Hampton

 I just got back from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, Va,  and what a great time I had there.  I had the wonderful opportunity to spend two days in classes with Gloria Loughman from Australia.  She is so talented and a superb teacher.  The first day was spent working on a landscape and the second day the emphasis was on an abstract design.  The techniques she taught were different from ones that I have used previously so it was really good to learn something new.  I was pretty prepared for each day's class--and then had to throw out everything and start from scratch as I learned what she REALLY wanted us to do each day.  And what a freeing thing that was!  I didn't finish either project so I can't show you what I did, but I do expect to finish one of them quite soon.  Pictured here are some of her quilts and the larger one was displayed in the show--along with several others.

 I was so excited and surprised when I walked into the Show on Wednesday to learn that not only had I won an award for Arabian Mystery, but that it was a First Place!  So many people had such nice comments about my work--I appreciated it so much.  I felt honored because there were so many really wonderful quilts there ( of which I'll post a few in my next post).

 We had some extra time while we were there and decided to go over to Norfolk to The Fabric Hut.  While we were getting directions from the Tourism Representative, I asked her if we had to go through a tunnel--to which she said. "Yes."  Well, one of our party didn't even know about tunnels under bodies of water--much less having actually gone through one!  She was a good sport though and we made it through without incident (No leaks were observed).  I think this was a pretty cool picture of our movement through the tunnel.

 Another friend was pleased to see the naval ships across the river as we went.  The Norfolk area, is, of course, an area with a lot of naval activity with a lot of service personnel.  And there is a great deal more water than there is in the Charleston area.

When we got to Norfolk, we went to the Fabric Hut and it was great--sort of like a smaller Mary Jo's.  Lots of silks, satins--you name it--and oodles of quilting fabric.  And look at this picture.  Do you remember when they used to measure fabric through machines like this?  I am going to have to admit that, in spite of all that we had already purchased at the quilt show, we simply couldn't resist the abundance of great choices in this store.  And the good thing was that they had not raised ALL of their prices on older fabrics they way they did in a shop we visited on the way home today.

 Sunday, we spent some time riding around Jamestown and Williamsburg and happened upon a series of these bridges along a meandering road by the James River.  There were many pull-offs where people were relaxing and fishing and just having a good time on a Sunday afternoon.

And, of course, I had to take a picture of a land tunnel to go along with the water tunnel.

So, a great time was had by all.  Finally, I had a very special moment while I was at the show.  I noticed a woman in my class on Friday and the longer I looked at her, the more convinced I was that I knew her from high school (more than forty-five years ago!).   I wasn't sure though so I decided that if I saw her the next day, I was going to have to ask.  Well, I saw her and I asked.  And she was.  We had a great time catching up--well, catching up a LITTLE--and I felt greatly blessed by this totally unexpected moment in time.  (Good seeing you, Gus.  Don't be a stranger).

Classes For White Oak

 I have taught at our State Retreat for the past several years and have really enjoyed meeting so many quilters from across the state.  In the past, I have taught mostly classes that used my original applique patterns--using them as a springboard to learn various techniques that I have learned . 
This year, it will be a little different as I will be teaching ONLY techniques.  People have consistently asked me to teach machine quilting and, so, this year that is what I will doing, focusing on feathers.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I had a trial run on the sample above and was very pleased with the response.  I was asked to expand this class to a 1 1/2 day format, so I made another sample and will be teaching a couple more techniques.  I'm really looking forward to it because it is so wonderful to see people's eyes light up when they realize that they, too, can make feathers.

The other 1/2 day class I will be teaching is a class on machine applique techniques.  There are so many ways to do machine applique and many times it depends on the complexity of the work, the style of the design and the effect desired.  So I will show 4 different ways and, hopefully, each person will leave the class with a new perspective on how they can suit their stitches to their own work.  And, mostly, I hope everyone has a great time.  That's what it's all about, isn't it?

Last Week

 Last week was a pretty busy week.  Flavin Glover visited our Guild for a lecture and class.  Since I'm the Program Chairman this year, I had the pleasure of spending some time with her as I took her to dinner, helped her at the meeting and was her "go-fer at the class.  She is such a lovely person and her quilts are simply amazing.  It is difficult to imagine how she can take a simple log cabin block and create such complex and beautiful quilts.  I think it takes a special kind of mind to do that--one that is good at math and is creative at the same time.

 This was my personal favorite.  She pieced the farm land and the sky and mountains in the back are log cabins.

 This was the quilt that was featured in the the class she taught although she focused on the many ways to shape and stretch log cabin block and offered several choices for the final selection of each student.

 And here you can see her quilts laid out all around.  Everyone was fascinated by the variety.  It was a great visit and everyone who took her class came away inspired.

 I will be teaching a "Quilting With Feathers" class at the State Retreat in October and my Art Group volunteered to be my "practice " class so I could iron out the bugs and see what I needed to do to improve it.  We met in a Club House on John's Island on Saturday and everyone got right to work.  Here is Dotty concentrating on the relationship between the speed of the machine and the speed of the hands moving the fabric.

 Linda and Doreen are admiring the results of their labors.  Both of these women are quite new to machine quilting and they were amazing.  They jumped right in and kept up--not only kept up but excelled in their efforts

 And here are Tommy and Pat concentrating on their quilting.  Tommy has a stitch regulator on her machine and the stitching didn't look as good as it should have.  I had her remove it and it resulted in wonderful stitches.  I don't know why because I don't use a stitch regulator but she will probably get some further instruction on it to see if she can get a good result with it.  After all, that's why one would want to have it in the first place.  Pat had machine problems, also, but kept a good spirit in spite of it and made quite good progress throughout the day.

