I was really happy to go to Quilt Market and Festival this year, if anything, to get some respite from the aftermath of the fires in Northern California. I was not nearly as prepared as I would have liked to have been for Houston, given the disruption, but I was thrilled to go! I shared a lot of images on Facebook and Instagram, but for this blog entry I am culling the list down to just a few images that gave me great joy:

Leslie Tucker Jenison’s second fabric line “Urban Garden” with RJR Fabrics made its initial debut, and Leslie employed the talent of both Jamie Fingal and Deborah Boschert (to name just a couple) to make art with her line. This fabric line will be on sale at your local quilt shops in early spring, and I can’t wait to hoard some!

This booth below was a Market favorite, it popped up in a lot of social media feeds, and it is understandable why: “Foundation” by Shayla Wolf for Windham Fabrics.

Next up, Playful Fabric Printing co-author, Melanie Testa came out with her debut fabric line, “Floribunda!” with RJR Fabrics. If you like a jewel-toned palette coupled with unique prints with a personal touch, this line is for you!

Another quilt in detail:

I too had a formal presence and promoted “Playful Fabric Printing” in the Craftsman’s Touch booth at Festival. I was so happy to promote this book. It truly is a great resource if you are curious about creating your very own, unique fabric collection.

Below was a busy lady! Victoria Findlay Wolfe promoted her new Partial Herringbone Seam Quilt with tireless enthusiasm during the show. This class is sold out at CRAFT NAPA, and it is understandable why. The construction of this design is pretty brilliant. (Victoria still has a handful of seats for her two-day, four-ring double wedding class, though!)

On a quilting business note,  F&W and Quilts Inc. collaboratively came out with the latest Quilting in America 2017 survey. Survey says our industry is still doing gangbusters since the last survey was conducted in 2014, and the industry is seeing a strong buying power from people under 45. I mentioned to John when we discussed the study, though, that it would be nice if maybe next time, this study delved a bit more deeply into specific social media channels, time spent on each, etc. Anybody who is investing advertising dollars into paying ads on social media would find this breakdown helpful.

Back to quilts…this was my favorite one from the show. It is called “Home.”

This piece is by Kate Themel and her narrative reads, “My studio is where I feel most at home. It’s a place where I I can dance around, sing, talk to myself, swear, or drop things on the floor. I can express myself without worrying about having nice manners. I never need to dress up to spend a day I’m in the studio. Blue jeans, or pajamas, it’s all good.”

I agree. I came home, and took a hike in my neighborhood. Vineyards in autumn, my patchwork view:

I am definitely looking forward to cooler weather and hibernating in my studio. I, too, am getting ready for Craft Napa, which is just a few short weeks away, and ordering all of the loot for attendees. If you are thinking of coming, there is still space! Please join us! We also plan for a fun and unique opening ceremony to ring in a creative 2018.

In the meantime, it is raining here…what is not to love about this picture?

With gratitude,

Pokey

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,

QuiltCon East just transpired and for those of us who didn’t go, maybe you were like me: sitting in your kitchen compulsively eating microwave popcorn, refreshing your Instagram feed, eagerly awaiting to see friends and colleagues at the meet-ups, read about their observations of the show, and of course, to see the winning quilts! I also wanted to see how teaching was going for my friends, especially those new to teaching.

Just last week, working out at my local gym here in Napa, a quilting friend of mine waved at a distance and shouted, “I did two classes today in readying for a shrimp and grits feast in Savannah!”

She was QuiltCon bound, and I was so jealous!

I was jealous because of the camaraderie, the networking, the inspiration I have found at QuiltCon. I have been to every edition, and this past one in 2016 in Pasadena, frankly, bowled me over. I am very impressed with the production of this show and how quickly they have been able to develop it in a very sophisticated, forward-thinking manner, not to mention the excitement that manufacturers and movers and shakers in this industry have for it.

The reason I didn’t go to QuiltCon this year was because I got another upcoming invitation that was a conflict: an invitation to…well…Disneyworld.

When you can only be away so much, and only take so many transcontinental treks…it’s family first. So instead of seeing the best in show quilt in person at QuiltCon, in a couple of days, my niece and/or nephew will be my seat mate on the Crush ‘n Gusher…or The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Underground Adventure–whatever they choose.

In the meantime, today I was interviewed by Abby Glassenburg, co-founder of Craft Industry Alliance and founder/host of the While She Naps podcast. We have a shared history; we both were public school teachers and taught in the same school district nearly at the same time in Massachusetts. She is a true journalist, she asks questions and seeks answers in order to gain an understanding to issues that have not been previously addressed in this industry, with the designer, the crafter, the author, the teacher, the talent in mind. I wish we had a couple more hours to talk. Her podcast with me as a guest will go live this Monday, March 6th.

So tomorrow I head east–not to view amazing quilts–but to raise my arms high above my head, screaming at the top of my lungs at the peak of Expedition Everest, smiling, with a niece or nephew by my side. Because in five or so years, they will be moving on,  and I won’t be asked to sit next to them on a roller coaster probably ever again.

QuiltCon will still be there, but for this year, I am trading the viewing of quilts and quilter camaraderie for a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.

And I am totally good with that.

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

I lost an important person to me yesterday.

There have been two very strong matriarchs in my life, their collective weight probably totaled less than 150 pounds— my grandmother Anne Chatham (“Gran”) who passed nearly four years ago, and the other, Ruth Nichols (“Fooey”), who passed away yesterday.

Both of these women were formidable to me and could give the Dowager Countess from “Downton Abbey” a run for her money: opinionated, strong, take-no-prisoners, both saw a lot in their lifetimes, lived well into their 90’s, and they both were tiny.

To say I adored both of them would be an understatement, and I think I am taking Fooey’s death hard, because selfishly, and even though I am in my mid-40’s and trying to “adult” as best I can, I can no longer run to my grandmother’s house when I am upset and in need of a hug or a caramel apple.

About Fooey

When I was little, I couldn’t pronounce my ‘r’s so Ruthie most easily morphed to “Fooey,” and to this day, I never called her Ruth or Ruthie, it was always Fooey.

In the summers I would go to “Camp Fooey’s” for a week or two. I swam for hours; hit a tennis ball against the garage door; colored page upon page with my fruit-scented markers, then sold said colored pages to her (for a price); played Mad Libs with her; and ate bear claws in her bed all the while getting hooked on “All My Children” and learning Relationship Issues through the eyes of Erika Kane.

We made truckloads of caramel apples; ate blueberry waffles with ice cream and syrup for dinner; and she taught me a very important life skill: how to catalog shop with a discerning eye. My favorite activity though, was sitting on her bed, talking and watching TV, with one of her mother’s many hand-quilted quilts tucked “up just to our noses.” I asked a lot of questions about those hand-quilted quilts over the years, not knowing then that those very quilts would inspire me to pursue a life-long career in the quilt industry.

Having been away from California for nearly 25 years and moving back fairly recently, gave our relationship a boost. I could see her more frequently and the last few visits, she would rifle through her jackets and blouses in her closet, tell me to try them on, and then say, “Oooh, you look darling in that! Take it!” (Whether I liked the jacket or not, I had no choice, I had to take it.)

This picture…this picture just makes me choke up, every time.

It is a picture of Jim Timmins helping Fooey walk across the street to a restaurant in downtown Los Altos. I have no idea what possessed me to take this, but I snapped it on my iPhone and I am so grateful I did, because to me she’s just adorable in it.

Oh, Fooey, I am going to miss you. Thank you for being in my life. I was the luckiest of granddaughters.

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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