Last year  The Modern Quilt Guild approached me and asked me what I thought about partnering and launching the first Modern Quilt Masters retreat at my place in Napa.

I was more than game! I have found the board of the National Modern Quilt Guild extremely forward thinking and easy to work with, and when they pitched Denyse Schmidt as the teacher for the four-day retreat at my place, I was in! The 12-student, immersive four-day retreat sold out very quickly. BERNINA of America and Meissner’s were generous to provide sewing machines for student use, and I was able to secure an amazing chef in Napa to cook us lunch every day. We ate great food, drank some local/boutique wine, some hiked in the neighboring mountainside, others dabbled in a Sunday Fun Day with a Bloody Mary bar here in my barn, we enjoyed a pool-side BBQ with partners/spouses/friends, but most importantly, we created quilts…

Everyone was so prolific:

Another case in point:

We had plenty of critique time with Denyse who was so giving of herself.

And a special guest showed up…Jennifer Sampou.

More work in progress…

I am so grateful to have hosted this retreat. I did not get very far in my top, but I will. Craft Napa 2018 registration launches in a few days and I have been a bit busy getting it ready. This next Craft Napa event has grown a lot…17 teachers with …drumroll…41 workshops over the four days!

I want to thank the Modern Quilt Guild, Meissner’s, BERNINA USA, and Denyse Schmidt for such generosity and collaboration this past week.

Cheers to all,

Pokey

Thank you Pantone for choosing such a gorgeous Color of the Year for 2017:

Pantone deems “Greenery” a color that is “life-affirming, emblematic of the pursuits of personal passions and vitality.”

I agree. Green has always been my very favorite color that I have found both calming yet invigorating. And in dealing with the stress of today’s heated political climate, I find myself more than ever going to my studio at night and immersing myself in this leafy color that celebrates the promises of flourishing, hope, and growth.

Thanks to one of the most precipitous winters ever on record in California, we are reaping the rewards of green in Napa. Below is a view from the top of my street in Napa. In the distance you can see where the San Pablo Bay (which is a part of the San Francisco Bay) meets the shoreline at its most northern tip.

The Pantone websites offers “pairings” for their featured color of the year– fitting language for wine country! I like the Transitions pairing the most:

The county of Napa concurs; I snapped the following recently here at my place:

Here is to warm, springtime, verdant days ahead for all.

Happy Spring,

I have finally recovered! Our second edition of CRAFT NAPA went so well, and it was a welcomed bit of respite from the outside world for a few days.  Some fun facts: We had nearly 200 students (up from 113 last year), 12 teachers for 33 workshops, an Artists’ Market, Wine Blending Competition, and a three-hour tour on the Wine Train to close the four-day event.

A few of us after a day of workshops:

So grateful to BERNINA of America and Meissner’s Sewing for providing BERNINAs for 3 full classrooms and sewing stations in others. Below is Jennifer Gigas, tireless as always, on the opening night of the event, offering up a free BERNINA sewing machine.

There was a lot of opining at the Artists’ View Luncheon where our teachers fielded honest and candid questions from students about manufacturers, supplies, inspiration, best practices, and copyright issues. I took so many things away from this luncheon, but here is a fun fact, explained by Victoria Findlay Wolfe: If you have Accuquilt dies, they will work on your Sizzix machines. Sizzix dyes will not work on your Accuquilt machines, so if you have both, the take-away is Sizzix can handle both!

What some old UFO’s morphed into after Lynn Krawczyk’s UFO workshop…

THANK YOU BERNINA of America and Meissner’s…these machines for free-motion quilting and piecing worked like a dream.

During CRAFT NAPA, we discussed a lot about design and color, including how to repurpose vintage blocks:

Leslie Jenison explaining how to use vintage blocks to turn into a modern quilt.

We studied art history and challenged ourselves to make mini-collages with minimal tools like strips of paper from brown paper bags:

We blended wine led by a vintner who gave each team some measuring cups, beakers, bottles of Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc, and Cab Sauvignon to create a winning blend (chosen by blind judging).

We took this wine blending pretty seriously; the winning team got to have their wine bottled and given to all participants. (It turns out my team, “The Crafting Winos” won…but I swear it was not rigged!)

We studied shapes and movement in art (and admired Carrie Bloomston’s arm muscles).

We sold LOTS of fabric and supplies at the Artists’ Market. A peek at Jennifer Sampou’s booth…

40 of us closed the event with a wine train excursion, a three-hour tour up Napa Valley and back on a vintage Pullman train.

This was an incredibly fun time together.

But for me, one of the shining moments was hosting Open Studios with Melanie Testa and Carol Soderlund, the two authors for PLAYFUL FABRIC PRINTING. On Saturday these two artists turned the central area at the Embassy Suites into a dye studio and signed books for the masses.

