Reward

Days that start with a 4 am wake up call and include two flights plus the joy of a hijacked credit card deserve to end like this:

Before and After Hours at a Quilt Show

Before the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids this morning, I set up the Handi Quilter classroom. Judy Woodworth was teaching and the students just loved her!

After the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids tonight I went to the auction to benefit Libby Lehman. I bought a hippo. There are funky lights outside of my hotel and I discovered that my hippo is possessed. I think I like him even better now. Any suggestions for names for my possessed hippo? Stanley is my first thought.

Quilt Show: AQS Grand Rapids

Pictures of how my day started and ended. A good day indeed.

The best parts of the day

I got to spend some time tonight with Hazel, my sweet Sweet Sixteen. I worked for a few hours on my very special quilt.

To keep the party going, I enjoyed a few spoons full of Talenti Sea Salt Caramel Gelati. It's my new best friend.

Sometimes I'm slow

After several days without wifi, 3G or cell coverage, I'm hard at work in my hotel room. I'm plowing through emails and getting things done.

An hour or so later I noticed that my laptop battery was running low. I know that I plugged my laptop into the desktop plug, so I was confused. I started at the outlet and checked all of my connections. Everything looked fine but still no power. I checked everything again. And again.

I got up from my desk, hoping to find another outlet that might work. I looked down and wanted to slap my forehead.

Note to self: next time check that the desktop outlet is actually plugged in.

Bonus points if you can guess what hotel chain I'm in. I think you can't guess.

Quilty Pics

I brought along some English Paper Piecing to keep my hands busy. It conveniently fits in an empty Talenti Gelati container.

The little kit is from Pinwheels and is made of different Daiwabo taupes. Almost as yummy as the Gelati!

Pics -- quilt and otherwise

Only a little quilting today. I am still working on hand-binding a baby shower quilt.

When I wasn't quilting today, I was hiking to see waterfalls. Quilting is the best thing in life but waterfalls are definitely in the top ten.

Quilty pics

I finished my niece's baby quilt. Only one year late. My niece crawled right up on it and tried to pick the carrots off the fabric. Success!

Next I started hand binding a baby shower gift.

Today was a good quilty day.

Today's Quilt Pics

I spent all of today in my studio. Yay for me!

I finished a cone of thread. Am I the only person who feels a great sense of accomplishment when that happens?

I received the thread order for my VSQ (very special quilt). I think this just might be enough

I started to bind my niece's quilt

I quilted a get well quilt for a special young lady and began to bind it.

I added some more teeny tiny bubbles to my VSQ.

I did a little hand appliqué on an old UFO.

In other words, I had a short attention span today but made the best of it.

I hope your day was a quilty one.

Quilt pics of the day

I worked on a few quilts today. I finished one for a friend. I started to finish one for another friend. I worked on one for my niece. I quilted some exceedingly small pebbles on a VSP (very special quilt).

It's a great day when I get to touch so many quilts!

Currently

I saw this list on Pat Sloan's blog and thought I'd post my own answers:

I am currently:

• Watching:  Nothing.  Where I live, there is no through-the-air television reception and we do not pay for cable.  
• Reading:  Tonight I am reading Immanuel Kant.  I am taking a course on Modernism through Coursera.com.  I have already finished a writing course and an art course and have signed up for many more.
• Listening:  The Power of Habit by Charles Duhugg.  I listen to audiobooks while I quilt. 
• Making:  A very special quilt that is near and dear to me.  It  has been in my head for years, on paper for about 18 months and finally is coming together in fabric.  Stay tuned!
• Feeling:  Excellent and grateful for it.  Last winter was a tough one for me but now my future is so bright, I've got to wear shades!
• Planning:  I am doing some quilt-related filming at the end of the summer and diligently making plans for that.  More on this later.
• Loving:  Dresses!  Since I am filming, I had to go clothes shopping.  I bought dresses -- a bunch of them -- from eShakti.com.  Why did I not know about this site earlier?  I am now channeling my inner 50s hausfrau.  I may break out my pearls and wear them when I vacuum.  Hmmm... do I even own a vacuum?   All of my floors are tile or hardwood and are cleaned regularly, but they are never vacuumed.

Care to play along?  Comment with your own list of what you are "currently" doing.

Going Mainstream?

This makes me very happy:

Louisiana

I just returned home from a teaching trip to Shreveport, Louisiana.  This is the 38th state I've been to and am hoping to add the remaining 12 states in the next year or two:  Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii.  If you live there and need a quilt teacher, look me up!

I bought a new suitcase this month.  I really liked that suitcase.  It is gone now:

The photo doesn't show just how twisted and damaged this poor bag truly is.  After waiting an hour to find someone employed by Delta, he, to his credit, took one look at my bag and handed me a brand new suitcase out of the box.  No paperwork.  No claims forms.  No asking for proof of the age of the bag.  Accidents happen, so -- Nicely Done, Delta!

I saw that the R. W. Norton Art Gallery was number one on most lists of Things To Do In Shreveport, so I went there for a visit.

