Hop Around Houston

Hop Around Houston is a shop hop around the vendor area of the International Quilt Festival.  It works just like a regular shop hop...you travel from specific shop to specific shop and purchase a little kit at each booth for a different quilt block using a standard set of fabrics.  Where I wrote shop substitute booth and you get the idea.  For several years I always  did the festival shop hop and I have completed a few of the quilts.  


Many years ago I did the shop hop, purchased a finishing kit from somebody, made all the blocks and quietly hid it away.


Yup, for some unknown reason I hid away a quilt top that was almost complete.


What was I thinking?


I have no idea what I was thinking but when it surfaced a couple of weeks ago, from a box of books to be discarded, I came across the pieces and decided to finish the year off with a completed UFO.


Yesterday I completed the quilt and here's what it looks like:

I like some of the blocks and others not so much...a danger with this kind of quilt making.  I had lost the instructions for the finishing kit so I finished it up on a wing and a prayer.  Some of the blocks did not exactly fit with the other blocks so I had to make some adjustments by adding additional borders and, in a couple of cases, I actually resewed the block to get it to the right size.


I like the size of about 68" x 88" as it is perfect for one human and two dachshunds cuddling on a lazy afternoon of mystery novel reading.  And, as Paul had absconded with a couple of quilts earlier this season, I needed to replenish my stock of cuddle quilts. 


Finishing off the year with a completed UFO is definitely a good thing.


Now on to working on my New Year's resolutions...or not!

And Another TWO Hit the Dust...

This past weekend I got to finish TWO UFOs that had been hanging over my head for way too long.  


One comes from this past August fall when I attended an ASG neighborhood group swap.  Everyone brought stuff that they no longer had a use for and we all got to take as much as we want from what was available.  I wrote about it here.


One of the excellent bits I picked up was the remains of a curtain made from squares of African fabric.  There was a note attached that said it had been purchased at the 1998 Quilt Festival and that it had not been pre-washed.  The usable portion was about 34" wide and 40" long. which is just about the right size for a wheel chair lap quilt.


Saturday the transformation occurred.  


Very simple quilting with a solid black for the backing and binding.  It is a little small for some of the older chairs but it should work well with the more modern chairs.  I even have an unsuspecting victim.. err recipient to use it.

The other is a more recent quilt.  The pattern is from a kit I won, also back in August, that I put together over the past holiday period.  It was also used as a sample for a recent Saturday Strippers gathering.


I realized that a simple little wheel chair lap quilt was not enough of a gift for a recently wheel chair confined husband of a friend.  Although I had planned some fancy quilting I went with a very simple design (stitch in the ditch) and a machine applied binding because I know it will get a lot of washing and simple would be easier to repair, if needed.


Here's how it turned out:

The colors did not photograph well... instead of something that looks red, white and  blue the colors are more rust, cream and black.. I guess this means I need to work on my camera skills!


As it may be a while before I make it over to the nursing home, I will be sticking these in the mail tomorrow and hope that my friend's husband can make good use of both.  If not, I hope that someone else can use them both.  I know that my father loved having a home made quilt on his bed as he loved the texture of the fabrics, seams and quilting and a lap quilt for his wheel chair covered any embarrassing clothing malfunctions.


In any case I hope they both get used which is all a quilt maker wants for their quilts.

2011 Challenges

Boy, that sounds ominous!


This is not that kind of post ... you know the kind where people talk about about deep personal issues and try to solve the world's problems.


I am way too shallow for that kind of blogging today.


What I really want to talk about is the little challenge I have taken on this year.


Every year I join a group that is set up to present a crafty challenge for just one year.


Last year it was socks (I'm still working on that!), the year before handbags, the year before... well you get the idea.


This year I've joined a group at The Quilt Room in Huffman that is based on fat quarters.


Every month each of us will be given a fat quarter of fabric and a challenge on how to use that fat quarter.  The first month you pay $5.00, and if you present a project the next month, you get the next fat quarter free.  The only restriction is that you can not use more than three yards of other fabrics to make your submission.


BTW, a fat quarter of fabric approximately 18" by half the width of the fabric.  In general, for quilting cottons, a fat quarter is cut 18" x 22".  A normal quarter yard is cut 9" x by the full width of the fabric... in this example it would be 9" x 44".


I was truly intrigued as I have an embarrassing number of fat quarters and I am always looking for more ways to use them.


About fifteen of us gathered last Saturday morning and this is the fabric we were given:

In case the colors don't come through, it is basically grey dots with a slight lavender cast to it.  When I saw it I thought elegant, simple and classic.


