Quilt Market, Part III

Sculpture by duBuffet rises next to the Houston Convention Center. And fits right in with the building's red, white and blue color scheme!

Here’s a shot of the Convention Center floor during Market. (This shot doesn’t even show it all.) And today it is all gone, and the vendor booths for Quilt Festival are going up.

Janet Stauffacher of Vintage Vogue is teaching several beading classes during Quilt Festival. She was in the class I took on Sunday, so I got to see her elegant beaded scissors case with silk ribbon embroidery. And look at those wonderful beaded edges!

I was asked by C&T Publishing to be an “ambassador” for their new Liquitex® Surface Design Center. It is the wire stand on the right side of the photo, and includes Liquitex acrylic paints and inks for fabric, plus a great little book by Jane Davila that shows you how to use them in a zillion ways to make art quilts. I made two samples for this display. The rack of acrylic paints, inks and mediums will be available in January. It is designed to help quilt shops make surface design supplies available for quilters.

Marcia Derse with her "Gerta" collection for Troy fabrics. I really like this collection, which looks as if it is hand dyed, printed and discharged. These are some pillows made from her fabrics:

Judith Baker Montano and Philippa Naylor in the Dragon Threads booth. Judith’s book is “Fibreart Montage: Combining photography, embroidery, quilting with embellishments,” and Philippa’s is “Quilting in the Limelight: The life, art & techniques of an award-winning quilter.” Spectacular eye candy combined with a huge amount of practical how-to information in both books.

Here’s the carpet on the walkway between the Convention Center and the Hilton hotel, which features kaleidoscope designs by Paula Nadelstern taken without her permission, which resulted in a copyright lawsuit (they reached a settlement).

Ellen Medlock makes “uncommonly cute bags, sewing patterns and crafts.” I met Ellen on Facebook, and made sure to swing by her very pink booth to meet her in person.

I've loved Mary Sorensen’s appliqué designs since I started doing applique. Just beautiful work.

Lisa Wood (left) and Gail Pierce in the Woolylady booth. They make wonderful contemporary designs for wall hangings and pillows made from wool.

My friend Kathy Mack’s design for silk bags for wine bottles are available on little pattern cards through della Q. Della Q makes knitting and sewing bags, and silk taffeta. Kathy Mack is a sweetheart of a woman with a really great blog; she sells special fabrics and patterns through Pink Chalk Studio, an online shop.

I met Sarah Vedeler at the Quilting Arts TV taping in September. In this photo, she is demonstrating how to make her intricate digitized designs for silk quilts in the Brewer booth. Here is a detail of one of her amazing quilts, Heather Feather:

Rosie de Leon-McCrady (left) and Marilyn Boskey of Scarlet Today have great nostalgic-looking quilts that combine patchwork and embroidered redwork blocks.

I first saw Debra Gabel’s cute little “Citystamps” quilts for Zebra Patterns at Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. They feature cities and state symbols that look like stamps. Very fun.

Iris of Mistyfuse was demonstrating her new “Goddess Sheet,” a nonstick thermal sheet coated with Teflon. It puts a glossy sheen on fused surfaces, which can help reduce accidents because you can better see which side is up. Look at all the wonderful artists using Mistyfuse; Iris put their work on these little buttons!

Emily Cier of Carolina Patchworks is a bright new talent from my state of North Carolina. Quilt shop owners were snatching up her great patterns, which manage to look both contemporary and slightly retro at the same time. This was her first Market, and I thing she’s going places! Check out her blog, where she details her Market experience, for a taste of what it takes to set up a booth at Market.

Tommie Jane Lane makes beautiful thimbles; I’ve had mine for years and I cherish it.

For more Market news, and details on new tools and notions with a humorous twist, check out Kelly Jackson’s blog,

Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the special exhibits at Quilt Festival:

The Eye of the Quilter is an exhibit of photographs by quilters, demonstrating that a good eye is a good eye; the same design elements that make great quilts are also evident in these photos.

