It's Monday, Again

I wish I was posting this on Monday, but if you check your calendar, you know it's not!  I was in Atlanta for the biennial Pomegranate Convention.  I was busy and had trouble  getting a good Internet connection.  So you're thinking, they have a convention about pomegranates? " Does it include eating? Does it include drinking? Or is there hand creme?  If it does I want to go!"

It's about needlework!! The Pomegranate Guild of Jewish Needlework has a biennial convention.  This year it was in Atlanta. It's empowering and enlightening to be together with such talented Jewish women from all over the U.S. and Canada.   I was honored to be teaching 3 workshops.  

My first class was called "Curvalicious 2 Ways".  Using Curvalicious they had the option of making one of 2 tablerunners. 

We had a full class and were iron challenged.  If you have been in any of my Curvalicious workshops, you know that they are very ironing intensive and irons pull a lot of current. I've blown the circuit at many venues and now I can add Le Meridien to the list.  That conference room can handle an unlimited amount of laptops, projectors, coffee pots, etc, but only TWO irons!  Quilters are resourceful and we always persevere. We used the outlet in the hallway and  one of my students even went up to her room to iron.

I love it when a student follows her own voice.  Saraj, did her own thing.  She used some Jennifer Sampou fabric that isn't even available in quilt shops yet.  

The next class was a dupioni silk pomegranate applique block.

I provided a kit and was surprised that most of the women in my class were not quilters and had never done fusible applique!  This was a lot to teach in 3 hours, and I had no time to take any photos, but believe me when I say that they all surprised me and did a great job. 

My final class was my Mini Mosaic Quilts.  We had a really packed house full of women that were so happy to be there.  It is so rewarding to teach this.  whenever I teach this workshop, the participants have a choice of 5 patterns.

I was not surprised that most of them chose to do the pomegranate.  Usually I have a pretty even split.

 Everyone was having so much fun, that sometimes I had a hard time sharing my tips!

This group of ladies did not want to stop!  Look at the smiles on their faces.

Two of the women in the class did not sew and did not want to finish the mosaic as a mini quilt. They didn't even want  to finish the entire piece.   I was challenged to help them finish it in an alternate manner.  I have to say I stressed quite a bit because I did not want their piece to be ruined with our experimentation.  But voila! It worked.  Maybe we've come up with a new way to make suncathers.

I had a wonderful time in Atlanta.  I walked away with so many new friends.  Some of them were Internet friends and other were brand new.  For more info about the Pomegranate Guild and to find out if there is a chapter near you visit their website.  I'm looking forward to the 2019 Convention in Calgary.  

The Mini Mosaic kits will be available for sale soon in my Etsy shop.  Make sure you sign up for my newsletter HERE, to be notified.  There will also be an instructional video.  I can't wait to share!

It's Monday, Again

Sometimes a girl just has to have fun.  On Friday I decided to take a break from prepping kits for my upcoming visit to The Pomegranate Guild Of Jewish Needlework's biennial convention in Atlanta and just play!  I bought some linen last time I visited NYC and bought some more at Byrne Sewing Connection when I taught there 2 weeks ago.

I had to search for my Print Gocco.  It has been many years since I had used it, but I had an  idea that I wanted to try.  It eventually turned up in the basement.  I heard it was a Japanese children's toy back in 2009.  It's an easy way to silkscreen, making the screen and printing all in one.  The problem is that the bulbs used to expose the screen and the  screens themselves are single use only. Although in limited supply, replacements can be bought, but they are pricey.  I had enough to make 2 screens and that's what I needed.

I searched for some copyright free designs and found what I was looking for.  I experimented a bit with the size, printing with my inkjet printer.

I prepared the screen.

and got ready to print.

It took a bit of experimentation, and then success.

After these dried, there was Step 2.

Here they are drying and here's a close up.

On Mother's Day, I always do some sewing for myself.  Sometimes it can last an entire day and other years it's just a couple of hours.  Since I'm leavng for Atlanta in less than a week,  I only had a couple of hours.  I had the perfect set up with my favorite companion, breakfast made by my hubby and a Netflix show on my iPad while sitting at my sewing machine.

 I did have fun turning my silk screened sewing machine into my zippered pouch.

I used the directions from The Sewing Chick.  She has great instructions 

for inserting the zipper that lays perfectly flat.  You can find her instructions HERE>

  Thank you Tessa Marie.

Speaking of dogs, I used my dog print on linen for the inside.

And to make the day even better I had a visit from my son who cooked me a wonderful meal and brought the perfect cake.

Hope you enjoyed Mother's Day whether you are a Mom or you celebrated

 a Mom you know or knew.  

Stop by on Friday for the next Stitchography interview.  Beth Helfter of Eva Paige DEsigns.I am learning so much about the different paths that we "creatives" take along with advice for people waning to earn some money doing what we love.

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.