Art Quilts of the Midwest: The First Copy Has Arrived!

Last week, just before leaving for QuiltCon, I got an email from the University of Iowa Press saying that one copy of my book was available for me to pick up. It was a Monday and I'd been back for two days from Minnesota and was leaving in a day for Austin. I was harried, so I didn't respond right away. I was also afraid. There's this kind of magic time in between when you write a book and make your edits and hand it all over to the designer and the Press. You can say "I've got a book coming out," and everyone is very encouraging and excited and it's easy, because it's all out of your hands. Though I've definitely been doing some marketing work, it really just an idea of a book because the physical object didn't yet exist.

But apparently it now it did. When I talked to my husband and told him it was there he said "If you don't get it, I will!" That would have been a little embarrassing, so off I went. It was kind of a quiet visit—I guess I thought everyone might come out and cheer or something—but it was nevertheless wonderful. I gave Karen, the production manager, a hug because she did so much work to make it so lovely and because it was so amazing to hold it in my hands I just had to hug someone.

Then I took it home and put it in a plastic bag and ran around frantically packing and watering plants and doing last minute errands. I really didn't look at it until I was on the plane. There was a lovely, satisfying moment when I pulled it out (and secretly hoped that my seat mate would ask me about it—no such luck) and paged though it and felt the "book-ness" of it. And for the next four days I carried it around, whipping out my book-in-a-baggie and whenever appropriate (and sometimes even when it wasn't appropriate, just because I couldn't help myself).

I'll share more about the book itself, but for now know that it will be available in the next week or so at Prairie Lights, if you're local or through your local bookstore (you can ask them to order it), on Amazon, and through the Press. I hope you'll take a look!

Double-cross Quilt

My 8 small cross blocks

I'll hold off on sharing my shirt, because it needs some size adjustment (just learned the acronym FBA—full bust adjustment—which is what apparently I need to do to take in the excess under the arms while still making it fit across my chest).

Erick "squaring up" my blocks—a relative term for this quilt

But I'm happy to share the finished quilt top I made for my class with Erick Wolfmeyer at Home Ec. I was having one of those days when my brain just wasn't firing on all cylinders and Erick helped me out—cutting and ripping.

Emily and her scrap quilt—she's wearing a skirt stitched from one of the quilt fabrics

We all arrived in class with our 8 small crosses (and a few of us had 9 and had to decide which one to omit). Then it was time to decide on fabrics for the big crosses and how to arrange the 8 small ones. All of this required a lot of shifting and standing back and squinting. But each of us (save one person who had to leave early) finished our tops. It was a great lesson in color and in loosening up, as the quilt's so wonky. I love how differently they all turned out! And once again Erick was terrific—and even stayed late so we could go home with finished tops.

Maureen and her butterscotch and blue quilt

Lisa and her neutrals—she's going to make 4 more for a queen-sized quilt

I still feel a little like I've made a quilt for a clown (baby), but Erick said it reminded him of the alebrijes I have all over my house, and that made me feel that perhaps I have a consistent (highly colorful) aesthetic.

My finished top

It Never Rains but It Pours

That old saying certainly applies to Iowa City weather just now. I don't think I've ever seen the roses as beautiful as they are this year and it suddenly dawned on me that it's because the climate is mimicking Portland's (aka The City of Roses) to a tee—cool temps, cloudy skies, and plenty of moisture. This rose was climbing up a trellis at a friend's home.

But the phrase also applies to my current forays into sewing. I'm still working to finish a many-pieced quilt, but couldn't resist taking a pair of Home Ec classes. On Saturday I attended the first session of a quilt class taught by Erick Wolfmeyer, about whom I've had the opportunity to write a couple of times (here's one of them). He taught a pattern by a designer whom I was unfamiliar with, but whose work I'm loving—Pam Rocco.

Erick's got a terrific color sense and having him help sort through our fabrics was fantastic. I somehow had far more fabric than anyone else...now how could that be possible?

Here's a shot of each of our first blocks—one person's working in neutrals, one in all prints, one in batiks. Guess what? I'm working in brights. At one point I said I felt like I was making a quilt for a clown. We'll see how it shakes out. Session two is next Saturday.

On Thursday I took a class in which we made the Colette Sorbetto top. It's a free, downloadable pattern, but it's been so long since I made any clothing (especially any that fit, save the bias skirt I made at Home Ec), that I wanted help with that aspect of things. I'll post more on that next time, but suffice it to say, I'm loving it. Forget cooking, gardening, exercising, and working...Can I please just sew all the time?

Spring Quilt Market Update #2

The adventure continues...

By the time we got our act together to organize our trip, hotels near the Portland Convention Center were full. But Greta got us a lovely condo across the river and each morning we got to cross this bridge. It enabled us to see geese, rowers, bicyclists, and a section of the Portland marathon. (The biggest challenge was crossing the morning of the Heartlandia walk. Literally thousands of people were walking in the opposite direction, but we managed to part the sea of humanity and cross over.)

