Fabulous Workshop!

This week...busy week...I attended a two day workshop sponsored by my quilt guild.  The artist who taught the class was Larkin Van Horn, a fabulous fiber artist whose current speciality is beading.  Now her beading is not your everyday beading!  Her work is simply out of this world.  I had taken a class from her a couple of years ago and learned some very good basic skills...but what I learned this week was 'way beyond my expectations.

Here is just one example of her work...be sure to click on her name to go to her website and see more of her wonderful creations!!

A closeup of the above medallion.

And the very beginnings of my medallion!

At the beginning of the workshop, Larkin warned us to not expect to complete the beading and probably not the background.  And she was right!!  It is a very slow process but I really love it!!!  I think I have a new addiction!!!  I'll post progress as I go.

Tomorrow is our monthly guild meeting where Larson will speak to the entire membership present.  Although I will be there and look forward to hearing her, I would really love to stay home and work on my medallion....maybe with cooler weather approaching I will feel like staying home and getting some of my projects done!!!!

Jane Sassaman's Workshop

My title is a little misleading because I have no pictures of what I did. I am very slow at working on anything new but I have a good start.  It was a very good workshop; her work is incredible and she is a very fun speaker....grew up in the '50s-'60s to which I could certainly relate!  And I learned so much about how she does applique...I like the look of some applique, but never really liked the traditional way of doing it.  So her technique was very refreshing to learn....I think I will actually use it!!  The project we started is third on my list of "things to do".

But what I really enjoyed from the workshop was working next to a couple of very neat ladies...both I have known for awhile but not well.  While working on our projects we were able to talk freely and I discovered that one of my tablemates, Sue Needle,  not only is "into" zentangles" but she is in one of Suzanne McNeill's books: Zentangle-FabricArts, Quilting and Embroidery. Here is a sampling of her work...she also has a few other pages in the book.  Sue also had on Zentangle "tennis shoes" that she had done herself....a very talented lady who is also a long-arm quilter.

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And although I kind of knew it, I discovered that Suzanne McNeill is right here in my own back yard, so to speak.  She is located in Fort Worth...she has a blog and a website.

New Zentangle Challenge!

The newest challenge is to have someone else draw the string for me and then I will "tangle" it!!  Fun!!!  My husband drew this for me...I haven't worked on it yet, but will...already have several ideas buzzing around in my head!

Busy week coming up...tomorrow a workshop with Jane Sassaman.  I just finished getting my stuff together from her list...should be very fun!  

A Jane Sassaman work

And another one of Jane's work.

Her work is very colorful and lively.  I am most interested in seeing how she makes her quilts; what her technique is.  It is a kind of applique, I think...but not the more traditional way of turning the fabric under, etc. which I do not do very well, nor really enjoy!   I like the look but not the work involved!!!  And then on Friday, she is to be our speaker at our guild meeting.

Kaleidoscope Workshop with Paula Nadelstern"

                  "In the Middle of difficulty lies opportunity."  Albert Einstein

Paula with her fabulous snowflake quilt...each snowflake is made up of many small pieces to make the "kaleidoscope" effect.

     Today was the Paula Nadelstern all day workshop held at the "Quilt Among Friends" quilt shop in Arlington, TX.  What a great experience!!  I had purchased fabric earlier in the week that met the criteria of being bilateral (meaning when sliced up, would create a mirror image of itself).  But once I got there and saw what we were doing, I wanted fabric that was much more vibrant and rich...I bought some there and was really pleased with it.  I will still use my Pink and Lime Green, and am curious to see it put together using her techniques...

The workshop was titled "Simple Symmetry" and this is Paula's example of what we were going to be doing.  Each row consists of three finished symmetrical blocks...using very ornate and colorful fabric, cut up and sewn back together to get the kaleidoscope affect.  Each single block is made up of eight triangles which have been cut from identical repeated patterns in the fabric.  Several workshop students had the same fabric, some in different colors, and it was amazing to see the different patterns that emerged just from the selected areas that were put together.

This is one of my blocks, not sewn together yet, but will become my first row after doing two more exactly like this one.  And when the three blocks go together, you get a secondary design where each meets.

And here is the class with Paula showing off our blocks; you can see we were getting a little goofy by the end of the day!!  Great fun had by all!!