Quilting Arts Blog

QA TV: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Studio

I landed in Cleveland this morning and as the tires hit the tarmac, I thought of doing a reckless thing: of not going directly to the QA TV studio set to drop off my supplies and hang my clothes, but rather stopping somewhere I have wanted to go for nearly two decades.

When I saw what rental car was assigned to me (and I burst out laughing)…

And when I started the car, The Doors “L.A. Woman” was blaring on the radio, I knew it was fate: God was telling me to take an hour for myself and go to…you guessed it…

THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Oh, what a TOTAL RUSH it was to be here. Never one capable of mastering a poker face, I knew I had a silly grin and couldn’t curb my exhilaration when I handed my ticket to the attendant because he told me, “We love having people like you here!”

I had a mere 40 minutes to cruise the various exhibits, and it wasn’t nearly enough time to take in such an incredible place.

They had an interesting exhibit/ kiosk called “Influences” where with a touch screen you could listen to what bands have influenced each other. For instance, you tap U2 and two key influences (Patti Smith and Television) would pop up. Then I tapped one band I really like, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Flea relayed what a huge role George Clinton played in his musical development. Well, having listened to a little Parliament in my day, it makes total sense, but I had never made the connection.

I then whisked through the Elvis exhibit to stop and gape at Jimi Hendrix’s drawings. (Entirely self-taught, he was a talented graphic artist from a very young age.) I paused at the Billy Joel quote on the wall (“If you’re not loving what you are doing, you’re doing something wrong”) then marveled at the 1973 jacket worn by John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) for their concert film, “The Song Remains the Same.” (All aspiring Bernina designers should really look to rock couture to see some of the outrageous, out-of-the-box garments produced!) Then of course, there was the Thriller jacket worn by Michael Jackson, which brought me back to my tween  days of inviting all my neighborhood girlfriends over as we tried to master the Thriller dance. The grand finale was going up a few flights to gape at The Wall tribute––truly frightening in a Tim Burton kind of way.

All in all it was so fun, and I even got some stranger to take a picture of me to prove that I really was here.

And as my eyes are closed, I’ll never be as cool as this guy…

This entire experience has me scheming the next Quilting Arts challenge, and yes, it will be musically oriented.

I then went to the studio where they’d been wondering where I’d been. I pointed to my wrist where the museum had placed a band and not being able to see the fine print, they asked if I had been in the hospital.  In a way, maybe I was because that time at the museum was most assuredly recuperative.

So I’m here, my home away from home:

If interested stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of the first day of QA TV taping!

Stitches and Steamers

I'm in lock down prepping for next week's QA TV taping, but when I woke up Sunday to gorgeous, sunny, 80+-degree weather, I just had to lug my fabric and stitching supplies onto the front porch and throw on a swimsuit. (You can take the girl out of California, but you can't take California out of the girl!)

The view from my machine…

 

Pretty, isn't it? I moan and complain (and complain some more) about New England winters, but in August, Stow, Massachusetts, can be a beautiful place to live!

Of course when I left for all of two minutes to refill my coffee cup, someone decided to take over at the wheel, so to speak…

Below is one of the background pages for a stitched, screened, and stenciled fabric book for one of the segments. This piece of fabric is from the lot of screen-printed ones I made last weekend.

 

And the day was topped off with a little clambake on the patio. It’s our anniversary tomorrow and since I'm a little frantic this week,  we opted for a mellow night at home with a couple of lobsters and a big bowl of steamers.

 

Our steamers recipe:
3 - 4 lbs of steamers
1 large yellow onion, diced
As much garlic as you can handle (I dice about 5 large cloves, and I'd put in more if it were just up to me.)
1 bottle of Sam Adams lager (Our tradition is to pour most of it in the pot, but take one swig for good luck)
2 cups of water
1/2 of a lemon

1.   Rinse the clams to get the sand off.
2.  Pour the beer, water, diced onion, and garlic into a large pot and put to a boil.
3.  When it gets to a boil turn down to medium heat, add the clams and squeeze the lemon. Cover.
4. Watch and wait for all the clams to open up (about 10-15 minutes).
5. Save a little of the broth for dipping and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

One more fabric winner and sneak peek of the guests for Quilting Arts TV Series 300

My screen-printed fabric packs are cut, sorted, and ready to go! Goodbye my colorful calico and crepe de Chine lovelies, I hope your new owners put you to good use…

I only received nine emails yesterday instead of 10 so I am drawing another winner. Congratulations to: Milkcan! If you read this, please email me ASAP so I can send off your fabric goods to you.

In other news, we start taping for Quilting Arts TV the week after next and I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek of the roster of quilt artists for Series 300. Some of the artists who will be taping with me include: Lyric Kinard, Melanie Testa, Jane LaFazio, Anna Maria Horner, Laura Wasilowski, Frieda Anderson, and Hollis Chatelain to name a few.