Then I heard that the challenge was to use hot colors to make something with this lovely fat quarter.


After I mulled it over I began by selecting a variegated pink thread and quilting the fat quarter with swirly circles.  


Great!  Now I had a fat quarter, fully quilted but no idea what to do with it.


Instead of tearing out all that quilting I went back to the Gilbert Nuniz class I took at Quilt Festival on drafting handbag patterns and this what I came up with:

Another zipper pouch!

I added the flower and buttons after I had sewn it up because I realized it needed a little something.


Note to self:  make embellishment decisions before sewing the project.


The hot pink fabric I found for the flower turned into the lining and zipper fob.

I will use this pouch to carry my stuff for this monthly challenge this year and next year I will re-purpose it for something else.


As long as it holds up I will have a great remembrance of the Year of the Fat Quarter.  


Wish me luck with the coming challenges. 

Creativity Challenge

Last year about this time the Seams Possible ASG neighborhood group issued a challenge for each of its members to create something using their birth month as the inspiration.

I am a June baby so my inspiration was to use roses, pearls and the month itself as my inspiration.

The project was not due until this past November and, I must admit, I waited until almost the last minute to produce something.

It turns out that I had signed up for a landscape quilt class at the quilt festival and I convinced myself that I could turn it into something to meet the challenge.

This is what I produced:

Does it look like June to you?

Here's the back story.

In my family we moved lock, stock and barrel out to the beach on the May long weekend and stayed until Canadian Thanksgiving in October.

Our place was up on Georgian Bay where frosty mornings in June are not unusual.  Heck, I was even born on one!

View Larger Map


Although we acted like it was summer, summer really didn't happen July.

We put the sailboat on the beach, unpacked the sand chairs and generally convinced ourselves it was summer.

But it wasn't summer thus my picture of a lovely day at the beach with a raging hail storm reminding us that Mother Nature has a sense of humor.

I haven't figured out what to do with this creation but it does make me smile.

Construction notes:

• The background was fused to some Peltex which was also fused to some plain cotton.
• The details were fiddly cut from some conversational prints representing Nantucket, glued down with a glue stick and the edges free motion stutched down with invisble thread.
• The rain was primarily free motion quilted with black metallic thread.
• The grass was some free motion work with greenish thread.
• The hail stones are little pearls I sewed on to the surface.
• The black stuff is Misty Fuse...not as effective as I thought it would be as representing a gloomy day but close.

The countdown to Christmas was fully in evidence today when I ran out to pick up a couple of things.  There were lines at all the check out counters except for Petsmart (no idea why as the store was packed) and there was a general air of desperation on many faces. 

My favorite incident was when I stopped for lunch and there was a table full of elementary school kids with one one lone male adult.  It appears that several mothers decided to do some shopping and this lone Dad was tasked with keeping the kids busy of a couple of hours at a local restaurant.

That guy gets my vote as parent of the year!

International Quilt Festival 2010

Just a small samplng of the quilt show portion of the Quilt Festival this year.  More can be seen at quilts.com.

 Although Baltimore Album quilts leve me cold this award winning one is quite charming.

I love that the maker decorated the back of her quilt!!

 This quilt was constructed in pieces then assembled with the sections joined by knotted cording.  FABULOUS!

 I think I have some of this fabric but not the skills displayed!

 One of my teachers - Gilbert Muniz - won the garment competition.  I wonder who could fit into this corset!

A close up of the teeny tiny quilting done on most of the quilts.

Part of the show area ... in total about the size of one and a half football fields... just for showing the quilts!

That first quilt!

The Boring Quilt

Last time I posted I had noted that the quilt we worked on at Saturday Strippers was very boring to put together.

Being a little OCD about these projects ( I don't want any to end up in my UFO pile!) I spent most of last week finishing up the top.

This is how it turned out:

Yes, it is right out of the sewing machine and needs a pressing.

Yes, it does not have borders and may never get them

Yes, it did turn out better than I thought it would.

Not sure how to quilt it but I envision a trellis of leaves winding its way up the beige parts like a meandering vine... or not.

Right now its about 72" x 84" which makes it an over-sized twin size quilt or a skinny queen size quilt.

I don't have enough of the original fabric to make large borders so I guess it will stay this size.

Lessons learned:

• Boring construction can yield good results.  Maybe not show quality but definitey fine for a utility quilt.
• Random selction of fabrics does not yield an even distribution of fabric.  There are at least four instances in this quilt top where identical fabrics are either next to each other or across from each other.
• Cutting all the fabric before you get started does not mean you need to use it all up.  My OCD required me to use up almost every square inch of what I had cut for this project when I really should have tried out the basics first then decided how big I wanted it to be.

