Mosaic Quilt Progress Shots

I have been working on this Mosaic Quilt since last  October, sometimes spending days on it and sometimes it languished on my design wall for weeks. I even took it to Key West last winter rolled up in a tube and it never saw the light of day for 2 months.  Now I have the motivation to finish.  I received an e-mail a few weeks ago inviting me to be a guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims!!!! Wow!!! I had been a guest on the show back in 2010 or was it 2011 - Episode 811 after my first book was published.  (Quilt Fiesta - if anyone can remember.)  My Mini Mosaic Quilts is to be the topic of this episode.  I thought this quilt from a trip to Avignon, France needed to be on the set.  It became my 24/7 project to finish it.  I spent hours and hours cutting up the 3/8" pieces, finding the right color fabrics to get the contrast and depth that I needed, trimming and placing them - sometimes removing them to replace them!

I've taken some photos along the way that I thought would be fun to share.  I am heading to Smith Mountain Lake, VA this morning for a lecture and workshop.  The quilt top is finished, bordered, quilted and the binding will be  sewn on during the trip.  I return late Tuesday and then head to Denver for the taping on Friday.  Since I have limited time, here is a photo over view.  I took a little artistic license and changed the bicycle and added a door on the right for some interest.  I'm still searching for a name.  If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Mini Mosaics Magic

It's quite an amazing day when there is a room full of 23 quilters that love my new technique for making mini mosaics. I'm always a little skeptical about the reception for a technique that uses tweezers and 3/8" squares of fabric.

But this was a group of my peeps! My fellow guild members. Even one who made a comment that I was crazy, a few months ago when I wrote about my Mini Mosaics on my blog. I knew they would be honest with me. So I was over the moon when the comments ranged from "it's addicting" to "this was the best workshop I've ever taken" to " this would be so much fun to do with my grandkids".

Here are some photos:

I was working on a psychedelic Bailey before the workshop. Thanks to the energy of my fellow quilters, I couldn't wait to go home and finish it. It looks just like her except it's in technicolor.

Show & Tell next month at our guild meeting is going to be so exciting. I think there will be lots of finished projects. Woo Hoo!

And even more good news is that everyone will be able to learn about it in a future issue of Quilting Arts, coming out this summer. I'll keep you posted. But of course I'm always available to teach you in person at your quilt guild.

 

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Inspiration Is Everywhere

While in Daytona for the quilt show, we rented a house. This was really for Bailey, because if we left her alone in a hotel room, she would either bark or cry. It was only 10 minutes from the convention center. There are many bridges over the water to get there and we would drive over one from the International Raceway Rd. I noticed that there were mosaic aquatic scenes interspersed along the bridge. So we left early one morning before the show opened, so I could walk across the bridge and take some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are perfect to study the placement of the tiles. These tiles are glass and I have plenty of inspiration for my next Fabric a Mosaic quilt.

 

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Mosaic Mania

I had the pleasure of sharing my Fabric Mosaic technique with 21 adventuresome women at the Daytona show. It's a brand new type of quilting that is unique and fun.

This was the sign outside my classroom door. I felt like I entered the big league.

The facilities at the Ocean Center Convention Center were top notch. The classrooms even had a section of wall to which I could pin my samples. It was perfect for my students to really inspect them.

 

The great news is they all loved the technique. They were given 5 different patterns to use and all of them were chosen. My little village, the most difficult, was the most popular. Many of them are determined to do them all - eventually. I really enjoy seeing how some of the quilters chose alternate fabric choices.

One student finished hers!

This is a 3 hour workshop and would be a perfect companion to a lecture about quilt inspiration from my travels. If your guild may be interested, have them contact me.

The show has been amazingly well attended with buses and buses of quilters arriving daily. They are all excited to have this caliber of show in this area of Florida and are not afraid to shop. I'll share more about the show in another post. It's time to get easy for another show day.

 

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Almost Ready

I realize I have not blogged for a while. I am so frustrated by lack of reliable internet. It's been al,post 2 months and it is a daily challenge. So instead of banding my head against the wall, I have been plugging away getting ready for the Daytona show. The dates are Feb 24-27. I think my booth # is 1507. If you're in the area, stop by. There's still room in my classes. Can you tell that I'm excited? I am ready to meet all those Florida quilters.

Here is a giraffe that I designed as a step out for my fabric mosaic class. I created it in both realistic colors and in the brightest colors. These pieces are not quilted yet. Do you have a preference?

Lots of people signed up for my class. I am so excited that so many quilters want to learn my technique. I have a student who took a Curvalicious class from me in Lewes, De, then stopped to see me in my booth in Syracuse and is now taking this class in Daytona! How amazing is that?

Wednesday night, 2/24, is the All Star Review. Faculty have 10 minutes to share a technique. I named mine "Curved Illusions". I am presenting 4 quilts illustrating how to include curves in a quilt. I finished this one yesterday and since it was made with reverse appliqué, I'm leaving it unfinished so everyone can see the back. It's got a very modern feel to it and I'm looking forward to quilting all that negative space.

We had some friends visit us from Canada yesterday. One of the must dos for visitors is the Sunset Celebration. There wasn't much f a sunset, because it has been very overcast. There are lots of street performers and a crazy cat man, but my favorite was this pig. Cute?

 

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