An Exquisite Moment in Long Beach

I am in front of my quilt, "Grocery Shopping with Sammy," in Long Beach.

Heart strings at long beach

I was surprised to find a quilt based on my pattern, "Heart Strings," on display at the Long Beach Quilt festival. They gave me credit on the placard, yay! An image of the photo even appeared in the show's program.

 

  My version of this quilt was in Quilters Newsletter (I think it was in 2005?) as a pattern, and a few years later it became available as a pattern from Jukebox. It is still available and can be ordered from the Jukebox website.

rituals, art studio

I've gotten behind in posting photos from my camera, as opposed to photos from my phone. Here is a photo of me back in July, at the Long Beach Quilt Festival with my quilt, "Photo Booth Hijinks," that is in the Rituals exhibit. It will also be in Houston.

 

 

 

 

Not long ago, I cleaned out my art studio. Here are some photos of it, relatively neat.

It felt great to organize and purge.

A nook, which was much worse before. Not Quilting Arts Studio worthy, but much better than it was. :-)

Next I will post some photos from our trip to NY.

Quilt, Eat, Sit, Quilt

This quilt by Maria Elkins wowed me at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. I'd seen it in print somewhere, but in person you can see the exquisite quilting and applique details. I think there's a photo of me with my quilt in the Rituals exhibit in my regular camera, but I haven't looked at it yet. Soon. I'll post it if it's a good one.

We have kumquats in July. I don't think that's happened before. We also had a major crop in January. I think the mild weather we're having has the trees confused. What season is it? We also have a few pomegranates and grapefruit growing. And lots of plums! Photo of that later.

 

 

 

I had my family room chairs reupholstered recently, and less than 45 minutes after they were returned, my cat settled onto the back of one.

 

 

 

Now she's sitting on the other one. It's a bit ironic because she's the very reason I had to have them reupholstered. Darned claws.

Long Beach Quilt Festival

I went to the Long Beach Quilt Festival on Thursday and came home Saturday. It was great fun! My friend Peggy roomed with me Friday night. I saw so many friends, old and new.

This is the apple art piece (sculpture? installation? what to call it?) It's a little bizarre, because they are in every room. Lots of lighted fake apples. I think it would have been cooler to have a delicious fresh apple in the installation instead!

I have more photos to share. Still figuring out the most efficient way to get photos from my new phone (android) to my computer. I just sent some by gmail from my phone, but they don't seem to have arrived at my computer yet. Suggestions welcome - I'm a newby with this kind of technology.

long beach quilt festival

Hope to see you at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. If you go, look for my quilt, "Photo Booth Hijinks" in the Rituals exhibit, curated by Dinner at Eight Artists. I also have a photo in "The Eye of the Quilter" exhibit - look for the dog with the tortoise - or is it the chicken? - I sent photos of both, and I forget which one they chose. :-) Check it out.

"The Space Between" going to Cinci!

"The Space Between," a Dinner at Eight special exhibit that went to Long Beach and Houston Quilt Festivals last year, will be going to Spring Quilt Market in Cincinnati, too! At least a partial exhibit will be going, and my quilt will be part of it. The show runs April 13-15.


Here's a detail of my quilt, "Between the Air Conditioner and the House," the space where my desert tortoise likes to hang out.

I'm in Rituals!

I'm so excited that my quilt was accepted into the "Rituals" special exhibit, curated by Dinner at 8 Artists! It will go to the Long Beach Quilt Festival in July and the Houston Quilt Festival in the fall.

The entire list of accepted quilts is on the Dinner at Eight blog: http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/

Here's my quilt, entitled "Photo Booth Hijinks."

hi from Long Beach

Greetings from the Long Beach Quilt Festival! I am having a wonderful time. I took a fun gelatin monoprint class yesterday with Pokey Bolton, and this afternoon I white-gloved at "The Space Between" special exhibit which by the way, is fabulous. I have many favorites. Now I have my feet up before the SAQA/Quilt Art reception and dinner with "The Space Between" artists. It's been fun spending time with friends.

Just wanted to put out this link to the See How We Sew blog, which posted about the Alzheimer's auction which starts on August 1. They include a photo of my quilt, "Gaps," in the post. Yay!

seehowwesew.wordpress.com

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead to upcoming events. I can't wait to go to the Long Beach Quilt Festival, which begins later this week. I'm there Thursday-Saturday. I'm taking a gelatin monoprint class from Pokey Bolton on Thursday. I'm docenting at the "Space Between" exhibit on Friday - look for my quilt there, too. It's called "Between the Air Conditioner and the House," and it features my desert tortoise, Gramps. Quilt detail shown below. Then I'm going to the SAQA/Art Quilt List reception on Friday evening.

Hope to see you in Long Beach!

The AAQI auction is coming up in early August, with my "Gaps" quilt in it. I have all the info in a recent post.

I am also teaching two more classes at Flying Geese Fabrics. On Saturday, August 6th from 1:30 to 5, I'm teaching how to make my flannel baby ball. If flannel and baby toys aren't your thing, I can teach you how to make any style ball that floats your boat. Here's a photo of the one I made for my grandchild:

Then on August 18th I'm teaching my Holiday Cookie Stocking. You can make individual cookie ornaments with the same pattern, so I can teach them, too. This is on a Thursday, from 3 to 7.

If these classes interest you, you can call Flying Geese Fabrics in Tustin at 714-544-9349 and say, "Sign me up!"

