Ellen Lumpkin Brown caught up with Elin and me at the C&T Publishing booth at Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh in May. She taped us doing a couple of demos from our book, Art Quilts at Play and the interview is now playing on Quilters TV.
I can't post anything that I've made lately (top secret and all that jazz), so I thought I'd show you some of the beautiful pieces I've been fortunate enough to acquire lately. I love how wonderful they look matted and framed, I love how well they work together, and I love how simpatico they all are with the string of birds Elin gave me years ago. A bright happy corner in my studio.
The piece on the top is an ACEO by Lisa Call - you have to see one of these in person, the detail and workmanship are astonishing. The middle piece is by the delightful and lovely Mati McDonough, I adore its positive, fresh, fun and bubbly vibe. And the bottom piece is by the incomparable Liz Berg. I've been hankering after one of hers for eons and was fortunate enough to get this during the recent Collage Mania.
Back to work, and as soon as I can, I'll show you what I've been up to!
Okay, maybe not from the edge, but some days are more interesting than others. Still transitioning into a whole new life, still trying to find structure and organization in the midst of change and still trying to get caught up, but I'm getting there.
I'm knocking things off my list and working toward some big deadlines. I have a wonderful group of people signed up for the June Printmaking for Art Quilters workshop next weekend.
And I've nearly finished the postcards that I owe to some very patient people. Postmark'd Art, the fantastic postcard group that I've belonged to for the past 4-5 years, had a theme of mixed media this spring and I used Loteria cards to create mine. Of course, I couldn't just mixed the media, I mixed the cultures too. The red stamp is one that my brother brought back for me from a trip to China. It's really beautiful, I love the scale of it with the Mexican loteria cards.
And to mix more culture in here, I finished a really good book last night, Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, about his youth in Sierra Leone during the civil war. It was hard to read because of the subject matter but the honesty of the author made it very worthwhile. I highly recommend it.
I'm excited to announce that I'll be offering workshops in our barn this summer. We're located about an hour north of NYC in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I have a list of local hotels, including a couple of charming B&Bs on or near our completely authentic New England Main Street, if you're coming from a distance and need to stay overnight (and one hotel to warn you away from, lol).
Each two-day workshop is offered on a Friday and Saturday, in June, July and August. We'll be working on a variety of printmaking techniques, both by hand and with printing equipment (hello, etching press!) You'll create a lot of fabric that you can incorporate into future art quilts and you'll have a fantastic time doing it! We'll even feed you lunch and snacks each day. I hope you can join me!
This summer's sessions are: June 19 & 20, July 17 & 18 or Aug 14 & 15. If you need more info, please email me.
PS: The June session is filling fast -- just so's ya knows.
Life has been a little busy lately! I've been madly dashing from one event/signing/class/show/something to the next since the store closed on March 31. Last week was International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. I was there at the behest of C&T Publishing for the release of Art Quilts at Play. My co-author, Elin Waterston, and I signed books (at the Checker Distributors and United Notions booths), spoke to scads of people about it, taught a workshop on one of the techniques, demonstrated a few more in the C&T booth, taped a demo and an interview plus I had a booth as the Country Quilter. My mom and I had four new patterns between us and were busy connecting with old and new customers.
at the C&T booth
at the United Notions booth
Of all of the convention centers I've been to (quite a few), my favorite architecturally is the David L Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The food there was really awful, the hotel was terrible (Sheraton Station Square), but the convention center was gorgeous.
Country Quilter booth
I met a lot of internet friends - from different lists and from Facebook - isn't that the best? It was a wonderful week, although it's really good to be home! No more traveling or running for a while, time to catch up to myself.
The ferns are coming up in the woods and garden, unfurling and uncurling. Can't you just imagine magical little creatures living under them?
I've done several series of quilts based on ferns and feel another one coming on. I'm waiting for some of the chaos to subside and my head to be quieter and then I'll hit the studio. The forced inaction is frustrating, but I'm looking forward to a hyper-productive period this summer. June, she chants, June.
Spring has sprung, the bulbs I planted last fall are up and most are blooming. There's a whole patch of "surprise" bulbs (I forgot what I planted, gotta write it down next time, oof).
Even in the midst of nutso packing for Quilt Festival in Chicago, I did a little decorating for Easter dinner. A couple of bouquets of flowers, a pretty floral fabric...
... and small sparkly chicks!
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