The International Quilt Market has begun and the Festival part starts Wednesday evening.  I signed up for a couple of classes and I am looking forward to the creatve energy that this type of gathering generates. 

Time with quilts and time with visiting friends makes it worth the price of admission.

Have a good week!

More Charlotte Angotti Quilt

At the International Quilt Festival this past year I took a class with Charlotte Angotti called 'Let me Surprise you.. More!'. In general, Charlotte creates mystery quilts for the Quilt Festival. You sign up for the class and show up with, maybe, a pair of thread snips. The kits are pre-cut and you get to spend the day putting the bits together into most of a quilt top. She also offers add-on kits to make the generally, twin size quilts, into much larger quilts.





I've written about this quilt before here where I gave you a preview of four of the blocks. I've now put the top together and I have no idea how to proceed.





See...



It looks pretty good even if it is very wrinkled but I think it needs a framing border or something more than just a thin strip of binding to bring it all together.

Paul has suggested a completely different color, canary yellow as a frame, a friend has suggested a white border, someone else a stripe like in the bottom left hand corner block, and others a lot more of the pink.


At 72" x 72" it's a pretty good size but should be 84" x 84" to be a standard double/queen size.


If you have any ideas please let me know otherwise I will keep hauling this around with me to Quilt shops until something strikes my fancy.


BTW - that lower left hand bottom block with all the stripe in it is because you only get exactly what you need to complete the quilt top. If you mess up a couple peices or loose them in your sewing room or Alex rips them up (not in this case...I think) then you must buy additional fabric or work around it. I decided to work aorund the problem by filling in the empty space with the stripe which I will quilt with my label information.

A Surprise No More

The one class I took at Quilt Festival this year was taught by Charlotte Angotti of Quiltmaker's Studio and called 'Let me Surprise You! More!'. Charlotte has been offering Surprise classes for many years and this year she took it up a notch.

The regular classes are traditionally based on the attendees getting ziplock bags of pre-cut pieces of fabric for a twin size quilt top. As the day progresses, the attendees sew the bits together and the top takes shape. You never really finish the whole top during the day and Charlotte always offers add-on packages that contain enough to turn your kit into a much larger quilt. Besides making a quilt top that is a complete mystery until late in the day, Charlotte is a one woman comedy show and a bottomless store of quilt making knowledge.

I have taken her regular classes three or four times and happen to be a friend of a big fan of Charlotte's. As a friend of a member of her posse I have had the distinct pleasure of being included in many dinners with the posse and Charlotte after the Festival has closed for the day, shared in stories from the quilt retreats that Charloatte runs, added a block to quilt being made for her by the posse and once had the pleasure of escorting Charlote and other members of the posse on a fabric shopping trip to a couple of the bigger quilt shops away from the Festival site.

I guess you could say I am a wanna be posse member.

I was extremely intrigued to see that Charlotte had a whole new mystery quilt class for Quilt Fetsival this year. It promised to be more challenging, produce a bigger quilt... in fact to be More!

I was not disappointed. For this mystery class Charlotte designed a simple New York Beauty style quilt block that could be machine pieced. There was curved piecing, wacky mirror imaged bits and straight edges that weren't. Here is an example of a more typical New York Beauty Block courtesy of Quilters Corner Club.

There is no way that block could be pieced together in a typical mechine sewn manner and is in fact pieced using paper as a foundation to assist in getting all those points to match up correctly. Charlotte's fabrics were purchased at last year's quilt market, the essential block was hand drafted by her in the past few months and the fabrics were laser cut by John Flynn (a quilt super star on his own). The combination of these three elements came together to help me put together four of the blocks shown below:

There was enough fabric in the kit for thirty-six blocks and the add-ons would add sashing, corner stones and three borders to produce a king size quilt. Heck, the basic kit itself will produce a quilt that it is 72" square. I did not purchase the add-ons as I have some other ideas to increase its size. I , also, have not used the setting of the blocks suggested by Charlotte as I thought it took away from the wonderfulness (is that even a word?) of the block itself.

If you ever get a chance to take a quilt class with Charlotte you will not be disappointed. The stand-up comedy routine itself is worth the price of admission.

Other Charlotte quilts I have posted about are here, here, here and here.

Quilts, Quilts, Everywhere...

