More Alaskan Adventures

I have so many beautiful photos of such a beautiful place - not quilt related but some great inspiration for quilts. I always loved little houses on the side of a hill, especially when they are painted different colors - what a good idea for a quilt. Below is Juneau - first stop on our cruise and the capital of Alaska. It's not very big for a major city. Another interesting fact - there are roads throughout Juneau but they end there. We were told there's only 3 ways to get to Juneau - by boat, plane or birth canal (-:    

 The day we were in Juneau we went to the Mendenhall Glacier which was beautiful and also a beautiful day.

 We also took a boat to go whale watching. Orcas don't stay in Alaska year round unlike the Humpback whale which does. The Orca's had just arrived to these waters, they were so playful.  It was so exciting to see them in their natural habitat. We also saw lots of Humpbacks and Sea Lions.

 The mountains around were breathtaking and so massive.

 Skagway was another lovely city and again, pretty little houses on the hillside.

 One of my favorite side trips was on the White Pass Summit Railroad - the original route used during the gold rush.

 As we moved further and further up, it got colder and colder and more beautiful with each turn of the bend.

A fun perspective from here to the front of the train.

 We went all the way to the border of British Columbia - 5 flags - US, British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon and Canada.

 And the trees were so beautiful in the mist. This will definitely be a silk screen.

 And quilting is alive and well in Alaska! A beautiful shop!

More adventures to follow and pretty soon, it's back to my studio.

Towel Animals

One of the "silly" things they do aboard a cruise ship is to leave towel animals on your bed each night, along with pieces of chocolate.  I loved the chocolates, the animals I had to think about. But as the week went on, I found myself looking forward to seeing what was awaiting me each evening. I honestly don't recognize the first animal - any thoughts?

 The next night was a stingray. Every animal came equipped with plastic googly eyes that would fall on the floor. By the end of the week, there were eyes everywhere!

 A butterfly perhaps?

 One of the afternoon lectures onboard the ship was how to accomplish this "feat of folding" and of course a book to buy.

Neither of which I took advantage of....so this skill will remain a mystery to me.  My guests will always get nice, clean towels, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) in the shape of a towel!  :-)

 This little puppy was my favorite. I really wanted him to remain a pup for a while but next morning, they took him apart  :-(

So it's been hard getting back into a routine - lots of lazy moments. I did get the vacumn out today, tomorrow I may even plug it in.   :-)
Til next time......

Home Again

It's fun to go away and even better to come home, but oh so hard to get into a routine again.  We were both so exhausted from spending 12 hours (not including the time changes) each way either on a plane or in an airport and the time change is always hard but all in all worth it.  We started our trip in Seattle where we have family and friends. Seattle is beautiful this time of year - such a wonderful, eclectic city.

The Space Needle...

 And always on the lookout for trees (below) - there were some beauties. Everything almost a fluorescent green.  This might have to be part of a quilt; I love the moss and texture.

 Pike's Market is always fun to visit, lots of flowers and

 the the very popular "fish throwing" vendor. Someone will pick a fish and it will be thrown to someone behind the counter for cutting and cleaning. It's great fun to watch and they've been doing this ever since I've been going to Pikes which is over 25 years.

 We stayed with my friend Sandy who is a wonderful quilter and has an even more wonderful fabric collection. What you see is only half of what she has.

 And some of the wonderful quilts she's used in the 9 books she's written.

 One of the houses Sandy took us to was this one below - a tiny little house tucked in amongst tall apartments and right across from the water.  The woman who bought this, did so many, many years ago before it was built up and then purchased the one next to it. She has a passion for flowers and gardens and having a concrete front lawn, this is how she solved the problem.

 It's absolutely wonderful to see in person; I could have spent hours there.

 One of the highlights of Seattle was discovering my great-grandfather's house. My dad's family were among the original settlers of Mercer Island and I knew my great-grandfather was the first postmaster of the Island.  My step brother who's into geneology discovered this house and took me to see it.  The owner was kind enough to let us in and take photos - it was thrilling to see a little piece of my family history.

More to come, still tired but lots of good memories.

Off to Alaska

I just returned home from teaching in Texas - 2 wonderful guilds and I have so much to share but that will have to wait.  My hubby and I are going on a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska including one week of cruising and one week on land.  We are so excited, we can hardly contain ourselves, we leave tomorrow.

 We are most excited about the wildlife.

and the mountains . I truly hope we get to see Mt. McKinley, it's often fogged in.

 We're also hoping to see some grizzlies....from INSIDE the bus.

 and glaciers....and eat lots of salmon. I loved the saying below - kind of sums it all up.

