2018 Recapped

January - Road to California!

Seriously, if you're a quilter and you still haven't been to Road, what are you waiting for?  As always, I had a ball, saw lots of friends, and spent too much money.

Highlight was my first class with Gudrun Erla of GE Quilt Designs.  She has a talent for designing quilts by making simple blocks, then cutting and reassembling them into very complex looking blocks. She taught two lovely quilt patterns, Nova and Amalie, with bonus instruction on using her Stripology rulers.  Another fangirl moment for me.  

I chose to work on Amalie, using some Asian inspired fabrics.  Before we started chopping and reassembling, Gudrun warned us about paying attention to the orientation of our original blocks - a wrong direction would result in a backwards block.  Of course, I carefully cut my first two blocks in the wrong direction.  So I had to make all my squares left-handed.  But I still enjoyed every minute of this class and went home with several finished blocks.  Which went straight into another project box to languish.

February 13 - Start of the Forty Fabulous Years with Eleanor! 2018 Block Party

I'm fortunate enough to be a couple of hours away from Quilt in a Day's San Marcos store.  So when they announced a serious of live webinars celebrating Eleanor's fortieth year in the quilting biz, my sister and I signed up right away.  A year-long series of fangirl moments!  Best place to see a history of this project and photos of some gorgeous quilts is on the facebook group.  As I write this in 2022, the group is still in existence on FB, although the last post was over a year ago.

 Each month we trekked down to San Marcos to sit in on the filming while enjoying a lesson on that month's block.  This was another sampler quilt, this time with diagonal rows of log cabin blocks alternating with rows of the 'sampler' blocks.  Depending on the colors chosen and how the log cabins were oriented, each quilt can look unique.  Here's the prototype quilt from Eleanor:

 

Here are my planning notes along with some of  my blocks completed throughout the year. Just before the first session, I saw this close up photo of Jupiter and really wanted to make a quilt reminiscent of it. Well, finding the exact colors was a challenge and I strayed a little with one of my darks, but I did get the effect I wanted.

I chose to use a dark gold center to represent the light in the cabin window. Or maybe the spacecraft window. I’m not yet an experienced piecer but I found the instructions pretty easy to follow when I actually read carefully. I do have a stack of dark strips cut to the wrong length because I got a bit uppity but I’m sure they won’t be wasted.

June 21-23 - Quilt Show Reno

Because the huge January Road to CA show isn't enough, my sister and I decided to go up the the Quilt Show Reno.   I didn't take any classes, although I did sit in on quite a few of the short seminars.  Most memorable - Lauretta Crites showing how she uses colored pencils instead of crayons.  As her sample, she used a block from Mystery of the Salem Quilt Guild, a pattern that's been sitting in one of my many project boxes.  I've been afraid to start it because of my art failures in kindergarten.  Some traumas just stay with you.  

Anyway, it was a small, but really fun show.   A reasonable roster of teachers, excellent seminars, and good shopping opportunities.  Of which I took full advantage. 

September 7-22 -  Tour of Iceland, Germany, France, and European Patchwork Quilt Meeting with Gudrun Erla!

I never even knew Iceland was a destination and had no interest in going.  Until my sister started talking about this tour, led by Gudrun, who is a native born Icelander.   I was still not interested in Iceland or Germany, but really wanted to do the France portion of the tour, especially the Quilt Meeting and the stay in Paris.   I visited Paris way back in 1996, as part of a 1-day chunnel trip to Paris.  Unfortunately, the train was hours late leaving London due to terrorist threats (it was the I.R.A. back then) so our Paris tour consisted primarily of riding on a bus while the driver pointed out landmarks we didn't have time to see.  And a quick jog through the Louvre to get our allotted 10-second look at the Mona Lisa.   So I really wanted to go back for a real look.

Sorry, folks, but I'm sharing some non-fiber related photos here.   It turned out that Iceland is a spectacular country.  I found the people to be remarkably friendly.  Everything is clean - even the food is grown cleanly and it's amazing how much better basic foods such as vegetables and dairy products taste without all the chemicals and processing. 

Some obligatory landscape photos of Iceland.  I can't possibly do justice to the scenery.  Just amazing.  If you have a bucket list, put Iceland on it NOW.  Even better if you are a quilter and can go on one of Gudrun's trips.  She is a delight - of course she knows Iceland like the back of her hand.  But it goes beyond that - she handled all the problems (and there will always be some on any tour) with calmness and patience.  She was genuinely friendly to everyone.  In Europe, where she didn't have as much experience, there were locals to guide us along the way.  

Travel tip - even though it is expensive and a total tourist thing, don't miss the Blue Lagoon.  As someone who hasn't appeared in a swimsuit in public for more than four decades (and rightfully so), I made myself go and am so glad I did.  Just spring for the private dressing rooms if you can - there are things I saw in the public (gender separated) dressing room that I can never unsee.

