A Private Lesson and Key West Update

My trip to Denver had a Part 3, that I was really looking forward to after videoing a segment for The Quilt Show (Part 1) or visiting the Rockies (Part 2).  I had a 2 day private lesson with an amazing animal portrait quilter, Barbara Yates Beasley.

I was familiar with Barbara's art from the Internet. 

 Her quilts of dogs and other  animals are amazingly realistic.

 I would love to have a quilt like that of my girlfriend, Bailey. Barbara lives outside of Denver, so when I knew I was heading to  Denver for The Quilt Show, I thought maybe I could connect with her.  I always told my kids, "you don't know unless you ask", so I asked! I asked her if should would be willing to give me a private lesson.  She checked her calendar and we had a date.  She would provide all the fabric and the other supplies.  I just had to bring an enlarged photo of Bailey.

 I headed to Barbara's studio on Monday morning.

She has quite an organized fabric collection.  She uses small pieces so she has a big variety of many different types of cottons organized by color.

After prepping the foundation, Bailey was pinned to the design wall and the lesson began.

\Barbara starts with the most challenging parts of the animal first - the eyes and then the nose.  Wow! It already looked like her.

The Boulder area is really a hotbed of quilting.  We took a break after Day 1 and went to an exhibit at The Dairy Center.  The exhibit was to celebrate the birthday of a very well known art quilter, Judith Content.  She invited some of her quilting friends to hang quilts in the exhibit for her "birthday party".  There was quite a variety including 3 dimensional pieces.

I spent a second day with Barbara and then flew

 home kind of knowing what I was doing!

It was the perfect time in my busy schedule.  I was able to devote several more days and with a couple of e-mails and a phone call, I finished my quilt.

I think it looks exactly like Bailey and I am thrilled.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with Barbara and you have a pet you love, do it.  You can see lots of her pieces at

www.BarbaraYatesBeasley.com

But, if you want to commission one, she does that too!

Key West Update:

We finally heard about our place in Key West.  It's good news.  There is a lot of plant debris everywhere, but our place is in tact and there is no water damage.

Thank you to everyone who were concerned.  It is such a relief.  Key West was spared the brunt of the  storm.  My heart goes out to those who lost their homes in other parts of the Keys.

A Great Retreat

I'm just getting organized after spending 3 days hosting my Pet Portrait Retreat at our lakehouse in the Poconos.  It was 24/7 of sewing, eating, talking and laughing.  Everyone made great progress and I felt they left with the tools needed to finish the quilt.

We used every square inch of the house.

 Can you see my Accuquilt Studio cutter behind Roz?

 When your quilt is made up of 1,296 squares, their 2" die cutter is a beautiful thing. 

 It cuts 60 squares at a time.

 When I arrived at the lake to prep for my guests, my son and DIL were there.  Loren had gone to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival with her Mom.  It was a convenient place for them to stay.
I was thrilled when she offered to stay and help me with the cooking for the retreat.  I took it as an opportunity to further entice her with quilting, because the pet quilt I was planning on creating was a portrait of their dog, Cooper. It was supposed to be a surprise.  Instead I taught her the techniques and she just ran with it.

I ended up being her assistant! I did the grunt work of sewing the pieces together.  We got pretty far working as a team.

To make my map, I printed the photo of Cooper and placed a clear grid over it.

 The pattern starts to take shape using 2" squares of fabric following the grid.

 

Here's a close-up of the ear.

I chain pieced the top in sections.  See how much it shrinks?

 The top half is done!
Here are the start of more pet portraits:

Roz and Reggie

Wisps of Reggie's fur

 

Teresa and   Rosie (www.TeresasQuiltStudio.com)

Rosie's nose

 Grace and her owner, Cheryl

 

Grace's eye

 Luna

 Luna and Rose

A Luna close-up

You can see from the close-ups that these quilts are not pixilated.  The grids are used to piece the details.  This makes the quilts look realistic. I'm looking forward to seeing them quilted and bound.

I was delighted to receive an e-mail from one of the quilters, after she arrived home that said:

"I want to thank you for a relaxing creative weekend, I feel recharged!"

I have tentatively schedule another Pet Mosaic Retreat in June.  June 12-14 th of 2015, also at the lake house.  If you're interested, shoot me an e-mail.

For Pet Lovers Only

This is my most favorite quilt that I have ever created. I love my dog, Bailey, and I love this quilt. If my house was on fire and I had to grab one of my quilts, it would be this one. I spent 2 months creating it during the winter of 2013. You can read about it HERE.

I brought my Bailey quilt to MAQ last weekend as a possible class for next year. A few people approached me about offering a workshop outside of MAQ as a retreat for them to recreate their dog. Then a few more and a few more. I had the beginnings of a list.

So I'm putting it out there. I have a lake house in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I have done retreats there before. I can accommodate 5 women. So I'm thinking about doing a 3 day retreat in the fall or spring. It will include lodging, food and instruction for you to create your own Pet Headshot from a photo. You can do your dog or cat or iguana.

I haven't chosen the dates yet, but this is the makings of a long weekend engrossed in the love of our best friend and other like minded quilters. If you are interested, shoot an email to oyveyquilts@yahoo.com. When I choose a date I will email whoever is on my list.

 

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Visiting Opportunities

The time in Paradise is ending and it's time to get back to regular life. Bailey and I did our last Sunday bicycling circumnavigation of the island this morning.  I will really miss it here.  I just really hope that there is no more precipitation in the clouds above Philadelphia.

 

If you are in the Coral Springs, Florida area, I will be stopping there on our drive back up North.  On Friday night, 2/28, I will be presenting my lecture about the quilts I designed that were inspired by a trip to Mexico.  On Saturday, there will be a workshop.  I think there are still a couple of spaces.

 

At the end of March, I will be giving a workshop for The Red Rose Quilt Guild in Lancaster, PA.  They "twisted my arm" to develop it into a workshop and share how I made my quilt "Roundabout", now renamed "Curvalicious". 

 

We'll be doing it in a smaller version that can be used on a wall or as a tablerunner. (It has become my newest silk workshop if your quilt guild may be interested.)  I think there are still places left there too.  Contact them if you are interested.

And, if you are interested in seeing my Bailey quilt, up close and personal, she is a semi-finalist and will be hanging at the AQS quilt show in Lancaster, March 12-15. Maybe I'll see you there.