Diane Steele Quilts!

Time for a Change!

2011-08-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I posted to this blog--shame on me! I have been concentrating on my other blog RabidQuilter3.blogspot.com which I use to post my quilting progress each and every Monday. Why? Because of the entertaining blog www.patchworktimes.com by Judy Laquidara, a wonderful quilter from Missouri (who's moving to Texas as I write). She posts to her blog 2-4 times a day (!) but her Monday blog encourages quilters to post what's on their design walls and boy, do they! At least 65 quilters from around the world post photos and comments about what they're currently working on. It's like going to a quilt show each Monday and is very inspiring. I encourage you to take a look at it.

This brings me to my topic for today: Change. I found a quote last weekend by Martha Stewart on the occasion of her 70th birthday (!) which was August 3rd.

"When you're through changing, you're through"

In this world of rapid technological advances, I see the older friends I have being left behind because they won't take the time to learn to use a cell phone, to text, or learn basic computer skills, even email! How will they keep in touch with their friends and family--their grandkids!--who have learned them, and how will they live without the information available from the vast and wondrous gift that is the internet? Oh, sure, there are problems associated with the World Wide Web but the benefits are spectacular! You virtually have libraries, atlases, museums and universities right in your lap! Every question answered in a few minutes, photos and scenes from every inch of this world.

One of my favorite things to do is scour quilters' blogs. There are so many creative people out there it boggles my mind! And U-Tube videos? You can find a tutorial for every quilt technique you can imagine.

How would I ever have gotten the inspiration for this challenge quilt I made without the internet? My quilting group played "Three Little Words" and mine turned out to be aqua, the queen of hearts and fireworks. Cruising through Google images helped me come up with my queen and a mention of Swarovski crystals sealed the fireworks plan (though you can't see them very well in the photo. . . ). I plan on trying new things and challenging myself for a long, long time before I'm through!

Classes for you!

2011-01-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

After quilting for about 17 years and working in a quilt shop for 5 years, the next obvious step was teaching quilting classes. And you know what? It's my favorite part of quilting! Getting to know other quilters and sharing tricks, tips and, most of all short-cuts with them, is a pure joy.

One of my favorite classes is "One-Fabric Kaleidoscope" from Maxine Rosenthal's inspiring book "One Block Wonders". I've made 6 "Wonders" personally and have a lot of tricks for cutting, chaining the pieces, making them lie flat and designing with those amazing "blossoms" you end up with.

My newest class is "What's in the Box?" This is a fun way to use up the novelty fabric in your stash to make a popular "eye-spy" quilt or a theme quilt. Believe it or not, this quilt is made just the same way as the One-Fabric Kaleidoscope--with 60 degree triangles! You can choose to make it as small or as large as you want too.

"Woven Silhouettes" can be a 4-hour, 'no sew' class or a 6-hour 'all-day' class. The technique for weaving and fusing the fabrics and applying a silhouette of your choice is fun and satisfying. The all-day class would include adding borders to the quilt to finish it.

Contact me through this post or by email, steeledome@gmail.com, to arrange a class for your guild or a private class with your quilting buddies!

Missing Lee

2010-08-02T16:39:00.001-07:00

I’ve been a very sad quilter for the last week because a dear friend of mine passed away after an 18-year long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I’ve just returned from her “Celebration of Life” and feel revived with the spirit of love and friendship but still ache for what she went through especially the past 2 years after enduring an experimental treatment at Stanford which, sadly, destroyed her lungs. When her lungs collapsed 2 weeks ago, she refused further treatment, called everyone to say good-bye and left this earth.

Her call to me was to ask “an enormous favor”. Oh, anything Lee, ANYthing at all. Her request was for me to finish 2 quilts she’d started for her daughter and her niece. Lee had only made a few quilts and she was very precise and thoughtful in her process so I hope I can complete them as she would have wanted. These black, white and red heart blocks meant for her niece Caitlin are a quilt-as-you-go method and I’m honored to finish them for her.

Lee lived to see her daughter from college traveling to Oregon only last month to attend the ceremony. She met the boyfriend and his parents and was very happy with her daughter’s choice. I know this meant the world to her. Lee was always cheerful, having that sort of smile that made her eyes squint and twinkle. She was so intelligent and well-read and she was a wonderful cook inviting friends to her immaculate home often. Lee was 61.

I’m so lucky to have had Lee call me ‘friend’ for the past 8 years. Our circle of friends is a tight one and although our light will burn a little less brightly, we will continue to watch and discuss movies together and don our purple dresses and red hats while keeping Lee in our hearts forever.

Calendar Girls!

2010-05-31T10:10:00.000-07:00

The first thing I did when I decided I wanted to start quilting was join a quilt guild. I chose the one closest to where I live, of course, the Valley Quilt Guild in Yuba City which, in 1994, had been a thriving guild for 6 years. Within a few months, I’d made friends, joined a weekly group, Thursday Stitchers, who made quilts exclusively for community service, and learned a lot from speakers and classes afforded to members. Within a few years, I’d become the Rabid Quilter I am today and wanted even more!

I’d heard about ‘Round Robins’ and thought it’d be fun to get a few people together and try one. I was allowed to make such a plea on stage at one of our guild meeting and asked people who wanted to form such a group to meet me at the break. I chose a nice large area as I envisioned being inundated by interested quilters. No one, not a single person, showed up! Huh. Not to be deterred, I tried again at the next guild meeting a month later this time with a little more enthusiasm and again, nothing. Was I speaking a foreign language? Did I smell?

The following month was our “Make a Difference Day” sew-in where the majority of our guild got together at the local shopping mall to sew quilts for community service. I hadn’t given up my idea but this time had formulated a better plan: I wrote the names of each month on 12 slips of paper and put them in a bag. I’d carefully chosen 11 other guild members who followed a criteria I thought necessary to have a successful group: 1) they were are women I wanted to spend time with 2) they were decent quilters (at least not TOO much more ‘decent’ than I) 3) they were productive, showing completed quilts on a regular basis so I knew they had time to quilt.