Here's more of what I saw at Market:

Echino bags in the Seven Islands booth

Loved the subtle piecing on these Seven Islands aprons

Neons from Michael Miller. I was standing next to one of the women from the Portland Modern Quilt guild who had stitched two of the quilt's blocks but never seen the completed top. She was so excited to see her work on display.

Tula Pink's booth

Super-excited to meet Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life. We both blog for Moda's Cutting Table, but had never met in person. She's a real sweetie and was helping Camille Roskelly with her booth (and had sewn some quilts for her, including the one she's standing by, above).

Fig Tree Quilts booth

Each fabric collection shown in Free Spirit's booth included a piece of clothing stitched from the collection—garments were a true trend at Market.( That's Amy Butler on the left, checking out a visitor's bracelet.)

And not exactly part of the garment trend, but this incredible selvedge dress was the star of RicRac's booth 

Iowa, represent! We join our other eastern Iowa buddy Vanessa Christensen, in her Simply Style booth (and check out her dress—she added a strip of her fabric to the bottom of a Target dress—she's not just cute, she's' clever). 

Loved the big stitching on this quilt by Jen Kingwell

The garment theme continues at Monaluna's booth

Butterflies flit across the walls of the Art Gallery Pure Elements booth

Nobody uses color and pattern quite like Sandy Klop of American Jane (for Moda)

Another Market trend was pink and orange. Here, Kanvas fabrics did it up with festive tissue-paper flowers.

When Market ended, we treated ourselves to a day-and-a-half of play in Portland. One of our first stops was Cargo, in the Pearl District, which offered an incredible array of Asian antiques and imports, with prices that ranged from less than a dollar to thousands.

Cargo whistles

We sampled the beer at a couple of brew pubs, including Deschutes, where we stopped for lunch.

We stopped at Front Porch, which has a sister store in Des Moines, and ran our fingers over the blankets.

The next day we had some fantastic Indian food at Bollywood Theater

And we ended our day at the Rose Garden.

Thanks, Portland, for a lovely week! And thanks, too, to the folks who work so hard to make Quilt Market happen. It was great to go, and great to be home.

Quilt Market update coming!

I promise, it's on the way. But I also covered Quilt Market for True Up and Quilt Country and I have a few deadlines I need to hit. So while you're waiting, check out my post on True Up about Penguin and Fish, longtime favorites. Alyssa's designs captivated me the first time I saw her at Market and she and her husband Jon are great people, too.

One of my favorite designs of Alyssa's was this cheerful budgie, which prompted some memories. When my husband and I were first married we got a blue parakeet and named him Floyd, (after the barber on Andy of Mayberry, of course). I'd never had a bird and couldn't imagine they'd have much personality, but boy was I wrong. Floyd would perch on our shoulders and loved to play fight with my pen when I was trying to pay bills or write letters. One sad night we left both his cage and a screen-less window open and in the morning Floyd was gone. I posted Missing signs on telephone poles and walked around the neighborhood for days, calling "Floyd, Floyd" up into treetops. Unfortunately, it rained for three days straight after his escape and we figured he wouldn't have lasted long in that, although he was so friendly I thought he might land on someone's shoulder. We consoled ourselves by thinking about the incredible rush he must have felt when he flew out that third floor window and soared for blocks.

Thanks, Alyssa, for reminding us of Floyd.

Color and Texture: Spain

Walkway in Ronda

I had the great good fortune of accompanying my husband to a meeting in Southern Spain last week. We spent nine days visiting Malaga, Seville, Granada, and Ronda (part of that was meeting-time, of course, but I didn't have to go to the meeting). The opportunity to go on these trips reminds me of what's good about freelancing and a flexible schedule...

Dresses in the Paul Nunez shop in Seville

The Moorish influence in this region (Andalusia) meant lots of beautiful tile work that I knew would remind me of quilts. What I didn't know was that the streets and sidewalks would all be beautifully patterned with rocks. Seriously, I don't think I walked on a solid surface the entire time.

Sidewalk in Nerja

 The other thing we didn't know was that it was Holy Week, or Semana Santa. The frightening-looking costumes belong not to a race-based organization, but are Nazarenes. The other stunning thing were the floats featuring life-sized, wood-carved Biblical scenes decorated with incredible silver and embroidered textiles, that were carried through the streets, sometimes for hours. The young man below is one of those carrying a float.

Hope you enjoy these!

Float carrier takes a break during a procession in Malaga

Nazarenes in Malaga procession

Nazarenes in Malaga procession

Float of the Virgin Mary being carried through the streets in Malaga

Malaga float detail

Will it rain? Float carrier in Malaga wonders

Nazarenes in Granada

Detail from the Alhambra in Granada

Arches in the Alhambra in Granada

View through the Ronda city walls

Granada windows

Shawl shop in Seville

Traditional Spanish dresses in Seville shop

Shawl detail: hand embroidered

Sevilla detail 

Sidewalk in Seville

Floor in Seville

Seville garden

Seville tile