We said we’d publicize the 2009 Quilting Arts “Celebrate Home” Calendar winners on May 23, but hey, the decision has been made so why keep mum about it? (Plus we want to display the winning quilts at Quilt Market in Portland later this week in our booth, and it really wouldn’t be fair of us to display those quilts without first letting you know, now would it!)
As usual, the decision was very difficult as the quilts that came into our offices were spectacular this time around. However, after much deliberation, the crew came up with a beautiful and inspiring assembly of quilts that I’m sure will delight.
I’d briefly mentioned in a previous post how we narrow the lot to a group of finalists, and once those quilts arrive, there are some intense discussions that take place. We each choose 13 of our favorites, then we meet as a group to discuss them, and lastly we begin laying them out by month. (This is actually one of the more heated annual discussions we have at Quilting Arts because we all feel so passionately about our choices!) We ask questions and move quilts around as we talk through the final grouping. Would this be a good January? Is this quilt representative enough for July? Would this quilt make a smashing cover? Did this artist interpret the theme closely enough? Do we have two blue quilts in a row and should we rethink the order we’ve placed them? Do we have a wide variety of styles?
When we stepped back from the lot, we noticed we had a rather diverse group of artwork for this particular calendar. All of the quilts are lovely, and we really hope you’ll enjoy the 2009 calendar as much as we plan to.
As my friends know all too well, I am slightly obsessed with HBO's The Sopranos, and inspired by a recent call for entries for an upcoming show in Long Beach, I came darn close to formally entering an art quilt dedicated to my Jersey boys.
But there was only one event on this planet that could ever eclipse the need to finish this quilt on time: This past weekend Richard and Dorothy Bolton (my in-laws affectionately known to me as “Dot and Dick”) celebrated their golden anniversary.
Months ago they proposed that we simply meet up for some grub at a local restaurant, but their five children and spouses, and 12 grandchildren knew that to simply go to dinner at the local steakhouse would never, ever do.
So we came up with a plan.
We schemed, we deceived, we laughed wickedly as we coordinated an evening of events that would knock their socks off and bring back feelings and memories for them of newlywed bliss. And what surprised their five children (and us in-law kids) was how our diverse talents and abilities could artfully come together to see this momentous event to its fruition. Case in point:
• The manipulative, persuasive minds of my sisters- and brothers-in-law who coerced the older grandchildren to baby-sit the younger grandchildren and all sleep under one roof so that us elderly folks could enjoy a night out in Boston. Thankfully, us elderly folks came home to houses that were not TP’d nor burned down, and to the best of our knowledge, nothing has been posted to the local police blotter. Yet.
• The stealth abilities of my brethren-in-law who successfully broke into my in-laws’ basement to steal photographs with my in-laws none the wiser. The end result was a hardbound, limited edition, 50-year record of family memories. A hush descended upon the dining room suite at the Copley Fairmont Hotel as my in-laws opened the album when dessert was served. This picture says it all…
• The ability of everyone to laugh at ourselves and create our very own, homemade and family-relevant version of a popular trivia game. We devised our own categories, and each family was responsible for coming up with more than 100 questions and answers total for all six categories. My favorite category was Boltons Behaving Badly. Here’s a sampling of the questions:
-Who kicked a nun in the shins then ran away? (Diana)
-Who is the most accident-prone Bolton? (John)
-Who, while MCing the annual student musical event at her Jesuit university, had a wardrobe malfunction of the worst kind on stage in front of her professors, the university president (a Jesuit), her boyfriend, and future in-laws? (I’m not telling.)
Yours Truly was responsible for designing and creating the trivia game board and accessories, and I made it entirely out of fabric. I silk screened the categories onto the wedges, cut and fused coordinating fabrics to the base, and then thread sketched with black thread. Many thanks to managing editor Helen Gregory for binding! Here’s what it looked like:
In order to pull this off, I consulted heavily with my Quilting Arts co-workers and extended network of arty friends from Make It University!™. We thought the felted eggs from ArtGirlz would make hilarious game pieces for each of the families. (Get it? Eggs for offspring? I’m so deep.)
