Long Beach was fun!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about the Long Beach Quilt Festival at the end of July. What can I say - it was awesome. My favorite thing was the Mixed Media Sampler class I took on Saturday. There were eight teachers - notably Yvonne Porcella and eleanor peace bailey - who all demonstrated various things while the students moved around the room. There was everything from calligraphy and felting to all kinds of stenciling, stamping, layering, drawing, etc.

Also the SAQA/Quilt Art Reception was fun. Karey Bresnehan was such a gracious host. Too bad the tiara parade sort of fell flat here - there is much more enthusiasm for this kind of thing in Houston!

Here's a photo of my Surf's Up quilt at the festival. It's called "If I Ever Tried Surfing." I'm thrilled that it was included in the festival vidcast. Go to http://www.quilts.com/lbqf08/enVivo/ and click on the ruby slippers. Then click on "New-Vidcasts" and then click on "Surf's Up." Karey narrates - it's priceless.

Long Beach Quilt Festival

Well, tomorrow I'm headed to Long Beach for the big Quilt Festival, put on by the same folks who do the big wing-ding in Houston! We are all so excited that they decided to start a festival here, too, in Southern California. Long Beach is about a half hour's drive from Irvine. Woohoo!

I'm staying at the Hyatt next door and will be at the festival until Saturday afternoon. Thursday I signed up for a luncheon hosted by Pokey Bolton, "Surviving the Runway Challenge." I'm working at the SAQA booth on Friday morning, so if you're going, stop by and say hello. Then I signed up for the Bernina Fashion Show, and I'm going to the SAQA/Quilt Art List reception Friday evening. It's going to be so much fun! Saturday morning I signed up for a mixed media sampler. I also need to carve out time to see all the exhibits and check out the vendors - probably Friday afternoon.

I'll have two quilts in the show, one of them in the "Surf's Up" exhibit: "If I Ever Tried Surfing." Here's a detail shot of it. I also participated in a group quilt that will be in the "Everything Under the Sun"exhibit. Look for the pink carousel rabbit.

SAQAFoot Square Auction 2009

The quilt that I donated to SAQA for their Foot Square Auction this year is up on their website! Check it out at:

http://www.saqa.com/newsebulletins/Squares08_6.aspx

I finished the mixed media pages for Stacy's book. Her theme is "Words of a Feather." I thought a lot about this one before putting it together - what a cool theme. I went with the words from Emily Dickinson, "Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul..."

My cat, Matilda, was really curious about all the

feathers sticking out of the top of the book! I have to keep the book secreted away so that she doesn't get TOO curious.

Speaking of pets, here's a photo of my California desert tortoise, Grampa T, peeking out from under the barbecue cover to eat breakfast. Corn on the cob is his most favorite food in the whole world, and it has to be yellow, not white. Isn't he darling? He lives in our backyard except in the winter, when he hibernates in a box in the closet under the stairs. When I adopted him from the tortoise society, they told me he was between 50 and 60 years old, and it's been over ten years, so now he's between 60 and 70. I've always wanted to make a tortoise quilt, but so far I haven't.

sweet dreamy dreams

These days I have the urge to make something pretty, cuddly and mindless. I guess you can't call it an art quilt, because I'm using traditional techniques. I've already made a kajillion 3/4" hexagons. Websites such as http://www.incompetech.com/ will allow you to print out hexagons of any size. Here's a photo of what I've done so far - the flowers won't necessarily be in this arrangement when I actually sew them together. I love the colors and textures. It makes me smile. All the outer petals are cotton and the centers are all silk. Are there other art quilters out there who still revert to old-timey techniques? I'd like to hear from you.

mixed media book project

I'm having fun contributing pages for everyone's mixed media books in the Cut-Loose group. Here are the pages I did for Terry's book. The theme was "Little Things." I hope she doesn't mind me being a little irreverent, choosing atypical little things.

Surf's Up!

I'm excited that the quilt I entered in the "Quilt's Up" special exhibit for Quilt Festival in Long Beach got accepted! Only 26 quilts are in the exhibit. I can't show it here yet. Come to the show in Long Beach, California in late July to see it. The name of my quilt is "If I Ever Tried Surfing."