Juggling

I just can't believe that I have been home less than a week  and I am back in the rat race, but as my friend Terry says, "It's all good!".  And it is, except that we had 8" of snow.  If I hadn't spent a day with my grandson Henry, I would be so annoyed, but it was so worth it to be home and see him and the huge smile he had for me. 

Last night at my synagogue, we had Art Shabbat.  There was an exhibit of art by temple members who wanted to participate. The exhibit only lasted 3 hours.  We were allowed to show three pieces and I chose these small framed ones.

This is from a series of small quilts I made titled "Leaving Home".  It was inspired by loving and letting my kids head out into the world on their own.

"Chic Shin" was a workshop I taught at a conference for the Pomegranate Guild of Jewish Needlearts.  

I backed it with a beautiful gold and white fabric.  The shadowbox frame was purchased from a second shop.  I spray painted it gold and added the black dots.  It made this piece look so elegant.  

The exciting news is that it was purchased!

I'm sure you will be able to tell what inspired my third piece.

Key West!

It was a postcard size piece that I mounted inside a frame.  

It was a white frame that I painted turquoise and embellished with buttons.

The next item on my agenda is the Lancaster Quilt Show.  I have a booth at The Continental Inn on Rte 30 across the street from The Host Farms.  I decided to take the plunge and share Curvalicious with a wider audience. I am scared $$tless, but I know I need to do this.  In addition to the tool I will have lots of dupioni silk and kits.  It starts on Wednesday and lasts until Saturday.  It's their 25th year, so they are having a huge raffle basket with lots of vendors.  There's a shuttle bus that goes to the AQS show downtown.   I have some great friends that will be helping me out.  

So if you're in the area, come by and say hello.  I will need your support.

Today was the opening of registration for the summer quilt symposium where I teach in Maryland. It's a great 3 days of hanging out with quilters, learning and laughing and eating, although quite frankly the food leaves a lot to be desired!  I thought I would share the three classes I am teaching:

Easy pieced dupioni silk lone star on Friday

My Curvalicious Pillows

Sunday is Beachalicious day.  I found out today that this class is almost full and registration just started! Excuse me while I jump up and down. I'm not used to being the popular girl.

MAQ is really the best value around.  Check out their website:

www.MAQonline.org

Pomegranates

Yesterday I was in a bit of a punky mood.  Was it because it was raining and grey here in Eastern Pennsylvania or am I having Henry withdrawal?  To lift my mood, I re-visited the photos I took during a recent workshop.  The workshop was titled "Chic Shin".

I designed it especially for this group based on my Embellished Beauties,

 using lots of silk, beads, sequins and buttons.

Shin is a Hebrew letter that stands for  many wonderful aspects of Judaism.

 

This was the biennial convention of the Pomegranate Guild for Jewish Needlework and this year they met in Philadelphia, so I was very lucky to be invited to teach. The guild is named after the pomegranate because it is a significant symbol with a rich history in ancient Jewish culture.  In addition tradition says that there are 613 seeds inside of one and this corresponds to  613 good deeds, or commandments.  (I don't know of anyone who has counted!)This beautiful fruit also grows abundantly in Israel.  Many of the ladies wore beautiful pomegranate jewelry.

 

I had a great group of ladies in my class that came from all over the country - California, New Mexico, Long Island and of course lots from NJ and PA. Here we all are at the closing dinner:

It looks like they all had a good time.

I met a bunch of quilters that I have gotten to know on-line.

Diane, Cathy and Me

 

Plus I got to meet Lauree Feigenbaum.

Lauree is the owner of 1-800-Dreidel. 

It's an on-line site that carries lots of Judaic crafts and fabric, including my patterns.

 I have done business with her for over 10 years and we had never met.

 

I provided kits for the project and I have a few extra. It includes all of the materials along with directions.  If you would like one, visit my etsy shop called "Sewing With Silk".  

 Hurry, because I don't think they will last very long.

You can find my book there also that has a lot of other embellished projects. 

 

Rumor has it that the next meeting in 2015 will be in Arizona.

Keep tuned.