Join me at North Carolina Quilt Symposium 2013

The folks at the Tarheel Quilters Guild in charge of the 2013 North Carolina Quilt Symposium have announced their list of teachers, and I’m on it! So mark your calendars for May 23-26, 2013 and plan to join us at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC. The event includes a quilt show, a special exhibit, vendors, lectures, and 3-1/2 days of fabulous classes by nationally known quilting teachers. There really is something for everyone.

You can stay at a hotel in the area, but I can tell you from experience that it is more fun to stay on campus, where you are close to the action. If you chose to stay in a dorm (handicapped-accessible and air-conditioned), your food is included in the tuition. And in the evenings, it’s like a giant quilters’ pajama party. Since it is Memorial Day weekend, there will also be lots of great events in Fayetteville, which is a military town.

Registration for the Symposium will begin in January 2013. To have a registration packet mailed to you, simply send $5 with your name and address to:

NCQS13 Tarheel Quilters Guild
P.O. Box 36253
Fayetteville, NC 28303

Or you can download the entire packet in January 2013 by going to: www.tarheelquilters.org/Pages/2013NCQuiltSymposium.aspx

There are lots of teachers on this list that I would love to take a class from (but rats! I’ll be busy teaching, too! Class topics will be announced by January.

Valerie Bothell http://www.valeriebothell.com/ Hollis Chatelain http://www.hollisart.com  Augusta Cole http://www.augustacolequilting.com/ Aby Dolinger http://abyquilts.wordpress.com/ Susan Edmonson http://susanedmonsondesigns.com   Nancy Eha http://www.beadcreative.com/ Kaye England  http://www.kayeengland.com/ Sandy Fitzpatrick http://www.hissyfitzdesigns.com/ Harriet Hargrave http://www.harriethargrave.com/index.html Susan Brubaker Knapp http://www.bluemoonriver.com/ Mary Lou McDonald http://www.baltimorequiltlady.com/ Judith Baker Montano http://www.judithbakermontano.com/ Sue Nickels http://www.sue-nickels.com/ Annette Ornelas   http://southwindquilts.com/     Linda Pool http://www.lindaslace.com/ Sharon Schamber http://www.sharonschamber.com/ Anita Grossman Solomon http://makeitsimpler.blogspot.com/ Jane Townswick  http://www.martingale-pub.com/store Jane does not have a website, but this link brings you to her book publisher. Janice Vaine http://www.grahamcrackercollection.com/ Leni Levenson Wiener  http://www.leniwiener.com/ Amy Stewart Winsor http://winsorartquilts.com/

Such fun!

Here are all of the wonderful women who attended my Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat this weekend. It was such a great group! We had crisp fall weather at the Blue Ridge Assembly YMCA in Black Mountain, NC. 

We worked hard, but there was plenty of time for great meals, laughs, and fellowship. Participants chose between my passionflower and pumpkin designs, completing the fusible applique the first day (and part of the first night!) and getting a fair amount of thread sketching done on the second day.

 

The pumpkin people:

 

The passionflower people:

This was my first retreat, and my first time teaching these new projects. Overall, things went well, thanks to Joyce (who coordinated registrations, cooked wonderful meals, and kept things running smoothly) and Donna (who assisted Joyce and generally helped out wherever  and whenever needed). We got some good ideas for things we can do differently – and better – at next year’s retreat (look for details coming soon!)  

One spot has come open at my retreat!

Need to recharge your batteries and learn something new? My Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat is this weekend, Oct. 4-7 in Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville), and one student had to drop out because of an emergency in her family. If you are interested in taking her spot, please write me at susan@bluemoonriver.com before Thursday. 

I’m going to be teaching my fusible applique method the first day, and thread sketching the second day. You can choose from one of these two projects:

“Heirloom Pumpkins” by Susan Brubaker Knapp

“Passionflower” by Susan Brubaker Knapp

We can help you with gathering things for the supply list. (I have fabrics for purchase.)

We are going to have a blast! 

NOTE: We have filled the one remaining spot. Sorry! But if you are interested in next year's retreat, to be held Nov. 13-16 in Blowing Rock, NC, please sign up for my mailing list, and you’ll be the first to know that registration is open. 

Apron in progress

My embroidered apron is coming along! This is a project I took up to relieve stress; I find that if I keep my hands busy, my head can’t think and worry too much. I’m loving the handwork, and the chicken scratch stitches really do look magical up close, like little bits of confetti tossed up and suspended in mid air. 

I’m working on the sides now, adding two more pairs of scissors (truly, you can never have too many pairs, right?) and a tape measure along the bottom.

Stress, stress, go away. Come again another day (not!)

“Rituals” exhibition is featured in Quilting Arts

It was a thrill to pull out the contents of my mail basket today and immediately recognize Judy Coates Perez’s quilt "8 of Cups," on the cover of the October/November issue of Quilting Arts magazine. The issue includes an article on the Dinner at Eight Artists’ “Rituals” exhibition. My piece, “I See the Moon,” (below) is also featured in the article. 

The quilts in the article were hand selected by Quilting Arts editor Vivika DeNegre, and include “Milo” by Jeannie Palmer Moore, “Lost Rituals:  Grief” by Susie Monday, “Cosmic Gears"” by Loris Bogue, “Sunrise Serenade” by Barb Forrister, “Walking with Mr. C and Scooter” by Gerrie Congdon, “Meditation” by Karen Rips, and “Boundary Waters 60 (Rock Time)” by Virginia Spiegel.

If you are attending International Quilt Festival in Houston next month, don’t miss this special exhibition. I’d love to hear what you think about it.

De-stressifier apron

 
I have had a lot of stress and very little time to work on my art in the past six months. But I know that when I can find even a little time to use my hands and do something creative, I am a much happier camper. I have been knitting cotton dishcloths (which I refer to as “therapeutic dishcloths”) as they are very good for my blood pressure, and making them has helped me a lot. So yesterday I decided to start a new project. 

Some time ago, I had purchased a beige cotton canvas apron from Donna Downey. She has a wonderful shop in Huntersville, NC, a town just to the south of me. Yesterday I got the apron out, and used a foam brush to mottle it with Liquitex acrylic ink  and Daler-Rowney acrylic ink. 

  
You can buy the apron on Donna’s online shop for $14.99.


Now I am stitching it with perle cotton and embroidery floss. I'm going to draw some things on it, probably sewing items, and then stitch them with dark thread and a running stitch like I did the scissors:

I am adding a lot of what I call “chicken scratch” embroidery on it, too. This is wonderful handwork I can do while talking on the phone, or waiting in the carpool line, or whenever. I am planning to cover it with stitches, and I’ll post more photos as it progresses.

It will be fun to wear it when I teach. 

I can feel my heart steady as I work. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat.