Feeding A Quilter's Spirit

I am still unpacking from my teaching stint at MAQ.  It was a wonderful experience, as an instructor, to stay in one place and really get to know students over the course of 3 days.  I can't wait to go back next year and reconnect with my new friends.  my classes will be chosen by the board, so I don't know yet what they will be, but mark your calendars - July 18-20.

 

My friend Kathy flew in from Utah to take a workshop from me.  We met during a workshop from Lisa Call in Philadelphia last year.  She has been spending a few days with me, which has given me an excuse to leave my studio and visit some highlights of the Philadelphia area.  Monday we went to visit The Barnes Foundation.

This museum recently was moved from a Philadelphia suburb to the city amongst a lot of controversy.  Dr. Barnes, a wealthy scientist,  collected and arranged its contents, which includes a ton of paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso along with PA Dutch blanket chests and metal hasps, in a specific format to fit his view of art. He collected the art before it was popular.  His collection was not well received by art critics, so he turned it into an exclusive educational facility with limited access. He died in the 1950's.   Specific instructions were left in his will about the collection, that included leaving it in the suburbs.  It has since been moved to downtown Philly, as the culmination of a lot of wheeling and dealing.

 There is a great documentary about it called The Art of the Steal.

 

 I have been to see the collection in the suburbs a couple of times.  This was my first visit to the new Barnes.  Other than the cavernous lobbies with expansive seating, the collection is presented in an identical manner.  If I had been blindfolded and dropped into one of the rooms, I would not have known the difference. 

 

Yesterday, we just had to head to Lancaster County to check out the Amish and a bunch of fabric shops.  A couple of other women from MAQ joined us as we visited the best of the best.  We started at Burkholder's, then  stopped at Zooks and then The Country Store.  And of course lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, The Kling House, where sitting on the porch you can watch the Amish buggies clip clop down the street.  At The Country Store, we came across the Pennsylvania/New York Row By Row Quilt Shop Hop.  There are over 60 shops participating in Pennsylvania. 

 

Each shop has instructions for a row of the quilt.  This is the pattern from The Country Store:

 They also had a kit for the pattern.

 The theme for the rows is country fairs.  These canning jars are perfect for Lancaster County.

The we were intrigued by the shops participating in the Shop Hop.  We started our trip back home so that we could stop at one more - The Quilt Shop at Miller's.  Their row was a pinwheel pattern , and they also had a fabric license plate. We found out that some of the shops have them. (cost $3.99)

 

I think I need to make something from it.  Stay tuned.