I just got home from one day at the Quilt Festival. Yes, I know I could have spent longer but I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. There really is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

I didn't have to hep out at Sweet Sadie's last night, as originally planned, so I spent time at preview night, a couple of hours shopping today, time at the anniversary luncheon and time getting inspired at the Mixed Media Sampler. That's more than enough for a girl who thought she wouldn't have more than a couple of hours to see the quilts and shop.

Seeing the quilts is why we should go to the Festival but the vendor booths do pull us in to see all the neat things available. The best part is seeing things from other parts of the world like the vendor from Spain with her whimsical hand painted silk panels, or the guys from Africa with their unique fabrics or the ladies from Canada with their needlework magazine that seems straght out of the fifties.

I love it all.

The winners of all the prizes can be seen here. If you click on the sidebar (IQA winners) you will get to the quilts. If you click on any one of them you can see larger pictures of all of them individually. The pictures just do not do the quilts justice as you cannot see the intricate trapuntoed hand applique of the Founders' Award winning quilt or the glitter of the Machine Artistry Award winner. Although the best in show did not impress me as much as other quilts that I saw, the quality of all the quilts was truly amazing.

One thing did tick me off a little.

There is a new magazine being introduced at the show. It is called 'International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene'. It is a collaboration of Interweave Press's Quilting Arts magazine and the International Quilt Festival. Advertising has been going on for months and not a week goes by that I don't get an e-mail asking me to suscribe.

Here's what ticks me off.

Included in the premiere issue are two full pages on each of the big winners with interviews with the quilters who made them.

I understand that the winners are notified ahead of time that they are winners of something to encourage their attendance at the awards ceremony which was Tuesday night. If the awards ceremony was Tuesday night, how did interviews and pictures of their quilts get into a magazine to be sold on Wednesday at the show?

Why not just make the announcements to the world when the awards are known and skip the whole surprise thing. Heck, if the printers knew at least a month ago why not let the rest of us know at the same time? I heard that one of the big winners was handing out business cards in September noting her win in Houston this October.

There was also an embarassing moment last night. I thought a frend had won one of the smaller awards and I immeadiately got on the cell phone to let others know. It turns out that she didn't win, I just mis-read the sign for her quilt as the sign for the winning quilt. My face was red when I found out my mistake. It will take a long time to live that one down.

Enjoy the slide show!

Getting Ready for the Quilt Festival

For the past few years, I have made a new badge holder each year to hold my credentials. One was purchased from ASG, one was plain black that I embellished with lots of gold spangles, two were simple Lazy Girls designs, and one looked like a rock around my neck. You can catch up on them all here. This year I thought I would see what I could do with just an idea and a couple of bits of fabric.

The concept was to make purse within a purse like the rock one, with fewer pockets and bulk to hold the bare essentials. This is what I came up with:

Lime green and bubble gum pink? I didn't even know I had these fabrics in the stash. I don't any more as I used every last bit of them making this.

The inner pocket was interfaced slightly and serged together after doing a beautiful job making it too big for the outer pocket. It holds my class list, a credit card, some mad money and my driver's license, just the basics.

The outer pocket is more heavily interfaced and holds the badge, a pen and a point turner (my favorite tool).

I finally figured out that everything I will need at the Quilt Festival will not hang comfortably around my neck. I can't see a neck pouch holding tooth picks, inhalers, allergy meds, cell phone, wipes, lip balm, hair bursh, check book, camera and any other must have stuff. All of this will accompany me in my purse/tote bag while I browse the vendor booths and view the quilts.

I think I am ready.

Next decision... what tote bag to bring.

Decisions, decisions.

The Quilts are Here!

The Houston Internatonal Quilt Festival is officially open for this year. Right now is the period for Market when wholesalers and retailers engage in this dance where the wholesalers try to sell their latest offerings to all of our quilt stores to entice us to spend our hard earned money in the coming months.

I have only been to Market once and it was a heady experience seeing all the new patterns, designers and gadgets in one place before they reached the stores. The other part that was terrific is that those that attend Market get an early chance to see all the quilts. The big winners are not annouced or displayed until Wednesday afternoon but you get to have some quality time with the quilts. The retailers are really to busy making important business decisions so their hangers-on (like me last year) are the lucky ones who get to see the quilts.

Although my traditional company from up North will not be joining me this year, I will still be going to the Festival part that is open to the public. Classes start tomorrow, Monday, the Vendor area and complete Quilt Show and winners will open at 5:00 PM on Wednesday evening. From then on until late Sunday afternoon, its days and nights of classes, shopping and quilt viewing until even the most un-sophisticated quilter is full to bursting with quilts.