While driving through the countryside, we saw many flocks of Icelandic sheep. With isolation in the earliest part of Iceland's human habitation and the more recent laws making it illegal to import sheep to Iceland, the breed has remained 'pure' for centuries and is one of the oldest in the world.  There are over 800,000 sheep on the island, more than twice the human population.  Their fleeces are dual-coated, so when separated carefully, the guard hairs make excellent water-resistant outerwear, while the soft inner coat is wonderful for garments that touch the skin.

Although quilting is not a big thing on the island, knitting definitely is.  Hand knitting has been an important part of the economy for something like five centuries.  I hear that children are taught to knit in school, so theoretically every Icelander has at least a rudimentary knowledge of the craft.  Gudrun happens to have two aunts who are master knitters, and I was fortunate enough to by these rose-pattern mittens from one of them.  Maybe not so practical for Southern California, but who could resist?

 

 

 One of our most memorable non-scenic stops was the Icelandic Saga Centre in Hvolsvöllur.  Inside this unassuming building, they were working on a remarkable project - a 930 metre tapestry depicting Njal's Saga - one of Iceland's most voluminous medieval sagas.  Best description I could find of the project and the saga is on Guide To Iceland - Njal's Saga Tapestry.  For a small fee, visitors could embroider a portion of the tapestry using Bayeux stitch.  Could anyone who has heard about the Bayeux tapestry resist having their hand in a project that exceeds the length of that monumental work?  Rhetorical question - the answer is obviously 'not me!'

So I sat down and was given a needle and yarn, and brief instructions.  I started out great - my high-school hand-embroidery skills came back pretty quickly.  I think I was a little too excited about being even a small part of this huge project, though, because I soon lost it and couldn't put in a single good stitch.  I'm pretty sure they pick out a lot of stitching after the visitors have gone - including about the last quarter or so of the part that I worked on. 

 

After Iceland, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany, where we boarded a bus to Heidelberg.  I couldn't tell you anything about the drive because I had come down with a bad cold and slept the entire time.  Also slept the evening away while the tour group was off doing the "Student Prince" experience and slept right through my alarm the next morning - causing us to miss the departure of the tour group!  Caught up with them at Heidelberg Castle for a quick tour, funicular railway to Old Heidelberg and about 10 minutes to see the sights there, then back on the bus to Ste. Marie aux Mines for day 1 of the quilt show.  

The show was actually spread among four small villages in the Alsace region of France.  The shopping tents were in Ste. Marie, with exhibitions in all four villages and a very convenient shuttle between them.  Honestly, I was so drowsy from decongestants, I don't remember much of the exhibitions.  I do, of course, remember the shopping because we spent most of our time there.  For the most part, the people were very friendly and I met sellers from all over Europe. 

Evidenced by the photos below of all the great stuff I brought home.   Travel tip # 2 - when traveling, take your oldest clothes you don't care about, and jettison them along the way to make room for better stuff in your suitcase.  Or travel with an extra empty suitcase.   I did both.  That was after mailing home all my cold weather wear that I turned out not to need in Iceland.  Travel tip #3 - do not use DHL to ship anything you care about.  We shipped home two boxes from Frankfurt.  One arrive with a large hole and items missing, and the other never left Germany.  DHL would not take responsibility for either, even though we had insured the packages. 

After two days at the show, we boarded an ATG (high speed train) from Strasbourg to Paris.  Travel tip #3 for Americans - be quiet on the trains. Our group was so excited to be on our way to Paris that some of us were exceedingly loud.  To the point where we were getting shushed and glared at by other passengers and I was pretending not to be with 'them.'  It was a great tour group - only real problem we had was a trio of women who consistently made the group wait for them at every stop and didn't seem concerned about it.  

I won't go on about Paris because there was nothing fiber arts related, except to show this photo of my favorite place in all of France.  Remember in Gigi, when Louis Jourdan strolls at night through the city, singing the title song?  One of the spots is in front of a fountain featuring horses, and it's one of my all-time favorite movie moments.

Well the fountain is called Fontaine de l'Observatoire and it’s located at the south end of the Jardin du Luxembourg. I sat on a park bench right in front of this very fountain and took a few hundred photos and videos of it.  Of which this is just one.

 

We all went our separate ways after a few days in Paris... my sister and I boarding a train to the charming medieval commune of Bayeux.  Another bucket list item for me - to see the Bayeux Tapestry.  There is, of course, a lot more to see in that area of France.   We had an amazing personalized tour of WWII historic sites.  

So the Bayeux Tapestry is simply amazing to see in person. The museum's designers did an outstanding job making the entire tapestry accessible to visitors. Admission includes a handheld device with an audio guide that brings the story of the tapestry to life. 

