Long Beach Quilt Festival or Bust

It has been a whirlwind summer. Loads of fun and definitely not lacking in places to go, things to see & do. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting my friends house -- she is the owner of Beyond the Reef Patterns and was up to her eyebrows in fabric she was prepping for the 'happening NOW' Long Beach International Quilt Festival.

When I did I fell in love with some wild Marcia Derse fabric --- I just had to put them into a quilt... and then of course have it all ready to demo for Natalie's booth.

Well, here's the quilt... and you'll find me all this weekend at the show, and at Beyond the Reef from 12-2 on Fri/Sat & Sun.

phew...I'm off and hope to see many of you there!

To Bill Volckening:

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While in Sisters I was really pleased to have had a chance to hear the lecture of Bill Volckening. Most of you know me as the art quilter....but there was a time that I not only created more traditional work, but studied to become an quilt appraiser. My love of the quilters that came before me and to those who will come after me is strong, for we are linked together in stitches. Bill's wonderful collection was thrilling to see and oh how I love New York Beauties! My love of this little treasures was made even stronger in the '90s as paper piecing made these 'a tiny bit' easier to stitch together.

It was also during this time that I was the president of Flying Geese Quilters of Irvine, California. As their custom, they create a special quilt for their outgoing presidents... AND THEY ASK YOU WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE! I was lucky enough to have a smart, savvy wonderful quilter in charge of creating my quilt --- Nancy Jacobus, and if you know her please pass along this big thank you. She held mini workshops before guild started to get the 'points' stitched just right. And, I do hold this quilt very dear indeed. (they even got ravens in there-just for me)

I feel that Bill should see this unique and wonderful quilt, and I can't help but want to share it with all of you, too. Enjoy!

Mixing It Up at Sisters

This was my second year teaching at Quilters Affaire...and this first picture was taken during the What's On Top? Embellishments class. Students had a fun, but fast day learning 10 different ways to embellish -- and since we were in a school with whiteboards begging to be used... well, I just couldn't resist.

After a wonderful week of classed, I stayed on for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Last year I stood in amazement as the quilts went up and with camera in hand happily recorded some favorites. This year I jumped in, volunteered and got to hang quilts and help out at the children's booth.

There was little time for picture taking. But, what is etched into my memory is that with 1400+ quilts that were hanging, no one was left out. Traditional quilts hung happily along side of art quilts and there were modern quilts hanging as well... all equally wonderful and all amazing the thousands and thousands of visitors that descended upon the city as the sun came up.

The newspaper guide of the event contained the wonderful mix-up of genres of quilts too, for there were special exhibits of Gees Bend quilts, SAQA and the Modern Quilters of Portland... just to name a few. And, of course there was the SHOPPING! I admit that I got a bit carried away with my purchase there of wool roving.... but, I couldn't help myself. It also may work out to benefit you as well, for I'll be posting these to website-embellishments-products page. (wool will be posted by this weekend)

Mention Gone Crazy in Sisters and receive free postage on 1 - item thru July 31st!

I feel especially blessed to not only live to see so many 'types' of quilts being displayed at Sisters, but to be part of it all as well. The lines are being crossed between us all and the mixing of it all will lead to even more beautifully designed and executed quilts.... and of course the next genre.

The Streets of Sisters

... are once again open to traffic, as the 36th Annual Sister's Quilt Festival came to a close. It seems hard to believe that it just aweek ago that I flew in and had a grand time seeing all sorts of fun demos that the whole town sets up, and this is before Quilters Affaire (a full week of soooo many classes got started-including mine!)

There were too many fun demos that day, but Sara Bella  upcycle had one idea I plan to try out(wildly fun).

I promise to write about more... but it will take some time to sort it all out. 'til then I'll be wending my way back home. Here's a photo coming into Seattle.

Location:between flights in Seattle