Will be out of touch for a while but will have lots to share when I get home and many pictures of inspiration for quilts. Have a great couple of weeks.

Framing Quilts

I've always loved the idea of framing quilts - brings them to a different level.  With all the lectures and workshops I do which also involves hauling quilts around, framing is not practical and makes it impossible to bring a lot of work especially if you're flying. So I've held off until now.  I needed to have my Black and White piece - "The Flute Player" framed but decided to also try a natural wood frame in addition to the black frame on The Flute Player. For the other piece I chose Walnut which is a favorite wood of mine.  I've always called this type of frame a shadowbox but not so - it's a floater frame.  I did prepare the pieces ahead of time by stretching them over 3/4" stretcher bars.  I'm so pleased with the look of this piece, makes me want to go through my house and frame some more.

 I love the sides, so simple but elegant and just enough for the quilt.

 The quilt is mounted with around 1/4" between the frame and the edge of the piece - a perfect amount of space.

 The Flute Player which really needed a frame turned out great with the same frame in a black painted wood.

 And a close-up of the side.

 And you can see the 1/4" space in between.

I'm so happy with the results. I used Frameworks in Candler, NC. Robert Reitz is the owner and craftsman who does this beautiful work. The mitered corners were so tight and perfect, the finish so smooth and the back of it finished perfectly.
On another note, I haven't been the most diligent blogger lately - just so much traveling this spring and tomorrow I'm off again to Texas to teach at 2 guilds, so thanks for hanging in there with me. Till next time.

Cotton Patch Quilters

I had great fun visiting and presenting a lecture to the Cotton Patch Quilters the other night.  This guild is located in Athens, Georgia.  The Cotton Patch Quilters meet at the Lyndon House which in and of itself is beautiful and the meeting room perfect.  Athens is the home of the University of Georgia where my daughter earned her degree. My daughter also stayed in Athens to teach for 3 years, so for close to 8 years, it became our family's second home.  It was such fun to be back again and another surprise - I was taken to dinner at The Last Resort Grill - a favorite of ours while Jill was in Athens.  It was every bit as lovely and delicious as I remember it to be - below, they are redoing the side of the building.

 Show and Tell is always a highlight of every guild and this was no exception. Theonly problem is there's not enough time to see each quilt as long as you might want and I missed everyone's name. I was still given a thumbs up to show everyone's work. The gal on the right was affectionately known as the "prolific" quilter. She did have many quilts to share and each one wonderful.

 This quilt was spectacular and I could have poured over it for hours.

 Here's another from our "prolific quilter".

 Being a cat lover, I really bonded with this adorable Kitty Cat quilt.

I had a wonderful time with a great bunch of gals and I thank all the Cotton Patch Quilts for their warm and welcoming hospitality and Anita - I missed you!

John C Campbell

I just returned from a wonderful week at John C Campbell Folk School.  I taught the class - Playing with Surface Design, I also call it a Surface Design Buffet.  This workshop gives students a taste of many techniques to enhance the surface of fabric.  Students can choose to do a project with the many samples they create or just keep it as a sample.

 The weather was with us. Some of the techniques do very well in strong sun and strong sun we had! One of the things we had so much fun with was rusting.  It usually takes my things a couple of days to rust but with such strong sun and the fabric sealed in plastic, it was a couple of hours. We became rusting fools, rusting everything in sight and this was just the beginning.

 We are lucky to have a Blacksmith studio right down the road and part of the campus.  The have a big bin outside with discarded iron, most of it rusted and ready to be used. Yvonne used a lot of that rust to do the table runner below. She also painted and stamped it - a gorgeous piece.  She plans to quilt it and I hope she sends pictures.

 Yvonne treated us all to t-shirts to rust.  Judy rusted hers and then did some spray painting using leaves as a resist.

 I was able to do one also. The Blacksmith class at one point was cutting out animal shapes and this was a discard. Can you see a fish in the middle?

 Winki was our "resident ruster"and showed us some beautiful things she had already done.

 I think she used some kind of wheel cover to get this wonderful effect.

 Winki"s scarves were very soft and subtle in color, they were luscious.

 She revealed her secret which she gave me permission to use on my blog. Besides the rust, she uses spices such as tumeric and curry along with fruit like blueberries. The coloring was just beautiful.

 More of Winki's beautiful work.

And more to follow.
I'm going to Cotton Patch Quilters tomorrow in Athens, GA and will be back Thurs to share more of the fun stuff we did this last week.
Til next time......