Spreading my Wings

Recently I heard some more exciting news! Coming this Fall I will be teaching at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. Last November I submitted some ideas for classes that varied from half day to full day and a sampler session. Little did I know they would choose them all.

This pattern is from my class Leaping Lizards, I know a frog isn't a lizard but its close! My other pattern is a basilisk lizard. Having attended the IQF quilt show but not attended a class there I was a little in the dark when sending in my class proposals. I opted to offer fabric collage classes with a pattern and kit for each. This seems to make it easier for people attending the show especially if they have traveled to get there. Almost all they need to bring is some fabric glue and good sharp scissors, no sewing machine required.

The Rocking Roosters patterns

These two patterns will be for my Rocking Roosters class which is a 3 hr class. Students will get to learn my fabric collage technique, start on their project and then take it home to finish it. I learned that IQF classes are kept short and so afternoons are not used for working on a project once the technique is learned but for other classes. For each class I will have 2 patterns offering choice for students with slightly different fabric selections.

Sunlit Sunflowers, 3 hr class

Class information is made available in June. At this point I have no idea how popular my classes will be or if people will sign up but I heard having a kit is a good option. 

Dazzling Dogs, a 6hr class

Two of my classes will be 6 hr classes, Dazzling Dogs and Leaping Lizards. For these classes students will learn my technique begin working on the project and also learn about how to use their own photos to translate into artwork. Bulldog will be one of my patterns and I am still working on the pattern for the second project. 

I have a lot more work to do to make my patterns ready for class and then start to gather my fabrics and put together all those kits. Its all very exciting but sounds like I need to go fabric shopping! :)

Exciting Beginnings with Artistic Alchemy

A few weeks ago I was very pleasantly surprised to be asked to join Artistic Alchemy. You may be asking what is Artistic Alchemy or AA for short? Its a group of four ladies who hold an annual retreat at Zephyr Point Retreat Center at Lake Tahoe. When Christine Barnes felt it was time to step down and enjoy a less hectic retirement I was asked to replace her. Quite an honor I assure you.

Recently I taught my Pet Portrait class as a 2-day class with a 2 week break in between.  It was suggested to me how nice it would be to be able to keep working on this project for longer in a continuous stretch, "You should do a retreat." So the idea was floating around in my mind and when Sandra Bruce invited me to join this fit perfectly.

Sandra Bruce, Mary Boalt, Me, Heidi Emmett

The class I'll be offering for this 3 1/2 day retreat I called Fabric Collage Addiction. I'm encouraging students to find a photo that they love and make it in fabric collage. Pet Portraits will be perfect but other animals, faces, fish, flowers will also work. I seem to go through phases of working on different subject matter and right now I am exploring pets especially dogs. People are always surprised when I say I don't own any pets but still find many great subjects to work from.

Please contact me or spread the news to anyone who you think might be interested in taking my class. Lake Tahoe is beautiful in September and such an inspiring backdrop to get away for a creativity boost. 

Boston WIP

So check out the workshop page on the Artistic Alchemy blog to read about all the classes that are available or even come to work on your own projects.

Starting the Year attending Craft Napa

January 11-13th I attended Craft Napa In Napa.CA. Its Northern California's premiere crafting retreat for sewists, crafters and quilters and I'm so lucky to live just an hour and a half away. Its a  4 day extravaganza for sewing, quilting, surface design and inspiration organized perfectly by Pokey Bolton.

Squeezing in two six hour classes to my new years schedule I took Sherri Lynn Wood's Round Robin class. Working on improve quilting we added to the quilt top that was passed around every 30 mins. This was quite an intense class as you only had a short time to "continue the conversation" on the quilt top. The fabrics were chosen by the maker and rotated around the class but the personal touch was to add a little of your own "signature" fabric.

The second class was Using Symbols in Art Quilts with Deborah Boschert. In this class we had six 5 x 7" art quilts to work on using designs and symbols that were meaningful to each person. We had pre-fused fabrics to work with. The aim was finish one piece with free-motion quilting, hand embroidery, mounted and finished.

My themes or symbols were mountains, hiking, family and ocean. The last piece I worked on was a single glorious flower growing out of a plant pot, not sure of the significance of this symbol!

Friday night at Craft Napa is Crafters Market. This year we were lucky enough to sell raffle tickets for the quilt, Rainbow Fish, that I designed and helped make with Foothill Quilt Guild. The response from all the people that spent the time looking at it was great and we sold a lot of raffle tickets too. The quilt will be raffled at our quilt show on April 7th 2018 in Auburn , CA.

Rainbow Fish Quilt 92" x 104"

Look out for Craft Napa 2019.  Its a fun, inspiring event when you can surround yourself with like-minded crafty people at the perfect location, Embassy Suites in Napa. 

Look for some exciting news that I will be revealing next week, Feb 7th.