Pokey : SAQA

International Quilt Festival/ Houston Recap!

Pokey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Brace yourselves! I think I'm about to set a world record in the Blogosphere for the number of photos in a single blog entry. I took nearly 250 shots at International Quilt Festival/Houston, but I cut the lot down to 49. (The ones I don’t post in this blog entry, I’ll put in the photo files on the QA site.)

I’m still feeling a little aphasic while I catch up on sleep, so let the pictures do the talking!

International Quilt Association (IQA) Awards Ceremony

The upper ballrooms at the George Brown Convention Center were packed with attendees and quilt lovers eager to learn who was going to win awards for this year's International Quilt Association's fall judged show, "A World of Beauty."

Coincidentally, this was the ceremony where our new publication, International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene made its debut. Featuring eight of the top award-winning IQA quilts, I repeatedly (incessentaly?!) reminded everyone who worked on this publication that this issue could not see the light of day until after this ceremony took place. Thanks to the hard work of those involved in keeping this issue under lock and key, it remained a surprise (and I didn't have a coronary).

When Brenda Groelz from Handi-Quilter awarded Caryl Byrer Fallert with Best in Show, Caryl flew onto the stage...

Caryl's quilt, "On the Wings of a Dream," is a self-portrait and tells the story of her personal evolution over the past several years. Her journey is a poignant and inspiring one, and we were happy to see her win.

Below people take a closer look at all of the quilts that won awards. (To view them all, check out the IQA site, then join IQA!)

Here I'm posing with Sue McCarty who won the Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry with her quilt, "Tribute to Tolkien." This quilt also won the Viewers' Choice award at Quilt Festival. It's gorgeous...

Denise Havlin of Illinois won the Fairfield Master Award for Contemporary Artistry with "Snapshot: Shannon's Bantam." This quilt took Denise four years to construct, and at the IQA luncheon the following afternoon, she shared her biggest design challenge: that while working on it, Shannon kept growing up!

SAQA@20: Art & Excellence

To celebrate SAQA's 20th anniversary, I was honored with being the juror for this special exhibit. Selecting just 35 quilts from SAQA members was one of the hardest tasks I've done, but in the end I think the exhibit looked absolutely incredible! (The exhibit will be traveling to Chicago and Long Beach, and we'll have a small sampling of images from this exhibit in the December/January issue of Quilting Arts.)

Preview Night at Festival

Our booth was rather busy during the show. Thanks to all for stopping by!

Below I'm posing with one of the sweetest (and most talented) people on the planet: Maggie Winfield. She always decks herself out with her signature couture. (You may remember her from my Long Beach post.)

Love the back of her jacket:

I was very excited to meet Lexus Estes in person. Last year when Lexus was eight, she submitted her very first quilt to the fall IQA judged show. It didn't win an award, but I got to interview her for an article in Quilt Scene about what it was like to make her first quilt. Here she is signing copies of her piece.

She and her grandmother stayed through Saturday of the show, and she got some Very Important People to sign her copy, too. Below Karey Bresenhan meets Lexus and signs her copy.

As did Nancy O'Bryant Puentes...

I got to pose with Lexus, too. Funny story: on the airplane home while working with these images on my computer, a passenger sitting next to me said, "Your daughter looks just like you!" I clarified that I wasn't so lucky and she wasn't my daughter, but told him her mother should be very proud of her. She's poised, energetic, and possesses a budding passion for quilting. Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot of Lexus in the years to come!

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Wall

The ATC wall buzzed with activity during the entire show.

This little girl (below) is an award-winning watercolor artist; those who got to trade with her were pretty fortunate!

Sandie (below) made a bagful of ATCs and stopped by often to trade. She broke her leg a while ago, but that didn't stop her from coming to Festival...

Open Studios

We had a number of art quilt and mixed-media rock stars who were on hand demonstrating their art in Open Studios. Below is the very talented (and articulate) Susan Brubaker Knapp demonstrating fabric painting and sharing her finished, thread-painted pieces. Her Quilting Arts Workshop made its debut at Festival (and Susan is also the cover girl for our 2010 calendar). Susan has some wonderful shots of quilts at the show so be sure to check out her blog.