Totally normal to sign books while donning dust masks and mixing dyes, right?

I surprised them with a cake that included the cover of their book…

They loved it, and I made them cry (there is a video of that on Facebook). It was my goal to make them cry. 😉

What made me cry was the ENTIRE cake was eaten, and it hurt me immensely to cut up the cover. But the cake was dee-lish (yellow cake with vanilla icing and a lemon filling).

All in all, it was a such a fun time together. Craft Napa was about making art and embracing our community. Next year’s dates are January 10-14, 2018, and I have plans to change things up. Please save the dates. Until then, thank you, and CHEERS!

Wow, 2016, I have to give you credit. You sure were interesting! This was certainly a year of extremes, and I am choosing to focus on the positives, because– with much gratitude–I can say I had a lot of them.

A few examples…

My dream of building and completing the dream studio space and to share it with friends has become a reality. My studio space/ art barn is done.

The inaugural Craft Napa took place at the Embassy Suites/Napa this past January! We had about 120 students for the first go, and thanks to Meissner’s Sewing and BERNINA of America, we had such a successful first retreat!

We screen-printed, made improvisational quilts, free-motion quilted, collaged, laughed, cried, ate great food, and made wine together.

And students made some incredible art:

Soy wax batik examples from Melly Testa’s workshop.

And for those of us who have spent time together in this industry over the years, we reminisced during the reception in my art barn.

When it was over, some of us took a silly picture to commemorate the success. Yes, I am sitting in a piñata I commissioned to thank BERNINA for sponsoring. I had filled this piñata with Aurifil thread that every student had a chance to whack and grab during the retreat.

A few months later…we had a photo shoot for our first book: Playful Fabric Printing by Melanie Testa and Carol Soderlund. Picture below shows all of the step-out piles, in order (by chapter) to be shot.

It took nearly a full week to shoot and we were inspired during the shoot to take some other artful shots, too, like reflections of tiny mason jars filled with dye placed on cement.

Indigo Perez, location photographer and artist, doing her thing:

A detail of this styled shot ended up on the cover.

And as all good photo shoots should wrap, we had a pizza party with wine, swimming, and a dog on a fruit floatie.

This year, too, I was able to create a few quilts. Here are three that were extra special to me. One for a dear friend and special former colleague of mine, Carmen Beck for her newborn daughter…

Quilt in the piecing stage; I got the pattern from the magazine Quilt Moderne, by Michelle of Sew Demented.

This kid is going to be BOSS of quilting someday…look at the confident expression as she stares at the Best in Show quilt at Quilt Festival!

I made this too, for my new Godson, Hunter (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, baby by Lindsey and Fergal McLelland).

I was very worried I would drop him during the baptism…

Thankfully, I did not.

And there was this art quilt, my quilt to honor Yvonne Porcella, for an exhibit I put together to celebrate her life. I dubbed this quilt, “Go Forth and Fruit.” Yvonne has been one of my greatest mentors and someone who challenged me and guided me in my career over the years.

One of Yvonne’s sons, Greg and his wife to see the exhibit debut at Quilting in the Garden at Alden Lane this past September.

And finally, just yesterday, I got one advance copy of Playful Fabric Printing. I am pretty happy with it.

Lastly, I feel so blessed I live here in Napa. I took this picture in early February of this year of the budding mustard flowers. I can’t wait to have everyone for the next edition of Craft Napa in less than two weeks.

I wish everyone a blessed new year!
Pokey Bolton

Thanks to all who offered your opinions for the cover of our new book Playful Fabric Printing by Melanie Testa and Carol Soderlund from my last post! I received more than 500 responses on the poll alone, and Option #3 was the clear winner (but with some tweaks). Here is the cover we are using:

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this book (available mid-January)! It is 144 pages of pure inspiration, instruction, and ideas for creating your own fabrics and also combining your fabrics with commercial prints and solids to make beautiful quilts and projects. A mock spread of the interior:

And another:

And I have really great news for anyone coming to CRAFT NAPA next month (or anyone in the greater Bay Area): BOTH Melanie Testa and Carol Soderlund will be on hand at CRAFT NAPA for book signings and also to demonstrate fabric printing techniques all day Saturday, January 14, 2017 in the Fountain Court at The Embassy Suites in downtown Napa. So even if you are not signed up for classes, please do come by and meet them! (Be sure to tell your friends, too.)

I hope everyone has some creative plans this weekend. I have both days dedicated entirely to screen printing and stitching my holiday cards and working on a lap quilt for a Christmas gift. Hope to share progress on both early next week.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Pokey

Welcome to my new digs. A new domain, that is!

