More from Houston

Between Halloween and Market celebrations last night it was a wild evening in Houston.... This was only after a wild day of running around, appointments and general visiting at market itself. As for visiting I did manage to take a few pictures of some of my twitter tweeps in their booths. @barij and @penguinandfish...







As for the running around, my map had lots of booths circled and there was the occasional text from others that said something like OMG-have to visit 1056! All in all there was so much to see and so much to do that there was little time for sitting, but one had to find a place to break if only to catch your breath. My little refuge was in my publisher's booth Martingale and the last picture here was taken from that quiet (ha)spot in the corner... they're the best!



With all the wild and wonderful new fabric and tools, a couple of my favorite places were Lantern Moon and Out on a Bead... naturally they were embellishment vendors (always near and dear to my heart).

As an fyi to those who have not been to market, besides the some 2200 vendor spaces there is a whole other world of amazing quilts on display. Mind you with the craziness of all the business happening there is little time left for walking through the quilts -- but, boy it is worth it! Having a chance to check out the quilts was another one of my favorite quiet time escapes -- and the Text on Textile exhibit, SAQA Sightline, and the special exhibit of Traditional Quilts were visual feasts. Walking through them was great, but having to take a few minutes to wish my sister a Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday Mo!) gave me a special chance to take in the quilts from a different vantage. I was very pleasantly surprised at the impact of all the works hung while I set my (very heavy) bag down by the front/ leaned back against the wall and just took it all in. Amazing....

For me it is home today. DH and kitties await, but market opens afresh in just a few hours. Hope your day is filled only with fun tricks and wonderful, fanciful, and of course... tastey treats!

Houston - Quilt Market 2010

I sit in my hotel room this evening totally tuckered out from a day of walking, talking and generally running from one great presentation to another checking out the 'what's new' in the world of fabric, books, tool and my favorite... embellishments! This kind of sums up Schoolhouse - a wild whirlwind of new stuff.

It all starts early in the morning, for you have to get up to get the Schoolhouse brochure in order to figure out just where you want to go.... so starting at 8am you can pick up the program and use the time until 10am coming up with a game plan before the doors open. Check out the ladies working up their own personal playbooks....






We picked up ours and headed for breakfast, where four of us worked out who would go where, when and to see who and pick up what... confusing? not at all....

We went from session to session having a great time until text messages started to quietly invade -- time for a break - and a meet up at 1:30.  Vicky here is one of our group and has taken on the job of Quilt Slave for my other friends (editors of Quilters Home) Jake and Melissa and she is definitely smiling with anticipation of heading back into the fray for afternoon sessions.



For me the last session of the day was one put on by Kreinik Manufacturers - Doug, one of the owners who is always amazing and the people in the back (where I was) going 'how cool is that!' Amazing how a bunch of thread can make a group of grown woman 'sooooooo' happy. 



The day done, there was only the evening left. Heavy bags of goodies (no Halloween candy here) sorted and in the case of fabric 'oohhed and aahhed' over one more time. Nite time activities will have to be reported by others, for I'll never tell!

Design Group - Exercise in Black & White

Well my bags are pack and I pretty much ready to go --- off to Houston for Quilt Market.
But, I had to share today's design group exercise. It was creative, expansive morning... We had taken some old art catalogs and each of us chose a art piece that we wanted to work with. Then using a set of L shapes we selected a portion of the artwork that held our interest. From there we worked on producing 3 different works of our own. Limited only by use of Black & White materials only..... anything else was open....
Whadda think? These are snapshots taken from some of our sketchbooks.

Framery Gallery -Quilting is Art Exhibit

It has been a busy week since I returned from PIQF, and I have been happily getting ready for my trip next week to Houston for Quilt Market.  The weather has cooperated, for feeling like fall it has been cool and wet, and made being in the studio feel extra cozy. Yesterday though I took a break from all the studio work and headed over to the gallery for Demo Day. It was a lot of fun and I came a way with more than a few ideas to try out for myself.

From across the gallery I heard Stacy explaining just how much practice calligraphy takes, and then creating it on fabrics just making it even more special.

Suanne whipped up all sorts of wonder fabrics and textiles into little dolls. While...

Trish & David Charity were just having way too much fun. Gloves on, up to their elbows in alcohol based inks - Trish using all sorts of color sources on fabrics, and David using these inks on metals - (he was even recycling the metal trays from those tv dinner thingys).

I was there demonstrating beading but took some time out to visit the other artists and snap these pictures and (of course) check out what they were working on.

It was a great day in the gallery and those attending all walked away with some 'new' knowledge.

PIQF Followup

This snapshot summed it up...people were here to see quilts!

OK, I admit between all the busy, fun time being had there was little time to post the daily happenings at Pacific International Quilt Festival. As usual it was a wonderful show with loads of incredible quilts and more big and little fun new things to either add to your stash or tool kit than you can possibly imagine. There were heart stopping beautiful quilts, and others that were edgie, ones that loaded up on the visual treats and others that were very subtle but packed just as much impact. The judges had their work cut out for them, and the special exhibits were amongst some of my favorites.  The only group that did not seem to had a special exhibit this year are the new 'Modern Quilters'.

I asked the festival coordinator about the missing modern quilters and she said she would be absolutely delighted to see an exhibition presented quilts of this style, and I do hope that we begin to see more from this group. I hate to think of this, but I can remember a time when art quilts were not represented at the big festivals. This has long been resolved, and it is great to see new styles and new ideas being presented.

Dawn from Creation Station

Sew Batik,,,so much fun!

The girls from Beyond the Reef

the Stitchin Post

The other favorite part of visiting PIQF is the great shopping opportunities, and I'm sharing here some of my favorite places that were full of fun and great stuff at the show.

Day - 1 Report

Well, Natalie and I got going from our Long Beach places Tuesday, around noon. Noon can be a either a good time or a bad time to hit the freeways in LA, but we sailed through... so fast we decided to drop in to Alexander Henry's fabrics on the way north.

Nat said 20 minutes...but, we were on a way in just an hour and-a-half.....
After that we hit the road - through the Grapevine and heading north. All went well and we had hours of chat time... probably the best part of the trip. Wed is set up, so I'm sure there will be lots to see.

Change In Plans

Life around here for the last month has been pretty busy. Fall always brings a rush of activity. Events filled with meeting new and old friends and generally having enough opportunities to fill a calendar to brimming. Mine was filled up with days allotted to working in the studio, with a few openings, a couple of meetings, parties thrown in for fun... then everything took a little detour. You know a detour - a roundabout course used temporarily when the main route is closed.

Well I didn't have a road close, but a friend got sick and I made an offer to step in and cover one of her commitments. This is where the fun begins. Now I am off to No.CA to attend Pacific International Quilt Festival, and while there is work that will need to be done I am really looking forward to visiting this always wonderful collection of quilts, vendors and people having fun.

I'll be working at the Mulberry Leaf booth #602 (if you're around... stop by), and I've been pulling together a book signing for Sat.- there at the booth between 3-5. I also get to visit my Noble Seasons-Summer piece...



Now I must return to packing. The kitties know something is up, but they've gotten used to keeping their dad company. If you're getting the chance - whether planned or not... to visit the festival, I hope you stop by to say hi. Pictures are pretty much guaranteed. Have a great week!

Quilting Is Art - October Exhibit

Hope to see you there!