For the first time in several decades, my college Latin came in handy and I was actually able to read most of the captions for myself. This is an image of just a small part of the tapestry.  Which is actually not a tapestry, but an embroidery on linen.  This is a royalty-free photo of a small part of the tapestry - visitors are not allowed to take photographs inside the museum. 

I hear they are planning a new museum - can't imagine how they can make the experience any better.   

 

 

 And the glorious view of the cathedral from our hotel window at night.

 

 

 

 

 October 31 -  Happy Halloween

My annual contribution to the Halloween festivities in my office.  Turns out it was the last time because Covid has us closed for the following two years and I'm working from home these days.  Once again I couldn't decide between two things I found on the internet, so I did both.

The deviled eggs were supposed to look like sick eyeballs.  They did look pretty good before the color I used to make the veins ran.  Pretty disappointing, but they did get consumed.

 

 This is classic spinach and artichoke dip.   Already looks pretty gross taken out of context so I didn't need to do any doctoring - just added the pre-carved fake pumpkin and a tin of crackers.  This was all gone really quickly - my best effort, I think.

December 10 - the Forty Fabulous Years Quilt Top is Assembled!

 

Just in time for the final Eleanor Burns taping in this series, I got my quilt top assembled and I am so thrilled that it came out the way I envisioned it.  Funny story about Eleanor - midway through the series, she invited attendees to send photos of one of the squares.   I very proudly sent mine.  Then she went through them on the show.   She was so eloquent about each of the photos and described what she liked about each one.  I was so excited when she got to mine, then she said '... and this one is... blue.'  And quickly moved on to the next block.   What a let-down!

But the story has a happy ending.  At the December taping, we were invited to bring our work up for a final show-and-tell.   Knowing that she had not been impressed by my block, I was hesitant, but darn it, I was proud of that quilt and wanted to show it.  Imagine my surprise and joy when she LOVED the assembled top.  Made up for the earlier disappointment and then some.

Both of those moments were 'televised' on YouTube.  If you look hard enough, you may still find them in the Eleanor Burns channel.

 

 

 

November 27-December 21 - Stella Quilt Along 

Just on the heels of our return from Europe, Gudrun offered a Quilt Along using the Stella pattern from her book, Stripology Mixology.  For those who didn't have the book, she offered a PDF pattern for sale on her website.  

Each week, we had a free demonstration and check-in.  For some reason, I felt compelled to take the name literally and chose a variety of fabrics with silver and gold stars.  Mirabile dictu - I actually finished assembling the top within a few days of the last class.  Still needs to be quilted and bound but that's no surprise, is it?

Highlights of 2017

To any of the few people who actually read this blog, I apologize. Again. Despite my best intentions, I have this tendency to be distracted by shiny objects, squirrels, and just about anything that moves.  And I don't keep up my posting.  

Phew, now that that's off my conscience, here are a few of the high spots of 2017.

 

January 17-20.  Road to California!

If you're remotely interested in quilting and you haven't heard of this annual show, you need to check it out.  Right now!  Road to California .  We'll wait right here until you come back.

Even though this is just a few miles from my home, I make sure to save up a weeks' vacation time so I can take a few classes and attend as many events as possible.  Icing on the cake is that they have a huge vendor hall with every kind of quilting machine, fabric, and other products that you can imagine.  The classes I chose this year:

Block Printing.  We learned how to stamp cleanly on fabric, how to load the block with different colors to add dimension and depth, and leaving portions of a block uncolored  for various effects.  On the round designs, empty space looks flawed.  On the leaves, empty space adds interest.  We also looked at printing on darker fabrics with light-colored inks.

Our main project was a silk scarf.  We were given several felt pens and told to go to town drawing anything we wanted to create a background for the blocks we were going to use.  Being drawing-challenged, I just drew a series of  curves in two colors and hoped for the best.   Once done, we sprayed the scarves with rubbing alcohol until saturated to let the colors run, and laid them out to dry.  Then we stamped them with various blocks, let them dry again, and ironed.  Considering my drawing inhibitions, I was pretty happy with my finished scarf.

Curves Drawn with Markers

Alcohol Making the Colors Run

Designs Stamped And Waiting to Dry

Dancing Cranes

This was a class in using Apliquik tools to make elegantly finished hand applique.  The pattern we used was Dancing Cranes by Kathy McNeil.  This is a slow-painstaking process, but I enjoyed every minute of the class.  This is the event, though, that made me realize I needed more than bifocals to see well enough to stitch neatly.  More on that later.  Maybe someday I'll actually finish the project... I don't think I have the patience to spend more than a few minutes at a time on this.

