What Inspires...

I absolutely love this pattern. It's a summer dress I bought at H&M several years ago, and now that it's too big for me, I may cut it up for a quilt. The color is delectable too.

This beautiful pink lily grew in my garden this year, and backed by the lavender tall phlox, it's a great color study. The dotting in the pink petals is a great inspiration as well. Looks like an applique piece for me to do!

This bird lives at the Central Park Zoo birdhouse. His feathers are irridescent and so colorful. I like his shades of gray that contrast, like a very sophisticated New Yorker dressed all in gray-and-white but carrying some crazy Judith Leiber clutch.

This is one of the displays in the Hall of Diversity at the American Museum of Natural History in NY, probably the greatest museum in America to my mind. As a vegan, I do mourn the deaths of all these creatures, but as a quilter, I find so much inspiration in the organization of the display. And the shapes of the shells, the colors of the fishes, the curves of the snakes... it's fabulous and sad. Maybe a quilted homage to animals is in my future.

And just because I have never posted it before, here is a quilt I made from a silly apron my mother, Gwynne White, owned. I grew up in California and my mother's house was party central. She was a loving and happy woman, a great mom, and a pretty good cook considering how much stuff came out of a can or the freezer! On the yellow pot is a transfer of one of her recipes, in her very unusual handwriting that is precious to me. She's been gone for 16 years now, and believe me when I say that I think about her every single day.

She taught me to sew. Thanks Mom! Love you always!!

Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminar

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminar in Hyannis this past weekend. We were prepared for Hurricane (no hurricane) Earl but it didn't make a difference to the 350 quilters who showed up.

My expectations were sort of medium. I knew Ricky, Libby Lehman and Alex Anderson would be great speakers and their quilts would be gorgeous. I didn't know that I would come away with a lot of new techniques and a TON of inspiration. I am already designing my Rhapsody quilt and thinking hard about something Libby said: You Have to Enter to Win. Meaning, if I want to compete in quilt shows, I have to actually submit a quilt or two. That automatically raises the bar in terms of design and technique. It's a challenge I am ready to work on.

Here are some photos:

Libby Lehman, thread artist extraordinaire and a hilarious lady on top of that.
Here's a detail from one of her quilts:

Here's Ricky & Libby teaching!

Here's Ricky & Libby & me in a slightly awkward pose:

Here are a few of his quilts:

I had the best time and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I didn't get a picture with Alex but had a really great conversation with her at the end about The Quilt Show - the online quilting program she and Ricky do. It's phenomenal to watch major award-winning quilters show their work, their techniques, their inspiration, all on the computer while I sip some tea and do some applique.
Now off to the sewing room!