I’m still out here in Southern California and yesterday we felt the earth shake… Sheila and I were out for lunch with Joanne in Upland when there was a deep rumble and a shake, and then a loud crash followed by more rumbling and shaking… the windows were rattling, somebody screamed and then it was all over. Sheila declared an earthquake, Joanne’s comment was “way cool” and I was glad not to be on one of those overpasses… It doesn’t seem like there was any serious damage or injuries so I guess I can add it to my list of Californian experiences.
But that was yesterday and I hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing in the days before that.
We started Saturday at the Quilt Show with our usual yoghurt parfait and coffee in the sunshine.
Here’s Sheila with her coffee. She looks different without the Kleenex flowers on her head…
We were booked in at the “Mixed Media Miscellany”. I particularly enjoyed watching Lisa Engelbrecht at work on her “funky letters for fabric”. If I get a chance to take a class with her sometime I definitely will. I found her book Modern Mark Making later at one of the vendors and bought it. I am looking forward to studying it more closely.
Nancy Brenan Daniel was a change of pace with “Inventive Applique Techniques”. Much of her “applique” is really stenciled designs and “pen-stitching”. I could go with that. Perhaps we will be able to invite her to Riverwalk Quilters?
And then we were back down to the show floor and the vendors… We rushed around and collected all the fun patterns and stuff we had checked out the night before. I purchased the pattern and some fabrics for a “Japanese Puzzle” quilt. I really had to stop at Artgirlz for a funky pincushion kit and some felted wool beads.
Some of the ladies in one of my classes had been talking about African Embroidery and I bought an interesting book Safari through African Folklore Embroidery from Leora Raiken. She also had kits so a giraffe found its way home with me too.
Gina showed me a flyer from the “Fiber Goddess” a while ago and she was there with “The Diva Fiber Cord maker”. I needed one of those and bought that. It seems to be a fun and easy way of making woven cords with all manner of uses. We will see what becomes of it…
And that was about all my purchases. So off I went to a machine felting class with Paula Scaffidi. She was very informative and I learnt a lot while playing with the Babylock embellisher machine. But was I really the only one to break needles? or just the only one to own up to it? I feel much more able to take advantage of the felting attachment for my Bernina machine now.
This is one of my “learning experiences”.
A quick run around the quilts on display downstairs and we were on our way home. It was a good show with a few teething problems. We heard that a contract has been signed with the Convention center for five years so maybe I will be back?
After a brief break from quiltie things, on Monday it was time to visit the Inland Empire Quilters Guild in Corona. We enjoyed dinner at the local Sizzler and the drove over to the meeting. They were a very friendly bunch and it was such fun giving my talk and showing my quilts.
Here I am with “geese flying over the prairie”.
I’m sure I was imparting some very deep words of wisdom at this point…(?)
Anyway people were very kind and laughed at the appropriate moments. I like Southern California, even if the earth shakes from time to time.
It took a while to dig through the shelves of fabrics but I found some silk chiffon for my MOG dress and then took a swatch of something brighter for the MOB outfit I will be needing later in the year. We were cute enough to get a cloth bag each… very cool!! It is big enough fit my handbag so I will able to use it as hand luggage on the way home. It’s amazing how all those very small purchases add up when it comes to fitting them in a suitcase!