It’s high time for the “Pokey’s Ponderings” blog to retire, and I am moving things over to this domain (pokeybolton.com), which will be an easier way for people to find me and frankly, Google likes a lot more! (If you were an email follower to the Pokey’s Pondering blog, your email subscription was automatically redirected here.)

In the Monaluna booth at Quilt Market. Monaluna is down the road from Napa in Walnut Creek…if you come to Napa, be sure to take a side trip and visit them, too, as they have a store downtown!)

As this website migration took place and I was blog-silent for a while, I have received a lot of emails, some several times over, so I thought while I initially settle in, I would host a quick Q & A.

The most popular question:

When are you having retreats in your art barn?

The first retreats will be taking place in tandem with Craft Napa, January 12-15, 2017. During that time both Leslie Jenison and Melanie Testa will each have their own workshops here in the art barn. (All of the info for Craft Napa can be found here and registration is still open!)

After Craft Napa, there will be some smaller retreats that I will be announcing shortly. I am thrilled with the talent that is scheduled to come, and I am collaborating with some fantastic, forward-thinking people in the quilting, art, and textile industries to bring them here. I should note, that these retreats will be small so they can be immersive, and we can enjoy the valley.

Do you rent out your art barn?

No, I do not. This is my own working studio and space, too, so the retreats are very controlled, small, and sparsely scheduled.

How do I submit a proposal if I’d like to teach?

If you would like to pitch an idea, email me! This is an informal process to see what might work for both of us. There is a more formal proposal process for Craft Napa; the next round of proposals will go out February 2017 and be available on my business site: craftingalifellc.com.

So…did you vote for Clinton or did you vote for Trump?

OK, no one actually asked me that question but I want to clarify the direction of this blog. The only politics you will find here are about our industry (and there is plenty of controversy and points of discussion in our industry right now). The focus of this blog is fourfold: 1) about art, mostly textiles, 2) my thoughts about our industry, 3) enterprising ventures, 4) and techniques and projects I am working on.

You moved to Napa…are you going to grow any grapes?

Nope.  Living in the Mt. Veeder part of Napa (which is closest to Sonoma too), I am surrounded by expert vintners who know what they are doing. I do, however, have a lot of mature fruit trees here: lemon, orange, apple, walnut, olive, fig, pear, plum, and persimmon (blackberry bushes too). I am hoping that we have another wonderfully wet winter so they get nice and plump, not just for eating but for fabric printing and eco-dyeing!

And speaking of printing…

The first book that we are publishing, Playful Fabric Printing with Carol Soderlund and Melanie Testa will make its debut in January 2017. This book is 144 pages chock-full of inspiration and everything you need to know to dye fabric, print, and create your own fabric collection. This book is just about ready for press, minus the cover. (We had about 20 options for covers and we have winnowed it down to three.) I’d love your opinion on the cover, so that post will be forthcoming this Friday, which is Black Friday, and while most business will be selling, selling, selling, I will be giving away 5 copies (when it’s printed) that are randomly selected from the comments section when you make your cover choice.

In the meantime, I am so happy to have you here, and on this Thanksgiving week, I thank you sincerely for visiting me.

Pokey

View one morning this past August from my art barn porch.

At long last we had a photo shoot this past weekend to showcase the interior of the art barn, and I am really thrilled to share with you detailed shots of this building that took just about two years to see to fruition.

The front of the barn has three glass garage doors (they are all open in the above shot). I wanted glass garage doors so 1) the view can be enjoyed while working inside, 2) lots of natural light can come in, and 3) the porch can essentially be an extension of the work area.  What is lovely about the Bay Area/Napa, is the climate is very mild here (I don’t even own an a/c unit in my house or in the barn). So more often than not, I have those glass garage doors open.

Here’s a shot from the right side of the barn with the closest garage door open. The upstairs leads to my office and sitting area with a sleeper sofa. (I’d share a picture of that area but it is my office space…nothing to see except files of paperwork and a very cluttered desk.)

Detail of the left side of the barn. All of these tables rise and lower for either sewing (sitting) or screen printing (standing). I have 15 of them, and they are so lightweight and easy to move around. (Note: if you are looking for tables that rise and lower, you won’t typically find them in a big box hardware store, you have to order them online. I purchased mine online from Home Depot.)

Panoramic view of the barn from the bar area.

And yet anther angle.

My bins of fabric are about as organized as I will ever have them.

This antique hutch (anchored to the wall in case of an earthquake) houses all of my fabric yardage. I’ll come clean and tell you I took a lot OUT for this photo so it looked organized and neat, and you can’t see what a fabric hoarder I really am.

