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......