Jane Davila was a hot ticket, too. Here she's stitching on a Bernina 440. (Many thanks to Bernina for lending us a machine!)

The very talented Lyric Kinard was on hand to offer art and design advice, share her techniques, and to sign her new book, Art + Quilt.

And Melanie Testa (author of Inspired to Quilt) dazzled attendees with her machine stitching, her artistry, and her humorous demeanor. (When Melly chuckles, you can hear it 10 aisles away...she has the best laugh.)

Sharon Tomlinson (a gifted Cloth Paper Scissors artist) demonstrated how easy it is to make faces...

Below Michele Muska of Wrights shared a variety of her artwork and mixed media. (Be sure to check out her pin cushion article in the upcoming Winter issue of Studios magazine. These pin cushions are adorable.)

Frances Holliday Alford is a brave girl and will stitch through anything. Here she's stitching through bits of plastic and other alternative surfaces.

I participated in Open Studios, too, and demonstrated my graffiti-style, fabric-collaged ATCs that I shared in Quilt Scene. (On a personal note, I'm looking especially tan in this shot. No, I haven't hit the tanning salon! My husband and I took a week's vacation in late September to the Caribbean and I'm still sporting some color...wont last much longer.)

Workshops at Make It University!(TM)

The Workshops were a real hit this year, thanks to the teachers. When the show opened each morning, people ran down the aisles to come to MIU and put their names in the jars where we drew names for each Workshop.

Jane Davila teaching her workshop:

Kathy York (sitting)--who's been in Quilting Arts a few times and has a quilt in the upcoming December/January issue--shows her lighter side with Jamie Fingal. Jamie's teaching her Traveling Art Box Workshop.

Aren't they cute? These two girls just met in MIU in Jamie Fingal's Workshop. Festival just keeps bringing people together...

Below Luana Rubin of eQuilter poses with her daughter, Sophie, who took Lesley Riley's Mini-Fragments Fabric Collage Workshop.

This little cutie shows off the brooch her mother made in Liz Kettle's workshop.

QUILT SCENE!

Quilt Scene was a real hit at the show. We completely sold out of the issues we brought! There were a few photo ops with this special issue, and although the picture below accurately describes how excited we are about this magazine, the expressions still crack me up...

Funny coincidence: The woman standing just right of me is another Patricia Bolton. Someone saw her name tag at the show and said, "You've gotta go meet Pokey!" When she came up to me, we both looked at each others' name badges and burst out laughing. (She's technically Patricia Bolton-Legg, but close enough.)

Surviving the Runway: Celebrating 35 Years of Quilt Festival

And no MIU is complete without a musical party/ spoof on Saturday night! For this particular Surviving the Runway, "designers" were instructed to make a couture outfit commemorating the last 35 years in fashion. Their supplies were limited and consisted of pipe cleaners, fabric scraps, feathers, glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and fun foam. The stakes were high as I had a lot of loot to divvy out to the winning designers.

We sang the "Brady Bunch" and "Flinstones" tunes, danced down Main Street to Van Halen, did the Michael Jackson moonwalk (albiet poorly!), and felt the Festival love as we sang along to Pete Townsend's "Let My Love Open the Door" (a personal favorite).

Look at the devious expression on Barb Forrister's face (sitting far right). Ironically enough, she won!

We had "Tim Gunns" assisting the Runway and helping designers make their outfits. From left to right: Melly Testa, Leslie Jenison, Jamie Fingal, Judy Perez, and me.

Gala on the Green (a.k.a. PARTY TIME!)

The 35th anniversary festivities culminated in an outdoor party on Discovery Green complete with a live cover band that played tunes from the past 35 years. It was a total blast, and the Quilting Arts team did not hesitate to shake it on the dance floor! (I'm a firm believer that those who dance together, stay together.) Below Lyric Kinard and our own Helen Gregory ham it up.

You may notice I'm wearing a Bruce Springsteen shirt (below). That's because Bruce has a 35th celebration, too, with his exhibit at the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame: "From Asbury Park to the Promised Land," celebrating 35 years of Bruce and the E Street. (See how I think about this stuff?)

Below Lesley Riley showed me how it's done...

We danced...

and danced...

(Helen with Rhianna White of Quilts, Inc.)

and danced some more...

And had a great time!

After-Hours Party at the Hilton...

