Road 2 CA Recap

I have finally surfaced from my  trip to California.  I arrived there with a cold, that persisted even until today.  I had quite a hoarse throat throughout my classes, but my students were wonderful and so co-operative.

I'm starting to get used to teaching on the road.  A suitcase full of  class supplies were shipped to CA two weeks ahead of time.  We carefully watched the tracking status and breathed a sigh of relief when it showed "ARRIVED".  The remainder of supplies and my quilts were loaded into my checked bag, weighing in at 49#, my carry on bag containing all my Mini Mosaic quilts and my personal bag.  I have learned to embrace curb side check-in at the airport and gladly tip the sky cap.

This brought a smile to my face as I changed gates in Phoenix.

There was a faculty meeting complete  with hors d'oeuvres the evening before classes started.  Sitting next to Jenny Doan and other quilting  luminaries made me pinch  myself. This was going to be an amazing show.

I share with my students at the beginning of each class, my teaching method - after an overview, I break the project down step by step.  I don't want  to hold anybody back or leave anyone behind.  It's a balancing act.  This is about their success, not mine.  First up was my Silk Skinny Curvalicious quilt class using dupioni silk. 

Friday's class was "Beachalicious", another Curvalicious class.  Some prep ahead of time resulted in some great progress:

On the third day, "Funkytown" was the class.  This was the first time that I taught this Curvalicious pattern as a class.  It was so exciting to see every one's fabric choices.

And the final day, the class was the Mini Mosaic Quilt class.

I love this class because there's lots of time to chat and learn about each other.  So interesting! So fascinating I completely forgot to take any photos.

I had an hour or so during lunch one day to visit the vendors and see the quilts.  The floor was buzzing, the quilts were amazing and again no photos!

My travel agent (aka my hubby) worked his magic and was able to book me First Class seats on my way home.  It was a great time to catch up on my sleep and healthy eating.

Thank you everyone.

Twins

I shared my twins a couple of weeks ago.

 

I created two identical "Elegantly Amish" quilts (39"x39") to determine if silk dupioni quilts can be washed.  Up to this point I was telling my students that silk quilts needed to be dry cleaned.  Washing would ruin them.  Once a scientist, always a scientist, so I needed to do an experiment.  What would happen if I washed a silk quilt?  Would it lose its sheen? Would it get distorted?  Would it shrink?  Would it bleed?

But before I share the results of my experiment, I want to introduce Midnight Quilter aka Ashley Malinowski.  She quilted "The Twins".

Ashley is a young woman who recently graduated from college. She purchased a long arm at the end of her senior year of high school.  She put herself through college by quilting for others.  Although she graduated with a very employable degree, she decided she wanted to keep on longarming to keep in touch with her customers!  If you want to read more about her or get in touch to hire her, 

visit her website: www.MidnightQuilter.weebly.com

So what happened to The Twins when I gently washed one of the twins in a low suds detergent?

The quilt on the right was the one that was washed.  It shrunk 2.5%.  It did not lose its sheen, that is so important when sewing with silk dupioni.  It did not bleed.  What happened because of the shrinkage is that the colors became a bit more vibrant, which is hard to see in this photo.  I like the increase in vibrancy. Maybe I'll wash all of my silk quilts.  Maybe.

I have presented my newest lecture "Sensational Silk" a couple of times.  I am happy to share with other quilters my silk quilts and  my tips for  quilting with silk.  I can now tell them that the quilts can be washed. If you want to read my other tips, check out this LINK.

A Busy Week Ahead

"Elegantly Amish" Twins- 39"x39"  - Silk Dupioni

The next 12 days will be crazy busy for me.  I will be traveling from Malvern, PA to the Pocono Mountains to Warwick, NY.  Here's my list of presentations, just in case you will be in the area.  You know I'd love to see old friends and meet new friends.

•  Penn Oaks Quilt Guild on Monday 11/10.  I will be debuting my "Sensational Silk" lecture
• Calico Cutters Quilt Guild on Tuesday 11/11.  I will be teaching my newest pattern, "Beachalicious"
• Mountain Quiltworks  in Honesdale, PA on Saturday 11/15, "Sensational Silk" and a Curvalicious demo
• Warwick Valley Quilt Guild on Tueday 11/18.  A Curvalicious workshop

 Check the websites by clicking the highlighted links, or call ahead to get the particulars.

So are you wondering why I made identical twin silk quilts? You will find out if you attend my lecture at Penn Oaks.  If you can't make it, I know lots of you live too far away, I'll share the story next week, right here.  Sign up with Bloglovin' to make sure you don't miss it.