And here is Zoe hard at work.
It was a really great day and I was very pleased with how the class moved along with the progressive learning method I had chosen.  And now, I'm looking forward to the "real" thing.




A footnote:  This has nothing to do with quilting, but with quality of life.  For the last few months, the pain in my hips has gotten worse and worse and, finally, I wasn't able to walk more than 50 yards without a pretty high level of pain and the pain in my foot was so bad that I was almost ready for the surgery that is going to include a one year recovery period.  I was imagining hip replacement and who knows what else.  Since I'm not too keen on extraneous trips to the doctor, I decided to try a low tech approach first.
What did I do?  Simply, I gave up sugar.  Not fruit and things like that but, certainly, all sweets and have minimized bread and non-complex carbohydrates.  It's been a little over two weeks and now I can walk my daily walk with zero hip pain and much reduced foot pain.  It truly is almost like a miracle.  Did I know better than to eat all that bad stuff in the first place?  Of course, but we do what we do, don't we?  I'm hoping I've learned my lesson because mobility is worth the sacrifice.  And I'm not saying it will work for you.  But, if you're so inclined, give it a try--and you might lose a few pounds in the process.  That's what I'm hoping!

The Patience of Job

 No, I don't really have the patience of Job, BUT I have learned to work on my quilts until I'm satisfied with the result--EVEN if it means taking stitches out and starting over again.  After all, I'm the one who needs to be pleased with the end result.
Well, I've been work on a quilt for at least 5 months now and it has more applique than any quilt I've ever done before.  I've been pretty happy with how things have been going with it, but I've had my eye on the center for quite some time .  The other night I decided that I was going to have to bite the bullet and try to fix it.  I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but there is a definite bulge there (the black piece of fabric is merely there for me to get the feeling of a piece of black applique in the cente)r.

 So, when I got into my studio yesterday morning, I got out the sharpest little scissors that I own and started cutting away the red center--and this was definitely with heart in hand.  You can see here the quilt top after I had finished cutting.  I then took out all of the satin stitching that had held the layers together.

 The next step was to lay the quilt over a large piece of fabric that had been taped down to keep it immobile.  After I did that, I fused all of the newly cut edges to the large piece of fabric.








I then CAREFULLY took the quilt top to the sewing machine and basted around all of the raw edges.  Once this was completed, I satin-stitched around the entire piece.  And, wonder of wonders, the quilt now lays flat and I'm back on course.

And this is where I am now.  Still a long way to go but feeling a lot better.  At present, it measures about 6' x 6" but will  be larger when finished.
Do I know why the center bulged?  Not really.  I used good stabilizer on the flowers and leaves but I suspect that the AMOUNT of stitching had something to do with it.
So, no, I definitely don't have the patience of Job and it is distressing when a problem this big occurs on a creative project.  But one thing that I find very fulfilling in the entire process is the "figuring out"--the search for a solution.  I am a firm believer in the lemonade theory and, thankfully, I had a large supply of lemonade made from all of the lemons in my life.

Molas

 I know I've written about Molas before, but I've been thinking about them recently and looking through my collection of them, so I thought I'd share a few with you today.
Molas are made by the Cuna Indians on the San Blas Islands in Panama and are a form of "reverse applique".  In the old Cuna language, the word "mola" means clothing or blouse.  And most of the older molas that my father purchased when they lived in Panama in the 70's had orginally been part of a larger piece of clothing. (you could tell by the way the outside edges of the molas had pieces of loose thread from being removed from them.)

Many of the older molas were more geometrical in composition than many of the later ones--as you can see in the first photo.  The next two appear to be a pair--or at least made by the same person or family members.  Can you imagine hand appliqueing all of those tiny, tiny pieces?  And keep in mind that these women did not have ott lights when they were sewing on that black background.

Very often, the designs of the molas reflected their culture or things that they saw in their daily lives.  Sometimes it makes sense to those of us who now own their vibrant handwork and sometimes it doesn't. (A good opportunity to use one's imagination!)

This particular mola is fairly obviously taken from a poster of some sort in a presidential election.  But, don't you wonder why the depiction is in the mirror image?

This was one of my favorites because my Zodiac Sign is Libra (and still is, even after the NEW signs were allocated!)  And, of course, Libra stands for the scales of justice which you can see here.  But, again, I wish that I could know what the artist was thinking when she made her design.  Does the little cross in the top mean anything?  I don't know--but I wish I did.

This mola is very "card" oriented.  You can see the hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades on the hats and the word "Joker" at the top.  When I visted Panama City in the 70's, there were casinos--so maybe this one has something to do with that.

And fishing was an important part of the daily lives of a coastal culture. 
These last two molas are modern works--very different from my older ones.  My sister got these on a recent trip to Panama.  From the more current molas that I've seen, it seems that the Cuna Indians still make some of the more complex designs as they did in the past, but they are also making embroiderys that will appeal to the many tourists who are now coming in on cruise ships.  These new embroiderys are still beautiful--but different.  Life moves on and things evolve.
Several years ago, I went to an author's luncheon in Charleston and one of the authors made a statement that has stayed with me.  He said that one's Art should reflect the ground on which one stands.  I think about that all the time as I design and make my quilts and think about how that connection with my personal envrionment can have a huge impact on the honesty of my work and the enduring meaningfulness of it.  But I also think about how the Cuna women didn't even have to consider this book author's statement.  Their work--both in the past and present--is a strong and truthful statement of their life and home.  I'm grateful that I can share in a little piece of it.