I was downtown today to pick up my class information ( it wasn't ready yet) and got a couple of shots of the sales floor and the quilts displayed.

This thing is huge. If you ever get a chance to come to Houston, try to make it during the Quilt Fetsival. You will not be dissappointed.

A Tale of Two Quilt Kits

I tend to be a little eclectic in what I enjoy in quilts. I love wild, free form design but also enjoy a perfectly pieced vintage style quilt. I also have wide likes when it comes to quilting cottons....from traditional calicos to more graphic designs. In the past couple of weeks I have had a chance to indulge in both desires and thus 'A Tale of Two Quilts Kits' is born.

A while back I was in Sunflower Quilts and saw the cutest wall hangings. Each had a large picture of kids doing typical kid things like sailing a boat on a pond or walking to school. The style was very 40's looking and I thought they were quite charming. Come to find out most of the quilt was pre-printed with not only the central picture but several borders as well. Among quilters, this is called cheater cloth as the only thing you need to do is quilt it without the hours of piecing little bits of fabric.

A couple of weeks ago I saw that the kits were on sale for half off and I picked up a basic one, without additional borders. Hey, half price and cute... how could I go wrong? Well, I didn't go wrong. What do you think?

I think its really quite cute when finished and, although you can't see it in the photo, I got a chance to quilt with a shimmering metallic on the water part. I have sent it off to a friend for her grandson. At only 36" x 36", its more of a nap or drag-around quilt than a bed quilt. I hope he enjoys it even if it doesn't go with his contemporary themed room.

That was quilt kit number one. Simple, to the point and actually looks good. Quilt kit number two is a whole other story.

After working on the first one I remembered that I had another quilt kit in the house that I had bought several years ago to go with my living room couch. Not a cheater quilt but pretty simple piecing. Here is the cover sheet:

And here is what I produced:

Pretty different right? I learned a couple of lessons on this kit. First of all, when the packaging says similar fabrics to the photo, check carefully that they are even close. Do you see any red in my quilt? Also, don't assume that you can actually produce the picture on the cover when what you are given can't produce the number and type of blocks required. In this case, the cover picture had 49 blocks, 24 of one style of block and 25 of another. The fabric given would only make 18 of one and 30 of another. Such a pain! I have not quilted it yet and that might take a while as I need to find some backing that won't feel like I am wasting it on a mediocre project.

So that's my tale - one cheater quilt that worked that I thought was cute but not in love with, one I thought was a little edgy and I was in love with... now the reverse - the cheater I am in love with and the edgy one is now on my hate list.

Lesson learned - Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, its the flip that can change it ... or the kit makers.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

One of the more unique shopping opportunities at the Quilt Festival was the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Ami Sims started this group and has made a big difference in the funds available for Alzheimer's research. The display at Quilt Festival was amazing. They had over one thousand quilts available for purchase that ranged all the way from $10.00 for a simple nine patch quit all the way to about $200.00 for a quilt by a nationally known quilter. Here is a small selection of what was available: (if you click on the pictures you should get a lrger one to view)

What a great place to get inspired to try a new technique!

The ASG booth was right across from them and I spent an hour or so in the ASG booth looking at the quilts in between answering questions about ASG. I finally saw one that captured my attention. Here is what I bought:

Despite the crappy picture it is truly wonderful. There are five different fabrics used in its construction and the quilting and beads really add to its charm. It was made by someone in Oregan and I paid about $45.00 for it. It even came ready to hang with little corner holders on the back.

There are two ways to particicpate - buy one from their website or you can make a quilt for them. If you create a quilt it will need fit into a USPS prority mail cardboard mailer (about 9" x 12"). Any theme, any style, any materials can be used. What a great opportunity to stretch those quilting skills for a good cause. The website has more information on how to purchase and send quilts to them.

Saturday Sharing

I went to the Saturday monring ASG neigborhood group yesterday and now feel completly re-energized to tackle some of the projects I should be doing around here. Not just sewing projects but some nesting rpojects as well... like finishing some wall painting, sorting through my junk drawers, re-energizing my knitting and on and on and on. The theme of the meeting was finds at the Quilt Festival and it was fun to see what each of us just 'had to have' at the show. Some of the things people picked up were:

• a neat little gadget for transferring things from one bottle to another without losing a drop,


• Batiked quilt backing fabric to be used in a garment,


• Paper piecing book for a new garment,


• a cheap Quilt-in-a-cup substitute from Hobby Lobby,


• patterns and fabric I never even noticed at the Festival and


• a cute book from Japan using orphan socks in projects.

