Stay Tuned....

Pat Sloan's blog radio program

I was so happy to finally meet Pat Sloan in person during Quilt Market!  Pat and I had been exchanging a few emails prior to being in Houston, but prior to that I had been quite enamored with her Pinterest boards!
Pat was interested in talking to me about "Exquisite Journey", the collaborative group quilt that was the brainchild of Frances Holliday Alford.  The quilt has 6 panels made by myself, Frances, Michele Muska, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Hoodie Crescent, and Kathy York.

a detail of my panel

Pat and I sat down during Quilt Market and recorded a segment to be aired on her wonderful blog radio program sometime in November.  I'll be sure to post the date once I find out!  I hope you will tune in and listen.  Do stop by and listen to her previous shows, which you can easily access on the site.

Honoring the Collaboration: A Story about "Exquisite Journey"

Prompted by my friend Kathy York's blog post today, I want to share about a wonderful collaboration.
Frances Holliday Alford, a wonderful artist and the Embellishment Queen (her studio is named "Embellishments") initiated this project over a weekend mini-retreat at her Vermont studio with Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Michele Muska, & Hoodie Crescent.  After looking at their work and thinking that a couple of additional panels might round things out a bit, she contact Kathy York and I.  Who can say no to Frances when she has a bee in her bonnet?!  Both of us were already treading water, walking on thin ice, feeling like we both had "art ADD", but, like I said, who can say no?  Neither of us!
After the 4 "northerners" completed their individual panels Frances shipped them to us.  Kathy and I planned a couple of intensive work days to figure out the placement of the panels and find some small elements to add cohesiveness to the piece.

Here was the sketch each of us received from Frances

The next two images are of my panel, under construction

I toted my sewing machine to Austin and set up in Kathy's studio.

One of her cats seemed to enjoy the top of my machine bag...

and also the inside!

cut rounds of Kathy's gorgeous hand-batiked cloth were appliqued

across the panels to add a unifying element to the piece.

I love Kathy's birds, especially the one carrying the worm!

Other small adjustments were made.

Kathy works on the panels.

To say this thing was "thick" would be a massive understatement.

This shot shows two of the panels being joined together.

I think Kathy said it best when she stated it was like sewing two planks together

to join the last two sections!

We were really cracking up while putting together the final sections.

We got pretty punchy at the end of the day.  There was so much fluorescent thread on this thing

that I made a comment about wishing we had access to a black light so we could see how much it would glow.  Kathy jumped up and rushed into her son's room and returned with his black light!

Super cool!

I have had several people inquire about the thread. 

I use Super Brights by Superior.  

These colors may be purchased separately or as a set of twelve.

Here is our finished quilt!

Size:  45"L by 90"W

It will be in Houston at the International Quilt Festival hanging in the group category.