We hot glued toothpicks on the felt eggs for feet, and I altered photos of each family to place on top. For game play, when someone correctly answers a question, another felt shape is added to the egg, so I needed to make sure I had enough felted pieces for all six categories.
Two days before the big event I realized I was short on felted supplies and left a rather panicked voicemail for the Art Girlz. Tracy called back and said, “Never fear, Pokey! The Art Girlz Rescue Squad is here for you!” They kindly over-nighted other felted bits to complete the game board, and thanks to the haunting yet up-tempo tunes of Radiohead's “In Rainbows,” I finished everything a little before 2:00 AM Saturday morning.
The evening went off without a hitch and it was a night none of us will soon forget. Mission accomplished. All of us at Quilting Arts are indebted to them. (Quilting Arts would never have happened if they didn’t give me space to launch a magazine.) And on a more personal note, I thank them for welcoming a kooky girl from California into the clan.
Some pictures:
Here’s to you, Dot and Dick...
Cheers!
*A special thanks to our neighbors at Make It University!, Expressly
Yours Embellishments for getting the personalized mugs together so
quickly!
Okay, dear blog readers, it’s that time of year again to announce our Quilting Arts Calendar finalists. (I know it seems a little early to be thinking about 2009, but welcome to my world!)
With this year’s theme, “Celebrating Home,” we received 243 entries from around the globe, and many of these entries were very colorful and extremely personal. We loved admiring all of the entries and reading your stories of home, hearth, and childhood. And there were a number of them that had us laughing (we got a fair amount of cute pets at home this year). We thank everyone so much for participating, and hope—even if you are not a finalist—that you enjoyed the process and will display your quilt proudly.
People may wonder how in the world we are able to winnow the lot to a group of finalists. There are a few things the team considers when choosing the quilts: 1. Innovation and creative interpretation of the calendar theme we give you. 2. Mastery of art and design principles, use of surface design, embellishment, color, and quilting techniques. 3. As we are choosing the finalists, we are mindful of how many we have selected that correlate with a certain time of year. (For instance, we don’t want to have 20 entries depicting The Day of the Dead or Flag Day on our hands.) 4. And this is just as important as the above three: Is this quilt something that someone can stare at for an entire month?
One of the reasons I love our reader challenges is I discover new talent. There have been a number of entries from past years that may not have been a good fit for our calendar, but I have filed away for my own reference to follow up for articles and to check artists’ websites and blogs to see what else they are up to.
We ask that the following artists ship their quilt(s) to our offices so they arrive on or by Monday May 5, 2008. We strongly advise that you ship your work via FedEx or UPS to our street address, rather than USPS to our post office address. If you choose to ship via USPS, be sure to send with tracking so you can track your package, and please note they do not deliver to our street address. The address label on the box must have our post office box number—PO Box 685—on the package.
By sending your quilt(s) to us you agree per the challenge entry rules that we may hold onto your quilt(s) through December 31, 2009. (We usually send them back much earlier but we like the right to hold onto them so they can travel with us to national shows.)
Please ship your quilt(s) to:
Quilting Arts ATTN: 2009 Calendar Contest 23 Gleasondale Rd PO Box 685 (if using USPS) Stow, MA 01775
The 2009 Calendar finalists are:
Linda Aavedal Natalya Aikens (both quilts) Judy Alexander Christine Alexiou Polly Bean (“Home: Nest is Best!”) Marianne Bettinger Donna Clauer Susan Conaway Michelle Dobrin (both quilts) Janet Davis Cait Gordon Tone Haugen-Cogburn Linda Johnson Susan B. Knapp (“Home Planet”) Marisa Landa-Love Susan Mayfield Sylvia Naylor (both quilts) Deb Nichol Wen Redmond (both quilts) Linda Weinstein
International Quilt Festival/Chicago was such a blast––a heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited and participated in Make It University!(TM) with Cloth Paper Scissors. The area buzzed with energy, creativity, and laughs the entire weekend, thanks to all of the artists who donated their time in Open Studios, Workshop teachers, and the vendors.