Above is an old antique workbench I found and where I house my ironing station. You can’t get a sense for how big this table is in this photo but it is enormous and great to put projects-in-progress on. The art quilt above is by Betty Hahn; it reminds me of my beloved city by the bay.

The sitting area for scheming new ideas.

Behind some very tall sliding barn doors is my wet studio with a deep, wide sink for fabric dyeing. To the left of that sink is a stacked washer/dryer and a shelving system where I store all of my printmaking materials.

The Pokey Pour bar area for wine and coffee, with a (smallish) Pokey Pour of a wine from a vineyard up the street.

Thanks for having an initial look! I have a lot more pictures that I’ll mostly be sharing on social media. All of the offsite workshops for Craft Napa 2017 that are taking place here at the barn are sold out, so shortly I will announce some other smaller offerings here and there.

Now I am going to do what I have wanted to do for a LONG TIME, and that is I am going to go turn this place into an arty mess.

*Photo credit for all photographs: Indigo Perez

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Breaking my silence to finally be able to say…

My art barn is done.

It took, from concept to design to construction, two years. But it’s at long last complete (minus a backsplash and a chandelier, but hey, those aren’t necessarily requirements for making art).

There were some sizable setbacks, like the 6.0 Napa earthquake just two weeks after I closed on the property, and learning–after a soil test during pre-construction–that I needed to excavate thousands of tons of dirt and truck in engineered dirt that was more stable for a foundation. Tantamount to all of this was what I placed on myself: very high expectations. I have felt on shaky ground getting to this point, consistently asking myself, did I take on too much?

Upon reflection, all of those mornings over the past two years calculating every construction cost; waking to the skull-rattling sound of hammering and sawing on the hill; watching (and worrying) as construction workers balanced themselves on narrow wooden beams 30’+ above ground; and the rare, startling occurrences like the emergency landing of a hot air balloon have all collectively been the key part of the journey. Building anything is risky, but the exhilaration during the process and at the end is heady stuff!

I am looking forward to hosting small art gatherings here as well as a few offsite workshops during Craft Napa, but as my office is headquartered in the loft, I’m eager to execute other ventures too.

For the moment, though, I am pretty happy that the building part is finally behind me.

Cheers,

Pokey

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The short answer is if someone asks: “It’ ALIVE!”

I have poured myself into this event–blood, sweat,  tears, social media, etc.–and taken into account what people want at a focused retreat  in this digital day and age, and that is community.

I’ve launched the registration for CRAFT NAPA 2017 this afternoon and classes are filling quickly. I am so thrilled and trying to spread the word as much as I can about this event with the goal to make this retreat experience even better and more meaningful for all in the future.

Here’s one new edition where Craft Napans have the opportunity to ask candid questions of the teacher panel regarding favorite materials, best practices for studio work, favorite shows to enter, etc.

And another excursion to close out the event and be together one last time (on a choo choo train with wine):

Hope you can join us,

Pokey

Thanks to all for your kind comments from my last blog post. I am more than ready to move past all of that and focus on the fun and important work ahead! It’s been an industrious last couple of weeks creating, celebrating, and scheming some fun endeavors for the future. Cases in point…

Recently I helped celebrate a dear friend (not without holding back a lot of tears at the podium). I was invited to be a part of the tribute for Yvonne Porcella and speak at her life celebration and tribute at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. What an emotional but celebratory time together. This woman was clearly and dearly loved by so, so many.

At long last I finished a baby quilt for the daughter of a former co-worker and friend. I wanted this quilt to be all about color and whimsy and I hope I achieved both with my fabric selections (pattern by–and adapted from–Michelle Tucker in the first issue of Sew Moderne):

I finally have my industrial sink installed in my wet studio! Cabinets to come, but it means I am now in business and my hands will be (from here on in) a mottled mix of purple, chartreuse, teal, red, lemon yellow, and every color combination I can devise…

And I have a designated sink to wash the dogs, too.

We are about to announce the CRAFT NAPA 2017 schedule on the Craft Napa website…

A sneak peek at some of the art that will be taught:

Brought to you by…

This will be a fun time next January 12-15 with instruction both at the Embassy Suites/Napa and my art barn; a candid (and telling) panel luncheon; an artists’  market; wine blending; and wine excursions in Napa Valley and neighboring Sonoma.

I am also putting together smaller programs (when I say small, I mean small) for the art barn, too.

And I am rather excited to announce something in one month for a new endeavor for Crafting a Life, LLC— something with which I am extremely familiar.

It’s going to be a gorgeous weekend here in Napa for dyeing, sun-printing, and overall creativity. Hope you have an inspiring and creative weekend, no matter what your weather may be.

To all good things ahead,