I walked up to each one in turn and asked them simply to pick a slip of paper out of my bag and meet me at a certain table at lunchtime. To my delight, ALL of them showed up, intrigued certainly by the paper with ‘January’ or ‘August’ written on it. I announced that we were now The Calendar Girls! Each was to make 12 blocks that depicted their month in any way they chose. They could make all 12 exactly the same, all different or somewhere in between and we’d exchange blocks at a future date. Only one person declined having just taken a new job but we’d made enough of a stir in the room that others had eavesdropped and one of them stepped right up and volunteered to take her place.

We got out our calendars and decided on a date 6 months hence to meet with our completed blocks. Our first block exchange led to 12 finished quilts six months later and we’ve been meeting twice a year ever since. Next year will be our 10th year together and while a few Calendar Girls have moved away or passed on, we thrive, changing the theme, size and color of the blocks we make each year. We are now 16 quilters and I can honestly say, these are my best friends, more like a family than anything this ‘only-child’ has ever known.

And we’ve made some pretty spectacular quilts too!

A new class!

2010-05-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

After many fits and starts, I finally come up with a quilt I love that makes for a fun new class! Creating a new class is time-consuming: you get an idea, labor over the quilt, sometimes make it again ('cuz it didn't turn out exactly the way you envisioned it), then create precise directions and get the word out!

Seems like I got it right because when I taught it for the Amador Valley Quilters, they had great success!

"What's in the Box?" is a quilt I've been toying with for years! It's construction is very similar to the One Fabric Kaleidoscope believe it or not, but the 3-D effect makes it so fun! This is perfect for an "Eye Spy" quilt for a little person in your life, filling the boxes with bugs, food, and/or other fun things, or put any type of fabric in the boxes just for that eye-bending coolness that gets great comments.

I've been collecting "food" fabric for years and this quilt is full of edibles--some good for you, the rest, treats! Ask your grandchild to "find the potato chips" (or cookies, lollypops or jellybeans) then challenge him or her to "find something good for you to eat" (like artichokes, apricots or grapes).

What's best is, this is a real 'stash-buster' quilt. Using a light, medium and dark strip from one color family, you can turn triangles into 3-D boxes of fun.

I'm available to teach at your guild or local quilt shop and I even do private classes in your home for you and your favorite quilting buddies. Contact me at steeledome@gmail.com

I learned something today: I have a LOT to learn

2010-02-09T18:00:00.001-08:00

Ask any kid in school if they like history and I’ll bet the vast majority will say ‘no’. All those dates to memorize, presidents to learn, battles to read about, facts to dissect-- personally, as a kid, I never really understood why we needed to know all that stuff. I guess I’d never had a teacher who impressed upon me that knowing what came before us directly and completely makes us who we turn out to be.

My husband somehow understood this from a young age and his enthusiasm for history has played a large part in my desire to devour every bit I can find on certain subjects, one of which is quilting.

I have a small collection of antique quilts and have a lecture on the subject in which I talk about my experience finding quilts at small-town auctions, tag sales, thrift, antique and junk shops, along with some anecdotes on the history of quilting and fabric in America. It’s a rather entertaining lecture if I’m to believe attendees and I’m always trying to increase my knowledge of these treasures by reading, taking classes and attending seminars on the subject, when available, to keep my lecture fresh and up-to-date.

Every time I do, I realize what a vast amount of information there is out there about how our forebears fostered our passion for quilt-making.

A couple of Sundays ago, I spent several hours with some fascinating historians. Most of us would think of these particular individuals as quilters but because of their desire to know about old quilts and their search into the making of quilts that came before us, they become something more.

Julie Silber and Joe Cunningham (of The Quilt Complex http://www.thequiltcomplex .com) and Barbara Brackman held the seminar, “Julie and Joe’s Quilt Adventure,” entralling a lucky roomfull of quilt buffs with their knowledge of why people made the quilts they made and when and where they made them. This particular day was spent at the San Jose Quilt Museum where the exhibit “Still Crazy”--as in crazy quilts--was on display. Learning that the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia was the empetus for the inspiration that became a crazy quilt frenzy from roughly 1883-1893, threw me not into the art of putting pieces of cloth and fancy embriodery stitches together, but the churning, changing, complex mix of people, world trade and world events that is this fascinating subject, history.

Crazy quilts have never really appealed to me. It might be because they tend to be dark and heavy, or that most of the ones I’ve seen are in bad condition or unfinished. But when surrounded by crazy quilts that are highly embellished works of art, truly the best of the best, the quilter in me develops an instant bond with these treasures and I suddenly have no trouble understanding why quilters’ needles were taken up to produce what became epic stories and some, masterpieces.

I’ll bet most quilters don’t give a thought to how this art, this pastime, this passion of ours got started; where did all these patterns come from? who, what and where was their inspiration? why has there been the ebb, flow, fad and craze of certain patterns in certain decades? I encourage all quilters to pursue these questions at every opportunity and I can think of no better teachers than you’ll find at The Quilt Complex.

New Year's Resolution 2010

2009-12-29T17:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve decided on a New Year’s resolution for 2010: I’m going to start quilting. Those who know me and have just read this are laughing. According to them, they see me as such a prolific quilt maker, I’m accused of having found a way to cram an additional hour or two into each day. Oh if they only knew.

