Looking forward to my October 19 gig at Paper City in Holyoke, MA. We'll spend the day doing raw edge applique flowers on a fabric collage background. Patterns provided for trillium (easy), lady's slipper orchid (medium), and iris (difficult). If you've taken this workshop before, you can bring a flower picture to work from and I'll help you make your own pattern. (If you bring your own photo, please print it as large as you will want the finished flower to be.) Sign up on their website.
My students at Silver Bay were real troopers this week! Not everyone is a night owl, but great progress was made in our evening class, and by the end of the next afternoon folks had designs and fabrics cut out and ready to quilt! Those doing flowers even found time to get some stitching done. I learned about some new techniques that I'm eager to try, and it was delightful to work with students who had a genuine interest in art and quilting. Many thanks to the Silver Bay staff who made the workshop possible and who also helped with my pop-up exhibit.
I even found time to reconnect with old friends, dip my toes in the lake, go for a paddle, and watch a hummingbird pluck gnats out of mid air for breakfast during the morning bird walk. I saw the milky way for the first time in years, including some of the Perseid meteor shower, and had a lovely midnight conversation with a staff member who assured me that the spirit and magic of Silver Bay are still present and meaningful to younger generations. Many things have changed since I worked there in the 80's, and I continue to be fascinated by how, when I'm there, I see both what's in front of me and my memories from the past several decades. It's a very unique form of time travel, and I hope to be able to go back to teach again next year.
