Field Trip!

I had a block included in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol.7’ issue this spring. A friend of mine, Renelda Peldunas Harter, also had a block in the issue. We used the opportunity to visit with several quilt shops in our region.  Visiting the shops was great fun. It was the first time I had been to a couple of the shops and they were wonderful in atmosphere and quality.

 

We each gave a talk at the shop about the blocks we had designed. We spoke of what inspired us, how we design – paper or digital, or both- and the construction the featured block. We brought samples of the featured block, a quilt, and other quilts of interest from past block entries.

 

We encouraged the attendees to try their own design process and perhaps enter them into fairs or magazines. You never know when or where the next great trend may come from.

 

The Shops we visited:

Capital Quilts, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Patches Quilting & Sewing, Mt. Airy, Maryland

Seminole Sampler, Catonsville, Maryland

The Scrappy Apple, Winchester, Virginia

2010 Houston Quilt Market

I just returned from the Houston Quilt Market. There is always an energy in the air. New fabrics, gadgets, old friends and new friends being made. Speaking of new 'friends', my friend and I walked out of our hotel to take a taxi. As it turned out Alex Anderson was staying at our hotel and was outside wanting a taxi to the same place as we did. We shared a taxi with Alex Anderson!

My fiend Renelda Peldunas Harter has a quilt, 'Sarajevo Rose', in the 'Text on Textiles' exhibit. That's me by 'Sarajevo Rose'. The text tells of the damage to the streets and walkways made by the motors (bombs) during the war in Bosnia. If persons were killed by the mortar the crater would be filled with a red dyed cement thus giving the crater the look of a rose. Sadly there are too many of these roses.

A sad subject but a nice quilt to honor those involved. Quilts have always been a way for the quilt makert to convey their thoughts or emotions.

More fun stuff in the next entries.