Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild

This past week, while my daughter and granddaughter were here, I took a 2 day break to teach in South Carolina - a lecture and workshop. As much as I hated leaving my gals, it was a nice break to stay in a Hampton Inn all by myself with my Kindle and a glass of wine. I also had the wonderful opportunity to have a mini reunion with a group I used to belong to - Focus group. Our dinner came to an end way too soon and so much more to be shared, but it was the best! On to the lecture which I gave on Ink Jet Printing on Fabric which is always fun as I love the technique and enjoy talking about it. The workshop the next day was filled with 20 wonderfully talented and enthusiastic women. We were doing Shaded Florals which involved using a pattern (their choice of 3 available), doing basic appliqué and shading it with Shiva paintsticks.  The shading and the different ways to use the paintsticks was the basis of the workshop.

 I managed to snap pics of a few pieces, many were busy at their machines and I couldn't get pictures.

 I really liked the wonderful background choices for their pieces - lots of interest without being overpowering.

 I didn't think to take a picture until the end of the day when many were leaving or already packed up but you can get an idea of the beautiful pieces these ladies were doing. I'm hoping they'll send me a picture of their finished piece which I promised to share on my blog.

 One of the gals - Pat Kerko, didn't want to use the Shiva paintsticks and brought along a product called Luminarte.  I had not heard of them and wanted to find out more to share. They have a website which is hard to use so I went to Amazon and had great luck. They are in a powdered form - beautiful colors and what looked to be mostly metallics.

 A teeny, tiny amount was mixed with an acrylic medium in a small paint tray. They were highly concentrated. By mixing them with a medium, this made them permanent. They were the consistency of the medium making them easy to use and control.

 Pat made herself a sampler of the colors which is always a good idea - no guessing that way, although the colors in powder form look the same when mixed with medium, which is not always the case.

 You can see where a small area has been done.- to the right of the yellow. The color is strong and concentrated so they could probably be thinned quite a bit.

 Pat uses a Fantastix stick, from Dharma Trading, which is good for blending.
Q - tips will also work well.

You can see the pretty effect of the Luminartes around the yellow "tongue" of the Iris. I am definitely going to look into these.

Charlottesville Quilt Guild

I just got home from teaching at the Charlottesville Quilt Guild in Virginia. What a great guild. My hubby came along - something he doesn't normally do, but he was a big help carrying all my stuff and being my chauffeur. He also got to visit Monticello and Michie's Tavern - a very old tavern only open for lunch. Lucky guy!! But meanwhile back at the ranch, I had a lot of fun teaching. The ladies were wonderful, supportive and so talented.

The teaching facilities were a joy with lots of room to spread out and 2 huge white boards. There was also a separate room for ironing and a genuine "goody" room.  I was too busy munching to get a picture of the enormous selection of yummies - all home made. The ladies told me they are "foodies" I'm so glad!

Here's one of the gals - Alda working on her project. Alda is a Macro-photographer and showed me some of her amazing photographs she hopes to interpret into fabric someday. She had a great start on her project and I wish I had taken more pictures later on in the day to show some further along - booo on me.

I wish I could remember who did what. The pieces were wonderful. There was silk screening, along with painting and creating imagery for the bottom layer and the top sheer layer.This is a favorite workshop of mine to teach; it's exciting to be around so much creative energy.

This piece was just the starting point and by the end of the day, it looked great. Notice the cute bugs on the tree and the dragonfly in the air - all screened on the bottom layer so the sheer tones it down a bit.

The starting point on this piece utilized all silks, many of them kimona silk and pieced together along with overlapping to get some great effects.  I love the mountains where they overlap and create a darker area

This piece was so clever - after the tree was silk screened, the top of the tree was then screened on the bottom to create an obvious root.  It's covered with a sheer so hard to see - really wonderful.

I loved this piece - just the beginning stages but the underneath layer was subtle and interesting with touches of blue, black, white and gray. I know there's to be some blue added to the top which will give it a sparkle.

Yvonne was very clever as she used the sampler from the day before's workshop on machine applique and added to it.  She actually used a mottled piece of tulle as an overlay instead of organza which was very effective. When I got home, I made a trip to JoAnne Fabrics where she got this tulle. I had to have some but our store didn't carry it.  It made quite a difference in the feel of the piece.

I know this was Kathie's piece - beginning stages as she went back and added a deeper cranberry on the top layer. I get so caught up in their creativity, I just plain forget to take pictures, but I must say that all the wonderful ladies in this workshop were working outside of their comfort zone and doing a great job. I've asked them to send me a picture of the finished piece, whenever that might be. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more on their work not too far in the distant future   (-:

Charlotte Quilt Guild

I had a great time teaching and doing a lecture at the Charlotte Quilt Guild last week, located in Charlotte, NC.  What a beautiful city. My goal was to go in a little early so I could "unwind" and oh yes, visit their Pottery Barn at a mall close by - I did both (-:  !

   Their evening meeting was packed full - so many nice ladies and such talent as revealed in their wonderful show and tell.  One of my favorite things was their "Flash".  Mind you, I had no idea what to expect when they said "time for the Flash" hmmmmm.......Many stood up all around the room, held up a quilt and counted off...1...2...3...I forget the final number but it was indicative of the amount of community quilts made that month.  I thought that was incredibly clever.  Unfortunately, it happened so fast, I didn't get a single picture, but the quilts were wonderful!

     Next day, the workshop was held in the same building on the 10th floor - What a view! This guild has the good fortune to have the use of the facilities in a condominium for retired people; it is one beautiful place. 

 The skyline of the city was breathtaking.

 And another beautiful view...

The classroom was a huge living room with windows all around - so much natural light, it was glorious for working!

 The workshop I taught was my "Dimensional and Off the Edge Applique".  Students had a choice of several patterns to use to create these fun techniques.

 They were a wonderful group with really good skills and just so much fun!

 I gathered them up to take a picture, they did a great job!

Thank you ladies for such a great day!

Western NC Quilt Guild

I had the great fun of presenting a lecture and workshop last week at the Western NC Quilt Guild in Hendersonville, NC. The guild is large, very active and also very enthusiastic. It's always nice to present your work to a room of smiling faces. I was able to get a few pictures at the meeting.

I loved the color movement in this piece!

The next day I taught a workshop called "Luscious Landscapes". Students were to use a photo to recreate a landscape in fabric. There were many fun texture techniques that were demonstrated such as fabric and thread crimping, thread fuzzies and twin needle work. We also touched upon using sheers such as tulle for shadowing and Angelina fibers for creating shimmer on mountains and water. This is just the starting point, can't wait to see them finished!

I didn't get all the names that went with each piece everyone gave me the go-ahead to post their piece in progress. The fabric choices were great and so interesting.

In this next piece, you can see the use of "tulle" as a mountain giving a sense of distance to the piece.

Off to a good start, I love the sky and waterfall.

The large tree in the foreground gives wonderful dimension to the piece. I also love the autumn color.

I love all the greens and shadows in this next piece.

Pat did this next piece, what a wonderful color eye she has - such an unusual combination of fabrics that work so well together!

Mary started this next piece based on a photo she took while in New Zealand. She plans to put some Angelina on the mountain tops to look like "glistening snow" - how cool is that!

Sarah started this next piece,  all fussy cut. It will have a lighthouse in the foreground. A beauty in person.

So, All my ladies - if you're reading this, I look forward to seeing your finished pieces. They're all so different, unique and wonderful (like yourselves).