Allow me to explain:

Do you subscribe to quilting magazines? I do, and I love them! Finding one in my mail never fails to put a smile on my face. I’m inspired by the patterns offered, the historical stories, new gadgets, even the ads for new fabric lines and stores half-way across the country. I can’t remember the last time I read through a quilt magazine without dog-earing at least a page or two, certain that I’d find time to make the quilt, look up a particular website or draft a block from something that inspired my creativity. I have stacks and stacks of magazines waiting for me to rediscover these projects. Oh sure, I also have countless quilting books and patterns purchased from the quilt shops I frequent, and photos I’ve taken at quilt shows and at the monthly show-and-tell sessions at my quilt guild. I have a couple of binders full of gridded paper where I’ve drafted ideas for blocks, setting diagrams, borders and such that will certainly come in handy one day when I need a project.

Then there’s the 2 quilt books I received for Christmas: The book that’s sure to become the essential Coffee Table Book for every quilter, “The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns” by Jinny Beyer (with over 4000 pieced block patterns in it!) and “The Amish Quilt” by Eve Granick which I’ve wanted for years. It will take me weeks to read and pour over every inch of these inspiring books.

And what about the internet! For example, type “dog and cat quilt blocks” in Google and see how many websites offer public domain patterns, pieced, appliqued, foundation pieced, you name it, in every shape and size. I often spend an hour or two each night just ohh and ahh-ing over website after website.

Here’s the thing: all the time I’m spending every day with all these sources in front of me are keeping me for the actual act of quilting! I have so many ideas I don’t know where to start! And don’t forget all the UFOs sitting on my shelves. E-gads, I don’t know when I’ll find time to do all this quilting if I don’t stop reading and collecting and being inspired by all this media. Instead of heading for my chair in the living room after dinner every night and picking up a magazine, book or laptop, I need to start heading for my sewing room to SEW!

OK, resolved, that’s what I’m going to do beginning January 1, 2010. . . now, which project should I start on first?

A Wonderful, Fun, Delicious Class!

2009-12-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

I took a quilt class yesterday! I can't remember the last time I took a class without my quilting buddies! Months ago, I found myself in Thimble Creek, a wonderful quilt shop in Concord, CA, and saw that a talented quilt designer I'd long admired was giving a class and I signed up for it on a whim. Never mind that it took place on December 11th, a date that I had no business booking, knowing how hectic that time of year can be. I found, as the date approached, it was going to have to be sandwiched between and Odd Fellows/Chamber mixer, an overdue oil change and two promised batches of cookies. But fabulous multi-tasker that I am, I made it.

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs treated us to an entertaining and informative day in "YoYoville" one of her spectacularly fun patterns. Everyone brought a 'goodie' but Anne and staff had delicious quiche and a towering bread pudding (arguably the highlight of the day) and we laughed and sewed our hearts out with nary a machine in sight! Yes, Anne is an applique artist and taught us how to make yo-yos and little houses and trees that will adorn our merry quilt when done all with needle and thread from our own little paws.

The pattern calls for a twin- or double bed-sized quilt but I'm choosing to make a wall hanging so I have some sort of assurance that it will indeed be finished one day. I have a LOT of hand sewing to do and I look forward to recalling my fun day every stitch of the way!

Biography of a Quilter

2009-10-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I enjoy lecturing to guilds, mostly because I love to meet quilters. When I receive a request to lecture, I, of course, must sign a contract. Recently I was asked to also provide a biography by answering questions from a questionnaire so the guild could know a little about me before they heard me speak. Oh, a biography. . . what do I say? Will I be able to sound interesting without risking egotism? Should I start at the very beginning, embellish the facts, leave out the failures? It was a challenge, but this is what I came up with.

QUILT BIOGRAPHY

My interest in quilting started at the age of 6 when my mother taught me to embroider. As an only child, solitary interests were most natural to me and sewing fit right in. I next learned to sew on the sewing machine starting with the aprons my mother wore then graduated to clothing in 4-H and Home Ec at school. I’ve always enjoyed mixing and playing with color and patterns so quilting was an obvious progression. Also, the fact that I could feed my tactile passions without actually having to make anything FIT, as in clothing, made quilting an obvious choice.

I’ve been quilting for 15 years and have begun to dabble in art quilts but always come back to traditional quilting. I think of modern quilts as variations on a traditional theme. I’m particularly fond of green and have no use for drab quilts so anything bright and colorful is that I enjoy working with.

As far as techniques, I love hand work but not necessarily when working on quilts. I see sitting at a sewing machine, jumping up to press, moving to the cutting table to square up my prices then attaching them to my design wall as active, calorie-burning fun! Applique or embroidery is saved for the waiting room of my car repair shop and plane trips.

Original designs? I rarely take a published pattern and make it 100% as designed usually changing the configuration of the blocks, maybe setting them on point, or adding components, but I buy lots of patterns and books for inspiration.

I didn’t grow up with quilts. Every memory of my maternal Grandmother includes her sitting in her rocker by the window crocheting. I never saw her cooking or sleeping, just crocheting and I have a bureau full of bedspreads, tablecloths, doilies and dresser scarves to prove it! Although my mother taught me the basics at the sewing machine, she had little patience for reading patterns or following directions, always thinking she had a better, faster way. No one ever taught her how to avoid “bird nests” of thread at the beginning of a seam and I remember her throwing the sewing machine out of frustration on more than one occasion!! Actually I credit my father with teaching me a lot about sewing. He was a shoemaker by trade so knew how to sew things together and match patterns expertly. He even helped me to make my prom dress--a difficult Vogue pattern I constructed out of lavender satin!

I am most inspired to make quilts when I go to quilt shows or by looking through quilt books, old and new but I often think of a song title, movie title or phrase and dream up something to make that way. I find when I’m working on a quilt for someone else (a gift or a group project) I’m inspired by that person. But the most fun is going into a quilt shop and being stopped dead by some amazing fabric or fabric line and just HAVING to make something out of it!