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) has two wonderful exhibits of art quilts at Quilt Festival this year. The first, called SAQA@20, celebrates the group’s twentieth year. It was curated by Pokey Bolton, a SAQA board member and editor of Quilting Arts Magazine, and features work by some of the best fiber artists from around the world.

The second exhibit, curated by Patricia Gould and juried by Pam RuBert (who makes hysterically funny quilts), is called SAQA: A Sense of Humor. All the quilts “celebrate the laughable, amusing, comical and absurd aspects of humor.”

Nearby, you can walk through the Fabric Forest, patchwork trees suspended by wires to the ceiling made by a quilt group in Groebenzeller, Germany. Here is Scherer Heike’s “Alligator-tree”:

Indigos of China gives attendees a lesson in how indigo fabrics are produced in China, and includes old and new samples of the fabrics which have been an important part of Chinese culture for centuries.

The Antique Quilts exhibit included this absolutely huge (115” x 129”) hand pieced Princess Feather Star design (maker unknown).

I loved this quilt! (also maker unknown). Here's a detail shot:

Quilt Market, Part II

Okay, here we are, back inside the Houston Convention Center! Here's some of what I've been doing the past few days:

It's great to connect with old friends. I met Sarah Ann Smith (left) a few years ago through the QuiltArt Yahoo group, and we've been e-mail buddies since then, but this was the first time I'd ever met her face to face. She's here publicizing her new book, Threadwork Unraveled. (I'll be reviewing it and giving away a copy soon!) I met Bonnie McCaffery in 2005 when I took her Painted Faces class, which started me doing art quilts. She is here teaching classes.

Karen McTavish was in the APQS booth demonstrating her amazing long-arm quilting. I only knew Karen as a Facebook friend until I met her on Sunday, but she greeted me with a big hug. It was amazing how many Facebook friends I recognized on the floor, and it was wonderful to meet them all.


On Sunday, I took a great class from Bonnie Sullivan (above), who designs "folk art designs with a bit of whimsy." We created needle holders from wool and Aurifil Lana wool/acrylic thread. She was a wonderful teacher, and it was really nice to do some calm handwork for a few hours before jumping back into the craziness that is Quilt Market.

Donna Morales-Oemig of Aurifil USA (left) at work on her thread holder.


Beth Ferrier was autographing her new book, More! Hand Applique by Machine.


ooooooooh! What I wouldn't give for this huge suitcase of Aurifil threads!

or, even better, a huge cone of each Aurifil color! (hey, a girl can dream!)


This is Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs, one of my favorite design teams! I have made a bunch of Blackbird Designs' creations, and I just love their style, so it was fun to meet Alma and see some of their new quilts and embroideries.


They had some of the projects from their new Halloween book on display.


As usual, their space was exquisitely styled. I loved this quilt with a pomegranate design:

Dian Stanley of Indigo Junction/The Vintage Workshop holds her "Thread Ready Pincushion" design, which has nifty pockets to hold multiple spools of thread, held in place by a cord, around the outside. Way cool.



More to come …

Quilt Market, Part I

Today I autographed copies of my book in C&T Publishing’s booth at Quilt Market in Houston! It was so much fun!


You'll notice that I am not wearing the shirt I painted and wrote about about in the previous post. When I put it on, I noticed that it was a bit low cut, and I started worrying that I might be overexposed if I leaned across the table to talk to someone. So I wore a different pink shirt.

I have been taking lots of photos, but because of computer and internet access issues (and the simple fact that I am exhausted after a long day of meeting and talking and standing on my feet and networking), I am probably going to be posting most of them in a few days, when I have some time between Market and Festival. Stay tuned.

“But … can you wash it?”

“Can you wash it?”

That’s a question I hear a lot when teaching students about textile paints in my surface design class. Usually I don’t really care if I can wash something I’ve painted, because it’s going to hang on the wall, and not go on a bed. But this week, I’ve been painting a shirt, and I’m sure I will eventually need to wash it!

