Photo shoot in Lenoir, NC

My daughter played soccer today in Lenoir, NC, a town that has seen better days. Many of its long-time employers, big-name American furniture manufacturers, have moved out, sent their production abroad, or downsized. But it has some amazing architecture, and some really cool old buildings just screaming for restoration and a new purpose. How I wish I had millions of dollars to save some of them.

While her team warmed up, I wandered around the old Lenoir High School, and took photos. It is great to go to a new place, and not a particularly beautiful place, and shoot, shoot, shoot. Look for elements like texture, pattern, line, color, form, reflection and movement. Sometimes you can get the most amazing photos at relatively mundane locations. This is one of the exercises I describe in my book, Point, Click, Quilt! Turn Your Photos into Fabulous Fabric Art. Here are some of the photos I took today.

Why do I take photos? Most of my fiber art is based on photos, and I always use original photos (otherwise I’d have copyright issues). Plus, photography is a great way to boost your creativity, and to get ideas that inspire you. And it is fun. Give it a try!

Teaching in sunny Sarasota

I just got back from teaching at the Friendship Knot Quilters Guild of Sarasota. We did “Peacock Feather” on Feb. 18, and I presented my “Point, Click, Quilt!” lecture that evening.  Yesterday, we did “November Leaves.” Here I am before my presentation with Facebook friend and blog buddy Sharon Bourque, who was visiting from Canada:

It is so much fun to meet up with people I have only met previously online. 

I didn’t know it until I traveled to the Sarasota area last month (to teach at the Venice Guild) and this month, but there is a very large Mennonite and Amish community there. For dinner, my host took me to dinner at Der Dutchman, a local restaurant that features Amish food. It was wonderful!
 

Bicycles are a common way for them to get around town:

We made a stop at Alma Sue’s Quilts, a fabulous quilt shop.

Several quilt frames were set up inside the shop, and Mennonite ladies were hand quilting. Gorgeous!

Within the past few years, I have discovered that my Brubaker ancestors (Bruppacher) were Swiss Mennonites who came to America about 1710, and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Maybe I got some of my love of quilting from them!

My hosts’ cat is a Bengal (a hybrid breed of domestic cat that result from crossing a domestic feline with an Asian Leopard Cat)! She is lovely, very orange and tiger-y looking:

Somehow, I didn’t get any photos of my Peacock Feather class students; argh! Here are photos from Tuesday’s November Leaves” class where we painted and stitched Tyvek, then melted it and quilted. 

Here’s another wonderful online friend, Angie Knowles, whom I met in person for the first time:

We also melted some of the leftover Tyvek bits:

 

 

  

When class was over, it was time for some R&R. We went out to dinner at a river-side restaurant, where I had a delicious fish sandwich:

This is a tree outside the restaurant, where some beautiful black birds (crows?) had gathered: 

 

And then my hosts drove me to Siesta Key beach in time for sunset. The sand there is very fine and very white. I didn't even realize when I was taking this shot that I had captured two Mennonite women and their little boy:

 

Here is the sun going …

… going …

 

 

… gone!

Brightly painted lifeguard stations:

Me with my host, Pam:

Photo by Gerry Zeck

The beach is incredibly wide compared to our North Carolina barrier islands:

Seagull tracks:

Sunset silhouette:

Me taking photographs of the sunset:

Photo by Gerry Zeck

Thanks, Friendship Knot Quilters; It was wonderful!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

“Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”

– ROBERT FROST –

February classes in Florida

Class sample (detail) for “November Leaves”

I’ve been busy this week working on samples and handouts for the classes I'll be teaching in February in two different locales in Florida. 

Feb. 7-9, I’ll be teaching in Jacksonville, Florida with Karen K. Stone and Nancy Wines at the River Bend Quilting Retreat hosted by Honeybee Quilters Seminars. Last time I checked, there were still spots available! I’m teaching “Paint and Stitch: Peacock Feather” on Thursday. We paint white PFD (prepared for dying) white fabric with metallic paint, and then stitch with black thread to make this beautiful peacock feather:

“Vanity” (“Paint and Stitch: Peacock Feather” class)

On Friday, I’ll teach “November Leaves,”where we paint on Tyvek and then cut maple leaves, stitch them to the quilt top, and then melt some of the leaves away:

“November Leaves”

Class sample for “November Leaves”

And on Saturday, I’ll teach “Start With a Photo: Round Red Barn,” which covers my fusible applique and thread sketching techniques. Students learn my process, and then can go home and create original pieces based on their own photos: 

"Round Red Barn"

I’ll be back in Florida about a week and a half later to teach for the Friendship Knot Quilters Guild of Sarasota. I’m teaching Peacock Feather on Feb. 18, presenting a lecture (“Point, Click, Quilt!”) that evening, and November Leaves on Feb. 19.