Jamie Fingal and Leslie Jenison invited the QA Crew (Barb Delaney, Helen and me) to join their art party in their hotel room--something they do every night at Festival. Only requirement was to come in your PJs...

When we opened the door, I was worried something had exploded on the floor, but nope, it's a wholecloth painting the group is collectively working on. (They tell me they're going to cut it up and later stitch it back together.)

Barbara Delaney sat right down and painted alongside Leslie and Frances.

And I think this video sums up the experiences and friendships at Festival. Rachel Parris and Jamie Fingal lead everyone in a toast:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

**October 23 Update! Bonus Videos!**

Thanks to Judy Coates Perez for sending me this!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

And to Helen Gregory, Barbara Delaney, and Larissa Davis for devising this video spoof. Kudos to Barb and Helen for taping this in the rain!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Thanks to everyone for participating, to sponsors who donated product, to our Workshop teachers, and Open Studios artists, and all that attended!

Until we meet again. Hope to see everyone in Chicago...

It's a Wrap! QA TV Series 500 just completed taping...

Pokey — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:44:00 GMT

I've just returned home from Cleveland where we taped our next series of QA TV (airing end of December). This new season promises to be a strong one! Not only did we tape some fabulous segments at International Quilt Festival/Chicago this past April, but we had some rather talented guests joining us on the set this past week.

Some pictures:

No, this is not the new host of Quilting Arts (despite her perfect teeth and colorful disposition). This is a piece by Susan Else, entitled "Nothing to Fear." It's part of the current Quilt National exhibit, and we were fortunate enough to have Kathleen Dawson of the Dairy Barn Arts Center come and bring along some pieces to share.

Kathleen Dawson and I in front of Kathy York's Quilt National quilt: "Little Fishes in the Big City."

Artist (and newest board member to SAQA) Carol Taylor and I pose in front of one of her quilts featuring her narrow piecing technique. Carol also taped a QA Workshop with us.

Jeanne Delpit of Bernina joined me for two segments and she was on hand all week to help artists unfamiliar with Bernina machines to sew on them. Jeanne was such a great help and I am so glad Bernina is the show's sewing machine sponsor! Those babies simply purr...

Beryl Taylor appeared in Season One and I was so glad to have her back! She also taped a workshop, the first in our series of Cloth Paper Scissors workshops. Her mixed-media and creative embroidery work were dazzling (as usual).

Liz DeBellis and I pose before taping her collograph printing segment. Liz is an elementary school art teacher and Quilt National artist, too. Pretty nifty accomplishment for someone under the age of 25!

Another Quilt National artist, Sue Cavanaugh joined me to demonstrate several shibori techniques. (She'll also be featured in an upcoming issue of Quilting Arts.)

Amy Milne of The Alliance for American Quilts, Liz DeBellis, and Michele Muska of Wrights chumming it up in the green room.

Paula Prass, fabric designer for Michael Miller fabrics, came to show us how she makes her framed art quilts. (No, it was not intentional that we coordinate so well with the fabrics in front of us!)

Sometimes I make funny faces on QA TV...and after we finish a segment the director likes to leave those stills on the green room tv to poke fun at me!

Luana Rubin, founder of eQuilter and managing editor extraordinaire, Helen Gregory, smile for me in the green room. Luana taped two very interesting segments with us.

My friend Natalya Aikens came back to tape not just a QA TV segment but a really fabulous workshop, too. Little known fact: She worked on the set as a costume designer for HBO's "Sex and the City."

And yes, I did return to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to see "From Asbury Park to the Promised Land," the special Springsteen exhibit. If you are in the Cleveland area anytime soon, you really must go see this exhibit. And it may look like I'm making an obscene gesture, but I'm actually giving my "hang loose" sign. (What cracks me up about this picture is the woman to the right laughing at me...)

I am afraid those are all the pictures I have of this taping from my camera, but there were many more talented guests! I want to give a special thanks to the show sponsors who make QA TV possible: Interweave, Bernina, Sulky of America, Michael Miller Fabrics, Alexander Henry, Art Gallery Fabrics, eQuilter, Wrights, Electric Quilt Company, Kaleidoscope Collections, Cedar Canyon Textiles, The Warm Company, JT Trading, Hinterberg Designs, and Rowenta. Also a heartfelt thank you to producer Kathie Stull and her assistant, Katherine Lamencusa!!

