Mount St Mary's University

 

I'm spending the weekend at Mount St Mary's University in Maryland.

 

So what's a nice Jewish girl doing in a place like this?

In front of a case saying Holy Work?

I'm teaching 3 quilt workshops at the Mid-Appalachian Quilters retreat (MAQ).

It's a little hard to see because of the glare, but my vending space is right in front of

the case with Catholic relics!  I do like this embellished headdress.

 

I'm here in the middle of nowhere, at least it seems like the middle of nowhere.  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Philly and the last half hour or so was all on country roads.  I know I'm near Gettysburg, PA but there will be no time to visit. Why is it that so many colleges are so isolated?  I guess that's a good thing so our kids can focus on studying?

 

The campus  is beautiful and so bucolic.  I feel like it's wasted on the young.  I would love to go back to college, be a student and study something like graphic design or textile art with not a care in the world. Spend my days learning and designing and my nights socializing.   But, I would not want to be 18 again, not for all the money in the world. 

 

I'm here to teach 3 workshops.  It is very exciting to be an instructor instead of a student at a retreat. Yesterday it was all about fusible machine applique.  Secretly I call it boot camp, because I work their butts off.  But when these quilters are done for the day they have mastered the tension on their machine, learned new stitches and have added another tool to their toolbox. 

Another good name would be "Choose To Fuse".

 

Today I taught about how to work with silk dupioni. 

I brought all of my silk quilts and hung them in the classroom to share.

 

I didn't realize I have made so many.

My silk was well received both in  the classroom and in my sales booth.  The ladies were very interested in my quilt with the curves and circles.  It's the one on the top left side of the quilt rack, inspired by the fabric in the booth at the local deli.   I need to come up with a name for it, since it will most likely be offered at MAQ 2014. Let me know if you can think of one.