I've been running at half-speed since we got back, humoring my co-workers as I waddle around the office in my UGG slippers, and wrapped in a huge, robe-sized sweater. A couple more nights of sleep and I'll be back to my energetic, effervescent self. In the meantime, some pictures for you...
Debbi Crane (right) and I in the Workshop area. Debbi is not only a talented and witty artist but she's got that rock star glam about her. Can't you see her in studded leather pants belting out "Magic Man?" Debbi, you missed your calling...
Belinda Spiwak tirelessly worked in Open Studios all three days, encouraging attendees to play with supplies and to interact with her artwork. She also displayed some amazing mixed-media quilts embellished with recycled objects. Look for her in an upcoming issue of Quilting Arts.
Beryl Taylor in Open Studios dazzled attendees with her mixed-media needle felting. It's not to be believed what that woman will put her Babylock Embellisher through. You can also see Lynn Krawczyk in the back as she shares her quilts with found objects. (A special thanks to Lynn for spending extra time in Open Studios!)
Leilani Pierson smiling for the camera had plenty of art on hand to share. She also got rave reviews for her Workshop.
Some of Leilani's Story Boxes. (You may recognize them from a past issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.)
Beryl Taylor, Bernie Berlin, and Asst. Editor Barbara Delaney pose for the camera. A big thanks to Barbara for doing such a superb job in coordinating the artists for Open Studios!
Here's Bernie's table of a whole lotta' stuff. I think this might be my
favorite picture. Doesn't it make you want to reach into the photo, get
really messy, and play?
The colorful Kelli Perkins--librarian by day, renegade artist by night-- delighted attendees with all of her mixed media.
Kelli cleverly touts her cover girl status by turning her CPS moment into a beaded purse. Nice going, Kelli!
Virginia Spiegel, artist and fundraiser extraodinaire (far right) brought her sister Nancy and mother to the show. There's no family resemblance, is there. No, none at all...
On Saturday we taped several segments for Quilting Arts TV in the Open Studios section. Here the camera crew and producer Kathie Stull are getting the set ready.
I've spiffed myself up a bit and donned a respectable jacket for our guests. Here's Judy Coates Perez as she demonstrates a beautiful project with stitched metal. Be sure to check out her blog because she has a ton of photos!
Laura Wasilowski demonstrated fusing on the bias. If you can't tell from this photo, she is one of the funniest, bubbliest people around. For a good time, call Laura. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
Kelli Perkins was the first guest of the day. Poor thing, I told her
beforehand, "I've had no coffee and I'm a little rusty at this." Thankfully she laughed and she absolutely
carried the segment. Kelli was a superb and articulate guest.
I had the exciting opportunity of interviewing International Quilt Festival Director, Karey Bresenhan (also author of Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project). For years I've admired Karey for being such a champion for the quilting industry, and also for her wit, strength, and forthrightness. In her QA TV segment she shares her love for one of her babies, the Journal Quilt Project. (Thanks, Karey!)
Oh yes, forgot to mention that we, too, had a booth at Make It University. Here's Judy again, posing with our latest three publications. (She's currently cover girl for two of them.)
And as promised to co-worker, Geri Stevens, here I am with the infamous Flat Stanley. This particular Flat Stanley belongs to Olivia Beauchain, a second grader from Tynes Elementary School in Florida. (All of us at Quilting Arts are huge fans of Flat Stanley!)
Von Biggs shares his beautiful piece of complex cloth that resulted from an online round robin. What a great idea, don't you think? The fabric is gorgeous. He's lucky I didn't have a pair of scissors on me.
Meet 16-year-old Kayla Fujimoto who had a quilt in our "True Colors" mixed media exhibit. This young artist is someone I'm going to keep my eye on.
