Italian Inspiration

Have you ever seen (or given or received)  one of those tourist t-shirts that say something like, My Parents Went ___ And All's I Got Was This Dumb T-shirt.... Well, my tale may not be as bad as all that, but recently my sister and her husband went for three weeks to Italy. What everyone at home got was wonderful tales of what they did, what they and of course what they ate! One of the last places they visited was Perugia and these were the photos that turned up in my email for that day. Of all the pictures they have shared so far these are my favorites.

One of them is screaming at me to 'make it into a quilt'.
Can you guess which one?

Just In - From Asilomar

Mary Mayne just forwarded these pix on -- and I had to share!

Anyone taking my workshops may have taken part in 'morning sharing'. I gather the students for a bit of time together. One of the things I like to have everyone do is give themselves 'permission' to do something they may have been wanting to do, but were having a hard time. (I have to give credit to Kara Jones -Mother Henna's book - 1,000 Permissions Granted for the idea)

The group in Asilomar gathered from all points -- with students from England, Scotland, Illinois, Washington and California -- and most wanted to make sure they got down to the beach to get their feet in the water. Seeing that we were to spend Memorial Day together it seemed quite fitting that we planned to have a bit of our own picnic on the beach. Needless to say we had a blast and of course we needed pictures. As we got in close for a group shot we handed five cameras to a poor young gentleman who just happened to be standing there. Then many of us got our foot in the 'beach toes' picture, too! It was just a bit more proof as to why Asilomar is such a fun place to take an Empty Spools workshop.

In looking back it was pretty smart to have the teacher be part of the adventure - this way insuring no one was late back to class.

More from Colorado

Had to post some additional pictures from my visit to Colorado. Both of my hosting guilds were wonderful and I was made to feel very welcome. The smilebox slideshow shows just a few of the photos that I took while we turned our minds away from quilts to head up into Rocky Mountain National Park  -- a detour I will be forever grateful for. The afternoon light hitting the mountain range was breathtaking.

I am following this up with a class photo -- guess in such a wonderful place you would expect to see the many versions of the beauty around them. Make sure you find the quilt with the bear--waiting patiently at the picnic table.

Personalize a photo album

Have a wonderful weekend!

Capital Quilts

On my arrival to Denver, I battled the multiple FULL trains to get my bags picked up then found myself in the first of several wonderful guild hosts & hostesses. This day Judy planned a visit to the Colorado capital were they just happen to have an awesome quilt show... you really had to think whether the building or the quilts were the stars...this along with a personal tour with Judy's daughter who just happens to work there. Enough words... check out the pictures and enjoy.

Location:Denver Colorado

Queen of Clouds

This seemed like a funny name, but several of my students this past week in Asilomar told me that they love the clouds as they are stitched in my quilts...hmmm...got me thinking. That aside this group of quilters (literally from around the world) was an amazing group. They jumped right in from the start and were able to go up as a group on day 2 to show their 'trainer' quilts... and from there they went on to create some really wonderful quilts from their landscape photo choices.

The picture below is the group (minus one - Ruth, left a bit early and missed the picture, but hers are wonderful, too).

In the slideshow each of the students appears with their project... guarantee you'll enjoy clicking through them.

A slideshow design by Smilebox

Finally, I heard from the group many times about the clouds and I must admit that I truly love to watch, and pay attention to clouds, their color and presence .... maybe there will be an upcoming booklet of cloud images. I know the skies as I drove home yesterday were truly inspiring - do you agree.?

for now, I am home working at least for a bit and will be enjoying the skies close to home.