Other guests who blogged about their experience taping QA TV:

Alma de la Melena Cox

Recap of International Quilt Festival/ Long Beach

Pokey — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:34:00 GMT

Oh, I am so sad. Someone slip me a happy pill, please. It's actually over. 2009 International Quilt Festival/ Long Beach is now past, but what an indelible memory it left!

International Quilt Festival/Long Beach, second year in the running, is, well, perfect. It has a lot of things going for it. For starters, it takes place in California in July; it's easy to fly to (thank you JetBlue for that Boston/Long Beach leg); the ocean is close by and equipped with a running path (I ran every morning, sometimes all the way to the pier when I was feeling ambitious); there are great eats just steps from the convention center (might I recommend the Pacific Papaya Roll at Gladstones); it's a top notch quilt show with the most beautiful quilts; and with the beach, restaurants, and afterhours entertainment within a two-three-block radius, there was no need for a cab all week (which of course meant more money spent replenishing the fat quarter stash).

Let the pictures do the talking...

Above from left to right: Jamie Fingal, Judy Coates Perez, Leslie Jenison, me, Melanie "Melly Mells" Testa, and Jane LaFazio. A very special thanks to Jamie (and assistant Leslie) for buying, dyeing, and painting these super groovy flower power aprons!

A ton of fun was had in the Open Studios portion of Make It University!(TM)

Above: Artists Alisa Burke and Melly Mells. I don't think they had met in person before, but they quickly hammed it up like old chums.

Melly was a popular attraction at Open Studios (all the artists were). Here she is demonstrating how she machine stitches the layers of her collaged quilts together.

Artist Linda Blinn was on hand in Open Studios much of Friday showing people how they can apply mixed-media techniques to home decor. (Thanks, Linda!)

Prior to the show, Melly encouraged folks coming to Long Beach to arm themselves with ATCs inspired by techniques in her book, Inspired to Quilt. Above are some of JoJo's ATCs to trade on our ATC wall. Aren't they dee-lish?

Judy brought her 19-year-old daughter, Nina, who shared with me her felted and stitched treats: a cupcake and hostess. We have a budding fiber artist in the family!

My luncheon lecture on Thursday, "Surviving the Runway; The Stuff You're Not Supposed to Know" took place, and to entice people to stay awake in case I bored them to death was to periodically give stuff away, including a very generous prize of an entire suitcase of cotton threads from Aurifil. This budding quilter is set for life! (Thank you so much, Aurifil!)

Above David Charity shares his quilt, "Fossibilities" at Karey Bresenhan's Quilt Art/SAQA reception. This reception is always a fun time, which involves tasty food, wine, and Show & Tell (thank you, Karey!). David picked up quilting just a couple of years ago, and he and his wife now quilt together in their downtime (when they're not working long hours in the tech. industry). Nice going, David!

Above Maggie Winfield shares her latest wearable creation at the Quilt Art/ SAQA reception. Maggie is one of my all-time favorite, spirited people, and she shared with me the inspiration and development for this ensemble:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Make It University!(TM)

Our Make It University! Workshops were again very popular with attendees. Above Laura West Kong with her daughter took one of Jamie Fingal's workshops.

A second mother-daughter set got into another of Jamie's workshops. I think Jamie's affiliation with Girl Scouts of America made her a real hit with little (and big) kids alike!

Above: My sister-in-law, Sally, and her daughter, Lindsey (both ran the Quilting Arts booth) were able to take Alisa Burke's graffiti painting workshop Sunday afternoon just before the show closed. They both swore they could never paint and were leery to take her Workshop, but once finished, they were preening with their success and eager to turn their pieces into purses. (They have been converted. Yes!)

Saturday Night: Surviving the Runway '60s Style

Once again, we took the house down with Surviving the Runway, a challenge I facilitate every Saturday night at the shows. This time we went back to the '60's and created flower power couture. I haven't laughed so hard all summer, and I think everyone had a total blast. We had excellent prizes for the top designers (a suitcase of Aurifil thread, Jacquard paints, magazines, etc.). People were equipped with a sheet of fun foam, pipe cleaners, plastic flowers, stencils, and other tacky bits to create their couture, and of course we played music from the '60s throughout.