I’m a born shopper so, when you get right down to it, my favorite aspect of quilting, is visiting every quilt shop on every trip I take and selecting fabric, patterns and books to buy! Putting the top of a quilt together is the fun part and pinning the quilt is the chore I dislike most. Getting down on the ground to pin the quilt is one thing--getting back up, quite another! When fusible batting came out, I thought I’d died and went to heaven but I find regular batting, with its softer drape, more to my liking.

Has quilting changed my life? Completely! In 15 years, I’ve gone from a consummate Soccer Mom to my dream of teaching, lecturing and, when asked what I do for a living, being able to say, “I’m a quilter!”. My home is filled with quilts I’ve made and antique quilts I’ve collected (90 at last count). I’ve endeavored to become proficient enough at this craft so I can teach quilting--then I can live vicariously through my students and thus, don’t have to personally make every quilt I find beaautiful! It’s such a pleasure to watch someone who really didn’t think they could do it, assemble their small scraps of fabric into beautiful works of art. And when I see my fellow quilters’ smiling faces in the audiences when I lecture, I know I’ve truly reached my dream of filling my life with quilts and quilting!

The Pace of Life

2009-08-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Is there ever a time when we're not in a hurry? It seems I'm always rushing; to finish a quilting project, to get to the bank, to get all the groceries on my list--so I can get home and hurry to make dinner. Sometimes I think I've been rushing for so long, it's impossible to slow down! Maybe this need to get things done quickly is programmed into me. Memories of my childhood always include my mother encouraging me to "hurry up"! Reading a book, watching TV, taking a nap, these were wastes of time in her eyes. You needed to be productive at all times--wash the car, water the plants, bake some cookies. She used to honk her horn at cars in front of her not moving fast enough and there were times when she would leave her cart of purchases in line and leave the store because the check-out clerk was taking too long! I soon learned that if I was going to get my mother's approval, I was going to have to be productive and do things FAST--and I've been rushing ever since.

Many years ago, for one of my New Year's resolutions, I sincerely wished that I could learn to 'slow down'. A short time after that, I severely hurt my back which put me totally out of commission and forced me to think before every move for years. Be careful what you wish for!!

Now, with my husband close to retirement, I'm practicing the art of slowing down. I'll be spending a LOT more time with my husband --which I'm greatly looking forward to--but he wasn't born with the 'hurry-up' gene and has that ability to relax, meander, stroll and just sit and think which I envy. I've started allowing myself time to sit in my backyard to read a book (something my kitties love) instead of only listening to audio books when I'm driving my car. I also find an afternoon nap once in a while to be a delightful treat!

One thing that will always drive me crazy is a slow internet connection! I live where high-speed internet is not available and waiting for websites to load and photos to send is quite aggravating. I'm happy to say that just today, WiFi came to our neighborhood and I 'hurried' to get hooked up! I can now enjoy watching the YouTube videos that are sometimes included in an email, I can up- and download friends' photos and I can upgrade my iPhone and computer without having to go down to the local coffee shop and plug in there!

The only downside to this new WiFi is that, when I canceled my account with my former provider, I lost my email address and the ability to access any mail I get there. This is the address that my business cards show!! ARRGHHHH!

So, hereafter, you can reach me at: STEELEDOME@GMAIL.COM.

I promise if you write me, you'll get a reply but you might have to wait just a while. . . I might be taking a nap.

Very Special People

2009-06-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

There are many stereotypes associated with quilters: they tend to share better than most people, they think of others before themselves, they're honest, they like to wear denim, they make great potluck dishes and they're generally very fun!

Quilters come in all shapes, sizes and ages and I find that the people I call 'friends' who are quilters span a far greater age range than people I know in other parts of my life. I keep in touch with a handful of people from high school who are exactly my age, I belong to a couple of organizations where there are mostly just-ready-to-retire to fairly-newly-retired in age, like me. But since I teach quilting, I'm around people in their 30s to people in their 80s.

I learned many years ago that if you expand your circle of friends to include people 20 years younger as well as 20 (or 30!) years older than yourself, your life will be much more interesting and educational. I teach a Block of the Month class at Beehive Quilts in Woodland and have become good friends with a woman who's 30-something and one woman pushing 70. They are both delightful, creative, smart and fun to be around. I find they think about things just a little differently than I do and are attracted to colors and patterns I've not noticed and it often opens my eyes.

The younger one talks about the crafts fairs where she vends her handmade bags and purses, fairly brimming with enthusiasm and energy. She's into these new retro fabrics that really didn't do anything for me until I saw some of her wonderful projects. The older woman's calmer pace and careful thought process suggest she has experienced a lot of this before and wants to be sure each project is exactly right and not slap-dashed just to say it's finished. When she lingers over her choices for a particular project, I want to say, "just pick a fabric!" Yet, after careful scrutiny (and maybe a stop at one or two other quilt shops) she finds exactly what she's looking for and executes such a work of art, I have to agree that slowing down and being patient IS the way to complete fulfillment.

I may teach quilting but I will always be a student of the craft. Quite often, I'm absolutely certain, I learn more from the people IN my class than they learn from me.

Beginning Quilting

2009-03-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

Once a person starts to teach--anything, really, not just quilting--the word gets around. So and so takes a class, shows her friends what she's learned and all of a sudden, everyone wants to have something pretty to be proud of too!

I was recently contacted through email by a potential quilter who also had friends who were potential quilters who, with kids and carpools and life, never seemed to connect with the quilt shops on the rare occasions a BEGINNING QUILTING class was offered. "Would you", she asked, "be willing to give private quilting lessons to my friends and I?"

Hmmmmm. . . . the classes would be held at the hostess's large home, less than 2 miles from where I live, on a weekday morning that suited me perfectly. Hard to resist!

I've taught many quilts and techniques in the past 5 years or so but have always shied away from the dreaded 'beginner' for fear of untrained fingers getting maimed by rotary cutters, old sewing habits which would be tough to break and the worst, there's so much to learn about quilting, where do I start!!?

