Valley of the Mist Quilters

It was a small, but enthusiastic group that met on Sunday, Nov. 10 to explore the "Goose is Loose", designing and piecing free-form shapes. We met at the local Temecula Bernina dealership, where the shopowner stayed open for us. What we didn't know is that the local church was meeting in the next shop over. They liked to sing, and play the guitar, especially the base. It wasn't long before the whole class moved out to the front counter for our impromptu instruction. Here are just a few photos that I took that day.Rita Dominguez understood the design and stitching concepts quite well, but she really want to learn how to make three-dimensional flowers -- so that's what we did!
Rosie Caudillo, who had driven all the way from San Diego to take the class, brought show and tell to the workshop. She used teeeny little hexagons to create this free form tree in autumn colors.
Gloria Bachmann quickly caught on to the drawing part, and completed her design in record time. She also managed to finish the geese and begin assembling the parts of her design.
Abi Beaty's deisgn was based on a golf course, her husband's favorite sport. I wonder if this will be a gift for him.

A good time was had by all. And, there's just nothing like good, old-fashioned southern California hospitality.

Fallbrook CA Quilter's Guild

This trip to southern Califormia has been delighful. I just finished teaching for the Fallbrook Quilt Guild, where the class selected was Scrumptious Star Stitchery. The focus of this class is the paper foundation piecing techniques that I use to assemble almost all of my designs. The photo above shows program chairman, Elvia Dawson, advising novice quilter, Linda Bustard at the class.
Linda had never done paper foundation piecing before this class so she was excited to finish one section of her star.
Linda's friend and table-mate, Paula Walters, also a novice at foundation piecing, completed one section. Notice the adorable Halloween theme for this project.
Mikey Nail and Ursula Hohous both opted to use fabric kits provided by me for their projects.
Master quillter, Anita Bruce, whipped right through the project, completing half of her star. What an inspiring group they are! It was good fun.

The Sewing Chair

It all started innocently. Donna, my good friend and creative assistant, commented that my rolly chair didn't roll very well. She said she'd keep her eye out for one at a garage sale. When she arrived at my house today, our regular sewing day, she had words of wisdom, courtesy of Mary Moya. Seems Mary had asked if Donna had ever picked all the crud out of the rolling wheels of her sewing chair. And, then Donna spent much of Sunday afternoon picking at the wheels of her chair.

Today, we picked at the wheels of my chair.
It was ugly! Many tools and sore fingers later, we are proud to report:
The mad cleaning woman, equipped with a can of air and a can of WD40. Never again will this much garbage collect in the wheels of this chair. Next time you're in your sewing room and the wheels don't work so well, think of Mary's words of wisdom.

Show and Tell at Black Hills Quilting Safari

The stars of the Sensational Stars class had much to display at the Saturday evening 'show and tell'. Their instructor was quite proud.
Now, to be fair, students in the 'Goose is Loose' had a lot more designing to do and every quilt top was a unique piece of art.
These are but small samples of the projects they designed in class.
Imagine fellow teacher, Vi Colombe's surprise when each of the students in her lone star class made one extra diamond and then stitched them all together into this interested arrangement!

Black Hills Quilter's Retreat

Ehnthusiasm was the word of the week for the Black Hills Quilters. I don't know when I've seen a more ambitious bunch, except perhaps the Frontera Quilt Guild in Harlingen.
Students designed and stitched up a storm of stars in the Sensational Stars class. When I returned from lunch, there they were sewing. When I stopped by before dinner, they were still there. I think that many sewed all night long!

Evening was for fun festivities, like a good, old-fashioned sing-a-long, lead by conference co-chair, Doris Fritts. The theme of the conference was Quilting Safari, and here she is belting out her quilterly rendition of the Beach Boys hit, "Surfing Safari".

Mount Rushmore

One of the side benefits of teaching for the Black Hills Quilter's Retreat was hanging out with quilting colleague, Sue Nickels. The conference organizers arranged for a lovely afternoon at Mount Rushmore National Monument.
Our guide, Celia, kept telling us that it looked much different than when I saw it as a child. However, although I know that I WAS there, I have no memory of it. My only memory of the Black Hills of South Dakota was throwing up in the car on the winding roads.
Rapid City is a beautiful, small town, and there are statues of many of our past presidents as well as other famous explorers on every street corner in the downtown area. Here, I got to sit right next to Abe Lincoln.