Every year they have a special event called the Roundabout.  They invite a number of artists to set up stations in one of the big conference rooms.  The attendees can choose any station where there's room, then the artist has 15 minutes to demonstrate their tools, techniques, supplies, etc. At the end of that time, the attendees have to move to a different station.  They repeat this five or six times.  At the end, you get to shop.  This was my first year attending, and it was hard to choose which demonstrations to attend - they all looked so interesting.  The most notable part of the evening was meeting Gudrun Erla, who will have a huge impact on my future quilting.

A few days later...

Took the APQS longarm certification class again.  I had already forgotten juat about everything we learned in the first class and certainly wasn't ready to use a machine unsupervised.  I wonder if I'll ever like the results of my free-motion quilting - heavily leaning toward computerized designs.

 

  And just a few more days later...

I received my new Craftoptics prescription bifocals with magnifying scopes and light in the mail.  Now I can see to thread a needle and other fun stuff without resorting to my iphone camera.  Earlier I mentioned how hard it was to see my applique project in class.  Well, there was a man in the class who sat down and methodically arranged all his tools and supplies in his workspace.  Finally, he opened up a zipper case and took out the geekiest looking pair of glasses with binoculars attached.  But while I was struggling to see my stitching, he calmly sat and stitched quite happily.  

After the class I booked it down to the Craftopics booth in the marketplace and ordered a pair for myself.  Lucky for me I had just had an eye exam and still had a copy of my prescription in my purse.  One of the best 'crafting' purchases I've ever made.  What I really like is that when my prescription changes enough to warrant it, I can send the glasses back in to be updated for a nominal cost.  Highly recommend this company!

 

 February 18-20  The Thrill of a Twill Workshop

My friends at Studio 66 (now sadly just a memory) organized this three-day workshop with Robyn Spady.  Another fangirl moment for me - Robyn is another superstar in the weaving world and such a gifted teacher!  

The workshop emphasized advancing and networking twills, as well as covered corkscrew twills and echo weaves. We explored how versatile a single threading can be throughout the three days.  I can't recommend a class with Robyn highly enough.  We received clear instructions for warping our looms in advance so we could start weaving right away.  Her in-person instruction was equally clear, and she is such an engaging speaker.  She also spent one-on-one time with each of the students in the workshop while we worked at various phases of our samplers.

 

April 7 - Last Block of the Month Class at Becky's Busy Bee

This was unexpectedly the last month of a BOM class to make an Amish with a Twist quilt.  The design is by Nancy Rink, who has since published at least three additional  'Amish' patterns.  The format of this class was perfect for me.  All you had to pay for was a small class fee to get the first month's kit.  Every month, if you came in with the previous month's work completed, they gave you the next month's kit, fabric and all, for free. The only fabric you'd have to buy is the backing and material for the sashing between the blocks.  Of course, you can't go into a quilt store without doing some shopping so I don't think they suffered any.

The quilt is actually designed as a five-month program, where you complete three lessons each month, but ours was spread out over a few extra months.  Sadly, Becky's announced that they would be closing their doors shortly, and they gave us the remaining six kits free of charge.  Very generous, I thought.   But without the pressure to finish just that one block each month, guess what has happened with this project?  Yep, sitting in a box while my squirrel syndrome leads me on to new projects.  

Becky's actually held out for nearly a year before they finally closed their doors.  I will miss that store - friendly atmosphere, great teachers, beautiful fabrics, and the best accuquilt selection I've ever seen.

My Completed Blocks Plus the Finishing Kit Showing a Finished Quilt

May - I actually finished some yarn!

 

The blue/green yarn is some Navajo plied Merino.  I also Navajo plied some brown alpaca/silk singles I spun months earlier and misplaced. The larger of the reddish yarns is a two ply merino I actually spun and plied in only two weeks - a new record for me. The smaller is Navajo plied singles left over from larger project.

July - Eleanor Burns' Birthday Lunch and Celtic Quilting Class

Fangirl time again.  My sister and I had been taking accuquilt classes at Quilt in a Day.  This month, after her filming session , we had a potluck birthday lunch for Eleanor. She is such a gracious and charming lady, and her sessions are always lively and fun.

 

Can You Find Eleanor?

 Another fun quilting class with my sister at Annie's Quilting Den. We learned to cut and fold bias tape using a nifty little tool to use in a Celtic knot design. This is my work in progress- just a few more feet of binding to arrange then comes the challenge of adding borders and actually finishing something.

 

 

October - Getting Crafty with Food for Halloween!

Not fiber arts but I have to share this year's office treats.  Couldn't decide which of two projects (seen on facebook) to do, so I did both. No explanation needed for the donuts.  The brain is a giant cheese ball colored with green and black food color shaped in a brain mold.  Everything was eaten this year.