From our taping this past April in Chicago, we'll also have: Kelli Perkins, Debbi Crane, Virginia Spiegel, Beryl Taylor, Julaine Lofquist-Birch, and interviews with International Quilt Festival Founder and Director, Karey Bresenhan, and S.A.Q.A.'s Peg Keeney.

Series 300 will started airing nationwide on PBS in January 2009, and I hope you are as pleased with the line-up of these amazing artists as I am!

Fabric Winners!

I felt a little blessed this weekend to have had a beautiful Saturday afternoon all to myself. I dragged an 8' table onto my driveway and loaded it with piles of fabrics (cottons, organzas, and velvets) as well as stamps, stencils, printing inks and paints.  With Mark Knopfler strumming away on the stereo and the dogs to keep me company, I spent hours stamping, stenciling and screening fabric.

I got paint all over my shirt, smeared on my face, on the dog, and under my fingernails. Total heaven. 

Congratulations to the following for being one of the lucky ten randomly drawn! I loved reading everyone's responses; some of them were a riot and I wish I had more fabric to give away. Please remember to email me by this Wednesday night with your full name and mailing address. Please put in the subject line in caps: FABRIC WINNER. (Otherwise it's possible I will miss your email.)

Carol Sloan
Belinda
Peggy Dlugos
Connie Allen
Trish C.
LuAnn Kessi
Lisa (Studio Rose)
Fannie
Katina
Jo Anna

In case you're curious…
Some of the designs on the fabrics are those I played with in Photoshop® by using the brush tool and brush palette. If you go surfing on the Internet you can find a number of free, downloadable brushes that you can add to your brushes library. Once you make your designs in Photoshop® and print them out, you can turn your brushes into Thermofax screens, freezer paper stencils, or hand carved stamps. (This weekend  I was a little obsessive/compulsive and made all three!)

Some of the fabrics I felt needed a little extra oomph so when I brought them back into my studio, I layered more imagery with my vintage wood type printer letters and more screens.

All in all, I had so much fun and I hope you like them. Admittedly I'm keeping a little bit for myself to use for my segments for the next QA TV taping (in … gulp …two weeks).

Enjoy!

Quilting Arts GIFTS and a Fabric Giveaway

I feel such a huge sense of elation, relief and utter joy; I want to jump up and down, dance around the office, or go run along the beach and holler into the breeze. Why am I so giddy?  The Quilting Arts GIFTS issue officially went to press today. I'm not one to use exclamation points very often, but I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that this baby is born and off to press(!!!)

A sneak peek of the cover:

Above you see a table runner by Kathy Mack, a wine bag by Elin Waterston, and fabric candy cane napkin rings by yours truly. I hope you enjoy this issue (which by the way has a whopping 35 fresh projects in it).

Another Fabric Giveaway!

Because I'm feeling so blissful, I want to share my glee with you and offer another fabric giveaway.   If you want to play, please answer the following question in the comments area, and I will randomly choose 10 winners to receive a plastic baggie of screen-printed fabrics that I'll print this weekend. The drawing will close Monday, August 11 at 6:00 P.M. EDT, and I will announce the 10 winners on Tuesday on the blog. It is then the responsibility of those 10 winners to email me their shipping address by Wednesday evening so I can send the fabrics.

My question: What ritual do you perform when you are done with a big project such as a quilt or piece of art? (I know many of you finished your journal quilts for Houston this past week.)

Do you splurge on a sundae or buy a beach read? Take the family out for Chinese food? Hunker down and immediately start creating something else?

My ritual: Whenever we send an issue off to press, I tend to blast the music in my office very loudly, much to the dismay of John whose office is just around the corner. It's usually after hours when these things happen, so no one can hear my pathetic singing or dancing as I shake out all of the elation that I feel.  My song de jour would be Coldplay's "Death and All His Friends/The Escapist." Some music critics would scoff that I love their latest album (and I hear what they're saying) but I can't help myself: I love Coldplay. There. I've said it. When John and I celebrated our 10th anniversary three summers ago, he didn't get me jewelry (which I really didn't want) but rather great tickets to Coldplay's X & Y concert.

Since I missed the Coldplay concert this past Monday night while they were in Boston because of all the happenings here, I've been feeling a little sorry for myself. But this afternoon, after we sent GIFTS to the printer, I went on YouTube and found a few videos of the Coldplay concert at the Boston Garden. (That's GaHden to all of you who don't live in Massachusetts!) One video showcases Chris Martin dedicating "Death and All His Friends/The Escapist" to Tom Brady, our New England Patriots Quarterback who apparently was in the audience. A funny and uplifting tribute.

Happy weekend, everybody!

The Lowdown on Long Beach

Artist Alisa Burke poses with a fan.

For those of you who didn't come to International Quilt Festival/Long Beach and Make It University!™ with Cloth Paper Scissors, we sure missed you!