I was also given a chance to show of my latest Bog Coat creation. While I was in Toronto recently I got the chance to go to the Creativity Festival. It was a shadow of its former self and I was thoroughly dissappointed by the show. I even left before it closed for the night,.... something that was unthinkable when I used to go many years ago. Anyway, I stopped at a booth called Mac Fabrics which I believe is used in Canada's version of Project Runway. I noticed a very distressed fabric and immeadiately realized that it would make a great Bog Coat. Check this out..

And here's a close-up of the fabric...

It really did come off the bolt that way! For one yard of fabric I can't believe how well this turned out. I've already worn it a few times and the combination of the silk (I think) underfabric and the funky denim overlay makes for a very comfortable garment. I really must try to make it to their store the next time I am up North.

I hope your weekend is going well. Although I do enjoy the bright sunny days we have been having I am so looking forward to the rain predicted for next week.

Phillipa Naylor

While at the Quilt Festival I took a Sunday Morning class with Phillipa Naylor on 'Precision Piecing'. This may seem like an odd choice for me but once in a while I would like to make a block or two that is not completely wonky. Here is the block I produced while in her class:

As you may be able to see, this block has many challenges - lots of points to match up, lots of sizes of pieces and a couple of tricky piecing techniques. I thoroughly enjoyed her class as most of her advice reiterated things I already knew but rarey practice. Things like:

• Bear down hard on the rotary cutter when cutting out your pieces. You will not get a clean cut without significant pressure.



• Never let your rotary cutter get ahead of the hand holding down the ruler. If your rotary cutter gets ahead of your hand, the ruler will wobble.



• Press seams open when it will help your later piece work. When constructing squares from triangles, press the seams open to help match up points later on.



• Use your pins to help match points. I hate pinning but it really does help.



• Press, press, and press again. Boring yes, but pressing after each step does help with future work.

Just to show you how much I succeedded in my my block check out these matching points....

Now all I need is an idea on how to use this 'orphan' block. Any ideas?

Have a good weekend!

Kristal Wick

I took a class from Kristal Wick at the Quilt Festival and thoroughly enjoyed myself. She is known for her silk tube beads and has recently published a book on her techniques called 'Fabulous Fabric Beads'.


This was great class as we spent most of our time making the fabric for the beads. We painted, crinkled, stenciled and about a hundred other things to our silk and cotton fabrics. The last hour or so of class was spent actually making the beads. It some ways this was play time for me as I have already done most of the techniques but it was extremely educational to spend time with someone who really knew her stuff. I bought the book after lunch and spent most of the afternoon trying to make beads rather than practise techniques I am well familiar with. I won't show you the beads I made because, quite frankly, I can't find them in all the stuff I brought home from Festival. I wonder if Alex has found them yet?

If you get chance to take a class with Kristal, I highly recommend you try her out for a relaxing class that you can leave with real live beads to use in your work.

Jenny vs. Jennie

At Quilt Festival this past week there were classes by two of the quilt world's quilting divas Jenny Raymond and Jennie Rayment. Both taught bag making classes and a friend took classes from both of them. I have taken classes from both of them in the past but I keep getting their names mixed up.

I took a Jenny Raymond class a couple of years ago that concentrated on machine applique and thread painting. I don't remember most of the class work as it seems we spent a lot of time hearing about her study trip to Holland that inspired the quilt we were going to learn. In addition, she showed off her ribbon scarf made with ribbon and water souble stabilizer. I believe I bagged the class.

My friend took a class from her on the Easy on the Back Pack. I had made this pattern a couple of times in the past and had judged it the worst pattern I had ever worked with except for Amy Butler's patterns. Instead of too much information like Amy, Jenny left out a pattern piece and her instructions made no sense to me. My friend bagged the class as well after Jenny spent a lot of time showing everyone photos of her studio and a DVD that confused them even more. I believe the comment that really made her leave was ' I don't understand why you don't get this when its perfectly clear to me.'. Never take a class from her.

On the other hand, Jennie Rayment is a wonderful teacher. She is mainly known for her manipulated muslin items. The bag she taught was incredibly simple but incredibly useful. The class was laughing out loud most fo the time and most of them walked out with a finished project. Unlike most of her projects, this one did not include any twiddles, fiddles, folds or tucks just simple thread embellishment and a novel construction technique. I took one of the fabric manipulation classes in the past and also thoroughly enjoyed myself. Do not be confused, if Jennie Rayment is offering a class in your area, take it.