Okay, it's Saturday night and time to party. Here's Tracy Stillwell of ArtGirlz posing for the camera. I hosted our "Surviving the Runway" event and without divulging too many details as we'll be doing an adapted version in Long Beach, we indeed, went back to the 70s...
And rocked it.
I'll close this entry by thanking everyone--the folks of Quilts, Inc., all of the artists in Open Studios, the vendors, the attendees, and the Workshop teachers--for making this such a magical event. If you want to come to Long Beach, we'd love to see you! Save the date--July 25-27-- and check the Quilts Inc. web site for more details on the show. If you're an artist that's published with us and want to participate in Open Studios, give a shout to Barbara Delaney as soon as possible. In a few weeks we'll begin posting our plans and workshop schedule for Make It University!(TM).
Lastly, have a look at the YouTube video below. That's two of our editors, Barbara Delaney and Helen Gregory getting ready for my "Surviving the Runway" luncheon. (If you listen closely you can hear Barbara give a "Whoop!") They didn't know I had the camera rolling, and let's just say maybe they should stick to editing! Enjoy.
March 27, 2008
Go Green Quilt by Frances Holliday Alford
Opportunities Knock
Wanted! We have some very exciting publicity and publishing opportunities that I wanted you, dear blog reader, to find out about first. (Many of these aren’t even on the submissions pages yet on our website.)
1. Quilting Arts is actively seeking submissions for embellishment, mixed-media quilting, stitching, and anything related to art quilts “going green.” These could be quilts made of recycled materials, quilts related to preserving our environment, or quilts made of eco-friendly materials. If you have a submission idea and have pictures of your work, please email low-resolution GIF or JPEGs along with a query letter to us ASAP. If you are an art quilter who would like to be profiled, if you have surface design, embellishment ideas, stitching (machine, hand, long arm) to share, we also want to hear from you ASAP.
2. Have you had a chance to get your hands on the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios issue yet? (Probably not as it’s not supposed to be available on the stands until April 1st, but some stores are putting it out early.) We want to hear your thoughts on this issue—and being the nosey bunch we are—also take a peek into your studio space. If you want us to see your space, have a studio storage tip to share, ideas for studio articles, or have an extreme studio makeover story, by all means spill to us.
3. We will soon begin working on our Quilting Arts GIFTS issue available in September. We are actively seeking submissions that relate to the following: fabric art for home décor, quilted items that celebrate the season, art quilts with patterns, ideas for fabric stash and parties and quilt gatherings among friends, stitched or quilted gift ideas, stitched journals, holiday cards, needle-felted gifts, wearable art with a seasonal twist…you get the idea. If you would like to be published in our GIFTS issue, send us your ideas and pictures.
4. Watch out soon for our Cloth Paper Scissors Tea Party challenge. Okay, that was a teaser. There’s no link. I’m just checking to see if you’re still paying attention.
5. Cloth Paper Scissors is currently looking for the following: techniques for sketchbook keeping, ideas for handmade books, working with texture gels, recycling clothing and everyday items into art, thoughts on art and business, and mixed-media jewelry.
6. If you are an artist that has been published in Cloth Paper Scissors and would be interested in being a part of our Open Studios at Make It University! at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, please email Barbara Delaney. If you are a mixed-media business that wants to apply for a vendor booth at Make It University!(TM), please let Quilts Inc. know.
7. Lastly, don’t forget about our Go Green Quilt Challenge, deadline May 1st. Above is a Go Green entry we received from Frances Holliday Alford. Who knew dryer lint, candy wrappers, and Tyvek envelopes could be transformed into something so beautiful? (Frances has a knack for making beautiful things. Be sure to see her article in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts.)
If you plan on coming to Chicago for Make It University, please let me know in the comments area. You're hearing it here first, but we'll be taping segments for Quilting Arts TV on Saturday at the show. It will certainly be an exciting time, and we have some wonderful segments with guest artists planned. See you soon…
It’s here, it’s here! The Studios issue has just arrived in our offices and oh my… I think it came out rather nicely. I hope you think so, too. In my extreme makeover article, I mention that I will share some of the artwork in my studio on our website, so here goes.
