I love taking classes. I love walking into the classroom, getting my supplies sorted, meeting like-minded quilters, and readying my mind to experiment with something totally brand new in fabric and stitch for the day. Nine years ago I took my niece, Lindsey Murray to a weekend-long class with Susan (“Lucky”) Shie. I had just put one of our dogs down, a very old Pekinese we had adopted named “Gizmo,” who was the most ornery creatures ever to live. Ever. For instance he slept at the foot of my bed, and I slept hunched in a fetal position every night because if I extended my legs, he would bite my toes off. But alas I went to Susan’s class so sad and teary that I had lost Gizmo, so I made a little Gizmo quiltlet using Susan’s techniques. I like to consider this a more primitive, folk art-y, heartfelt piece rather than admit I can’t draw worth a you-know-what… Despite the fact this is far from a masterpiece, the class was a lot of fun, Lindsey was bitten by the quilting bug, and I learned some processes that I have since used in other works.

Several years later I took a class with Rosalie Dace of South Africa. I had admired her art quilts for a number of years, and she was a wonderful, inspiring, and very patient teacher. I loved just listening to her in her beautiful, melodic South African accent talk about her design process. I also bought a quilt from her, and to this day it’s one of my very favorites. It’s called “Beach Walk” and I am sure you can figure out why:

Take Our Online Education Survey–It’s Quick, I Promise!

What quilt classes do you dream of taking? We have posted an online survey for quilt classes and would love to know what you would love to take so we can provide those classes for you at International Quilt Festival. We are hoping for thousands and thousands of responses, so please take it, and it would be very much appreciated if you could help us spread the word about this survey (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, or posting on your blog).

Thanks so much!

As promised, today, on this eve of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m giving away some of my Marcia Derse fabric from my 1st Maudlin-Free Monday Giveaway.

In my very first blog post I asked you:  What makes you happy when you create? More than 100 of you responded, and I agreed with all of your sentiments.

Some highlighted responses:

“Creative time? It takes a bit of self-cajoling – but once I actually begin the ‘making’ process – whether it is cutting into the fabric, applying the paint, moving things around on the design wall…. it feels so good to be IN the creative process. I have no idea why it is so hard to make myself get there.”— Lyric Montgomery Kinard

“My happiest moments are when I stop ‘creating,’ take a couple of steps back and look at my work from a distance and think: ‘I made this!”— Laura Gamaleri

“I will say that I am happiest when I have my sewing room looking like a tornado hit with my stash surrounding me – that inspires me, and I am happiest when I am in contact with my hands wrists deep in fabric!”— Nancy Chaddick

“What I enjoy most? The fact that when I create (like a York Peppermint Patty) a blast of clean air whips through my brain and leaves it empty. Nothing wrong with that!”— Melanie Testa

Thanks a lot, Melly, now I’m hungering for a York Peppermint Patty.

1st Fabric Winner

Congratulations to Dixie McIntyre ! You are the winner! Please email your shipping address to me at pokeyb@quilts.com and I’ll get your fabrics out to you faster than you can say “I LIVE and  BREATHE quilting!”

Taking Studio Suggestions for St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

Since tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, I am going to put on my favorite Capercaillie CD and do what I’ve been dreading. I am going to finish unpacking my studio, but I am afraid I am going to need the luck of the Irish to get this sorted:

If you have suggestions for me, I’m listening…

I’ve been off the grid for several months as I settle into my new digs in Houston, Texas, and my new job at Quilts, Inc., as Chief Creative Officer. Meet my new colleagues!

I drove to the Lone Star state from Boston around Thanksgiving, traversing across New England, snaking my way through the Great Smoky Mountains, and dropping down the state of Mississippi until I hit I-10 West in a car containing a dog, a cat, a slew of sewing machines, jars of fabric paints, suitcases of clothes and threads, heaps of books, an embarrassing amount of fat quarters stuffed into every spare nook and cranny of my car, and a big bag of corn nuts tucked at my side–my sustenance of choice for road trips. And once I arrived in Houston (in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts…in November), I just tried to do something I don’t do very well: I put myself in park.

A quilter’s instinct is to nest, and the first order of business in Houston was, of course, to make my house a home. It’s a work in progress, and will take me a long while to finish and that’s fine because I am reveling in the process.

Last Fall at Quilt Market, after much cajoling, whining, and prodding, I convinced fabric designer Marcia Derse into selling me this adorable fabric bench upholstered in her fabrics that she had displayed in her booth for Troy Fabrics. Do you see why I wanted it for my living room?

I also bought some fabric stools from a hotel consignment warehouse, paying as little as $25 each for these guys.

With a little TLC and some graphic, bright fabrics, they now look like this:

At that same warehouse I also bought four arm chairs. They looked a little dingy in orange in comparison to my Marcia Derse piece behind them:

So I decided to make them a little more cheerful to play off of her whimsical color scheme:

There is other evidence in my house that a quilter lives here, like the screen-printed hand towels on my oven:

Or Lynn Krawczyk’s adorable fabric owls that we had featured in the latest edition of International Quilt Festival:Quilt Scene. I bought a vintage birdcage and thought this would be a cute way to showcase them at the bottom of my stairs.

In addition to warming up my home with textiles, I decided to cheer it up in other ways, so I adopted a yellow dog.

And I bought a pink bike.

I am back in business. I’m getting settled in my new home and my new job. I am readying for my first International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati next month, and learning how a handful of hardworking and dedicated people put on these wonderful quilt festivals.

Introducing…Maudlin-Free Monday!

I’m launching a way to stave off those Monday blues, quite simply by giving away free stuff. All you have to do is answer a question I pose on Monday and I’ll select a random winner on the Friday afternoon of the same week. So what’s the first batch of goods you could win? How about a few of these Marcia Derse fabrics I recently purchased?

So here’s my first Maudlin-Free Monday question (and I know today is not Monday but I’m doing a giveaway anyway!): What makes you happy when you create? Is it gazing at your inspiration board, solving a design conundrum, finishing a quilt, or looking through your fabric stash?

For me it is the very first moment I walk into my studio and my eyes simply drink in the textures and colors of everything. I think about the possibilities, and just look forward to the creative session I’ll have in there–whether it is just 30 minutes on a week night or a three-hour session on a Sunday morning.

You?