Me, Gwen Marston, and Bonnie

Woohoo!!! On Tuesday I met my hero, Gwen Marston. She is wonderful, sweet and so generous with her time. 

To fill in a bit, on Monday I drove four hours to Sarasota and picked up Bonnie at the airport. We visited a quilt shop, had Mexican food for dinner and basically talked and talked and talked. We spent the next day with Gwen, our marvelous Liberated Quilting leader and all around inspiration. 

Bonnie and I brought quilts to show Gwen, quilts with free-pieced letters and strings and crumbs. We were also lucky enough to see some of Gwen's quilts, which are as marvelous as I imagined. She allowed us to take some photos so that we could share them with you. 

Gwen made the center and first couple of rounds of this medallion quilt using scraps of fabric her students left on the floor during Working With Solids class. This quilt is going to be featured in the new Liberated Quilting book she's working on, so this is a sneak preview.

When Gwen is working on the hand quilting, she'll spend 1o hours a day (not including breaks) sitting at the frame working. No wonder she gets so much done.

I wanted you to be able to see the amazing details. These photos should enlarge when you click on them. I think.

Whee, both Bonnie and I got our Liberated Quiltmaking books signed.

A photo of me, Gwen, and Bonnie. You don't want to look at this one closer - I look too goofy. I'm definitely more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it.

It was great to get the chance to ask Gwen questions about quilts and quilting, but also about publication. I've learned something important - just how little a quilter earns from their books unless they self-publish. A quilter will earn something like a dollar for every book sold. If they're lucky. It could be less, especially if it's a duo writing the book.

So if you have favorite quilters and want (and are able) to do more to support them, buy from them directly. They make quite a bit more money on the books they sell themselves on their websites or in their classes or lectures. It really makes a big difference. Plus you can get the book autographed.

Some of the quilts Gwen showed us were from Ideas and Inspirations, which Gwen self-published along with photographer Gregory Case. I got to see my favorite quilt Strippy which really is gorgeous. You can get the book directly from Gwen's website although it's also now available online through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and doubtless other spots as well.

I have more photos and stories to share with you, but they'll have to wait for another post. I had a great trip, but it's good to be home with the kitties.

Kitties in Sunshine

I told you that the cats are doing well, right? They're long since gotten over their jet lag, and Bibi isn't singing in the stairwells in the middle of the night anymore. The only lingering thing is Pokey and Lily aren't sweet with each other. They'll play and chase each other around the house, but no curling up together to sleep. They get to close together and it often ends in hissing. The same thing happened when we moved to Paris - it took six months to work through.

All the cats are enjoying the sunshine here. Pokey in a box, Lily tangled in cord:

The little cats love this spot behind my computer, next to the window. It's the first place in the morning to get sun.

Pokey and Habibi taking a break in the cat tree:

Lily half out of the carrier, soaking up the rays:

I know this looks a bit screwy - Bibi is lying on a red boa cat toy with feathers. Lily meanwhile has laid claim to a green shopping bag:

 

No photos of Howler today. He's not photogenic, plus he often runs away when I come near him with the camera - not a good combination. Howler is doing so well here and is so happy. In Paris he was peeing on the sofa, peeing on the bed, in my scrap bin... it made life difficult. I don't know if he felt insecure there (lots of dogs could have lived in that apartment, which was over a hundred years old), missed seeing nature out the window, or just had problems with the minerals in the water. Here he is a happy boy and oh boy he gets to sleep on the bed again! He often curls up on my side of the bed with his head on my pillow - it's very endearing.

It's gotten a bit colder here - have had the heat on for several days in the morning. Still marvelously happy to be here though, believe me.

Yesterday I went with my friend to look at townhouses and duplexes that are for sale. Rather horrific how badly prices crashed in the last couple of years and the number of foreclosures... argh. I am amazed at how some of these places look. Don't these people watch any HGTV? Take care of those roof leak stains on the ceiling - that is just something you don't want to see and worry about.

My favorite decorating to sell show is The Unsellables. I love the host Sofie's english accent and she's very commonsense about it all. She'll take the home-want-to-seller to see an equivalent home that just sold and it will be in immaculate condition. Really gives you a way to see what a difference decluttering and fixing a few problem areas can make.

I just wish I could watch British decorating shows. In Cairo we got to see all sorts of them and it was heaven. I mean, let's face it, some of those English homes are awwweful and funny. Horrific patterned carpets and wallpaper and curtains.... My favorites were Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs and Grand Designs Abroad. Moving to a foreign country where you don't speak the language and acting as the contractor to build a house? Eeek, crazy people. And before any of you say it, already tried to watch these programs online, but it won't let me - have to be in the UK. I just wish some channel would show them stateside.

I've watched some movies. I thought Hellboy II was disappointing. I loved the first one but this one didn't have enough of the main characters. Certainly beautiful to look at and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more on the big screen. 

The other movie was Forgetting Sarah Marshall about a composer who goes to Hawai'i to get over the break-up with his girlfriend only to discover her there with the new man in her life. It had cute bits, but did it really have to be that crude and graphic? Bleck, but maybe that's how you get men to go to a romantic comedy. The best bit of the movie was definitely the Dracula musical preformed with puppets - I would so go to see that at a theater. It's worth renting the movie just to see that bit.

On a blogging note, Fabric Fanatic wanted to know how I get the pictures to show up in my blog list on the sidebar. Add a "Blog List" gadget to your sidebar and then select the "thumbnail of most recent item" option. voila.

That's all from here. Ya'all take care.

Inauguration Quilts

I told you I'd seen some fun Barack Obama-inspired free-pieced letter quilts. I really have. First off is this wonderful quilt by Julie Suchomel who gave me permission to show you this photo of her and her quilt in front of the capitol building:

Bonnie Hunter visited Julie's guild on the 5th of November and really inspired her. When she and her husband decided to go to the presidential inauguration she thought of using the letters to make a quilt to commemorate the event.

