International Quilt Weekend Is Here!

It's Heeere...International Quilt Weekend is upon us.  Since Alex and Ricky from The Quilt Show are having a big party I decided to join in on the fun.  Details about the amazing things happening at The Quilt Show are listed below.  I'm adding to it:  anyone who is signed up to follow my blog (either through Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs) will be eligible for some prizes.  Among them are a copy of Victoria Findlay Wolfe's newest book, "Double Wedding Ring Quilts:  Traditions Made Modern", fabric bundles including a Kaufman solid rollup, a Hoffman fabric bali pop or other pre-cut collection, and Havel's Scissors!  You must be a follower and comment at the bottom of this post to be eligible, and the drawing will take place at noon on 3/23/15.  I will announce the winners on this post the evening of 3/23, so please check back!  Thanks for participating, and don't forget to stop over to The Quilt Show for more details on their celebration of International Quilt Weekend!  Woo Hoo!

March 24th:  Greetings!  I used my "Randomizer" app to select the winners of the giveaways.  Sorry I am a day late in posting:  I forgot that I would be out of town teaching a workshop/lecture to the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild.  I have notified the winners in the comments section.  Please check your comment.  If you have been selected you will see my reply.  If you are a winner use the contact button at the base of the blog header to get in touch with me.  I will need your email as well as your "snail mail" addresses, please.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and congratulations to the winners!

In honor of International Quilting Weekend, March 20-22 (that's NEXT weekend!), 2015, The Quilt Show (www.thequiltshow.com), the web TV show hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, will open all of its shows from the first nine series-- shows 100-1513 --for the entire weekend. This means that, for three special days, everyone will have the chance to view over 200 shows, featuring some of the quilting world’s leading artists, for FREE. 

This year's sponsors are contributing over $5000 in prizes, including the Grand Prize, a BERNINA 550 QE.  Other prizes you have a chance to win are:

·         Innova – Have your quilt professionally quilted ($500 value)

·         Superior Threads – five $100 gift certificates

·         RJR Fabrics – a Delicious Selection of RJR Fabrics

·         AccuQuilt – GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter

·         Missouri Star Quilt Company – $500 in Quilter’s Cash plus signed copies of Volume 1 of Block Magazine and Man Sewing Swag

As you may already know, I appeared as the featured artist on TQS in show 1510. If you didn't have the opportunity to see this show the first time around, now you'll have the chance to see it—and so many other terrific shows—at no cost in this unprecedented three-day offer.

I hope that you'll share this information with all of your quilting friends. It's a fantastic opportunity to enjoy three days of learning and fun without leaving your home…all for free.

Enjoy the shows, and thanks for helping to spread the word!

Link to TQS website landing page:

 http://thequiltshow.com/international-quilting-weekend

Fun On International Quilt Weekend!

Hey Kids!

Big news here! In honor of International Quilting Weekend, March 20-22 (that's NEXT weekend!), 2015, The Quilt Show (www.thequiltshow.com), the web TV show hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, will open all of its shows from the first nine series-- shows 100-1513 --for the entire weekend. This means that, for three special days, everyone will have the chance to view over 200 shows, featuring some of the quilting world’s leading artists, for FREE. 

This year's sponsors are contributing over $5000 in prizes, including the Grand Prize, a BERNINA 550 QE.  Other prizes you have a chance to win are:

·         Innova – Have your quilt professionally quilted ($500 value)

·         Superior Threads – five $100 gift certificates

·         RJR Fabrics – a Delicious Selection of RJR Fabrics

·         AccuQuilt – GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter

·         Missouri Star Quilt Company – $500 in Quilter’s Cash plus signed copies of Volume 1 of Block Magazine and Man Sewing Swag

As you may already know, I appeared as the featured artist on TQS in show 1510. If you didn't have the opportunity to see this show the first time around, now you'll have the chance to see it—and so many other terrific shows—at no cost in this unprecedented three-day offer.

I hope that you'll share this information with all of your quilting friends. It's a fantastic opportunity to enjoy three days of learning and fun without leaving your home…all for free.

Enjoy the shows, and thanks for helping to spread the word!

