Utah Quilt Guild September 2008

The Utah Quilt Guild Festival Pieceful Paradise:

This past week I had the pleasure of teaching at the Utah Quilt Festival. This was a fun and festive couple of days. With the theme of Pieceful Paradise we all felt as though we were indeed in Hawaii. Four national teachers and many other teachers made up the class roster for the weekend. It was a blast. Thanks ever so much Sandy and Marsha and your incredible committee for putting this all together.
I met Dorothy Gross, who chaired the Quilts-4-Cancer and I was blown away with the amount of quilts that they collected. Well over a thousand, yes….. a thousand quilts to be contributed to the local hospitals and given to the many patients battling cancer. Can you even imagine such a task! As you can see from the enclosed pictures, there was a long hallway just filled with quilts and quilts. That a girl, Dorothy, job well done.
My classes were the best and the students, many of who had only one day to master the procedures, did a fabulous job. Look at the strata, Ann Rudge and Cory Weir brought to class. I was sure tempted to take that one home. Note how creative Cory got with the left overs! Does that not look like an awesome flower. I have added some snapshots from the classes. Students, (and you know who you are) thanks so much for taking the classes and making it so much fun. I do hope you all learned a lot and make beautiful quilts. The One Patch Plus class was so much fun; I truly like teaching that procedure because it just produces such great art quilts. Please keep me posted and send me a picture of two of the finished projects. Again thanks one and all, and if you live even close to Utah you may consider joining them in their next Quilt festival.

Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival Loveland CO

This past weekend was the first Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival in Loveland CO.

It was a huge success. And Kelly Gallagher of Hoffman Challenge fame did an outstanding job. She and her staff can pat themselves on the back. Because if you missed it, you may want to make sure you make the show next year!

The entire Hoffman Challenge was displayed.

and it was enormous. I was blown away by the dolls.

The creativity of the makers was impressive.

The special quilt displays were wonderful, see the horse above done by Linda Hibbert. The displays by Cookie Warner and Melody Randol were great. I loved the quilt by Laura Cooke from Barrington RI. Frankly to many to mention. We had a booth in the show and it was great fun. I demonstrated my procedures and signed books. We had a chance to talk to the quilters and get their reaction to this show. I want to send a great heartfelt thank you to all who worked so hard and made this show possible. And Kelly Gallegher...... girl you did it!!!!!!!!

Beautiful Colorado Springs

Last weekend brought us to Colorado Springs, some two and a half hours from Loveland. Where the Colorado Springs Quilt Guild had their monthly meeting. And their president, who was a fellow Dutchman surprised me by greeting me in my native language. I was blown away by the beauty of the country side, even though we had a lot of rain, it could not dampen the beautiful surroundings. And the quilters were so friendly and enthusiastic that it made the time in the classroom fly by. Here are some wonderful pictures of the students masterpieces in progress. A great big thank you from both Fred and myself to all the guild members at the lecture. I also want to wish my students success and thank them for a great day and being so creative!!!!!

My grandson's first baby quilt!

A week ago my grandson, Nate Smith ( age 10) spent a week with me. He had one mission ........he wanted to make a baby quilt for his Mother's best friend. And he did. He collected 30 of his favorite fabrics from my studio and I cut them into 6 1/2" squares for him. And the rest is history. He not only sewed on the Janome 6600 but also programmed the childs name and chose a quilting pattern with the use of the Memory Craft 11000. How easy this comes for this computer savvy generation. I am so proud of him and here are a few of the pictures along the way. What can be better then spending time with your grand child and teaching a new generation to quilt! I am one proud grand mother!!!!!!!

My first post

Today I start my blog. I want to use this blog to post info on my most recent classes and my current projects. My latest classes were in Sisters, Oregon. If you have not had the pleasure of attending the Quilters Affair and/or Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, you don't know what you are missing. It is truly a beautiful state and it will get you inspired to make incredible quilts. I had a wonderful time and I took an incredible amount of pictures, some of which are posted here.