Julie explains: "I knew I wanted red, white and blue and it had to have 44 stars. There are 42 4" and 6" stars on the front and 2 8" ones on the back. All but a tiny bit of cream fabric is from my stash.... The red used for the date has dog paw prints in it in honor of the future first dog. The OBAMA letters are 6" and the rest are 4". "

Julie took the quilt to DC to get signatures, first at the Washington Historical Society at a quilt exhibition called Quilts for Obama: Celebrating the Inauguration of our 44th President, then at the "We are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and at the inauguration itself. She has a special spot - the center of the O in Obama - reserved for the first family. She's going to send a photo, letter, and fabric to the White House. Fingers crossed they sign it for her!

Julie, thanks for letting me share this amazing quilt and I hope I paraphrased accurately.

SoScrappy made a fun Yes We Can quilt and I have to admit I really like the backwards a - it gives the quilt a great folk art look without being cute.

Hedgehog made a quilt for Change with lots of wonderful plaids.

Bumble Beans celebrated the inauguration with this bold, graphic quilt.

edited to add the following:

Kristin made a fun quilt with a flag and Obama's name.

Nancy Near Philadelphia has a friend who did a great job with a really scrappy quilt.

I hope you enjoyed these quilts. If you know of any others using the free-pieced letters, please do let me know!

letters

I have a couple of pics to share with you of work done by Judy in Michigan. The first says Delphine's Quilt Shop. I love how Judy came up with her own style on the n and p's and wow, what a fantastic Q.

And this is Quilter's General Store. I love that plaid r.

Didn't she do a great job? I'm so proud of her. I love to see the projects ya'all make using the free-pieced letters. Here's another great one, a valentine quilt made by Julie in the Barn. I just love the crumbs she added.

Brenda got her Words Fail Me top together and it is marvelous. She also posted a pic of all her wordy quilts - she's a quilter after my own heart.

Speaking of letters, I pulled out a bunch that have been sent to me by students. I won't say who sent them for fear I'll leave someone out.

This is going to be such a fun quilt someday and I'd love to have more of your donations to put into it. I have lots of orphan letters I could throw in but I'd prefer to just use student work. So if you have any letters that just didn't work, or you made too many or just want to make some for me, I'd LOVE to have them. I'll take any free-pieced or wonky block actually, cuz I love to play with orphans. Oh, and I'd love to have whole or partial words too, doesn't just have to be letters.

Also, while I'm begging, if you've made quilts using my letters I'd love to have you make a name block for me. These are the ones sent to me by some of the students from my first online class. I also have a Carol block that doesn't appear here and I suspect a Jude block will arrive in my mailbox soonish.

So if you've used my letters and enjoyed them, please consider making a name block for me. It can be your blogger name, not your name name (I don't think anyone has ever actually named their child "Comic Book Lady" - at least Hedgehog would be kind of cute). Make it to express YOU. Your favorite colors etc, not mine.

I know, I'm greedy. Others (have I mentioned Bumble Beans 9-patches?) are out there asking for donation to charity quilts and I just want blocks for me.

I went to bed last night at 8:00pm I was so tired and amazingly I slept through all the way til 7:00am. I've only had one other night here free of interuptions. First the cats all had wonked out body clocks and Bibi in particular felt it necessary to traipse about singing in the middle of the night. Pokey had to get cabinet doors open and Lily finds it necessary to scratch at windows, mirrors, doors.... aagh. And when they're not being demonic, it's the sweetness getting to me as Pokey decides she has to sleep on top of me and Lily right beside me.

And there have been two nights where the smoke detectors have gone off.  Not a nice little beep to let you know that the battery power is running down but a full out ALARM, ALARM which cuts out fairly quickly but will come back within a couple of hours. Why does it always have to be the middle of the night? You'd think I'd be smart and replace all the batteries, but I've got to go buy them first....

Ants in Palm Beach

My friend Susan is in town and she's a terrible influence (mmmm, baby back ribs -  that diet is going to wait) AND a lot of fun. Yesterday we visited an estate sale. It was boooring. Can't believe all the heavy dark wood furniture down here - this is supposed to be Florida beach cottage territory! And they want how much for this mass-produced fish "sculpture" I could go over to Pier One and buy new? ha ha ha ha.

After that disappointment we took a drive through Palm Beach, an enclave of rich folk living on a barrier island just off the mainland of Florida. Most of the houses are hidden behind hedges and walls so they're really hard to see except for glimpses down the driveway. There are no sidewalks for the most part and narrow streets - not the best place for a photo safari. Plus I wondered if they'd call the cops on me...

Did get a quick shot of this house covered in beautiful climbing bougainvillea:

Somewhere along the way we caught a glimpse of a giant ant invasion. Susan was determined to find them again so after about another hour of driving around we found them. Eeek. I figure even if you aren't fascinated by the ants you at least get some interesting foliage to look at.




I love these ants - I so wish there was a Louise Bourgeois giant spider nearby. Anyway, I believe these overgrown bronze ants are the work of Susan P Cochran. Her bio says she used to do bead art - intriguing, I wonder what that looked like.

In other doings, I am now completely caught up on the current season of Top Chef. I really enjoy that show and I'm thrilled they got rid of the guy who was annoying me the most (after the fiasco that was Gail's Wedding Shower). 

If you like Top Chef have you tried Chopped on the Food Network? Four chefs/cooks show up and are given baskets of mystery ingredients that they have to use to make first an appetiser, then an entree, and finally a dessert. And it's not like they're ingredients that would be easy to use together. Of course a chef is kicked off after each round. The show reminds me of Iron Chef and Ready Steady Cook - fun.