Here’s my schedule for the rest of 2013. I’d love to meet you; please consider coming to one of my lectures or classes!  

Peninsula Piecemakers
Newport News, VA
program: March 8
workshop: March 9: Thread Sketching: Dragonfly
workshop: March 11: Start With a Photo: Round Red Barn
program: March 12: The Artist in You

Sandhill Quilters Guild
Pinehurst, NC
program: March 19: The Artist in You
workshop: March 20: Thread Sketching: Dragonfly

Champlain Valley Quilt Guild
Burlington, VT
program April 2: The Artist in You
workshop April 3: Wholecloth Painting: Botanicals
workshop April 4: details TBA

Australasian Quilt Convention
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
April 18-21, 2013
April 18: Wholecloth Painting: Botanicals
April 19: Thread Sketching: Cripps Pink Apple
April 20: Wholecloth Painting: Still Life
April 21: Thread Sketching: Dragonfly

NC Quilt Symposium 2013
Fayetteville, NC
May 24: Paint and Stitch: Peacock Feather
May 25 a.m.: Point, Click, Quilt!
May 25 p.m. and May 26 a.m.: Wholecloth Painting: Botanicals

Quilting Adventures
Deep Woods Retreat, Smithville, TX
June 3-6: Wholecloth Painting and Thread Sketching

Orange County Quilters
Orange County, CA
program June 11: Point, Click, Quilt!
workshop June 12: Start With a Photo

Beach Cities Quilters Guild
Mission Viejo, CA
program June 13: TBA
workshop June 14: details TBA
workshop June 15: details TBA

Taupo Symposium 2013
Taupo, New Zealand
July 19: Wholecloth Painting: Botanicals
July 20: Thread Sketching: Dragonfly
July 21: Surface Design Madness
July 22: Start with a Photo: Round Red Barn
July 23: Needleturn Applique

Lake Norman Quilters
Featured Artist, Quilt Show
Mooresville, NC
Aug. 16-17, 2013

Brandywine Valley Quilters
Thornton, PA
program Sept. 10: Point, Click, Quilt!

Calico Cutters Quilt Guild
West Chester, PA
workshop Sept.10: TBA
program Sept. 11: TBA

PRO Chemical & Dye
Fall River, MA
three-day workshop Sept. 25-27: Wholecloth Painted Quilts: Realistic Subjects

Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat
Blowing Rock, NC
Nov. 13: Free-style Embroidery Apron
Nov. 14:  Wholecloth Painting: Botanicals
Nov. 15: Thread Sketching: Snowflakes

A new portrait

I’ve been needing a new portrait photo/head shot for a while now. My hair is more salt-and-pepper than black these days, and I wear glasses (graduated lenses) all the time now. And of course there are a lot more wrinkles. But let’s not dwell on that. Today I asked my daughter Julia, who got a new camera for Christmas, to shoot me. I have to say that I love what she took! She has also taken some lovely and artistic shots of her friends. We may have another photographer in the family!

For the one below, I cropped it to a square, and Photoshopped in the blue background. One friend commented that the mark on the background looked like I had one of those chains on my glasses. Nope, it was just a crack. I Photoshopped it out. I also adjusted the skin tones a bit to warm them up. This square one will work great for my Facebook profile photo. (What? You aren’t my Facebook friend yet? Please come find me here: https://www.facebook.com/SusanBrubakerKnapp)

Here’s another shot, more predictable, that I also liked a lot:

This is my old portrait (below), which was taken in December 2006 – seven years ago! Egads! – by my friend Patrick Schneider, who is a professional photographer:

I’d love to know what you think; leave a comment and tell me!