To be perfectly honest, Jenny Raymond is a multipule year entrant in the fashion show at the Quilt Festival and made a beautiful garment this year that won the viewers' choice award. It was truly lovely. Once again a wonderful designer/sewer does not always make a good teacher/pattern maker.

Fore-warned is fore-armed.

Gaveston, Oh, Galveston...

Tuesday my Northern Friend and I took a road trip that included a stop over to see Glaveston after Ike.

Let me set the scene... in the past, when I entered Galveston, I drove down I-45 admiring all the lovely homes on stilts and the boats bobbing in the water. I-45 ends on Broadway which was a beautiful street full of older homes with a wonderful bouelvard down the middle of the street full of huge Live Oaks and Royal Palms. It made me feel like I was in a different time all together and that Scarlett O'Hara would come bounding down the steps of the Bishop's Palace at any moment. Eating lunch on one of the piers over the water and visiting Quilts by the Bay were just the icing on the cake.

The homes on stilts are mostly there, just empty. The boats are lying on the side of the road. The houses and businesses on Braodway are still there but very little is left of the beautiful street. Not that there is a lot missing but it is hard to overlook the mounds of rubbish on the side of the road. It looks like many of the homes and businesses lost everything on their lower floors and it was now all on the street. In addition, the boulevard has been devastated. The Royal Palms have lost most of the bark on their trunks and are covered with a muddy brown residue. The Live Oaks did not have one green leaf left on them. In addition, athough the street along the gulf has been cleared of debris there is nothing in tact of all the piers that used to jut into the Gulf of Mexico. We found where we had had lunch in the past and it was just a shell on a crumpled pier.

My friend and I next found Quilts by the Bay - a wonderful quilt shop that catered to area residents as well as visiting tourists. The building will not be rebuilt and they are tryng to decide where they will go and how they will recover. Here is a shot of the front of the building:

That broken sign says it all. Here is a shot of the interior:

So sad to see such a vibrant shop devastated. The shop did come to the International Quilt Festival with any stock they had saved. Their booths were packed every time I went by there. I don't know if it was because of the deals on Ike damaged fabric, the 3 for 2 sale of Jim Shore items or the fact that Jacqueline DeJonge was there but pople were buying like there was no tomorrow.

I hope Quilts by the Bay will reopen soon and, despite the threat of future hurricanes, I hope they find space on the island for this venerable Galveson institution. Besides, on a selfish note, I loved visiting the island and spending time (and money) there. Here's hoping!

To market, to market to....

.....be completely overwhelmed by the huge variety of new stuff that will be marketed to sewers and quilters in the coming year. I have just spent the past few days at the Internaional Quilt Market which leads up tot the actual Quilt Festival. What a diferent place the market is when compared to the festival space. For one thing, there is very little purchasing of items to take home. Most of it is ordering stuff for future deliveries. In addition, there really aren't a lot of people at the Market, when compared to the Festival. Many store owners do not come to Market every year as they have reps from the companies visiting them regularly. In addition, there are usually just samples available in the booths rather than the bolts and bolts of fabric you see during the festival. The best part about the reduced number of people is that you can really spend a lot of time with the quilts in the display area without ducking out of the way of people trying to photograph the quilts.

Things I saw at Market that I am lusting after:

• Fabric from Daiwoo that is infused with Lavendar, Rose or Herb scents. Very subtle and they say it will wash out after several washings but what luxury while it lasts!
• Batting made from Bamboo or Bamboo/Cotton blends. There is something about the Bamboo that makes the cotton even more drapable than just cotton alone. I must find a good cheap source for this when I make my next big quilt.
• Rulers - I love rulers and have many but I MUST have the one that makes cutting bias binding easier. Its really neat, folds in half, is florescent green and stretches completely from selvage to selvage for cutting
• Bamboo and Cotton interlock knits distributed by Siltex of Canada. Silky smooth, very dense, very lightweight and soft as a cloud - I must find someone that carries this line!

Market is now over for this year. If I get a chance to go next year, I will know better about what's available for immeadiate purchase and what needs to be ordered. One thing that I will look forward to next year is the Friday long 'School House'. During 12 - 15 sessions that are between 15 and 30 minutes long, various designers and manufacturers show the attendees what's new in their lines.

This year Jay McCarroll (sic?) of Project Runway fame was there with his first fabric line. Its very cute but if you look too closely at his bunnies and such they look like they are all having a bad LSD trip while looking very innocent. He even showed some small quilts where he enlarged specific motifs from the fabric and recreated them with solid fabrics fused to the quilt. Very clever!

Mark Lipinski was also at the 'School House' and kept everyone in stitches with his tale of purchasing and wearing a girdle. Besides promoting his new fabric line (Krakow) he also did a session on growing a quilt or any business. He made the point ( and I think I have this right) that we need to market to ourselves and our children rather than to our mothers. We grew up in the sixties or later and reproduction prints and traditional quilt patterns are probably not our style.

Another vendor brought up Daddy and me classes rather than Mommy and Me as a business builder. I had a flash of all those divorced Fathers looking for new and different ways to entertain their daughters on their weekends with them. What a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon rather than going shopping at the mall or taking in another movie.

The actual Quilt Festival starts tomorrow evening. Today my Northern Friend and I will be doing a little cruising around town... visiting Ikea and a couple of quilt shops. We may also take a trip down to Galveston to see how things are going. If we do, I'll try to take and post some pictures of what we find All in all, a lazy day so we are well rested before the real shopping begins.

Preparations

While my Northern frends are beginning to make their preparations for the coming winter, I am making preparations for the Houston International Quilt Festival. I think this will be my ninth year attending and every year it serves as a reminder that the hot and humid days of summer here are gone until next May. One of the things I do to prepare for the Quilt Festival is sign up for classes. My criteria are simple, classes need to offer up something interesting and do not include a lot of pre-purchasing of materials before hand. This year, so far, I have only signed up for two classes. One is to improve my piecing skills and the other is just for fun... a whole day of making fabric beads. The materials for both can be sourced from my stash and should be very interesting.

The other thing I do is try to figure out what stuff will I carry to hold purchases and stuff that I will need to make my Fstival days a little less bothersomeweary. I generally carry a rolling tote with wheels folded up to carry purchases, but with all the tote bags I have made this past year I may just bring a bunch of them... fill one up, return it to the car, get another one, do more shopping and repeat. Something to carry other essentionals such as cash, credit cards, ID and credentials is another matter. I have tried out several things in the past and just finished a new one to try this year. In no particular order, here are some of my collection of hanging pockets for conferences:

Size - 5" x 6"

Details - one zipper pocket, one Velcroed pocket, one open pocket, two pen holders

This one came from the American Sewing Guild. It is a good size, cost me about $5.00 and holds stuff securely. There are two problems with this pouch - it really doesn't hold more than the bear necessities. Cram in just one lip gloss and it becomes a bulky rock thing around your neck. The other thing I don't like is wearing a logo. Yes, it is probably good for the sewing guild but sometimes I don't like being an advertising billboard.

Size - 6" x 7 1/2"

Details - one zippered pocket, two open pockets, one pen holder

This one is unique and was developed during a pre-Festival event. For $5.00 you were given a plain black pouch, a whole bunch of fabric glue and six long tables of stuff to stick on your pouch. For some reason that day I was into the glitz and glamour of gold and black. It is larger than the ASG one but it too can look like a rock when full. The other disadvantage to this one is that the hanging strap is closed by the itchiest Velcro I have ever come across. I have been stopped many times by people asking for the pattern and I have to confess to them that there was no pattern just a lot of glue drying time.

Sizes - 5" x 4", 5" x 5 1/2"

Details - each have three credit card slots and velcroed change pocket all covered by a velcroed flap

These two little gems are from a commercial pattern that I cannot find anymore. The one on the left uses netting instead of vinyl for the badge holder. Both sizes are in the pattern and both hold the essentials including a nice little change pocket. These were both fiddley projects with little tolerance for errors in seam allowances. Again, you can get the rock around the neck look if it is really loaded up but they are both so small that the temptation is never really there.

Size - 7" x 6 1/2"

Details - outer cover - two penholders and one open pocket. inner purse - two open pockets

This is the one I just finished for this year. It is based on a pattern through Hancock Fabrices called 'Purse with a Secret'. One of our local ASG members modified the pattern for an ID window. The secret is that the outer pouch has another hidden inside of it. I added the two pen holders on the side because I am always wanting to write something down. Mine is a little bulkier than the samples I have seen... it is almost a rock around the neck before I get it filled because I used fusible fleece rather than the suggested thin batting. I think I will try this one out this year because I can probably add a lot too it before it looks like a blouder aornd my neck.

So those are my winter preparations - no leaf raking, no putting up the storm windows or cutting the grass for the last time. For me its signing up for classes and playing with fabric. Its a good life and, after all , someone has to do it!