AQS Classes

I taught 5 different classes in Nashville last week and they were all so much fun! The first picture shows students working hard on their "Mystery Blocks", they were finished in record time! In this class I give each student 5 kits for 5 different blocks, all with the same shapes but different colour variations. After each block is completed they try to guess what the quilt looks like and then I show them the completed quilt. At the end of the class they get the instructions to make all 5 quilts. Lots of fun and very low stress!

In the next two pictures students are creating their own "Give and Take Applique" designs, first from paper cut outs and then from fabric. We play with design mirrors to see what repeat shapes will look like and modify or change the designs. Its a very creative class and students learn that they CAN make their own unique designs. A VERY good class for the budding designer.

Nashville Visit

Last week Daphne Greig (my business partner) and I went to Nashville, Tennessee to visit and teach at the AQS show there. We had a wonderful time, made many new friends and saw some friends from previous visits to other AQS shows.

We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel which is a just complex all under glass with over 2000 hotel rooms, several restaurants and a large convention centre.


It was all climate controlled which was a good thing because the weather was hot and steamy outside! there were many walking paths, rivers and fountains as well as lots of water falls, very picturesque.

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of classroom work!

A Visit to the Cowichan Valley

I was back in the Cowichan Valley last Monday, visiting the Cowichan Valley Heritage Quilters guild at the home of my friend, Gloria Daly. I grew up in that area and many of the quilters remember the area as I do, without the moderizations and growth. I remember that I couldn't wait to leave after high school, it was too small a community to hold me back! Now I look at the area and think that it would be a lovely place to raise a family or settle down. How times and our perceptions change!

Gloria has a lovely back deck and patio set on 3 acres on rolling land just at the foot of Mount Prevost. A few months ago she had each guild member draw a card from a deck of playing cards and create a small quilt inspired by "their" card. The results are stunning and the quilts will be auctioned or displayed at a local seniors care centre. You can see the quilts hanging on display from a clothesline strung around the deck. Aren't they great?

Some of the ladies tried some discharge on black fabric with bleach pens....so much fun!

I also showed quilts from my most recent Fat Quarter Frenzy Two book and well as patterns and some quilts in an upcoming book due out this fall. It was a great visit, the temperature was perfect and the sun shone brightly. A perfect day!

All is Revealed!

The picture from last week of the beautiful sky was taken over Okanogan Lake in the interior of BC when we were camping.
I am always surprised at how much we can assume from all sorts of media because "they tell the truth"! We know that's not accurate, but we seldom take the time to find out for ourselves. Is that because there are many variations of the truth?
Anyway, we were camping on the west side of the lake and I turned the camera towards the east....so what was it?

Design, Design!!

Here are a couple of wonderful design ideas that I took from cushions! I love the circles and all the possibilities of the different shapes. The colours in the other pieces are intriguing as well. Isn't it amazing that design is all around us, we only have to be looking for it!

Garden Art!

My friend, Heidi Lund, has a wonderful garden and loves to add a bit of whimsy. I love the contrast of colour with the blue bottles! I'd better start saving them!

Show and Tell!

Daphne Greig and I had a Trunk Show at the Victoria Quilters Guild earlier in the week and flapped all the quilts from our new book "Fat Quarter Frenzy Two" by AQS. You can buy the book and have it autographed!! at http://www.patchworkstudio.com/

Lots of fun showing quilts that many of the viewers had helped test and review for us. Thanks to all!

Sunrise or Sunset??

Many years ago a movie was made in my community starring Jack Nicholson. We were all excited to see it when it finally came to the theatres. I recall being rather disappointed and betrayed to see they had filmed a sunset as a sunrise ( I was younger then!). I guess that's the fun of movies, nothing is as it seems....

So, is this a sunrise or a sunset? Leave a comment and I'll let you know on Monday, August 18th!

Surrounded!

Last weekend I took part in an "Instructors for Hire" at the Pacific Northwest Quilfest. Several well known west coast teachers each gave a short presentation on their specialized areas of expertise. We then assembled with our displays while guild programme people and shop owners discussed teaching and lecturing information and planning.

So here I am with some of the workshop samples I teach!

The entire Quiltfest was a great success...come see us in 2010!

My Friendly Neighbourhood Spidey!

I just about walked into this little one in the early morning but stopped and looked at how beautiful the lines were in the web. Just a wonderful gift to see this things so close that we often ignore them!