Video about the Beneath the Surface exhibit

Quilts Inc has produced some nifty videos about the Long Beach Quilt Festival, and one of them is all about the Beneath the Surface special exhibit, that I participated in. Want to see it? Well, go to http://www.quilts.com/ and click on the ruby slippers. Then click on Videos, and you will see a selection of them. Enjoy! I am thrilled that my "It's Your Fault" quilt is one of the ones featured in the video.

what I'm working on, and Long Beach

I was happy to see that  the "Through the Eyes of the Quilter" photography exhibit was at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. My cat Matilda is part of this exhibit, which debuted in Houston last fall.

My visit to Long Beach was short and sweet this year. I was only there on Friday, but I managed to rampage through the entire show, plus work at the SAQA booth, go to the SAQA/Quilt Art reception hosted by Karey, and have dinner with many of the other "Beneath the Surface" artists. What fun!

It's been a while since I've been able to show any quilt activity. This is a little something I'm working on to donate to the Flying Geese Quilters auction in October. I'm mixing tie dyes (from Ghana) and dyed ties. There will be more to it. I am also going to make a small house quilt for a Habitat for Humanity house.

I made a second sundress for Samantha. It's the same pattern as the green one, except a little bigger. Hope it fits.

I finished up this cute little green knit cap just a few days ago. First time I've worked with circular needles. I got the pattern at a little yarn shop in Telluride. Sorry I forget its name, but if you go there it's the only yarn shop in town. It's a delightful little place with a whole room for children's patterns, plus lots of exotic yarns and local products, too.... I like this cap, it's kind of simple and unconstructed. Notice that the ends are tied into a topknot on the top.

 This is how the cap looks with the ends untied. I'm smitten with knittin', I must confess. I'm enjoying refining my knitting skills and learning new things. I have learned how to knit continental style, which is great for lefties and faster than the throw-over style. There are tons of little videos all over the internet that show you how to do all manner of knitting techniques - what a wonderful world.... Besides, it's really cold in winter where my daughter and her family live, so I'm compelled to knit warm things to keep little Samantha warm.

Any other knitters out there? I'd love to hear from you.

Beneath the Surface

I've already told you about Beneath the Surface, a special exhibit that I will have a quilt in. ("It's Your Fault")The big news is that it has sponsors, for both quilt festivals in Long Beach and Houston! Brother and Moores Sewing are the sponsors for Long Beach, and Misty Fuse (my favorite fusible!) for Houston.

Also, all the artists in Beneath the Surface were asked to answer some questions about themselves, and they've been posted daily on the Dinner at Eight blog. My set of questions and answers will appear on May 15, Saturday. All the interviews have been interesting, so take a look!

http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/

Beneath the Surface

I'm happy to announce that my quilt, "It's Your Fault," got accepted into the Beneath the Surface special exhibit at Long Beach International Quilt Festival. I have permission to show the quilt, so here it is. You can see it in person in Long Beach in July.

Also, I've finished my daughter's baby quilt. I'm excited to show it, but I will wait until I give it to her in April. Now to start my niece's baby quilt - rockets and robots, here we come!

Long Beach Vidcasts!

If you click on the link below, you will reach a Quilts Inc page with info about the Long Beach Quilt Festival. On the bottom left of the page (I had to enlarge the page a bit to see it on my laptop), you'll see Vidcasts. Click on that, and you will see videos about the Edges, Detours and other special exhibits. My "Fifteen Selvedges" is among the quilts featured in the Edges video. And I am one of the people interviewed in the Detours video. I'm near the end - several of my friends also speak on the video. It's kind of unnerving to see oneself on a video, but anyway it's kind of fun, so check out these videos.

http://www.quilts.com/lbqf09/enVivo/

Long Beach Quilt Festival

Here are some random photos from the Long Beach Quilt Festival. I took several at the 60's Challenge - it was so colorful and fun. I was just an observer, not a participant. Jamie was one of the organizer-helpers, busy as a bee. Peggy was having so much fun on the sidelines that Pokey invited her to help sing one of the 60's songs. You rock, Peggy!

Here I am with Terry in a more sedate moment. We were at the luncheon where Pokey divulged secrets about Quilting Arts (my lips are sealed).

I have no photos of it, but Bonnie McCaffrey interviewed me on camera about my "Detours" quilt. Woohoo, I got to put those rusty Toastmaster skills in action. ;-)

I also had fun at the SAQA reception and my class from Yvonne Porcella. Will I finish my class quilt? Haven't decided.

another blouse

I got ambitious and sewed this blouse earlier this week. As with the previous blouse, I used a combination of dyed/screenprinted and purchased fabrics, all unified with my original stamps.

It was fun! I'm getting better at it. Ancient brain synapses are reawakening.... I sewed much of my clothes in high school, college, and young newlywed days. And I used to love sewing dresses for my daughter and a few Hawaiian shirts and shorts for my son. I think that stopped when designer clothing became popular. (Jordache, Esprit, Quiksilver, etc.)

I finished this blouse just in time to wear it at the Quilt Festival in Long Beach! If you go, you might see me at the SAQA booth, the table for Quilts on the Wall, and the SAQA reception. And I'm taking a class taught by Yvonne Porcella on Saturday.

I'm packed and ready to go!

"Edges" at Long Beach

Pacific Coast Fiber Artists and Friends present "Edges," a 21-piece collection of art quilts, curated by Jamie Fingal and Leslie Jenison and sponsored by Quilting Arts/Interweave. This special exhibit will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA July 23-26th at the Long Beach Convention Center.

As I have mentioned before, my "Fifteen Selvedges" quilt will be part of this exhibit. Here's a detail image.

Detours Postcard

I just found out that my "Go With the Flow" quilt is featured on the Detours postcard! They did a great job, and I'm thrilled.

Detours is the special exhibit put on by Quilts on the Wall Fiber Artists, and it will be at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival later this month.