“Beach Walk” by Rosalie Dace
This is one of my absolute favorite quilts that also made an appearance in our Quilting Arts Fall 2006 issue. It pays tribute to Rosalie’s favorite, restorative activity of walking along the beach to collect sandy treasures. I love how she layered torn bits of billowy blue sheers to depict water and added beige burlap, illustrative of gritty sand. Combining buttons, beads, and ephemera with thousands of hand stitches, this makes for a very joyful piece.
Nudes are a popular subject for art quilter Melanie Testa and looking at this piece is like taking a deep, cleansing breath—it makes me feel calm. I particularly love the way Melanie layers sheer fabrics on top of one another to achieve such an ethereal effect.
I went Etsy shopping one morning and was thrilled to learn that my UK friend Lucie Summers had an Etsy storefront. A talented mixed-media and quilt artist, Lucie has been featured a few times in our magazines and I am pleased to have these two little pieces as part of my collection.
If you look on the top shelf, you may recognize the yellow assemblage from the first issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. It’s by Lesley Riley and is from her “Windows to the Soul” article. The expression of the little girl as she peers through the window reminds me of how I often feel when I embark on a new art project: shy yet curious.
The quilt on the bottom shelf was hand pieced and hand quilted by my great grandmother many, many years ago. All throughout her life she painted, made dolls, numerous quilts, her own clothes, you name it. She lived until she was 99, and the last time I saw her was when I paid her a visit to her nursing home. She had just received a letter from a friend in a neighboring nursing facility and the envelope sported bright, glittery stickers of ladybugs and frogs all over it. “Isn’t this envelope the prettiest thing?” she asked me. All her life my great grandmother strived to make this world just a little more beautiful and she appreciated other’s attempts at doing so, too. An important lesson.
This quartet of small quilts is made by yours truly. I dub these my whimsical pop art pet portraits, and although I don’t usually like to hang my own artwork in my house, I do love looking at my beloved animal children depicted in fabric.
What about you? Do you have any special pieces of art in your studio or home that you enjoy?
Last year we issued a challenge to readers of Cloth Paper Scissors®, asking them to make a mixed-media paper quilt that incorporates a color or colors that reveal the true you. It's always a difficult process to select pieces for an exhibit, and with more than 200 vibrant quilts, choosing approximately 30 was very tough going. However, we're confident we've chosen a beautiful, diverse collection of dazzling quilts for display. The following artists will have their mixed-media quilts featured in the “True Colors†exhibit at Make It University! in Chicago, Long Beach, and Houston:
Frances Holliday Alford
Flicsha Allen
Lynn Bland
Kathryn Botsford
Barb Brown
Sandra Champion
Debbi Crane
Elizabeth Dawson
Michelle Doucette
Kayla Fujimoto
Brittany Heskett
Patty Kehoe
Marcia Kerbl
Jane LaFazio
Kate Madeloso
Barb Mallon
Susan Mayfield
Jeannie Moore
Sylvia Naylor
Eva Nelander-Juntunen
Patti Pasteur
Judy Coates Perez
Gail Pierce
Ruth Rae
Suanne Reed
Christy Renken
Sarah Louise Ricketts
Deb Silva
Edie Simons
Sandra Spagnuolo
Barbara Sundeen
Terri Stegmiller
Bonnie Wedge
Beverley Wood
For all of you Project Runway fanatics, you may have been surprised by the size of Christian Siriano's studio when Tim Gunn paid him a visit on last week's episode. Upon seeing Christian's cramped space, Tim said, "Wow, you really know how to make it work!" (By the way, for a rather fierce blog on Project Runway, be sure to check out the ultimate fan blog, Blogging Project Runway and all of the other linked blogs.)