Some pictures for you…

Surviving the Runway Luncheon (Thursday)

The fun began when our Surviving the Runway Luncheon lecture commenced on Thursday; class attendees didn't know what they were in for when they signed up to eat lunch with their quilting friends during their class break, but when I told them what they were going to do, they got right into the spirit of the challenge. Their task: designing a couture outfit out of dollar store items ranging from paper doilies, hair curlers, and ponchos to pipe cleaners and bikini briefs. They were given permission to use anything on their table (table linens, silverware, bread baskets) just as long as everything was returned in their original (unaltered) state. The stakes were high: the first place winner would receive a brand new, 12-needle Babylock Embellisher, plus a huge assortment of thread, courtesy of the generous folks at Aurifil.

The effervescent and talented Jane LaFazio models her outfit before the runway show:

The front table with the Quilts Inc. folks (Kim DeCoste and Jill Benge along with quilting instructor Charlotte Angotti, who happens to be a total comedian) cracked me up. Look how calm they are amidst the chaos. Just another day at the office…

When it came time to the modeling, the hilarity began…

Our second place winner:

And our first place winner:

Open Studios at Make It University!™

Make It University!™ with Cloth Paper Scissors was definitely a happenin’ spot on the floor, thanks to the wonderful workshop teachers, vendors and open studios artists who joined the area this year.

Below are Jennifer Bitton and Linda Blinn who braved Long Beach and convention center traffic to volunteer in Open Studios. Show attendees were delighted by their clever, mixed-media home décor creations. (Look for Linda’s mixed media home dec. article in our November/December issue of Cloth Paper Scissors).

Beryl Taylor demonstrated her method for making fabric paper and freely let people touch her delicate pieces of intricately stitched and embellished artwork. She flew all the way from New Jersey to be in Open Studios and I as well as and hundreds of other folks can't thank her enough for making the cross-country trek!

Jamie Fingal also shared her highly embellished quilts. A number of people told her they had just seen her earlier that day on Quilting Arts TV!

Jane LaFazio shucks her dollar-store couture and fascinates everyone with her mixed-media quilts:

*** A special thanks to all of the artists who joined us including the others I don't have pictures for: Liz Berg, Ruth Rae, Lisa Engelbrecht, Allyson Faulkner, and Larkin Van Horn.

The Artist Trading Card wall buzzed with activity. We were on the honor system this time for our "Take 'Em and Leave 'Em ATC Trade." People could trade as many as they brought. (We'll be doing the same honor system in Houston.)

I met a very kind quilter who told me she had been a fan of Quilting Arts for years. WhenI learned her name was Punkin, well, of course we had to have a Punkin and Pokey picture…

Make It University!™ Workshops

This picture of Alisa Burke truly captures how much fun everyone had…

People of all ages and abilities participated in the Make It University!™ workshops:

But this picture below of a couple might be my absolute favorite shot. Here the wife took a workshop while her husband pulled up his scooter to watch as she enjoyed her time. I saw a number of couples at this show holding hands and walking the show floor together; it was charming to see.

Surviving the Runway 70s style

Thanks to Craig's List, we were able to get an assortment of old record albums and scratched records for this 70s mixed media challenge where participants were asked to make their own 70s rock star outfit with supplies given. It was a lot of fun and of course we had some 70s rock to get into the spirit of the event.

Here's Quilt Art's own Maggie Winfield (a talented Bernina designer) showing off her outfit...

And Maggie's daughter...

The three winners:

We loved how our third place winner turned her Men at Work album into a Women at Work hat! The record on the second place winner actually spun on top of her head (quite the engineering feat), and the first place winner did an exceptional job of painting the record to match the landscape in the album, while adding a bit of a Van Gogh twist.

Quilt Exhibits

Helen Gregory (managing editor) and myself get sand in between our toes as we posed at the "Surf's Up!" exhibit. Helen conned me into this pose (on the surface she seems demure, but trust me, she has a wild side and loves to get me into trouble) so I made sure I dragged her along to geek out with me. I was very impressed with the lengths Quilts Inc. went to for propping the exhibits. Check out the entrance to the "Silver Screen" exhibit below:

Quilting Arts will be featuring a few of the quilts from each exhibit in the October/November issue of Quilting Arts so be sure to look for some of the highlights!

All in all, Long Beach was an incredible time, and I'm just sorry it's already over. Thanks to Quilts Inc. for their Make It University!™ program, all of the Open Studios artists for generously donating your time and expertise, to Barbara Delaney for all of her prep work, and many heartfelt thanks to the vendors and teachers in the section for joining us!

Houston's calling…

If you are a published mixed-media artist, are going to International Quilt Festival in Houston and want to spend a couple of hours showing your art in Open Studios, let Barbara Delaney know that you want to be an Open Studios Artist as soon as possible.

If you are interested in vending at Make It University, please let Quilts Inc. know!

Thanks again!

P.S. It was assistant editor, Barbara Delaney's birthday yesterday (August 3). Please join me in wishing her a happy birthday!