"OK", I said to myself, "I can DO this"! I drew up a 6-week course starting with the ever-important, accurate quarter inch seam and thinking I would have them make 4 different blocks; 9-patch, Churn Dash, Ohio Star and Sawtooth Star covering the basic square, half-square and quarter-square triangle and flying geese segments. With these basics, probably 90% of all traditional blocks could be made. Then we'd make a table runner out of these blocks and I could have them add borders that would be shorter than quilt-sized, and finally, bindings. Sounded like a plan!

On the first meeting, these 5 delightful women had as much enthusiasm as a 6-year old who hears the ice cream truck coming! We went over many important points before we ever got the mats and rotary cutters out and what was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours, turned into 2 1/2 with ease.

Today, we had our third of 6 lessons. These ladies have not only turned out 3 different wonderful blocks with nice points and precise pressing, (I taught them to press their seams open as I do, rather than to one side) they have practiced when not in 'class' by making duplicates in various colorways. The hostess' young daughter has caught the bug and has put together some wonderful squares and triangles herself--SO cool!!

When I arrive next week, they may even have their 4th block finished and we'll start on the placemat (rather than the more ambitious tablerunner) we've decided will be our first project. I have no doubt each of them will succeed in not only turning out a lovely piece but will have a fully rampant case of the ever-contagious 'quilting fever'.

I've encouraged this new group to continue meeting on Friday mornings after the lessons are over for, as most quilters (dieters, athletes, etc.) know, the peer pressure and mild competitiveness of a friendly group encourages the loyalty and creativity that's only one of the many reasons this hobby is so enjoyable.

Inspiration

2009-02-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

January has been one of the busiest months I can ever remember. The good news is, it's all been about quilting! Lectures, classes, quilt shows, you name it! And all along the way, I've been inspired.

It started with the Road 2 California quilt show in Ontario, CA. I LOVE this quilt show (partly because my lovely daughter lives in the vicinity) but mostly because it is a larger show than most (with over 100 vendors) and the quilts entered for prizes are simply incredible. I found wonderful new patterns to buy and try and took photos of some of the more outstanding entries that peaked my interest. I was inspired everywhere I turned, sometimes by a small element of a particular quilt, or by an unusual combination of colors used in a quilt or even just by the subject matter of an entry. I even drooled over the clothing and soft-sculpture dolls that were entered and dream about maybe trying one of those some day.

I took two all-day classes at the show: one was Sharyn Craig's very last class. After teaching quilting for 30 years, this amazingly prolific and proficient quilter is retiring (yes, there were tears.) Without a doubt, Sharyn's books, classes and lectures have inspired me more than any other quilter. The class I took was a simple but wonderful quilt, (one I will teach when her book comes out in May--it's pictured here) but I just wanted to be in her presence once more--and I was not disappointed. Her philosophy about quilting is refreshingly simple but time and again, she turns out the most wonderful quilts, ones that really, most of us could actually make!

The other class was taught by Mary Kerr and was about dating quilts. I was in a room with 22 other antique quilt enthusiasts whose knowledge of history and the womanly art of quilting blew me away! As we scanned each of the quilts we'd brought to gauge, the constant tidbits of information tossed out by everyone at random about color fads, design, historical data, dye processes, etc., boggled my mind. I attended this class to better my understanding of fabric dating and came out after 6-hours knowing one thing more than any other: that there is so much to learn about the history of quilts and quilting as an American art form that I'm inspired to seek out every class I can on the subject to learn more.

Then I came back and gave both my lectures to two Bay Area quilt guilds. Every quilt guild I visit has similarities to others and yet, each is so different. The similarities begin with friendly, creative, cheerful women who love to share and they differ in the way they organize their blocks of the month, drawings and other creative entertainment. One guild I visited had recently lost a guild member who left instructions to donate her collection of quilt books to her guild upon her passing. The membership was collecting a dollar for each of her wonderful books which not only made money for her cherished guild but gave the members something of hers to inspire them. How very nice!

Yesterday, the last day of my busy January, I started the Block of the Month class for Beehive Quilts in Woodland which will go for 10 months. Peggy, the owner, put the bug in my ear to create this BOM several months ago and although I'd never designed a BOM myself, I was inspired to do so with her encouragement. As it turns out, I'm very happy with what I've come up with and the 72 (!) quilters who signed up for this BOM seemed quite happy when they saw my first block offerings. That will inspire me to look forward every month to these gatherings.

There is inspiration everywhere you look. Not only for quilt patterns and color palates but also for little attitude changes that allow you to see not only your potential as a quilter but also the potential in every corner of your life. You only have to open your eyes--and your heart--and let it in!

Those Clever Cubes!

2008-12-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have made the One Block Wonder (or "Kaleidoscope" if you've taken my class) and are itching to make another (as most of us inevitable do!) you might want to try incorporating some of those 3-D cubes you see in the quilts in Maxine Rosenthal's newest book. I've developed a new 3-hour class that teaches you 6 different cubes so you can get really fancy with your next quilt. You can even make a whole quilt just out of the cubes themselves which looks really cool! (Sarah Nephew originated this design WAY back and her quilt is a classic). Watch my schedule for a class coming up or book one for your guild.

View my classes at www.beehivequilts.com

Sign Up For A Class!

2008-08-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

I really have gotten to a point where I LOVE to teach classes! I meet the nicest bunch of quilters everywhere I go! It always inspires me to take on a new project myself.

I recently taught my "Kaleidoscope" class at the great new "Beehive Quilts" shop in Woodland, Ca and met the loveliest bunch of ladies! I've taught this class at least a dozen times but never tire of seeing what all those bright, large-scale prints everyone comes up with turn out to look like! I say this is a quilt that starts out "traditional" and leaps to "art-quilt" by the time you're done. Best of both worlds! Look below to the "Kaleidoscope" blog entry to see 2 examples of this quilt.