The Playlist:

L.A. Woman ~ The Doors

With a Little Help From My Friends ~ The Beatles

Truckin' ~ Grateful Dead

I Got You Babe ~ Sonny and Cher... and two brave students who sang along in MIU

Mustang Sally ~ Wilson Pickett

Lola ~ The Kinks

Build Me Up Buttercup ~ The Foundations

California Girls ~ The Beach Boys

In true '60s fashion, people helped their brethren, but someone watching the festivities shook her head in chagrin and remarked, "These people are creating bras and panties. If they really wanted to be representing the 60's, they'd be burning them!"

This California Girl made sure the Finale Runway Strut had a Beach Boys' flair:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Above I'm giving Trudy, our first place winner, her prize of Aurifil Threads. Her smile says it all...a joyous time.

My Own Quilt in a Show

For the first time I had a quilt exhibited at International Quilt Festival. I am a die-hard, dissect-every-episode-to-death "Sopranos" fan, and for the Silver Screen exhibit I had a quilt on display called "This Thing of Ours." Making this quilt was something rather personal, something important I needed to see through.

Above: My sister-in-law Sally and I pose alongside my quilt.

The accompanying narrative for my piece:

Those who’ve watched HBO’s “The Sopranos” know this isn’t just a television show about wise guys.

There’s a little bit of Tony in all of us: impulsive and selfish; concerned our friends will rat us out; living with the guilt of whacking others (so to speak); distrustful of those who are supposed to have our backs; and deep down, a little panicked that in the end––and despite our best efforts––the ones we love most will fly away.

Not only were such heavy issues and ensuing plot lines handled so masterfully by David Chase and his posse of writers and actors, but also the show was hands-down funny. It’s no wonder millions of people waiting patiently––sometimes for years––between seasons to find out what would happen to the Don and his crew next.

I can only hope that the intensely disappointing, anticlimactic last minute of the series finale was conceived for one reason, and that is…the movie’s getting made! Here’s to “The Sopranos” making it to the silver screen.

In Closing

I had a total blast at this show and admit at the close during breakdown I went into my usual teary funk, which I dub PPQSD (read this post to learn more about this yet-to-be recognized DSM IV disorder). My solace is that Houston is a mere 10 weeks away! It can't come soon enough.

A special thanks to my sister-in-law, Sally Murray, and my niece, Lindsey Murray, for helping me during this show, and for making sure that Sunday night after we broke the booth down my PPQSD didn't get the best of me!

And Lastly, My Quandary...

My 20th high school reunion is (finally) taking place Saturday, October 17 in San Francisco. I have yet to make a high school reunion of mine, and with the onset of Facebook, I have reconnected (and laughed) with old friends I've lost touch with over the last 20 years. I have spent the last few months waffling, seriously considering leaving Houston early during Festival to fly to my hometown to attend my reunion, but in the end...I think... Houston wins. I just can't imagine missing any part of it. I hope you'll join me in making it a really joyous time!

**** 7/31 UPDATE

Judy Coates Perez wrote a few blog entries on Long Beach and posted some videos too! Click here to read her blog!

Brief SAQA Conference/ Quilt National Recap

Pokey — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:24:00 GMT

I recently returned from the annual SAQA conference that took place in Athens, Ohio on the Ohio University campus, and what an incredible time! For those who are unfamiliar with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates), it is the non-profit organization to belong to if you are an art quilter (or aspire to be an art quilter). I am honored to be a Board member of SAQA, and strongly encourage you to join if you aren’t already a member.

Every year SAQA holds a conference that is geared towards art quilters who want to hone their marketing skills, further their professional development (such as web marketing, pricing of quilts, etc.), critique works-in-progress, share successes, and get to know one another better. There is also a pre-conference component where you can partake in intensive, hands-on workshops on art quilting techniques.

Quilt National 2009 debuted simultaneously at the Dairy Barn and the 87 quilts chosen for this year’s exhibit were exquisite. This was the 30th anniversary of Quilt National, a biennial juried show and traveling exhibit and it is considered one of the most prestigious contemporary quilt exhibits in the world.

