It's Monday, Again

It was a busy week, between lecturing and teaching  a workshop at Byrne Sewing Connection in Doylestown and the Penn Oaks Quilt Show.  The people who work at Byrne's, including the owner,  Debbie Byrne and the customers, could not have been warmer and more eager to learn.  I presented my newest talk, Turning Travel Into Treasures.  Since most of my quilts are inspired by my travels, it's a talk rich in many styles of my quilts spanning many years.

I was so cauht up with setting up my talk and having a full workshop plus a couple that I didn't take any photos. I need to remind myself to TAKE SOME PHOTOS!!!! Since I didn't take any photos, I thought I would share some photos of the quilts that I shared and the inspiration.

Called Casa Talavera, this was inspired by multiple trips to Mexico and their beautiful ceramic tiles.

Called Concentricity -  was a result of a morning walk in St. Augustine, FL.  It was inspired by a detail in the sidewalk.  Lots of different fabrics were used including organza, silk and lame.

Filigree Fantasy was inspired by the wrought iron doors and balconies in Barcelona.  The center is a motif from the children's area at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. The applique is fused and stitched down by hand with hand dyed cotton floss.

 This is a quilt top that  I just can't decide how to quilt.  On a morning walk while visiting my brother in Phoenix, there were these huge cactus plants that had these huge red bulbous protrusions, that I guess are the flowers.  While most of the circles are cotton, some are velvet, some are wool and some  are silk.

Primmitive Seasons is a fictional depiction of a flowering weeping willow throughout the 4 seasons.  I loved doing all of the handstitching.  The circles in the 3 borders are wool pennies.

 Keyfetti Fish uses my mosaic technique and was created while spending a couple of months in Key West.

Beachalicious makes me think about childhood summers at the Long Island beaches.  It's one of my patterns using Curvalicious and can be purchased from my Etsy shop.

And I just have to share that I was thrilled that Funkytown won a 2nd place ribbon at the Penn Oaks Quilt Show.  I'm a new member and am so impressed how this small guild puts on this wonderful quilt show.

It's actually my newest pattern made with Curvalicious.  It;s also available in my Etsy shop.

Don't forget to come back on Friday for the latest Stitchography interview.  This Friday, Patty Young shares how she manages to run a business and be a Mom.  You'll like to read about her experience  as a fabric designer for Riley Blake Designs and her company MODKID - where she sells high quality sewing patterns for girls, tweens and women's clothing as well as accessories.

I've Been On The Road

I shared my new lecture last night with The Village Quilters of Catonsville, MD. It was their end of the year meeting and the tables were beautifully decorated. It was a potluck lunch that had 2 long tables of savory and 2 long tables of sweets. Yes, SWEETS!!! I began to salivate.

There was one tiny issue. It was warm and the air conditioning units were stolen the night before. Everyone had makeshift fans and thankfully there was some air flow. I was so glad I wore deodorant.

The title of my new talk is "Turn Travel Into Treasures ". It was the perfect talk for their end of the year meeting and the beginning of many summer vacations. Lots of my quilts were inspired by my travels, both near and far. It was a walk down memory lane, looking through my quilts and photos, while preparing this lecture.

My quilts fell into two categories. There are realistic quilts - those that look the inspiration and the other are quilts that are more abstract. Photos of lots of wrought iron from a trip to Barcelona

 

 

were the inspiration for "Filigree Fantasy".

The ladies loved my travel books. This one I made after our trip to Israel.

That's the cover. This is a peek at the inside.I use Pelltex to make it stiff so that it stands.

This is a travel book I created after a bike n barge trip in Holland.

I like using an interesting shape for the cover. For this book it was inspired by the amazing buildings in Amsterdam.

This is a peek at the inside.

I like including some type of map in each book to document the places that were visited. Here's the map from Holland.

Each location we visited is named and can you see the bicycles that I printed on organza? I also used the blue and white fabric that I bought at the market in Amsterdam.

When I create these books after a trip, it helps me to revisit the vacation and cement the memories. Instead of all the photos stored on my camera or in the cloud, they are a visible reminder.

 

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