MQX Quilt Festival

What a wonderful time I had teaching at MQX Quilt Festival! Everyone was so happy to be back in Manchester NH. Not that Providence RI wasn't nice, but Manchester just feels like our quilting home-away-from-home! I wish I had taken more pictures of the smiling faces on the students, teachers, vendors, and volunteers that all band together to make MQX Quilt Festival such a wonderful event. 

I was blessed with a full teaching schedule of six classes. My students were all fabulous! Not a grumpy face in the bunch ....okay one grumpy face but out of  about 150 students that's not so bad.

My classes were a combination of "hands-on" where each student has their own sewing machine to work on. Lecture/Demo - they get to listen to me and watch me quilt out the patterns. And Drawing - 4 hours of drawing fun that can be applied to quilting!

Here are some hands on students!  Some students were very new to frame quilting and others were accustomed to working with computerized machines and were trying out freemotion quilting! Here they are....concentrating! They all did a fabulous job!

And they had fun too - here's what one student said "Loved it! Had no idea going into class what to expect, but I am leaving truly inspired. Elaine is calm, fun and relaxed. Great learning experience!" Okay ... I'm blushing....but aren't my students fabulous! I just love them!

I also had the chance to introduce Zentangle as it applies to quilting. We start each class by making a traditional Zentangle tile - here's and example of some student work.

We then go on with drawing and quilting demo's to teach the student how to add "tangle" patterns to their quilting. Here are a couple of examples of Zentangle inspired quilting that I show the students.

A great time! I'll tell you about the other classes later! I'm already looking forward to teaching at MQX Quilt Festival in 2014!

A Little Retreat....just because

I took myself away for a short little retreat down in Hull. No husband, daughter or dog. Just me and my creative stuff! 

On my way to the beach I attended my first Boston Modern Quilt guild meeting. What a fabulous bunch of women! We met in an auto-body shop! Cool contrast with quilts and vintage cars all in the same industrial space! The Boston Modern Quilt guild is collecting quilt blocks to make quilts for those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. The blocks are all blue, yellow, white and grey. The guild put the call out to the quilting community and they have collected over 700 blocks! I brought these two quilt tops home to machine quilt. Thanks to Superior Threads who donated quilting thread!

Another project that the Modern Quilt Guilds are involved with is peace flags. Again the quilting community heard the call! Hundreds of peace flags have been created to as a memorial and healing message to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. The flags will be tied together and displayed in the courtyard at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from May 23 - June 16. 

 I delivered flags created by the Northampton Modern Quilt Guild to the Boston guild. Prior to their trip to Boston they were displayed at Beehive Sewing in Northampton.

And no guild meeting would be complete without show n' tell - here are some of the fabulous creations made by members.

A young member made this quilt for her teacher!

Then to the beach. I was so tired, I didn't really do much on Saturday night except settle in and look at my art supplies and stuff. On Sunday I started the day by working on this Zentangle mandala. I colored it with Sakura Gelly Roll pens - I was able to gradate the color with with a little water on a small paintbrush. 

They I moved onto my Draw Happy class. This is an online drawing and mixed media class. Here's how the piece developed. I was focused on the process and followed the teacher example very closely.

At low tide I took a break for a walk on the beach. My house is just a few houses from either the ocean to the east or the bay to the west. I went to the ocean first but there was a strong wind coming off the water so it was waaaaay windy and cold. See those cold waves? 

I went over to the bay where the wind was calmer. It's rocky on the bayside and I found some cool yellow glass nestled in the rocks.  Some kids were collecting crabs - more fun than a video game! I walked down the pier hoping to snap a picture of the Boston skyline but it was in the fog.

Then back to the project. I'm kind of pleased with the result - especially since it involved paint and I had an art teacher long long ago tell me to throw away my paint! HA - see I CAN paint!

On Monday I worked on this mandala - again using the Gelly Roll pens and water. I'm not thrilled with this one but there it is. 

Then a long long walk on the ocean beach. I forgot my camera so close you eyes and imagine 3 miles of sand and a gentle surf. The sun is shining and it's not too hot or too cold. You are one of maybe a dozen people and a few dogs enjoying the beach. ahhhh just what I needed.

Now home again home again jigidy jig.