An unusual and unexpected quilt entry. Below is a picture of Susan Else with her colorful, quilted skeleton, “Nothing to Fear.”

Sing along with me now: The hip bone's connected to the....leg bone...

My friend and fellow SAQA board member, Lind Colsh poses with her Quilt National quilt, “Twisting the Plot.”

Kathy York's three-dimensional entry, "Little Fish in a Big City" certainly drew crowds. (You may remember her "Little Fishes" quilt that appeared in Quilting Arts a couple of years ago.) Here's a detail shot of her Quilt National entry:

Quilters try for years (if not decades) to get into this show, and that was why it was so remarkable and exciting to see fresh faces (such as Liz DeBellis, a 24-year-old elementary school art teacher) in this year’s show. Below is a picture of her quilt in the new Quilt National 2009 book (published by Lark).

I sat with Liz and her family at the Quilt National/SAQA banquet, and got to ask her a few questions:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

The next annual SAQA conference will be co-facilitated with the Surface Design Association and take place in San Francisco in March 2010. My colleague, Marci McDade, editor of Fiberarts will be speaking, and you wont want to miss it! More information on this conference forthcoming.

SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Update!

Pokey — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:57:16 GMT

Please note: These exciting workshops are open to non-SAQA members!

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) will be presenting 6 exciting 3-day workshops May 18-20, 2009 in Athens, Ohio. The 3-day workshops are open to all artists - you don't have to be a SAQA member.

The workshops will be Monday, May 18 - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Dairy Barn Cultural Center and the Ohio University Baker Center in Athens, Ohio. The opening for Quilt National '09 will be that Friday night at the Dairy Barn, and SAQA will be auctioning off an incredible "Art Gallery in a Box IV" at the Quilt National Banquet following the Opening.

PRE-CONFERENCE 3-day WORKSHOPS:

1. Shibori with Christine Zoller
2. Photoshop for Artists with Deidre Adams
3. Complex Design with Leslie Gabrielse (limited spots left!)
4. Silk/Textile Painting with Smadar Knobler
5. Art and Design Fundamentals with Kim Lakin
6. Color Mastery with Maria Peagler

For more information, go to www.SAQA.com>News>SAQA Conference.
To register, contact Desiree Vaughn (desiree.vaughn@elkrapidsnet.com; 231-409-2581).

Today's the day! SAQA Reverse Auction and Close of Giveaway

Pokey — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:11:40 GMT

Here’s a good way to start the workweek: Want to buy an art quilt? Today the reverse auction commences to benefit SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates). I am on the SAQA Board and I can tell you this is a very organized, forward-thinking organization supporting and promoting the art quilt worldwide. Some information on the reverse auction from Martha Sielman, Executive Director of SAQA:

The auction will go live November 10th, just in time for holiday gift giving. Mark you calendars for the bidding to start at 2:00 Eastern/11:00 Pacific on Monday, November 10th. We’ll again be dividing the pieces into three groups for the auction – final groupings will be determined once all the auction pieces have been received. The auction for Group I will begin November 10th. Group II will begin November 18th. And Group III will begin November 28th. For information on how our Reverse Auction will work, click here.

Other weekend news

In order to cope with PPQSD, Saturday afternoon I attended a reception for Long Journey: Into a Series, a new group exhibition in my neck of the woods at ArtSpace Maynard.

Fiber artist Jeanne Williamson (who authored The Uncommon Quilter and wrote the foreword for Karey Bresenhan’s Creative Quilting book) had her quilts displayed alongside sculptures made of colored pencils (Jennifer Maestre), dresses fashioned from bubble wrap and chicken wire (Virginia Fitzgerald), heavily altered bath mats (Catherine Evans), metal figures from objects that have fallen off the trolley (Ruth Rosner), among other types of art.

What an eclectic, inspiring mix of art, and of course the artists behind these pieces were equally interesting and diverse. (And some of these artists will be making an appearance in Cloth Paper Scissors, including Jennifer Maestre pictured below.)

Sunday night I spent a few hours screening fabrics using my sock pictures.

I call them my sock hop collection.

If you would like some, you can still enter the giveaway by going here.

Happy Monday,

Pokey

Houston: What A long, strange (and wonderful) trip it's been!