This is the first video I have taken and then uploaded with my phone, so please be understanding.  I think it is playing at triple speed.

The building was beautiful.  There was a very interesting collection of art inside, but there were also fascinating floors.

Yes, floors.  Floors like this one:

And this one:

And this one:

My hotel was, um, interesting.  It had some fun touches like "ceiling mounted hair dryers":

I am 5 foot 6 in my stocking feet and had trouble reaching this.  I have many friends who are less than 5 feet tall.  How on earth were they supposed to reach this?  The other "touches" were less fun and I will probably not stay at that hotel again. 

Another interesting aspect of this trip was that it was in Louisiana.  In July.  It did a pretty good impersonation of the surface of the sun:

Gasp!

I was in Louisiana to teach quilting, and I met the most amazing students.  They each brought in their own Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen for a few days of hands-on classes:

We had a great time together and left with promises of "See you in Houston!"

Louisiana had its ups and downs for me, but the ruined luggage, weird hotel, and blistering heat were more than offset by this:

Chocolate cake as a base for S'mores.  I can now die happy.

Sewing Buddy

I had a visit this morning from a sewing buddy. She did a little cutting; I did a little sewing. We accomplished little things yet it was a great time together.

Today was my lady day in the studio for a while. I was happy to get caught up on my Quilt Basket block of the month.

Happy July 4th!

GiveAway

I haven't heard back from Celia Ambrose so I re-picked a winner.  (Sorry, Celia!)

It's Katie M from Katie and Kwilts.

Look for this in the mail.

The Changing of the Bed

It's time to change quilts.

I started the day with my Lonni Rossi quilt and changed to a patriotic one for the Fourth of July!

(This is my first time posting photos from my phone so I can not control where the images show up. Sorry!)

The Dog's Breakfast

This week, the (non-existent) dog did not eat my homework; this week my homework looked like the (non-existent) dog's breakfast so I did not submit it.

This week we studied black and white photographs.  Our assignment was to shoot an evocative black and white portrait of someone, striving to capture through your lens some aspect of your model’s personality. Then, to deepen your understanding of the role of value and texture in your portrait, you will recreate it in a collage medium made from small pieces of newsprint (newspaper).

Obviously I disregarded the newsprint recommendation and decided to go with black and white fabrics.

I chose a photo of my husband:

I took this photo of him during our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Arizona.  This photo was taken in the Painted Desert.

I gathered my supplies:

traced the outline:

and began adding fabrics:

I have seen some spectacular fabric collages submitted by other students and they amaze me.  Mine amazes me by how amazingly awful it is.  I might try this technique again, but I probably not on a black and white portrait.

I thought about what I wanted to get out of this class -- to try new techniques and use them to further my current interests in quilting.  My current interest in quilting involves thread.  Lots and lots of thread.

I tried a new approach to this assignment that used ... wait for it... thread:

I transferred the photograph to fabric and then covered it with thread.  Lots and lots of thread.

I am in the process of binding this quilt and am pretty happy about the result.  I have seen this technique on quilts hanging in quilt shows and wondered if it wasn't cheating a bit.  After trying it myself, I realized that it is not cheating; there is definite skill and artistry involved in added the right colors and textures to enhance the photograph.

I may try fabric collage again.  I want to try Mary's technique:



Isn't that amazing?

I want to try David's technique, too.

I received good value for dollar with this class (the class was free, but still...).  I have learned about new techniques, learned new things about myself, made some interesting discoveries, and gained respect for those who work with different techniques than I do.  I am leaving town to work at a quilt show so I will likely not do this week's assignment at all, but I am interested to learn and see what how the other students approached it.

We Have A Winner

Remember my fabric postcard giveaway?

I picked a winner.  It's Celia Ambrose.

Celia, please contact me at debbybrownquilts (at) gmail.com with your mailing address and I'll pop this into the mail for you.

My Quilt Enabler

I have a friend named John and John is a quilt enabler.

He buys me luscious quilty-inspiration books.  First, I drool all over the books and then I sketch like crazy, wanting to make all sorts of new quilts based on what is contained within the pages.

I love John.  Check out John's great blog and you will love him too!

The most recent book he gave me is:

It is full of history and pictures of old quilted garments and line drawings of old quilting patterns.  Swoon!

You could buy it here.

I Think They Liked It?

Remember my art homework from last week?

I was not sure that they would "get" the fabric mail art bit, but they mostly seemed to:

peer 1 → I like this work pretty much. It was really original to chose textile for mail art. The only thing I did not have enough - text. You can continue your work with embroidery letters.

peer 3 → The idea of using fabric and stitching is out of the box and the idea of blurring and faded memories is excellent. I admire your thinking in creating this. Good luck

peer 4 → You captured the scents of summer. I liked your use of the gingham to represent a picnic table cloth and reinforce your theme.

I enjoyed sitting with my summer memories, trying new fabric techniques, and playing with Hazel, my sweet Sweet Sixteen.  Having my peers like my project was unnecessary, but nice to hear.