Day in the studio

. . . to further explore circles.

I goofed the first one.

A more systematic approach for the next one. Systematic means less prone to error. At least it gave me an approach for the next quarter circle.

Took most of the day for one quarter circle - about 20" square. A long term project is in my future.

Guild show

Very spring-like yesterday. Yet I was indoors clearing e-mails, catching up on paperwork, and cleaning up everywhere. I did manage a late afternoon hour in the garden pulling weeds. Some things can't wait.

My two submissions for the guild show can't wait either - they're due Monday.

Orange Rhyme

lap quilt

EBHQ's bi-annual show, Voices in Cloth, will be on March 17th and 18th at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA. The pavilion is an award winning former Ford assembly plant - a soaring space with skylights and big windows with views of San Francisco Bay. I'm very excited about this new venue - a welcome change from the downtown convention center.

The show is non-juried, but the caliber of work is amazing. Terrific quilters in the guild - award winners too. Am I lucky to be in such a good group, or what? We'll showcase more than 200 quilts. Get a flavor by watching the slide show of November's Show and Tell.

Come for the quilts, for the show, for the view, for the architecture and for the history. Come say hello.

New circles

Piecing circles with straight lines again.

on the wall

 Circles differently from this or these. And discovering possibilities.

Crazy Eight 2

Are you missing the old Monthly Solids Club as much as I am? 

Pink Chalk Fabrics now has a Charming Solids Club - a combo of charm packs of prints with coordinating fat eighths of solids. This variation doesn't work for me.

For my December withdrawal I selected my own eight solids - previously posted here. So this month I'm self-medicating again.

From top to bottom, these Moda Bella Solids (I love the hand of this line): (1) Fig Tree Olive, (2) Hay, (3) Paper Bag, (4) Dark Teal, (5) Weathered Teak, (6) Earth, (7) Golden Wheat and (8) Fig Tree Wheat.

They weren't stacked in packing list order, so I'm not sure I matched the colors - except for the olive and teal - to the fabrics correctly. The Weathered Teak especially doesn't live up to its name nor to its online image.

Oh well. Next time: a wider range of colors for easier identification. If there is a next time. I still have hope that Pink Chalk Fabrics will have another monthly solids option.

Went south, going north & an opportunity for you

Thursday I went south for Road to California in Ontario. Warmth and sunshine!

I thought everybody else would be at work on a weekday. Instead quilters were out in force and chomping at the bit on opening day, which meant a 40-minute line to the ticket booth. From the entrance you can’t even see the end of the line which ended out on the street sidewalk.

ticket line

I was there for a photo op with Orange Rhyme which hung in Ricky Tim's All That Jazz exhibition.

Orange Rhyme and me

Seeing is believing. Silly me. See an online slide show of the entire exhibition here.

I also met with Annette Guerrero. Always great talking with a friend, roommate and fellow Crow Barn workshop participant. After lunch she help me find my way to the quilts amongst the many vendors.

Seeing others’ work always inspire me. I ended the long day by squeezing in an hour in my studio when I got home.

Then at the end of February, I'm heading north > brrr!< to Indianola, WA again for another workshop with Nancy Crow - Potpourri: a Challenging Variety of Compositional Exercises. That same week from 2/27 to 3/2 she's also offering Improvisations: Let’s Experiment!.

Turns out there are two last minute openings. Interested in this opportunity? Contact me for more info.

Artist in training

About halfway done with the 3,000 almond trees to prune before they bloom in mid-February.

pruned branches on ground between rows of trees

Since November I've been helping out in the orchard. I've lost count how many I've pruned. Maybe half. This city girl has gone country.

Some trees are saplings. A few snips and they're done. Easy peasy. The bigger ones are tougher.

I was a pruner in training for the first few rows. After a few hundred trees, I'm surer and faster. Pruning is as much about the eye as it is about the physicality of the cut. 


after



before



Sometimes it's really obvious which branches must go. Other times I must choose. The difference may be subtle. Yet I know I've chosen wisely when the tree lets out a nearly audible sigh of relief.

How does this relate to quilting? Nancy Crow always advises her students to do the exercises again and again, to compose many many quilt tops.

Only by repetition does the body and mind learn. As with pruning, so it is with quilting. Quantity does count.

Train the quilter. Train the eye. Train the artist.

First Friday favorite photo - January

While preparing for a workshop last fall, I re-discovered photos scattered on multiple flash drives and computers. So one goal this year is to organize all my photos on a portable hard drive.

If I share one with you each month, I will come face to face with the disorganization and be compelled to do something about it. That's the idea anyway.

This one is special because it's the first favorite I re-found (not a quick and easy search).

I'll post monthly through the end of the year irregardless. The next one will be on February 3rd.

New center



re-quilted center



Compare this to before. Less thread contrast. Repeated lines stitched elsewhere. No more doubts. About the quilting anyway. Ready to move on to squaring, facing, and sleeve.