One point Christian made was that such a tiny space forces him to be organized all of the time. I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but one day last year when I was trying to find a particular fat quarter of fabric, I actually found a fully intact, sealed take-out container of California Maki at the bottom of one of my fabric bins. It must have been there for weeks. How disgusting and I never knew it was there because the container was sealed so it didn't reek (thankfully). When I told my friend Mary Fisher about this and how I wanted to mention it in my letter from the editor for the Studios issue, she said, "No way! That is not the kind of thing you want people knowing!" Of course she's trying to protect me, but I have to confess and absolve myself of this so I might as well do it on the blog.
Here's how bad it got:
My uninspired, messy design wall, thread drawers, and folding ironing table:
My sewing table and stacked bins of stabilizers with the sun glaring through the window. What a headache.
For my reorganization I spent months journaling my needs, reading books on organizing (a great one is Organizing from the Inside Out), hitting flea markets, Ebay, Target, and yes, Pottery Barn. The photo shoot took place two weeks ago, and here's a glimpse of my new digs (I can't show more of the new space until the Studios Issue comes out April 1st).
But I can show you the cover:
It was not planned to have a shot of Sophie and me on the cover (in fact I was really embarrassed that the team was exploring the idea). However, after we shot this particular spot in my studio (sans dog and me), I went and grabbed Sophie, our official Quilting Arts office mascot who serves double duty as a studio pet. (I grabbed her for a picture to place on the editor page.) When we got the shots back from photography, however, everybody felt this image with a person and a dog was a bit more inviting for cover than the image without. I hope you enjoy the issue as there are some incredible studios and stories inside.
Other News...
Earlier this year I got a Thermofax machine and I am so in love with what this contraption can do. I have a teeny, tiny obsession with a certain television series and wanted to create a quilt out of the series to enter the new exhibit at International Quilt Festival/Long Beach, "The Silver Screen." I used my Thermofax machine to create a screen of the lead character to test out fabrics and images for this possible quilt. I first manipulated a picture of this character in Photoshop, made a screen, then screen printed him on different fabrics to give me a better idea of how the image looks on different backgrounds.
Can you guess who this is?
Even though I like the image on the green batik, I think I'll use the hand-dyed red fabric because symbolically it works best for this character. A good blog entry on Thermofax screens is one by Gerrie Congdon that can be found right here.
Lastly, we have just posted the line-up of artists for Make It University! at International Quilt Festival in Chicago. I will be expanding this page over the weekend, but here's a first glimpse of what will be taking place. Hope to see you...
The winner of the award of Guests Traveling the Farthest for the Series 200 QA TV Taping goes to... The Kemshalls! For those unfamiliar with this dynamic mother-daughter team, Linda (beautiful mother) and Laura (adorable daughter who's only 29!) hail from Design Matters in the U.K., their distance-learning program of City & Guilds, and are two of the most talented and gifted quilt artists around (in my very humble opinion). If the idea of flying over an ocean isn't daunting enough, the thought of braving the Newark Airport (and U.S. Customs with paints and brayers in your bags) for a connection sure is. Once they arrived in Cleveland, they said they were pretty tired (they'd been up for nearly 24 hours) but you would never have known it by looking at this picture taken in the green room. They masked their exhaustion with humor and smiles, and were even gracious enough to accept a dinner invitation with our crew that night.
Here they are (below) after a good night's sleep and seconds before the camera lights went on. Just wait until you see the quilts they brought for the show--truly amazing works of art.We kick off this season with one of their five segments as well as a feature with Katie
Pasquini-Masopust. A pretty darn good start if I do say so myself.
All done taping... They say they were nervous, but I don't buy it. They were utterly relaxed, natural, and articulate on set.
Jamie Fingal was another wonderful guest. She taped a colorful and fun
segment showcasing her fabric collaged zipper quilts. (Trust me, if you
haven't seen Jamie's quilts yet, you are in for quite a treat!)
Susan (Lucky) Shie was back to tape a ten-minute segment on air
brushing. I was a little worried how her mike would work while wearing
a respirator as she air brushed, but the control room said they could
hear her just fine!