I started out with a black-and-white linen shirt I purchased at a discount store on sale at the end of the season for an amazing $10. I thought it would be fun to paint it pink and green, just like “Pink Petal Party,” the quilt featured in my new book, Appliqué Petal Party. I’m going to be autographing copies this Sunday at Quilt Market in Houston in C&T Publishing’s booth, and thought it would be fun to wear something that tied in with the quilt.

I used Jacquard Textile Color, since I already had it in the hot pink and green I wanted. I mixed the hot pink with some white to make the paler pink. When I was done painting, I started ironing it (Jacquard recommends heat setting for 5-10 minutes with an iron.) Then, realizing I didn’t have time to hang around and hold the iron for 5-10 minutes on each section of the shirt, I put it on the drier on the hottest setting for about 20 minutes. Then I put it in the wash, using regular detergent and cool water. I threw in a dye magnet just in case.

But I shouldn’t have worried. It came out perfect. The color was just as strong as when it went in, and there was absolutely no color on the dye magnet. So now I know how to answer my students who ask, “Can I wash it?” If you use Jacquard Textile Color, the answer is yes. As I experiment with the other textile paints I use, I’ll post my results here.

If you are going to Quilt Market or Festival, come see me (and on Sunday, see my shirt)!

I’ll be autographing copies of Appliqué Petal Party in C&T’s booth on Sunday, Oct. 11 from 3 to 3:30 p.m.

I’ll be doing two Open Studios sessions on the floor of Make it University demonstrating wholecloth painting techniques and machine quilting and thread sketching on Friday, Oct. 16 from 12:40 p.m. to 2:40 p.m., and on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Next week, I’m going to try to take lots of photos at Market and Festival to share with you. If I can get a good internet connection at my hotel, I’ll be posting during the week!

ATC swap and Open Studios at International Quilt Festival

In honor of International Quilt Festival’s 35th birthday, Quilting Arts is having an ATC (Artist Trading Card) Extravaganza. You can bring 35 or more ATCs to the ATC wall in Make it University, on the floor of the convention center, during Quilt Festival, and trade them with other artists. There is no limit to the number you can swap, and you can trade them anytime during show hours.

Just what are ATCs? They are small works of art (about the size of baseball cards, 2-1/2" x 3-1/2") designed to be traded, rather than sold for money.

I made 36 like these, which each feature my Indian Corn design and a small embossed polymer clay embellishment and a bead. I’m going to save one and swap the other 35 next week. How fun! After Festival, I’ll post photos of the ones I bring home.



Check out all the fun Make it University sessions here. I’ll be there doing two Open Studios sessions demonstrating wholecloth painting techniques and machine quilting and thread sketching. Please come by and say hello!

Oct. 16 from 12:40 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.
Oct. 17 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Open Studio

My studio is featured in the Fall 2009 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors’ Studios magazine, but here are some photos they didn’t have space to include. Because the theme of the publication is “open studios,” Quilting Arts is also hosting a virtual studios tour this week. For more information on the Open Studios event, click here.


Here’s my machine and cabinet. I adore having my machine set down into my cabinet; I don’t think it is possible to quilt well for a long time without a level sewing surface.


My quilt “Harbinger’s Hope” hangs in the hall outside the studio. I like the green walls, but it is rather dark (the hallway is 8 feet wide and 40 feet long; it runs nearly the length of the house and is a bit cavernous), and I’m thinking about painting the hall butter yellow this winter. The fire hydrant painting is by Diane Overcash. I found the chest of drawers out for the trash at a neighbor’s house, dragged it home and refinished it. (I’ve been reclaiming castoffs like this for a long time. My kids groan with embarrassment when I slow the car down for a closer look.)


I use old jars and spice containers to hold my beads on the windowsill. I love how the light comes through them.


Old stuff and nostalgic-looking new stuff on top of a bookcase.


More of the same, plus a little quilt made years ago of Susan Branch fabrics.


Buttons and threads in old and new jars.


I can’t pass up old sewing stuff. I found these spools and clothespins on the curb, too.


The green pincushion is my design.


My kids’ finger puppets, no longer played with but way too cute to give away, sit atop paint brushes.