PIQF Preview

Tonight my friend Keri Duke of Keri Designs and I are doing the final check and pack of the Maui Art Quilters special exhibit for the Pacific International Quilt Festival. Our exhibit, "Colors of Maui," will be on display in the special exhibits section of the show next week in Santa Clara, California. If you are in the neighborhood, I hope you will go to the show, see the exhibit, and stop by Keri's booth in the vendors mall and say hello.

My contribution to the show is this quilt, "Naupaka."


















I wish I was going to the show as well!

First Feature Show!

I have been MIA for a long time...

I'm returning to blogging as I am coming up for air after getting my quilts done for a show that opens this weekend. My work, together with that of three other artists, will be featured at Viewpoints Gallery through September 21. If you live on Maui or are visiting, I hope you will stop by and see the show.

This is an incredible thrill and honor!

In "Road"

Just got the confirmation email that my "Breakfast Ti" quilt arrived safely at the Road to California offices today. Whatever did we do in the days before all of this electronic communication? Certainly there was no comfort level - you simply packed up your box and sent it on its way with a prayer.

Hopefully, 2010 will be a good show year, as 2009 has seen quite a quilting slump for me.

I'm pleased to be a part of this exhibit. Word on the street is that the entries in "Road" get better and better every year. A friend of mine said of last year's show, "The quilts were so beautiful, it made me want to cry." Sounds like excellent company!

Checking In

I was gently reminded by a friend the other night that I have not posted to my blog in months. She is tired of looking at that "damn pincushion" every time she checks my blog. I suppose that you, too, feel the same way but figure you don't know me well enough to smack me around and tell me to get back to work. LOL!

I have been in a quilting slump for the past few months. I came back from the SAQA conference in May rejuvenated and ready make half-a-jillion quilts, but the summer leaked away and here it is, October.

This spring and summer I was swept away by physical fitness. I was going to enter an offroad triathlon at the end of this month, but decided I needed at least a good year of training, so I will enter next year. I've discovered yoga.

I have been concentrating on training and eating healthy (mostly organic, no processed foods). I'm absolutely smitten by Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," and loved Jillian Michaels' "Master Your Metabolism," and have become very conscious of where my food comes from (and where it SHOULD be coming from). I will go on my first hunting trip for deer this month.

I managed to enter my "breakfast ti" quilt in Road to California. Photographing silk is extremely difficult, so I hope my pictures were at least good enough to get me in. I'll find out in December.

I did not get "Sunday Morning" finished in time to enter, but am still appliqueing like crazy and shooting for the Viewpoints Gallery "Celebration of Hawaii" in January.

I am working, working, working my day job.

I have been occupied with other things for a short while, but feel the creativity beginning to swell up inside, and soon it will be back to usual for this blog, with lots more quilting.

Thanks for sticking around and checking back! I hope to have something fabulous to post very, very soon.

Deadline...

I finally finished basting the blossoms on the "Sunday Morning" agapanthus quilt. All one hundred twenty-seven of them. I used some of my precious Japanese basting thread that one of my former customers, Bette Nomura, gave me a long time ago. I love this thread, all pre-cut lengths, which glides through fabrics with ease.

I've been procrastinating on this quilt for a while now, and I don't know why. HOWEVER, I just got the Road to California packet in the mail and now I have a firm deadline. The entries have to be in by October 1. Those who know me well know that I work best with a deadline.

Here is a glimpse of the final burst of blossoms that I basted down. Did I mention I am hand appliqueing all one hundred twenty-seven blossoms? I'm looking forward to the hand applique, which is a good thing, because how long does it take to hand applique one hundred twenty-seven blossoms?

One blossom at a time.

So off I go. I figure I can finish the applique if I stitch four blossoms a day for the next thirty-two days, which will give me a good 2-3 weeks to quilt and finish the quilt before I need to photograph it and send in the entry on time.

Four blossoms a day does not seem quite as daunting as the overall visual of this 6' wide quilt when it is spread out. The good thing? I know I can get more done on the days I have more time which will make up for the days that I don't.

It will be a joy to see this quilt finished...it's a work in progress SIX years in the making!

Box Checked

Bruce's new quilt, Late Summer Garden, is finished - I now have an empty sewing table, so I can get onto the next project!

I used the new bamboo batting for this quilt.  I really love the drape and weight of this batting for "family" quilts.  It's lightweight and soft, perfect for summer use.  So far, its only drawback is that it is very "linty" and gets all over everything until you get the binding on.  It doesn't appear to beard, though, which is good.

Here's a closeup of the quilting - simple.  I love the way quilts pucker when they are washed.

Yearning...

Getting myself into trouble by visiting the Art Quilt Tahoe page and reading about Sue Benner's Landscape class. Realizing that I already have all of the class supplies in my stash and wouldn't need to cart my machine (hence, more room for fabric!). Figuring that I could probably go "on a shoestring" for $3,000. Wondering where I can dig up that amount in this impossible economy (no gallery sales as of yet, this year), and whether I could actually get the time off, since I've already used up/accounted for my vacation time this year. UGH.

I was the very lucky recipient of the AQT scholarship award in 2007. It was a fabulous experience - so much so that I'd love to go back some day. And in that regard, I encourage all of YOU to apply for the scholarship HERE.

Sue Benner is such a dynamic person and teacher! Everyone I know who has taken her classes raves about them. She was also one of the jurors for Quilt National this year.

Counting my pennies...