Anova II

It's not very large, only 20" x 20", but this is my newest creation. I called it Anova II because the basic shapes are the same as in the first version. And, the best part is that it just might belong to you. Anova II is a donation quilt for the International Quilt Association. It will be auctioned off in the silent auction at the IQA booth at International Quilt Festival in Houston the last week in October. Check out all the wonderful quilts at the auction. All funds go to support the good work of IQA.

I am nearly done with two more quilts, which is quite exciting. Look for those posts soon.

Hurricanes and Quilting

It came as quite a surprise to me to learn that Hurricane Gustav had caused severe damage to the Baton Rouge region of Louisiana, home to the Swamp Quilters, who had scheduled me to teach at their retreat in Mississippi this week. After all, nothing had appeared on the national
news. So, like most other Americans, I turned my attention to other things, and thought little about the latest storm of 2008, until I received a call from organizer Candy Bergeron. It was only then that I began to understand the fury of Gustav, and the havoc it wreaked on their community. I asked Candy to write an update. Read on for her assessment.
Hello Gail,

The Swamp Quilters postponed the Goose is Loose class scheduled for September due to Hurricane Gustav. Gustav was a significant hurricane in the Baton Rouge area. The winds were clocked at 92 miles per hour and uprooted really big trees. Any tree large enough and close enough to fall on our house is going to be cut down and replaced with a short, stubby tree. Most of our friends are sharpening their chain saws now.

The wind and fallen trees knocked out over 90% of the utilities in the area. We feel fortunate that we were without power for only 10 days instead of the projected 21 days. It is hot here without air conditioning. Most people have generators so they can run fans and their refrigerator. You need gas to run a generator and gas pumps do not function without electricity. There were few gas stations open after the storm and the lines were long.
Our governor, Bobby Jindal, was great! He spent millions of dollars buying generators from other states to run critical services like gas/emergency care/police stations, etc. He also bought tarps to distribute to people with roof damage because FEMA response is too slow to be of any use. He used the National Guard to transport supplies from other states. We, in Louisiana, feel blessed to have a proactive, problem-solving leader and most of us wish he were running for President. Our recovery was faster because of Bobby Jindal.

We also had local flooding after the storm. The water receded from our road after 8 days. During that time we used a boat. The neighbors call our boat the Colyell Queen. Colyell is a nearby bay and our boat is as ugly as the African Queen. With the flooding the wild things come out of the swamp. My husband saw something in the dark on the kitchen floor one night. He bent down to pick it up and when it wiggled he realized he had a handful of snake. He can yell like a girl!

After the hurricane the cell phones did not work because the towers were down. One of the most difficult parts of recovery is being without outside contact; no email, no phone. I have not received mail in 11 days; no bills!

I attached pictures of my backyard with uprooted, broken trees and later the flooding. Also attached is a picture of the Colyell Queen and the road leading from our subdivision. We were just inconvenienced by the storm. Others suffered real loss. Please keep them and the people dealing with Ike in your prayers.

Things are getting back to normal. A friend is coming over to sew tomorrow and several of us are meeting the day after tomorrow for lunch and a movie. It is great to have friends! We will be in contact about rescheduling the class. It will not be until after hurricane season.

Talk to you soon,

Candy Bergeron

Kudos as well to Southwest Airlines! When I called to cancel my ticket, they immediately and graciously gave me full credit for the ticket to be used any time within the next 12 months - no penalty for changing the ticket!

The Squirrel Cake

About a year ago, my daughter Tracy, took a cake decorating class. One thing led to another, and before we knew it she became the supreme cake mistress of New Mexico (Okay, well maybe that is a proud Mom talking!) However, it wasn't long before her cake masterpieces graced many an event. When I asked for a cake for my Labor Day barbeque at the cabin, I had little idea other than a theme of fall. We were all enthralled with the incredible detail to the most minute of elements. Every leaf, flower and acorn was an edible wonder. And, topping it all off was her hand-carved, fat squirrel sitting proudly atop his treasure trove. He must surely have thought that his larder would last until spring. Thank you Tracy! It was a a beautiful gift, amazingly thoughtful, and delicious too.

Love,
Mom