If you haven't taken a class in a while, why not shine yourself up a bit with a new technique or design? Here is a current list of classes I'm teaching:

Wednesday, February 11, "Fusible Images" Beehive Quilts, Woodland, Ca (that's the one I'm holding, above). This is a 2-part, evening class, 5 hours total. The second part of the class will be held Wednesday, February 18.

Saturday, March 7, "Kaleidoscope" at Beehive Quilts, Woodland, CA

Kaleidoscope

2008-07-20T19:22:00.001-07:00

From the moment I saw Maxine Rosen-thal's book "One-Block Wonder" back in February of 2006, I was hooked on these mezmerizing quilts! I've taught this class so many times I thought everyone who wanted to had taken it but, after making 7 of these quilts myself (with 4 or 5, 4-yard pieces of fabric waiting in my stash for more!) I know how adicting they can be. And since her new "Encore" book came out a couple of months ago with instructions to make those great cubes, well, here goes another round of teaching this great quilt.

Here are a couple of my "Kaliedoscopes".

Anyone For A Class?

2008-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a bloomin' YEAR since I've posted on my blog for heaven sakes. What's with that?! I've been busy. . .yea, yea, I know, we're ALL busy. See, Back in January, I was lucky enough to get a spot on NCQC's (Northern California Quilt Council) "Meet The Teachers" meeting where quilt teachers and lecturers get 3 minutes to show the quilts they teach and say a few words about the lectures they give in front of a room full of quilt guild representatives. Well, I seemed to say the right things and ended up being booked by several guilds for my lectures and classes. Really, I couldn't be happier! So, my calendar's been a little more full than usual and I've been trying to develop some new classes. One of them is pictured here. I call it "Woven Silhouettes" and it's inspired by Anne Faustino's new book, "Simply Stunning Woven Quilts", a fabulous book!

I've had people ask when and where I'm going to be teaching so here's a list that I'll try to keep current as I book more classes:

Saturday, October 11 "Kaleidoscope" Piecemakers Quilt Guild, Fremont, Ca

Thursday, October 16, "Kaleidoscope" Roseville Quilt Guild, Roseville, Ca

Wednesday, October 22nd "3-D Blocks" Beehive Quilts Woodland, Ca. (These are the cubes you see in Maxine Rosenthal's "Encore" version of her popular book) .

Saturday, November 1 "Kaleidoscope" at Beehive Quilts, Woodland, Ca (http://www.beehivequilts.com/)

Wednesday, November 5, "Woven Silhouettes" Cloth Carousel, Winters, Ca

"Fusible Images" February 11 & 18, 2009 Beehive Quilts, Woodland, Ca

If you are interested in any of these classes, please call the shops or better yet, give them a visit and check them out!

Challenge Yourself

2007-06-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

No matter what our occupation, hobby or particular talent, we are essentially students all of our lives. Even the most highly respected authority on anything continues to learn his craft until the day he dies. While researching books, taking classes and simple repetition can be wonderful teachers, another excellent way to grow and learn is through challenge.

My first experience with the growth-inducing aspects of challenges was when I tried out for a Madrigal choir in high school. I knew I could sing pretty well as I was in a choir at church, the regular chorus in school and was popular at talent shows and musical plays. Still, I was fully aware that there were others of my peers who towered above me in the vocal ability department. I longed to make it into this elite group of 12 singers who would represent the school at various venues throughout the town in which I grew up.

The day of the tryouts came and I was seated next to a girl named Molly who, in my opinion, had the voice of a crystal bell. I imagined I would sound very much like a crow sitting next to such talent but while we, as a group, warmed up, I listened to Molly and attempted to match her golden tones. I was surprised to find that my voice sounded a little better than usual and soon, a lot better! I had been so inspired by Molly's wonderful singing voice that I was able to come close to matching it! Had I been a little more self-assured in those days, I would have been able to thank her, after securing a berth in the Madrigals, for being my Muse.

The challenge to be as good as someone I admired was the push I needed to succeed in my quest.

As a quilter, I'm always looking to learn new techniques and to stretch myself to make quilts of more quality, of more original designs, more precise points and more interesting color combinations. An excellent way to do this is to join groups of other quilters who are willing to challenge each other with fun projects. Last year, my fellow employees at the quilt shop where I work, agreed to take the theme "Self-Portrait" and, with a 3-month time limit, make a 16" x 20" quilt. It could be comical, realistic, embellished any way we wanted, the sky was the limit. I had no idea what to do so, I played with some ideas, stretched my knowledge and abilities and came up with the quilt you see me holding at the top of this column. Looks like me, doesn't it?! I'd taken a photo of myself, played with it on my computer with photo manipulation software I'd little experience with, enlarged it, traced each piece on to fusibel material then on to appropriate colored fabric and quilted on to a background. I was pleased with the final product but you should have seen the other quilter's masterpieces! Indeed, I was in the company of very talented artists, a fact that had me shaking in my slippers from the beginning.

While this was merely a friendly challenge, what's become of my project since the "reveal" is that I've become the teacher of a class which instructs others of my new-found techniques. I've taught this class twice so far and have quilters calling me to find out when I will teach it next, something that pleases me no end (and puts a few extra bucks in my coffers for my 'fabric habit').

The moral of this story is: challenge yourself to do something you are not sure you can do, you're not sure you're talented enough to do and you might be extraordinarily surprised at who you become because of it.

Collecting Antique Quilts

2007-06-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Besides being a Rabid Quilter myself, I also woke up to the fact, several years ago, that the charm and unusually soft and cozy feel of antique quilts was irresistable and I began to collect them. (Like I needed more quilts in my house!)