Pokey — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:31:38 GMT

What an amazing, beautiful, surreal, funny, busy time we had in Houston! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in Make It University!(TM)

I had every intention of blogging every day from the show floor. Ha ha, that's a good one. The laugh is on me. Simply put, we were too busy, and on top of that, Typepad did not want to play ball from the Hyatt hotel.

If you click on the left, you'll see a photo album where I will be putting LOADS of pictures over the next few days. (Some shots are there already, but I have tons more.) If you have some great photos, email them to me and I'll load them, too.

Open Studios at Make It University!(TM)

Above: Helen Godden's adorable daughter stitching in Open Studios. If she takes after her award-winning mother, we will all have to watch out for this one!

Jane Davila drew quite a crowd with her fish printing (rubber fish, that is).

We had the cutest couple from Belgium planted in the MIU area nearly the entire time. The wife took a number of workshops while her patient (and humorous) husband manned the ATC wall and helped us out (cutting velcro, pointing people to the lottery bowls for workshops, assisting artists in open studios). He's an honorary member of our team!

Katie Kendrick and Judy Coates Perez finally meet and chummed it up like old pals.

Lisa Engelbrecht was on hand and made beautiful name plates with her famous calligraphy. (Thank you, Lisa!)

Our very own bubbly Lesley Riley taught her surface design sampler workshop using Claudine Hellmuth's new paints from Ranger.

Halloween

Seeing this was my 9th year in Houston, I finally decided to dress up, and I wasn't alone...

Jane Davila was––and I don't know how to put this politely––a Renaissance wench, Barbara was Dorothy (pigtails and all), and I dressed up as a hostess from "Laugh In."

Leslie Jenison, Judy Perez, and Jamie Fingal.

Barbara and I with Helen Gregory who was "The Wind" for Halloween. We had a habit of walking to the show floor every morning from the Hyatt and on Halloween morning, someone stopped Helen and said, "Excuse me, Miss, but you have some things stuck to you." No kidding. Cracked us up.

Jamie, Susie Monday, and Leslie Jenison.

Judy Perez, Robbi Joy Eklow, Lesley Riley, and moi.

SAQA/ Quilt Art Reception and Tiara Parade
Once again, Karey Bresenhan generously hosted a beautiful reception for SAQA and Quilt Art, and it was especially lively this year. Thank you, Karey!

Above, Pamela Allen gives her best Queen's wave.

Our very own Holly Brackman, does too. (And used her book cover as the art for her tiara-–smart marketing!)

Surviving the Runway 80's Style with Cloth Paper Scissors

This is the silliest event at Make It University, but we have such a hilarious time doing it. On Saturday night we went back to the 80's, encouraging "designers" to fashion 80's garb for the runway finale. The stakes were very high for the winners as we had a lot of books, paints, and embellishments to award them.

Certain challenges took place along the way, including having to perform the Electric Slide (led by yours truly), dancing around the aisles to The Fixx, singing Tommy Tutone's "867-5309", among other humiliating tasks. Bottom line: we found out that most quilters have an inner-Madonna.

Deb Boschert brings back the head band. (I can't help but think of Olivia Newton John and Xanadu.)

Remember mall bangs from the 80s? Watch this YouTube:

Barbara Delaney getting her groove on as she passes out supplies. (No one is safe from me when I have a camera in hand.)

As Karey Bresenhan points out at the close of every show, all good things must come to an end. Bye, bye Houston. We had the best time!

Until we meet again...

** November 8 Update** Other Blog Posts on International Quilt Festival and Make It University(TM)! (If you blogged and you're missing from this list, let me know!)

Oh the weather outside is delightful

Pokey — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:32:45 GMT

The calendar says the summer solstice will blessedly be upon us in a few days, but in Editorial Land, this can only mean one thing: How are those holiday issues shapin' up? Admittedly I'm still thawing out from last winter, but while I'm deadheading flowers and grilling veggie burgers it's my job as an editor to think six months ahead and wonder:

• Do you flex your creative muscle to create your own unique holiday gifts or seasonal home decorations?
• Do you make your own holiday cards of fabric and/or paper?
• Do you quilt your own tree skirts, table runners, or the like?
• Is there a particular holiday ritual/gift you are famous among your friends and family for?
• What fabric or mixed-media projects/ techniques in the winter keep you from getting cabin fever?
•Do you have a creative and/or funny way of putting together and disseminating those yearly family updates?
•Or, is there a project you'd love to complete for the holidays or winter? And if so, what?