Link to TQS website landing page:

 http://thequiltshow.com/international-quilting-weekend

QuiltCon(fidential): My Own QuiltCon Experience.

The buildup to QuiltCon was such a phenomenon.  I have experienced nothing like it before:  all the Insta posts of everyone's buttons, etc..  Such excitement!  There was no chance we were not going to have fun!

Here's my button:  image taken from the surface of a quilt I recently made.

"Do What You Love/Love What You Do"

Austin has at least one gorgeous day while we were in town...

We visited Hill Country Yarn Shop before the show opened.

Helping Michele Muska set up the EZ Quilting Booth.

An amazingly efficient registration/check-in set-up.

My name tag:  I got two because I enrolled in workshops and also taught.

Look at all this swag!  Love my new Bernina watch!

Thursday:  Day-long workshop with Carolyn Frielander, "Austin Houses".

A paper-piecing workshop.  If I ever did it before I cannot remember.

I enjoyed it and loved the pattern she taught.

Carolyn takes photos of our completed houses...

Here are mine, under construction...

I took a lunch break and ran down to the show floor to discover my good friend,

Kathy York, had won Best In Show!  Wow!  I'm thrilled for her!

Kathy gets interviewed by the media.  Woot!

Moving on to the Sizzix booth.

Will the real Victoria Findlay Wolfe please step forward??

A visit with a good friend, Frances Holliday Alford.

I even got to ride a sewing machine!

This was a very popular stop inside the Stitch Lab booth.

Bill Volkening had a display of his 70's-era collection

at the show.  The double knit quilts would have made my grandmother Tucker's heart soar.

This one, in particular, killed me dead.

My friend and fellow San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild member (and current president!)

Allison Chambers, posing with her great Conan quilt.

And then there was the evening I had been waiting for:

Improv Quilting with the Gee's Bend Quilters.  Oh my.

 They lead off with songs.....

My small quilt pieced during the workshop..

And posing with Mary Ann Pettway and the quilt I purchased from her.

Pieced by Cynthia Pettway, quilted by Mary Ann.  I'm delighted to own it.

Saturday evening I taught "Geltastic & Printalicious", a stamp-making

and gelatin plate monoprinting workshop.  We all made a 

beautiful mess and had so much fun!

Here is our used paint water.....

A (Very!) Quick Trip To Napa To Witness The Groundbreaking For "Crafting A Life"!

My friend and fellow-artist Pokey Bolton is famous for dreaming big.  One main difference in Pokey is that she has a way of crafting her dreams into reality, and often, those big dreams rub off on many of us who are fortunate to be around her.  She has seen a lot of changes over the past several years and now she is realizing another big dream:  moving back to her home state of California and buying land in Napa.  Her next project:  "Crafting A Life".
What is "Crafting A Life"?  Well, what do you imagine it to mean?  There are so many ways this theme can be interpreted and I think she intends to explore them all.
First up:  construction of a new "Art Barn".  I've seen the plans and walked on the ground where the future art barn will reside.  Inside this future building I think we can weave some magic in the form of quilts, mixed media, perhaps cooking outside the barn in her gorgeous outdoor kitchen (and I, for one, hope to cook some pizzas in that wood oven of hers).  This future place is built for dreaming.  I think the sky is the limit for what can be imagined inside these walls.
Here are a few images from the day of the groundbreaking.....

I think the seat back tray tables on SWA planes look like penguin beaks....

We met Jamie and Steve Fingal at the Oakland airport.

First time our husbands have met in person!

A trip to what my daughters refer to as "The Precious".

A beautiful old barn door.

Tulip trees in bloom

Jamie's fun heart bunting adorns the entry to Pokey's garden.

Gathering by the pool

Two legends of the quilt world:  Yvonne Porcella (L) and Alex Anderson.

Posing with my dear friend Judy Coates Perez

Pokey gives a brief, heartfelt speech before digging in!

She remembered the late Allison Stilwell, who encouraged 

everyone to "Do what you love, no matter how crazy it may seem!".

Putting on her hard hat before the heavy work begins...

Yvonne shows Pokey how she got some Napa dirt under her new manicure!

Flying away on a beautiful day I can see the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz

in the distance.  

I'm sure to return, and often.