NY Part Deux

After class was over on Sunday, Buddy and I drove back to Hudson to have dinner with the amazing Lynne Perrella and her just as talented and wonderful husband, John, at the funky Mexican Radio restaurant.
We arrived early enough to walk up and down main street. Teaching all weekend meant I didn't see much of the Hudson River valley, so I was glad we had the extra time. The town is full of trendy antique shops and cool little places that draw in the weekenders from NYC - or 212s as they're called. I particularly loved the way my camera picked up reflections in the shop windows.

New York Weekend, Part 1

Pink snow - that's what I call it when the cherry blossom petals fall to the ground and create a blanket of pink snow. I took this picture as I left my house to catch the train to New York. Traveling by train is the most relaxing and SIMPLE way to travel, compared to flying. I wish there were trains to everywhere I had to teach.
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In honor of our 35th anniversary, my husband traveled with me on this teaching trip. We took the train to the Hudson, NY station, a quaint building located along the Hudson River. It was a short drive to Greenville and the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops. It is an idyllic place to teach and/or take a workshop. (It looks like I may be back in September 2008.)
I don't know whether it was the rainy weather, the wonderful gourmet food and comfortable accomodations or a combination of it all, but we rocked all weekend, producing some amazing work, chatting, laughing and just being in the zone. What could be better?






I borrowed the last of these photos from Loretta, who I have known for years, but this was the first time we have actually spent any time together. She is going to use her exquisite piece in her next column for Cloth Paper Scissors. It was a wonderful class with a lot of breakthroughs - things like confronting ripping fabric, loose unravelling ends, no measuring and ta da transfer mastery. I'll be posting more cool photos within the next day or two.

Images of Easter at the Riley's

Happy Easter

Lesley Jackson(Riley) ~ 1957

In Honor of Crayola

Another photo Missy took ~ my fabric bundles in all their color glory.Bye for now.

Magical Missy

Here's the woman that made it possible for me to have a booth in Chicago. Thank you Missy, from the bottom of my heart!

My Kind of Town, Chicago is.....

Here I am, in LaLas Land, my booth at the Chicago Quilt Festival. It was a whirlwind experience. Thursday we set up. This photo is the booth ready for action. The show opened at 5pm, closed at 10pm. We went right to our room, put our feet up and crashed, so we would be ready for the Friday, 10 am to 7 pm. I didn't get any pictures from the rest of the show. There were some lulls the booth traffic, but not many. Being right next to the Make It U section (which was a HUGE success), meant that there was a lot of foot traffic all weekend long. And then when I was not in the booth, I was walking the show floor, seeing if there was anything that needed to go home with me. Of course I could not have done it without the help of the magnificent and beautiful, Missy Story, friend extraordinaire. Tracy Stilwell of Artgirlz took a great photo of us which I will post as soon as Missy sends it to me (hint, hint, Missy)

Here I am teaching my sold out Transfer class. In fact all of the Make It U classes were sold out. People lined up to sign up and unfortunatley many were turned away as we only had 25 seats. It'll be bigger and better in Houston (November 2-5). I hope you will join us. On the wall behind me you can see some of the ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) sent in to Cloth Paper Scissors for the big trade at the show. It was so exciting to enlighten so many new people to the fun things going on in the world of mixed media.

Next Thursday I am off to teaching at the beautiful Greenville Arms 1889 Inn in the Hudson River valley of New York. Another quilter, Melody Johnson, is there right now and giving me (and you) a sneak preview on her blog. Looks like my diet will have to wait a while. It's also my 35th anniversary (April 17th) so my husband is coming with me. And better yet, we are taking the train from DC to Hudson, NY. He will explore while I teach. I am looking forward to this trip for many reasons, and the latest one is that a dear friend, Loretta, will be taking my class. We met years ago at Artfest and have stayed in touch over the years - something that is much easier to do now with our blogs.

Happy Easter and Passover and HAPPY SPRING. I'll be back soon.

On the Front Burner

Creating and selling CDs of my favorite quotes and images is something that has been on the back burner for years. The Chicago Quilt Show has put me into overdrive and moved the CD project to the front burner. Funny - to create them you burn them - so being on the front burner is right where they belong! Six different CDs - 2 CDs of quotes, 4 image CDs. After the show, I will be offering them for sale online. Now that I have all the kinks worked out and know how to create them (and the labels), I am ready to roll.


Another gift from the universe landed in my email box yesterday. Frederick Magazine, is doing an article on 7 Ways to Soothe Your Soul and they want to feature my fabric altered books! The phone interview is today and the photographer will be here Tuesday. What fun! Frederick is a wonderful Maryland town with the best historic district full of fun and arty shops. Good restaurants too. It's about a 45 minute drive north for me. One of my students has a new shop, The Muse, that I have yet to visit. Sounds like it's time for a road trip!

To learn more about gifts from the Universe, click here.