My favorite place in the whole world is the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts. There, several times a year, a clever and debonnaire man named Rafael Osana holds an auction which consists mostly of island and New England treasures. Since I am but a visitor 3,000+ miles from my home on the west coast, I am limited to what I can purchase if I don't want to spend more for shipping than the item itself costs. Since most quilts can fit into my luggage (or in extreme cases, my husband's golf bag) they are what I focus on.

The first time I went to one of these auctions, I fell in love with at least 6 of the quilts Mr. Osana had displayed at the pre-auction preview. Oh, how wonderfully dense and mezmerizingly soft they felt! I wanted to touch them to my face as I'd done as a child with my own "binkie" but caught myself before this impropriety.

It was about 1996 that I happened to be there, off-season and I was the lucky bidder on an authentic, bed-sized, "Grandmother's Flower Garden" quilt which was hand-pieced, quilted and bound and complete with 1930s green border and 1 1/4" hexagons. I happily paid $325 for it. At that moment I was in heaven (because I could now, actually touch that quilt to my face!) and at the same time hopelessly adicted to collecting.

The price tag for my first aquisition might sound steep, and to some of my fellow collectors, it is. When one visits a high-end locale such as Nantucket, the Hamptons, and such, one expects to pay a premimum. However, if you are willing to get on your hands and knees, bumping your head under a low table to reach a broken-down cardboard box full of 'linens' in a place the proprietor named "The Antique Shoppe" when you might refer to most of the items as rusty 'junk', you might just come away with a treasure for a few dollars. That is indeed what a couple of friends of mine do when hunting for old quilts. In fact, they have a hard-and-fast rule never to pay more than $50 for anything! Of course, in most cases, you get what you pay for but if you're able and willing to put in some time in on a dozen quilt blocks c. 1880 or clean up a soiled and stained, hand-pieced quit top and make it into a completed quilt, you'll feel the satisfaction only a bargain-hunter knows.

Finding old quilts to buy is as much of an art as is knowing how to date the quilts you find. Dating the quilts is paramount to knowing what they're worth. Just as fashions change every season, so does fabric--even back 150+ years ago! Although I'm not a licensed dater of quilts, after much study and experience, I can usually tell you the age of a quilt, plus or minus 20 years, just by looking at the tiny scraps of fabric in it and how it was put together. As with every collector, be it baseball cards or bake-a-lite, the more knowledge you have of these hints to age, the better deal you can make.

The pictured close-up of one of the blocks in a quilt I purchased 3 years ago at the Houston Quilt Show shows my married name! Dozens of other names in vairous fonts with fancy flowers, all hand-embroidered, denotes a special occasion such as an anniversary or family reunion, a popular type of quilt throughout the years. This was a once-in-a-lifetime find (and I'll admit I paid more than I'd ever paid for a quilt for it) but I wouldn't have been able to pass up at any cost.

Whether it's a garage-, tag-, or estate sale, an auction, a thrift shop or an antique store, old quilts can be found in every stage of completion and condition. Taking the time to hunt for them and learning what they're worth can result in a lovely investment.

Fusible Images

2007-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

I am a traditional quilter at heart. Making a block someone named "Monkey Wrench" or "Squirrel in a Cage" a century and a half ago makes me feel somehow proud and I'm not sure why. Is it a link to my fore-mothers on the prairie who, when needing another blanket reached for the only resource they had: scraps of some wearable that couldn't be used any other way? (Or was it the other way around: they had useless hunks of fabric and didn't have it in them to waste anything so they needled them together and found they made a bed covering?) Perhaps it's my desire to continue a truly American tradition that might be lost if we didn't remember those before us.

Frankly, it's probably a lot less noble a reason than that. I'm obsessed with COLOR. Walking into a quilt shop energizes me and I know the main reason is all the colors, patterns, textures and the combinations they create when I put them together my own, individual way. So, even though I might be creating a block pattern that's been made by other quilters 10 bazillion times, I know mine is totally unique: my color sense, my particular textural comfiguration my workmanship.

However, after a dozen plus years of practically maniacally putting these fabrics together into traditional quilts, I've begun to take that fork in the road toward a more 'art-sy' quilting experience. Who of us hasn't desired to make one of those "pictorial" quilts we've seen of someone's grand-daughter, with a couple handfulls of skin-tone hand-dyes creating the nuances of her face? Or a wall-hanging of the sunset over the Maui beach we once captured on our Vivitar.

Because of a friendly challenge to create a "self-portrait" I discovered an easy way to produce this type of quilt. (That's me holding the finished quilt at left). I call the class "Fusible Images". Taking a digital photo on your computer and manipulating it with photo software (pretty much everyone has this type of software installed on their systems whether they know it or not) and with the aid of Kinko's or another friendly, neighborhood copy center, you can fusible-web you way to a fabric photograph that will WOW! your friends.

Leave me a comment at the end of this page if you'd like to set up a class to learn this technique.

What You Find When Cleaning Out Your Sewing Room

2007-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, my quilting group culminated a 6-month long project where we used black and white fabric. Of course, the collecting of fabrics might be the most fun of any project but there are so many wonderful 'blacks & whites' out there, we all went a little nuts on this one.

With our blocks finished and ready to put up on the design wall, I thought I'd do a little clean up in my sewing room. I tend to put certain selections of fabric in 'project bags' so I have them all together when I get the time to begin a quilt but after piling more than a dozen of these bags under my cutting table, I started filling my closet, racks, cupboards and shelves with them. Now, there's barely enough visible carpet space for me to walk on since they've started filling that part of the room too.

I started under the cutting table since that's where the oldest, and, I thought most easily 'donatable' items would be.

