would seem mutually exclusive, but there are a few of us out there... The movie is a bit brutal, but it has one of those great twists at the end that make you think back through the whole movie and evaluate it in a completely different way. Anyhow, for those three or four quilters in the world who HAVE seen the movie, here is a link to an article from "The Onion" that you MUST read. Very nicely done.

PIQF 2006

We went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) over the weekend. Awesome. I look forward to it every year. People travel a long way to attend and I am very fortunate to have it right in my backyard. I took lots of pictures and Lance put them into a photo show for me. Let's see if the link works: PIQF2006

I tend to take mostly pictures of the more "arty" quilts. I tried to take some of the stunning traditional quilts as well this time. Unfortunately, a lot of the detail work (quilt stitches, small applique, etc.) just doesn't come out in the pictures.

Now I'm inspired all over again!

Love them boys!

I went to see my sister and nephews this weekend. They are getting so big! (the boys, not my sister) Jackson will be 5 in January and Maxwell will be 2 in December. Time really flies.


There was lots of playing in mud and picking up worms. A great time was had by all!

Awesome Weekend

Lance and I took a tour of some of the Santa Cruz Mountains wineries over the weekend as a getaway for our anniversary. The entire weekend was absolutely fabulous. Good wine, good food, good weather, and of course, good company. It was a great mini vacation without having to leave the bay area. I got to visit Natural Expressions, a beading and fabric store in downtown Los Gatos, too. They have TONS of fabric, but I think they could use some of their open space more effectively to display the fabric they have. Definitely a place to go if you are in the area.

We also visited our newest favorite winery, Burrell School. Every wine there is a winner, and not overly expensive. If you happen to see this wine for sale anywhere, I would strongly suggest you pick up a bottle.

Now I'm enjoying a day of relaxation off work and then to class tonight. What a great weekend!

Why didn't someone remind me??

I missed annual Talk Like A Pirate Day! It was yesterday. Think of all the fun. The the eye patches, the rum swilling, the bad "Arrgh" puns. I'm marking next year's calendar right now.

9/11

Oh Bear

I talked to Bear and told him that his adoring fans were requesting more pictures of him.

This is the response that I got.

In Other Words...

I have recently been hearing new terminology for our usual quilty lingo. I might have to start using some of these:

The Fabric Stash
* Fabric Inventory
* Fabric Pallette
* Enviable Collection

as in, "I must rummage through my Enviable Collection to find just the right print", or "I'm sure that I have Biker Frogs somewhere in my Fabric Inventory".

Ripping Seams
* Un-Sewing
* Reverse Sewing
* Deconstruction
* Frog Stitching (or Doing The Frog Stitch)

I have been hearing about Frog stitching for a while now (knowledge of which even won me a prize recently!!). When you need to take out a line of stitching, you need to "Rippit, rippit, rippit". Corny, but cute.

Any others I missed?

Ami Simms

Those who know me are aware that I am a big fan of Ami Simms. She is a quilt teacher, fabric designer, book author, and is the founder of the World's Worst Quilt in the World contest (yes, I said WORST). She was named 2005 Teacher of the Year. By the way, as she says on her website "Ami rhymes with salami, but I'll answer to any lunchmeat". This is exactly why I like her so much -- she has the greatest sense of humor! What's more, she has been able to maintain her humorous and bright outlook on things despite some of life's hardships. As she has written in her newsletters, she has had to put her mother in an Alzheimer's care facility when she could no longer care for her at home. She has turned this experience into a positive thing by creating the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative to raise awareness as well as money for Alzheimer's research (see link to the right of this page). By creating a travelling show of Art Quilts interpreting Alzheimer's and also having monthly small quilt auctions, she has raised over $10,000 since January. I read in her current newsletter that 407 small quilts have been made so far for the auctions. I am abosultely amazed and pleased because I donated a quilt to this cause earlier this year (auctioned for $65!!!) and it was number 29!

I encourage everyone to visit her website and also to sign up for her newsletter. She talks a lot about the Alheimer's project, but she has lots of other interesting and funny things there as well. On her website she has a page for pictures of funny signs and another of pictures of tiled floors that would make great quilt patterns. This month in her newsletter there is even a message from her dog, Madison.

Anyway, enough praising one of my favorite people. Now I'm off to a quilt show!!! Yay!

Marin Quilt Show

Anyone going to the quilt show in Marin this weekend? We weren't going to go because we heard it had changed. It is no longer put on by the quilt and needlework guilds, now it is that company that puts on the big sewing expos. However, I heard that they will still be showing quilts along with all of the vendors, so we are giving it a try. It's a long way to go, so I hope we are not disappointed. If anyone is going, you can print out a coupon from their website.

Sneak Peek

I have finished one of the projects for class and you are getting a sneak peek of it here! (Why do bindings have to be so tedious?) The design is not difficult at all. Just a simple paper pieced tulip block made many times and turned this way and that. Easy to make and have done for the holidays this year! I was able to machine quilt in the ditch all of the way around the inside and outside of the wreath, as well as along the inner border. It's hard to see here, but there is a very narrow flange of dark green fabric between the center and the border. I wanted to hand quilt a simple cross-hatch in the background, but ran out of time. It turned out flat enought that I can still do that later.

I can't wait for class to start. I've been very uninspired of late. I need the creative energy of the others to get me going again! Besides, who wants to sew in the heat???

Remember, preview night is Monday, September 11, 2006 at 6:00!

Real Women Quilt

I just read this tip from one of my favorite web sites (and an on-line shop), Real Women Quilt. A woman wrote in to say that she belongs to a block-of-the-month club where she only gets just enough fabric to complete the block (with no errors). Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Anyway, she first makes a sample of the block using her own Christmas fabrics. When she is sure that she knows how it goes together properly, she makes it using the given fabrics. Good idea! Then when the series is completed, she has enough blocks for a Christmas quilt too.

RWQ is a great website with all kinds of articles and features. You can get a monthly (and now also a weekly) newsletter full of new things and lots of humor. Check it out if you have time!

Applique Cats Block 2

And here is the second block!