Upcoming...

Coming up - lots of events and traveling and teaching!

Next week I'll be in Chicago for International Quilt Festival. I'll be vending in the mixed-media section as Flourish-Country Quilter. I'll be teaching a Make It University workshop on Friday afternoon (1:30 - 2:30) on collage pendant necklaces and then demonstrating in the Open Studios section both Friday and Saturday from 2:45 to 4:45. Please stop by and say hi!



Saturday, April 25th from 12 - 3 pm will find both me and Elin at Elm Street Books in New Canaan CT for a book signing and talk about art quilts. We'll be signing both Art Quilt Workbook and Art Quilts at Play. Elm Street Books is a gem of a bookstore, one of the last great independent booksellers in our area. They bring in lots of authors for signings and host lots of interesting events. I'd love to have a really big turnout for our signing - we aren't as mainstream as Calvin Trillin (a recent author there), but I like to think that our readers are just as dedicated.



Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3 is the quilt show in Somers, put on by the Northern Star Quilter's Guild. I'll be vending all weekend and demoing on Saturday afternoon. This is a fantastic show with something for everyone. It's on the train line from Manhattan and an easy drive from anywhere in the tri-state area (NY-NJ-CT).



And Saturday, May 23, I'll be at the City Quilter in NYC teaching a workshop on self-expression quilts. You'll learn a variety of direct and indirect photo-transfer techniques and lots about composition and design as you make a small art quilt that expresses you.

A busy, busy spring!

A birdie followed me home

Actually several birdies...



I found this amazing beaded head-dress tucked in the far back corner of a little booth at Quilt Festival in Houston. It was hand made in Nigeria of thousands (tens of thousands?) of white glass beads over wire framework and stands about 24" tall. I saw it the second day of the show, looked at it closely, asked about it's price and reluctantly walked away, knowing it would be difficult to get home.



But I couldn't stop thinking about it. There was a second one, slightly smaller and in full color, but this one just spoke to me. It's covered with beaded birds and has a face on either side.



Just before the opening of the last day of the show I went to check to see if it was gone or if it was waiting for me.



I decided that if it was still there, then it was meant to come home with me.



Of course, I did get stopped at security in the airport - I can't imagine what it looked like on the x-ray machine. And I ended up with two laptops in my briefcase so I could fit the birds in my carry-on, you should see the blisters on my hands.

It was worth it.

Home at last!

Pixie's vigil at the front door has finally paid off and I've returned. Now on to a lot of catch-up at home and at work. It always takes a while to process all of the inspiration and energy gleaned from a big show and my head is spinning in so many directions right now.

The experience of meeting and spending time with other artists (most only known online prior to this visit) and surrounded by art (and art supplies) was exhilarating and mere thanks are not enough to Natalya for her invaluable presence, support and assistance.

Quilt Festival

A belated post from Houston's Quilt Festival - I had nothing but problems with blogger while away, but I can finally post this one. I gave up even taking pictures after two frustrating days trying to upload photos.

A whirlwind couple of days have resulted in a complete switcheroo to our booth and now we have all of the art quilting goodies out.



We're directly across the aisle from Judy Gula's booth (Artistic Artifacts), where Liz Kettle and Laura Cater Woods are too. Look at all the pretty colors!



Diagonally across is the Make It U workshop area. Yesterday I taught an ink class there and had great fun, tomorrow I'll be teaching stampmaking and then demonstrating fish printing in the Open Studios area. Pokey had a couple of Make It U classes today. She's so enthusiastic and high-energy.



Terry White stopped by from her booth around the corner for a visit.



After the show closed Natalya and I headed across the street into the park for an outdoor meal overlooking a small lake. Looking back at the convention center we could see the lights and their reflection in the water. There was an outdoor concert to entertain us and we bopped along to a lot of great 80s songs. A lot of those songs took me right back to high school and my roller disco days - does anyone else remember that? How weird does that seem now? Rolling in circles around a rink for hours to (now cheesy) music under a disco ball. It was fun, it's just hard to explain the appeal now.

Happy Halloween!

My friend Julie and I are down in Houston, Texas at Quilt Festival this week. Pokey encouraged all of the vendors in the Make It University section to dress up tonight for Halloween - so we did! She claims John forgot to pack her costume, but she did have on a great witch's hat. Mmmhmmm. Coming back from changing into my costume I encountered the girls from Fiber On A Whim. Here's Kristin, looking completely adorable.

Here's Jan and Karla, in full All Hallow's Eve regalia. Their booth is right around the corner from ours and it's great to finally meet them in person. They're even more fun in real life.

Back in our booth you can see that Julie really got into it, complete with black lipstick, huge false eyelashes, broomstick and striped stockings. Doesn't she look great?

And here I am, dressed for a night out with the coven. My outfit was not complete without these incredible shoes:



We got a lot of trick-or-treaters at our booth and gave out a ton of candy. We were a little tired at the end of the night, but we had a great time. Happy Halloween!