If you haven't heard/read/seen/ the news our submission guidelines have significantly changed for Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors, so please have a look and send us your creative ideas.

News:
There are a couple of events on the horizon that I wanted to share:

Festival of Quilts
Birmingham, UK
August 16-19, 2007

If you are planning to be in Birmingham in August for the Festival of Quilts, I'm facilitating a talk on Friday morning based on S.A.Q.A. (Studio Art Quilts Associates) and their latest exhibit, "Transformations" as well as talking about art quilting in general. Please come and join me if you're going to be attending the Festival. This will be an interactive discussion that promises to be both informative and inspiring.

International Quilt Festival (November 1 – 4)
Thursday, November 1
Luncheon Lecture

I am preparing for a very fun event at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall, a luncheon lecture based on our "Surviving the Runway with Cloth Paper Scissors® Challenge" that we've hosted at Make It University!™ for the past year. I am orchestrating the entire event to music, and please believe me when I say this will be a riotous couple of hours filled with creativity and laughter. This Thursday luncheon is during some of the busiest show hours on the floor—too crowded to get any significant shopping done––so why not join me for lunch? I'm working with some of the best companies in the industry to obtain a line up of terrific door prizes for the winners, including…drum roll… a needle-felting machine courtesy of Huskvarna Viking.

Any questions on the above events feel free to email me.

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Pokey — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:22:51 GMT

I'm home in body but not in brain, so let the pictures of International Quilt Festival in Houston do the talking!

See those relaxed, confident smiles on Virginia and Nancy's faces? Just the night before, they counted the loot from the FFAC postcards that had sold thus far for Market & Festival, and they had successfully raised over $100,000 for cancer research! Yes!

Here I am nudging my way between mixed-media artist and Cloth Paper Scissors arts editor, Lesley Riley (left) and mixed-media artist, Christine Adams (right) at the SAQA/Journal Quilt Book reception graciously hosted by Karey Bresenhan. Artists from Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project autographed and left messages in each other's copies at the party. Kim Ritter said between laughs, "I feel so high school!" She's right, but in this case, we could drink (legally).

Lesley Riley teaching her Lutradur book at Make It University. Students worked with Creative Textile Tools to discover how they could etch shapes and organic, textured edges out of the Lutradur. (Lesley will show how you can use Lutradur in a number of creative ways in an article in the next issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.)

And here we are having fun at the "Surviving the Runway Creative Challenge with Cloth Paper Scissors" on Saturday night at Make It University. We kept the challenge particulars top secret so we could keep "designers" on their toes, and I still can't spill all the dirty little details as we're going to adapt the challenge for the Chicago crowd next spring. I will say, however, that there was a lot of laughter. (Proof by how sore my stomach was the next morning.)

Above, the designers are walking the runway explaining their creations to our three guest judges (handpicked from our audience). Each designer was challenged in the end to make a house structure--inspired by both Lynn Whipple's and Debbi Crane's articles in Cloth Paper Scissors. (The Chicago crowd next spring will have a slightly different task.) Competition was stiff and the stakes were high––we had some excellent prizes for the top three winners, including textile tools, Pearl Ex Powders, Lumiere paints, and Shiva Paintstiks. Designers were instructed to strut their stuff and many a quilter was bustin' a move. Afterwards, winner Judy Twitty said, "I haven't had this much fun in ten years!" Mission accomplished. (Award-winning house that had us all in stitches shown below.)

To find out dates and preliminary details on Chicago's International Quilt Festival/Spring, click here.

In other news, I recently made an art quilt to benefit Michele VanZuylen, a writer friend who's battling both *** cancer as well as her medical bills. Many authors, artists, and crafters have banded together to create The Michele Fund eBay auction. This quilt depicts a bookshelf with a whimsical set of books featuring 15 authors' signatures. I've also donated five out-of-print issues of Quilting Arts for this auction. To see all of the auction items, click here.

And I hope you can stay tuned because on Friday I'll be posting some late-breaking QA news as well as sharing some of the blog challenge results (finally)!