Beautiful ceramics

One of the many pleasures of spending a weekend in Rocheport, Missouri, last month was the discovery of Shirahaze Gallery and the work of Yukari Kashihara.  I fell in love with her aesthetic, and decided to order a sugar bowl to coordinate with a small creamer.  She emailed me that the bowl is ready, so I am looking forward to the arrival of my new pieces very soon.  Please stop by her website and take a look at her unique work.   She is a lovely, charming young artist.  Please tell her I sent you!

Fun with friends at previous quilt festivals......

Every year it gets better:  the time I share with friends at quilt festivals!  Many of us rarely see each other outside of these events so we make up for lost time while we are gathered together.  The subculture of mixed-media and fiber art brings us together, but the sheer joy of spending time together bonds us.
Here are a few images, randomly selected, of previous gatherings:

Leslie & Karey Bresenhan @ the SAQA/Quiltart reception

2003

Frances Holliday Alford with her sisters at the tiara parade

2003

Tiara parade hits the show floor!  

Kathy York after she realizes her quilt, "Little Cities" has won first prize

Kathy talks about her winning quilt, "Little Cities"

Frances poses by her encrusted quilt

Austin art quilt group at the awards ceremony for "Kiwi and Fuschia Meet For Mojitos"

L-R: Frances, Leslie, Connie, Sherri, Raewyn, and Kathy

Frances & Leslie pose in front of "Guadalupe Goes Shopping"

2008

Rachel Parris "wears" one of Frances' wreaths as Judy Coates Perez catches a photo

Melly Testa rocking a spoon

Leslie & Jamie Fingal

'Dinner At Eight' having dinner at eight @ Spencer's in the Hilton

After-hours painting in our room:

Clockwise from bottom:  Judy Coates Perez, Leslie, Nina Perez, 

Barbara Delaney, and Frances Holliday Alford

How you feel the day after festival!

(Jamie Fingal crashed on my studio sofa)

Kathy York: Cover Girl!

Kathy York's amazing quilt, "Fifty, Female, and Fearless"

Kathy's quilt can be seen in Houston at the International Quilt Festival as part of "Beneath The Surface",

a special exhibition co-curated by Jamie Fingal and myself.

Dinner At Eight Artists ROCK!

And, if that wasn't cool enough (which it IS) I will have an article in the same magazine about using shredded paper for various surface design techniques.  Woo Hoo!

More behind-the-scenes photos from the Quilting Arts TV taping

I'm still basking in the memories of how much fun I had while taping my segments for Quilting Arts TV:  playing with the gorgeous Bernina 830 and Aurora 440 QE (wow!), meeting some amazing artists whose work I have admired for a long time, and meeting new people.
Here are a few more images from that experience:

Sewing on the Bernina 830 is a dream!  

I am in serious lust-mode for one of these beauties.

Kathy Stull, producer of Quilting Arts TV, poses with Pokey.

A fabulous foursome!  L-R:  Helen Gregory, Jeanne Cook Delpit of Bernina, Pokey Bolton, and Pippa Eccles.

Here is Pokey's UFO featured on our "Save My UFO! Segment"......

Here is the crowd in the Green Room watching our segment.

What in the world did we do to that quilt??  Stay tuned....

Artist Faire @ CREATE Chicago

The Artist Faire was held on Friday evening of the CREATE event.  Artists who were teaching at the event participated, as well as other artists in the area who only participated in the Faire.  The vendors skewed heavily toward mixed media/assemblage work, but most of the vendors were pleased with the outcome.

These little dye pots lead to my end-result at the Artist Faire

mixed-media "mail art" postcard combined with screen printed bamboo batting, beads, and 

free-motion embroidery.  Mounted on black felt.

8x10 inches

Dye-printed post-consumer facial cloth, mail-art postcard, divided, grommets & beads, machine-stitched.

8x10 inches

dyed silk habotai, screen-printed facial cloth & bamboo batting, mail-art postcard, 

free-motion machine embroidered

8x10 inches

dyed bamboo batting and facial cloth, mixed-media mail art, hand-stitched beads, machine-quilted.

8x10 inches

posing at my vendor table behind my hand-dyed cotton knit scarves and other work.

I'm wearing a 25"x125" cotton-viscose tissue knit scarf, hand-dyed.  It's yummy.

Judy Coates-Perez gives me a hand at merchandising.

I needed her help!

Here is the lovely Alina Mardesich, who won my donated knit scarf!

Alina was a student at CREATE, and it was such fun to get to know her.

The lovely and talented Kelli Nina Perkins (L) and Alisa Burke.

Showing off my beautiful new red shoes, as well as my beautiful and luscious scarves.

I sold several, as well as my hand-dyed Radiance cloth.

Jamie & I, chillin at our vendor table.  

Hard to believe she is only drinking water, isn't it?!

San Francisco/Berkeley Artists' Studio Tour:

Here are a few shots taken during the day-long studio tour.  More to follow.....

And you thought YOU had too many machines.....

or a few too many buttons....

heavenly freesia outside an artist's studio door

and it's a red door

Day #2: A visit to Joan Schulz studio & Yvonne Porcella in Modesto

We began our morning with a brief stop at the studio of Joan Schulz, the mixed media textile artist who juried the Federation show in Dallas 20007.  Joan's studio is a thing of wonder:  any artist would turn green with envy at the space & wonderful natural light she enjoys.

Joan in her lovely studio

http://www.joan-of-arts.com/quilts.html

We drove up to Modesto, enjoying the lush green landscape enroute.

Seeing Yvonne, who looks SO good for only being 6 weeks post-op and well into her chemotherapy, was a high point of the trip.

Yvonne shows her surprise when she views her quilt

Iris smoothes the quilt over Yvonne's bed

Yvonne's dog, Kiery, steals one of her knitted hats

Yvonne & Kiery, wearing the same joyful expression

Lesley Riley comes to San Antonio

As I was in the air, enroute from San Antonio to Washington DC and the board meeting for the Alliance for American Quilts, Lesley Riley was in the air from Washington to San Antonio to teach workshops for the Fiber Artists of San Antonio.  I was so disappointed that I would miss her workshops, but happy that I was able to attend her talk at our monthly meeting.

Lesley talked to the FASA guild about "Making Time For Art"

After the meeting Lesley offered her half-day workshop on Lutradur.  I took this workshop several years ago in Houston, and would have enjoyed it again, but needed to remain task-oriented today.

Fortunately, I was able to meet Lesley and several friends for dinner:

Left to right:  Lesley Riley, Allison Brown-Cestero, me, Jane Dunnewold, Lisa Kerpoe, Laura Beehler

Good friends and good conversation:  a perfect evening!