I found a completed top that I'd forgotton about and REALLY like, a bag full of "minkie" scraps from a baby quilt I made 2 years ago and one bag, WAAAAAY under the table that was particularly heavy. When I brought it out and looked inside, I found 37 (that's thirty-seven!) fat quarters, 1/4 and 1/3 yard pieces of. . . .black and white fabrics!! Yes, these would have been perfect additions to the blocks I'd just finished making! Some had chunks cut out of them so I know I used them for something but can't for the life of me figure out what. Can't remember buying them either! Sheesh!!

What does this mean. . .besides a gigantic Senior Moment? Well, perhaps that I have too much fabric AND that I'm going to need a larger recepticle to add to the black and white fabrics I used for our last project.

Hope you're all getting a giggle out of this. . .

The Fabulous X-Block

2007-06-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

I discovered this amazing piece of plastic at the Road to California Quilt Show in January of this year. Who knew that a simple square ruler with some angled lines on it would allow you to make the COOLEST quilts with seemingly hard-to-make, intricate borders all in one swoop and with NO WASTE of fabric!

If you want to try a class for just about any skill level, this is it! Quilt Queen Designs has come up with many great patterns and I've made quilte a few, ALL with results that will make you want to give the resulting quilts away to your most cherished friends (or wrap them around your OWN self!)

Here you see the "Mo's Basket" pattern. Looks difficult, huh? Basically, you make 4-patches, more or less, (chain pieced, no-brainers) then set your magic ruler on top of them and cut away wedges to make the blocks look a little caty-wampus. Don't throw away what you've cut off though--you'll use those peices for that initricate-looking border I spoke of before!

Litterally, after a couple of hours, you'll have a great-looking quilt you'll be pround of. Contact me to set up a class for you and your friends and I'll walk you through the whole thing!

Playing With My Quilting Buddies

2007-06-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

I am one lucky quilter! I happen to be part of a group of 14 fun ladies who have been together for 6 years. We call ourselves The Calendar Girls. We see each other at least once a month at our monthly quilt guild meeting (Valley Quilt Guild in Yuba City, CA) but officially, we meet twice a year: once to exchange blocks we've made for each other and 6 months later to show off the quilt we're required to make from those blocks. Today was our block exchange.

Our host Jody, has a delightful 'sewing room' which might be described as a one-room guest house just steps from her home. It's as large as the most idealistically creative quilter might wish for as a dedicated sewing room--TIMES 3!! Jody had a brightly colored table set for 14 complete with candies in a goodie bag, large cups with our names on them ready for the iced tea and drinks she'd prepared, a food bar ready for our pot luck salads and desserts (oh, we're quite adept at desserts!!) and a design wall on which we'd each display our blocks, one person at a time.

Six months ago, we'd agreed to make a particular traditional block in black and white fabrics with ONE, bright color to be used sparingly within the block. The center 3" block is where our creativity could go wild. There were appliqued and paper pieced centers and some with 1/2" half-square triangles in various configurations! Every color of the rainbow was represented amidst the blacks and whites.

After selecting numbers at random, we took turns being first to choose from each person's blocks after they were displayed on the design wall. The selection process takes quite a while what with all the photos that are taken for our scrapbook plus the "oohing and ahhing" that goes on. We each go away with 14 blocks, one each from each quilter. On the first Saturday of December, we'll meet at Cooky's house and reveal the fabulous quilts we'll put together from these colorful blocks.

While the block exchange is what we're officially there for, it's difficult to say whether it's the highlight of the day for we also delight in the ever-present chit-chat, our show-and-tell session, all the delicious dishes we partake in for lunch and the gift exchange we treat ourselves to. This event lasts ALL day and we're never ready to have it end.

We all make quilts. We all buy patterns and books and create blocks. We put them together and sleep under them, wrap them around ourselves, hang them on our walls, give them to people we love and donate them to organizations we respect. But the quilts that are made from our Calendar Grils blocks are something special. They represent a comraderie and a friendship that is rare.

I love each and every one of my great Calendar Girls pals: Jody, Cooky, Catherine, Diane, Diana, Willie, Sharon, Vera, Ginger, Pat, Rosemary, Mary and Jan. Thank you for being a part of my quilting life.

So, It Begins

2007-06-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

I was about to welcome you to my brand new blog but first, I have to welcome myself! I decided 16 minutes ago to create a blog owning to the fact that I spent 2 hours earlier this evening in the 11th of 12 web design classes I signed up for at the Davis Adult School back in February.

For those of you who don't know, (I didn't!) web design is like learning a new language--wait, no, not "like", it IS learning a new language! Pretty much gobbledegoop really. Want to see? Try this: log on to any website you think is really great. When you're on a pretty page, go up to the right hand side near the top and pull down on "page". Click on "view source" and you will see where every page of every website comes from: Code. All those jumbled symbols, some of which you have to search to find on the keyboard you've been using for decades, the weird letter combinations, all the quotation marks, the &Nld, they all mean something important to this website. And, like all things "computer" if there's one, single goof--a blank space here or a left out "<" there, things don't work! Oh, there's a lot more to it than that of course, every inch of it to drive you batty and frustrate you like nothing else on earth. But I'm not a quitter (although I think I'm bordering on machochism) so I've continued.

So, in the 11th of 12 classes, our instructor says, "you know, starting a blog is, of course, a lot easier than designing a web page but you have so much more creative opportunity in a website". Know what Mr. T (his true name shall remain a mystery, much the same as the way his mind works) I'm ready for 'easy'!

I logged on to each of the 3 blogs I read on a regular basis and noticed they all used blogger.com so, I thought, what the hay? Let's try this. And whereas a full moon is not the most auspicious time to begin anything, it IS a Sagittarius Full Moon so, being a Double Sag. . . I guess I can't help myself. I'm ready. Ready to show people my quilts and make comments on the making of them, ready to promote the classes I teach to make those quilts and ready to give those of you who are interested, a little taste of what you'll hear if you have me come lecture to your quilt guild.

Are YOU ready for ME?