Harvest Home in Cotton

I met Jill, owner of the Quilting Connection in VA at the recent Asheville Rotary Quilt show and enjoyed not only visiting with her but shopping in her booth there! She also found some patterns in my booth that she liked, and has already made up several of them, including the popular Harvest Home leaf placemats. Jill put her own unique spin on this design by using some of her beautiful sunflower cotton fabric to make them, gorgeous Jill! You can see them in the photo above; for more info on Jill's great shop, you can visit her web-site at www.quiltingconnect.com

Tranqwool Scarf Class

Today we had a Nuno-felted Scarf Class at Tranqwool Knitting Provisons in Salisbury, these gals really turned out some beautiful work! They chose rich, vibrant happy colors to showcase their creativity, and each scarf truly emerged as a unique work of art. Once again Brian, Jenny's wonderful hubby, delighted us with his extraordinary cuisine as we enjoyed 2 special kinds of pizza (my weakness!) for lunch as well as perfectly made brownies with ice cream and his signature vanilla mint tea - yum yum! Jenny was as always both charming and helpful, and her shop a wonderful setting for our class, at once cozy, inspiring and I always enjoy the music there. All in all a most enjoyable day - I really enjoyed visiting with and getting to know the girls in this class!

A Visit to Floyd

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the very talented ladies in the Old Church Quilter's Guild in Floyd, VA. Floyd is a quaint little town tucked away in the mountains of VA, with beautiful valleys, hills and scenery...now I know where those quilters get all their wonderful inspiration for their landscape quilts!

My first stop was at Pauline and Kenneth Hodges' wonderful home, where I was treated to a scrumptious feast of chicken and all sorts of garden goodies: home-grown corn on the cob, tomatoes, cukes, all grown by Kenneth in their nearby garden. For dessert we had homemade applie pie to die for, made with apples picked from their onw tree...yum! Pauline treated me to her very own personal "trunk show" after supper, and after a good night's sleep and a delicious breakfast the next morning of muffins and fresh fruit, off we went to the guild meeting.

The trip to town was just as beautiful as my journey up the mountain, and the venue itself was so unique - the guild meets in a converted dairy barn that used to be a farm until one of the owners was caught manufacturing a different sort of drink other than milk (well so the rumor goes according to Kenneth! ^_^) At any rate, the barn now houses a 2-story assortment of galleries, offices and classrooms, our area was so spacious, and the guild had cleverly hung their beautiful quilts from the slanted ceiling on top. I was privileged to view some of their work, then shared mine; after lunch we spent the afternoon needle-felting book covers, and these gals really did some beautiful work! Everyone's felted cover was unique, both in their color palette and even their style; one gal brought some curly yarn and that was used to enhance several designs, I like it! The green texture of the yarn really added a nice depth and life to the design. Then it was time to head home...I had the pleasure of enjoying the mountain views yet again on my journey back down the mountain. This was truly a very special trip, and a very talented and nice bunch of ladies.

Going Greek

Madeline, Lorin and I relaxing after a hard day's work setting up for the Asheville Quilt Show. We had dinner at a wonderful Greek restaurant not far from the show, then rushed off to go see the quilts! The shows are a lot of work, but visiting with friends help make it all worthwhile.

Autumn Glory Leaf Placemats

I got home from the Asheville Quilt Show Monday afternoon, and I've been making kits for these Autumn Glory Leaf Placemats ever since! The project is featured in the Oct./Nov. issue of Quilt Magazine, and I have to give them credit for the fantastic photography shown in the magazine, wow! I love the way the placemats look on this granite bar, and the matching chocolate napkins really set off the rich colors of the leaves beautifully. And they also look so cheery in the other photo, shown on my home page, I guess they'll just look great in most any setting! Easy to make, too, and my kits include almost everything you need. A huge thank you to Deborah Hearn and Quilt Magazine for doing such a wonderful job with this article.

Asheville Quilt Show 2010

Last weekend was the annual Asheville Quilt Show, this was my first year there as a vendor and what a great weekend it was! I met my friend Lorin near the Biltmore Square Mall on Wednesday, and we made a quick trip downtown to do some fun shopping 'n sightseeing before dinner and a busy show schedule. Next day was set-up, lots of work, but the rotary club had lots of men there to help and despite some set-backs, everyone had their booths ready and filled with the most wonderful wares by the time the show opened on Friday morning.

Lorin and I took some time out Thursday evening to see the quilt show itself, and were not disappointed - the quilts were spectacular! The machine and hand-work shown were just amazing, and the creative ladies who made them so nice and eager to share their creative energy. The Shady Ladies in particular had a gorgeous display of talent, both at the arboretum and also in the room where my booth was in the Biltmore Square Mall. I was so lucky to be standing in front of a quilt that was drenched in fabric beads and beautiful quilting when its proud creator walked up; she was so sharing in the way she created her work of art, I was ready to come home and start making some fabric beads! I was also touched by the Blue Ridge Parkway Anniversary Quilt, and of course the art quilts upstairs were just amazing, I'm posting a few photos of my favorites, sadly my camera ran out of energy before I did.

I was also excited to visit the Friends & FiberWorks Shop at the Biltmore Square Mall and meet Lisa & Terry; they have a fabulous store chock-full of the most luscious yarns, fibers and hand-made jewelry and buttons, and they have fun classes in knitting and fiber arts nearly every day! I had such a great response to my Nuno-felted Scarf and also my Wet-felted Wool Flowers, and am hoping to get back up there and teach a class or 2 at their 2011 Winter Retreat next January, how fun would that be! Lots of talent in those mountains, and I feel so honored that folks were appreciative of my creative endeavors too. All in all, it was a fantastic show.