A Play Day in Kingwood

Today is Tuesday, the flip day between Quilt Market and Quilt Festival.  It can be a very busy day for vendors changing, flipping, moving or simply setting up their booths for the big show opening Wednesday evening.  For others, it can be a day for relaxing and visiting with one's quilting friends who are in town for the show.

I spent this Tuesday in Kingwood, playing with my silk artist friends Sara Hochhauser and Marlene Glickman in Ginny Eckley's studio (with Anne Eckley too) where we screen-printed cards and envelopes, dyed silk scarves, sewed new garments and enjoyed fun, friendly companionship.

Sara pauses while sewing a new silk garment. Come see her demo how to make it at the Quilt Festival, Thursday, 2:00-4:00p.m.

Marlene screening a leaf onto a silk scarf.  She is doing a few demos at the Quilt show, too, with her first one is before Sara's on Thursday, 12:00-2:00p.m.

We used Color Hue dyes with shaving cream as a thickening agent to print designs, first practicing the easy technique on paper, then moving to silk.

Marlene paints the dye on the screen above.
Below is the resulting image of three green leaves.

In the afternoon, we created our own PhotoEZ Silk Screen Stencils with Ginny's expert guidance.  See Marlene marveling at her design that Ginny reveals.

I made a stencil too, but will show it later, after I have used it ...

Meanwhile, as the stencil was developing, I dyed a silk scarf, trying a neat technique that begins with pleating long rows up the two sides of a scarf, ending with a crumple of silk at the top.....

The Color Hue dye is applied and allowed to seep into the folds and crevices.  We tilted the table to encourage further running of the dye.  I added additional colors, in this order: blue, black-tinted blue, a limey green, a black-lime green, ending with yellow.  This is the lovely result, photographed while drying in the crisp autumn sun.

I had a grand time all day long!  Thank-you to Ginny, for the use of her studio, to Anne, for her smile, Marlene, for her ColorHue expertise and Sara, for her unique laugh.  Thank-you everyone for a fabulous day!!!

Tomorrow I will be ready to see the new vendors and to peruse the award-winning quilts at this year's International Quilt Festival when it opens.  Hope to see you there!

Learning and sharing at IQF

Every year at Quilt Festival there is a tremendous amount of learning and sharing that goes on. This year was no different. I was fortunate enough to be in a two-day class with Katie Pasquini-Masopust which was tremendous!


During the two days, she had us exploring a fun variety of design ideas. We left the class with the beginnings of several future quilts-to-be and many innovative ways to dream up new game plans for additional abstract quilts. In this photo, near the end of our two days together, Katie is showing her quilts to the class, pointing out details, and answering all of our questions.


Another quilt friend I see annually is Marlene Glickman. She is a silk artist and readily shares her ideas and silk dyeing techniques at the "potpourri" multi-teacher-demonstration events held in the Ballroom during Festival. Not only does Marlene share her ideas, she always has fun give-aways for the participants who pause at her table.


In this photo, Marlene is sharing what she knows about foiling onto fabric, paper and cardstock. Everyone was given several pieces of foil to take home and try one of Marlene's techniques. As an additional bonus, she demonstrated how easy it is to dye silk scarves (which she gave away to whoever volunteered to iron them at the end of the session!) Marlene is a non-stop bundle of knowledge, willing to share what she knows and hoping to inspire others to adventure into the world of Silk fiber art.


Last of all, it is not a memorable Quilt Festival or Quilt Market unless I bump into my dear friend Hallye Bone, with or without a pre-arranged rendezvous. Years ago, when Houston became my home, Hallye was my first quilt teacher at Quilt Quarters quilt shop. Later, her home was the first that I managed to visit with my infant twin boys! Since Hallye no longer lives in Houston, I truly treasure our brief visits during Quilt Market.

Here we are -- tickled to have run into each other again. Oh, I almost forgot to mention -- Congratulations Hallye on the publication of your first book, Caring for Your Quilts! (Available from Kansas City Star website and/or your local quilt shop).