QATV Series 1600 Shoot

I was in Cleveland last week to shoot Series 1600 of Quilting Arts TV. What a great bunch of guests! It is going to be a terrific Series.

Series 1600 will air this summer on more than 400 Public Television stations across the U.S. Many of the guests on the show are also writing articles for Quilting Arts magazine about their projects and techniques they share on QATV, so if you are inspired by what you see on the show, look for the magazine (or better yet, subscribe!) for more information. You may have already noticed articles that have a link to QATV show segments featured in the most recent Quilting Arts issue; they are accompanied by this little logo:

I get a lot of questions about how the show is produced, so I thought I’d give you a behind-the-scenes tour and a sneak peek at all the great stuff coming your way. 

Monday was the first day of the shoot. I got all my shirts and matching jewelry and accessories organized in the dressing room. I have 13 outfits (plus several more just in case the producer decides one is not working well (some patterns tend to vibrate on camera!), plus jewelry and accessories I keep in small numbered bags that hang with each shirt.

The crew was getting set up for the shoot.

This is how we keep track of what I’m wearing for each episode. I often change clothes, jewelry and accessories 10 times in one day, because the segments for each episode are not shot sequentially.

 

I’m holding my hands up in a strange way in the shot below to show my rings and bracelet clearly, so I’ll know what to pack when I wear this outfit again in Series 1700. I wore this for episode 1613, and you’ll see me in it again in Series 1700, in the segment Enid shot for it.

 

We have wonderful makeup artists on set each morning who do a great job of making us look our best, and minimizing blemishes, wrinkles and under-eye circles (thanks, Karen and Liz!)

Artist and teacher Cecile Whatman was our very first guest on Monday morning. She came all the way from Australia to shoot three segments! Cecile owns a business called Unique Stitching, and sells all sorts of materials for surface design, art quilting, and mixed media to artists in Australia and New Zealand. 

Cecile never sees snow like this where she lives in Australia! (We only got flurries last week; I took this shot where plows had left about 6 feet of snow in the parking lot.)

Cecile’s segments were on creating art quilts with non-traditional media, textured embellishment and applique, and building a painted surface. Here are some of her lovely pieces:

Artist Desiree Habicht is a studio artist and art quilter who also works as a fabric designer, and licenses her artwork to other industries. She worked as a mural and faux finishes painter before her daughter was critically injured by a drunk driver in 2000, when she reinvented her career so she could make a living while caring for her daughter.

Desiree shot three segments …  on using acrylic paints on fabric:

 

  … on creating “old world tile” quilts:

… and techniques with Inktense pencils:

 

This is Desiree goofing off while getting wired for her microphone by the audio technician:

Desiree is a California girl (notice the shawl, and lack of a winter coat!), so she had to pose with the snow pile, too!

 

On Tuesday, the first guest up was Jane LaFazio. Jane had shot a Quilting Arts Workshop (which will be available later this year as both a DVD and digital download) on Monday afternoon, but she was still full of energy. Jane is well-known for her sketching, water color, mixed media, and art quilts. She teaches online, in person, and on fabulous trips to countries like Italy and Mexico. 

Jane did three segments. The first was on how to make small hand-stitched, beaded and sequined works of art on felt:

I came home and ordered a bunch of sequins like these, from Cartwright’s Sequins.

 The second was on how she used a pokeberry motif in a variety of ways to make art quilts:

 
And the third was how to make felted soap (so fun!):

Next up was Pat Pauly, who shot four segments, and then a Quilting Arts Workshop (which will be available later this year as both a DVD and digital download). Pat makes striking contemporary fiber art, most of it abstract, with surface-designed fabrics she creates. Her four segments cover piecing with skinny lines, ways to discover compositions for fiber art, using photos to jumpstart abstract designs, and techniques for improvisational quiltmaking. (The last one will air in Series 1700.)

Here’s Kathie Stull, the show’s producer, and some of the crew, helping to hang some of Pat’s work on the set:

Pat took this selfie with Kristine Lundblad, Vivika Hansen DeNegre, and me.

This shot shows the Green Room, mid week. Each guest has a table and trays on which to set up the samples, materials and step-outs for her or his segments.

On Wednesday, our first guest was Nysha Oren Nelson. Nysha is a certified ZenTangle instructor, and the stitching on many of his art quilts resemble intricate Tangles. Nysha did segments on applying color after stitching, designing two-sided quilts, and his Zen Book Box (which was featured in the current issue of Quilting Arts magazine).

Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum was next up. (Pronouncing her name was probably the hardest thing I had to do that day!) She demonstrated how to make really reusable silkscreens with organza and iron-on vinyl, using stickers and textile paint to add text to a quilt, and creating a batik look with glue resist.

The shot below shows what typically happens before each segment. Vivika Hansen DeNegre and Kristine Lundblad from Quilting Arts magazine, as well as Kathie Stull and Lynn Lunoe from KS Inc., Productions, gather around the table and walk through what will be covered in the segment. (You can see Jeannie Cook-Delpit from Bernina in the background, getting the machine ready to roll.) 

Julia Wood makes contemporary hexagon quilts, and has written two books about them with AQS. The most recent is More Quick and Easy Hexie Quilts. Julia combines hexis in interesting new ways, and also adds colorful stitching around them for a very modern look. She showed us how she prepares her hexies, and offered lots of tips for making them look great.

We started off on Thursday morning with guest Mark Lipinski. Mark is a well-known speaker, teacher, writer and quilting personality who has had a big influence on the quilting industry. In his two segments, Mark chatted with me about his Slow Stitching Movement, and shared some “legacy quilts” made by quilters he knows, and one he is working on now.

Mark talks with Jeannie Cook-Delpit about the Bernina machines that will be on set:

He checks to make sure the  machine is ready before his segment:

He gets a final makeup adjustment from Liz:

And he’s on set, setting up:

Here’s one of Mark’s quilts, which he is embellishing with lots of beads:

Quilting teacher and AQS author Joan Shay, who specializes in dimensional applique, showed us how to make a beautiful butterfly using her techniques. Joan has written five books using her Appli-Bond 3-D technique. 

Becky Campbell, also an AQS author, shared her “Innovative Applique” method. It features turned-under edges that can be finished by hand or machine, and a way of adding extra stuffing under the pieces to achieve a trapunto look. Her designs are wonderfully whimsical.

Becky also makes and sells terrific storage bags for quilts, “Sewforever Quilt Storage”, a no-fold, archival quilt storage solution. They are Tyvek bags with elastic at the end that wraps around after the quilt is inside, and keep quilts dry and dust-free while rolled on pool noodles (she also sells Tyvek wraps for the pool noodles). Such a terrific idea!

 

And our very last guest was Lynn Krawczyk. Lynn’s expertise lies in surface design, printing, collage, and hand stitching. And she shared a little bit of all of this with us in three segments plus a Quilting Arts Workshop (which will be available later this year as both a DVD and digital download). Her segments covered recycling old blocks with paint, embroidery on wool felt, and a surface-designed floor mat.

I hope you will enjoy the wonderful guests on Series 1600. I think they are terrific! As always, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions for guests. (We have a very long list already, but are always glad to add more names.) We are pleased to accept proposals from potential guests; just leave me a comment or pop me an e-mail, and I’ll send you the proposal guidelines and more information. 

Vivika and I are working together to choose the guests; our goal is to have a  nice balance of techniques and styles (art quilting and fiber art, as well as traditional, contemporary and modern quilting and patchwork, surface design, mixed media with a focus on fiber, embellishment, etc.) and to bring in new faces and bring back old favorites.