Below, assistant editor, Barbara Delaney, proves she's not only a talented editor, but a true team
player. How many editors do you know are willing to help you pack your bags? Barbara's one of those rare souls who has the gift for
organization and creative use of space--especially in a suitcase.
I'm afraid organization does not come naturally to me :::cough::: and
you have no idea how wonderful it was to come home and open such a
well-organized suitcase where I could find everything. Thank you, Barb! (Be sure to see Barb's article on organization in our Studios issue, coming out in April.)
A special thanks to Kathie Stull (owner/producer) for making the taping go so smoothly and a joyful experience for all involved. A thanks also to Katherine Lamancusa, all of the talented guests who came to tape, Patty Jo, Sue Hausman, and the rest of the Husqvarna-Viking crew for their support and time.
Other people who are blogging about Series 200 (that I know of):
We are gearing up for Make It University in Chicago, and we have a special surprise on the Saturday of the show. If you are a mixed-media or fiber artist that has been published in Quilting Arts or Cloth Paper Scissors and are to coming to Chicago, we'd like to know ASAP. If you are interested in being a part of Open Studios please email us and let us know what you are interested in doing and your availability. If you are a vendor that sells mixed-media supplies and would like to vend in Chicago at the Quilt Festival, please email Quilts. Inc. and let them know! Space is filling up!
Next blog entry I'll share a couple of tips and techniques I've found helpful in preparing to making a large, collage-style quilt.
We’ve started taping for Series 200 of QA TV and I thought to give you a special, behind-the-scenes sneak-peek at how we put this together.
It all begins months in advance when Kathie Stull (owner/producer) and I discuss the themes for each episode. At minimum, I’m typically responsible for a three-minute segment per episode, and in theory, I’ve got them all “stepped out” days in advance. Alas, that didn’t happen this time around since we have a bit going on at QA headquarters, so I did as much as I physically could before I left Boston, then finished the rest in my hotel room. While people were dancing the night away at Singles Night in the hotel bar downstairs (yikes, what a scene), I was safely ensconced in my hotel room and sewed my heart out whilst watching a kazillion shows on A & E...
The next morning I taped all of my opens and closes (that's 13 wardrobe changes in about two hours). Over the course of the week, we tape multiple segments from each episode every day, depending upon guests' schedules. I’m not so good at remembering what I'm supposed to wear each episode, so I have a little help via a visual aid on the studio set door...
Guest Taping
Katie Pasquini-Masopust (affectionately known as Katie P-M) is not only a founding Rock Star in the art quilt world but she—as we Bostonians like to put it—has a wicked sense of humor! I am SO honored to kick off the season with her!
And Judy Coates Perez (soon-to-be Cover Girl of Cloth Paper Scissors) was back to tape a cool segment on painted batting.
While the rest of the taping was taking place, the ladies of Sulky of America were busy in industry, knitting outside the green room. I cracked up when I saw them and had to snap a shot...
Okay, one may ask, what's up with the rubber fish fetish on QA TV (many an r-rated joke took place before the segment). As our features editor, Cate Prato (former Boston Globe writer) likes to say: It takes an x-rated mind to produce a g-rated paper. The same thinking can be applied to TV...
Here's Jane Davila, the artist extraordinaire who uses the fish. If you watch next season of QA TV, all will be explained to you...
Here we have Rayna Gillman and Claire Fenton. Not only highly talented artists but girls who know how to par-tay...
Look what they brought Helen Gregory (managing editor) and I the next day:
Question: What time of the day do you think this picture was taken?:
a. 5:00 PM
b. 12:30 PM
c. 8:24 AM
If you answered C, you'd be right!
If you want more behind-the-scenes info check back Super Bowl Sunday when I will be back home reminiscing on the taping, and watching my Patriots kick some Giants you-know-what.
If you have not gotten QA TV in your area yet, there's still hope! A number of cities are picking it up beginning in March, so check your local listings in early spring.
Recent Comments