Tuesday night is Guild Night!

I love guild night. I can't wait to see my quilt-y friends, and we all get to show off what we have been doing. December's meeting means that there will be showing of gifts for others before they get wrapped up and sent away.

Well, that was before the weather intervened... I ended up running the meeting (I'm Vice President), and we had fewer folks turn out than usual. However, our speaker was fantastic! We had Judy Coates Perez as our special guest and she had a very nice presentation on how she makes her painted quilts. One of the perks of Chicago area living is the cool Chicago quilt artists! (Of which, I hope I am included one day) Both Judy and Robbi Eklow had the snowiest nights to come to our guild meeting, so I am wondering if local artists have some kind of "winter mojo".

Here's a picture of Judy and I after her talk. I can't wait to take her Fiesta Ornaments class this weekend. That's "Primordial Sea" in the background, it's beautiful, and all painted on silk!
I'll post my show and tell later this evening, I hope. I didn't post this picture last night because I had to shovel the driveway after closing up the meeting. A late night, but so worth it!

Back in B-more

I'm back in Baltimore for a quick work trip and then heading to the Baltimore Heritage Quilter's Guild's West River retreat, and event I loved to do when I lived here. I haven't found any retreats near my house in Illinois so far, but i would love to if they are as affordable as the one in Baltimore....

I attended the Mancuso run Greater Chicago Quilt Expo III, which I understand is going to be the last one here. It's apparent that the show is poorly attended, which surprises me, as the IQA show in April is a mega-show. There were no white glovers, which I heard through the grapevine is because "people here don't volunteer", which is crazy, because my friends volunteered for IQA's show a whole bunch... I think it's because it's poorly marketed to our area. The show is small when you compare it to other shows. And having had attended the Williamsburg Mancuso show, this was teeny tiny compared to shows of their own!

I did have the lovely pleasure to take a class from Rosalie Dace, who is a lovely person, and great teacher. Our class was on "Up Close and Personal" taking images of microscopic things and making them the basis for quilt design. I had pretty good ideas and have taken away good ideas, so for me the class was a success. I'll post pictures of the things I made, along with things from this weekend's retreat sew-a-thon, when I get back.

A graphic update!

OOO! Pretty pictures!

On the way back from a work trip, I saw this neat pumpkin patch. Fall is finally here.

The troublesome trio were at it again when Catherine (center) was speaking at the Wheaton IL guild. Steph (left) invited me along, and we had a blast. We also decided to take a class together at the Mancuso Quilt show next month.


My guild, the Riverwalk Quilters Guild, had their annual small quilt auction so I made this altered spoon, and attached it to a quilted background. The spoon was inspired by directions in a recent Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine article written by Kelli Perkins. I wanted to try this and also wanted to figure out attaching the spoons to quilts for a project I am making for my house.


I also made this small 6 by 18 inch wall hanging, that the DH loved and didn't want me to give away. I forgot to photograph it before I gave it to the guild, so this picture is taken on the hood of my car.



Speaking of Kelli Perkins, she recently did a giveaway on her blog of supplies from her studio, and I tossed my hat in the ring. I got this package today.



Here is what was in it! My cat, Lillith, is modeling some of the lovely bits of ephemera and yarns and buttons and other amazing stuff Kelli sent me. Thanks Kelli!

Lastly, I went back to this for the first time in over a year today. I'm back on the wagon!

Hanging out in Baltimore

I'm in Baltimore for work and decided to spend the weekend with quilt friends. Amy was so kind to let me stay with her and her family. She even put a nice brunch together with some guild friends. It was so nice.

We went to Savage Mill and I was able to go to Queen's Ink and the Treasure Trove antique linen store there. I could have spent a fortune there. We also stopped at Seminole Sampler, one of the best quilt shops in the country.

I had a great time. I hope to come back for the West River Retreat in November.

And can you believe these are back in season already?

Aren't we "trouble" personified?

My Riverwalk Quilt Guild friend Catherine Redford has a picture of my buddy Steph and me on her blog. Check it out!