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We’ll be teaching a mini-version of our batik watercolor quilt class at Blue Line Arts in Roseville, CA on Saturday, June 22, 2013. You can sign up here: http://www.rosevillearts.org/events/adultworkshopseries.html. What’s different about this class, you might ask? To begin with, no sewing required! Painters, sculptors, politicians, and athletes alike can try their hand at this. Second, the squares are 1.25″ – one quarter the standard size. That means you will be making a smaller piece, but you will finish in a day. You will be able to frame it like this:

That means you will have a piece of artwork to call your own in just one day! What’s not different about this class, you’ll also probably ask? You’ll still learn how to create movement with color and have lots of fun while we’re doing it!

Here it is, our Quilt National entry. It’s called “American Still Life: The Weight of the Nation”:

You can click on the thumbnail to see the larger image. We wanted to create a still life. It seems as if every artist tries at one time or another to create a still life, but we were faced with a dilemma: how to create a still life that our generation would understand. Well, we decided that people would understand a still life that dealt with our American eating habits and their consequences: diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity. Our label reads: No the irony was not lost on the artists who a) were able to use the labels from the food they ate themselves and b) met each other about 50 lbs. ago . . . each!

Deidre Adams took this photo of us at the opening. We were pretty excited to see our work hanging in the exhibition. It does look different in a gallery setting. Click here to go to Deidre’s blog and view more images.

One of our favorite coincidences of the opening (and there were many) was the opportunity to hang out with new friends and speak German for an evening. We enjoyed some after-dinner cocktails and great conversation with  Brigitte Kopp and Rita Merten, two of the QN artists. Wow! They had thought-provoking work in the exhibition. We were joined by Rita’s husband, Ulli. What fun to talk about art and hear different perspectives from artists working in different countries. We’d like to brag that we closed the place down, but let’s face it, they kicked us out at 11 pm, so it’s not like we broke any records. We’ll post about our favorite pieces from QN ’13 in our next post.

We had fun reading what people would wrap in a furoshiki. We randomly drew a winner. Congratulations to Sharon, who said: “I would wrap my daughter’s birthday present, because I know when she gives me mine she would reuse it to wrap my present!” Hey, that sounds good to us! Our favorite wrap is the two-bottle wrap – so fast, so easy, so beautiful! We hope you continue to have fun using furoshiki for wrapping gifts and everyday items. Click here if you want to order your own copy from Amazon.

This two-bottle wrap is using one of our designs

We made it to Pendleton, IN after spending an hour on the tarmac in Chicago, trying to avoid getting hit by lightening. We are spending a great time with our dear friend, Sherry Boram, enjoying a relaxing stay before the hullabaloo starts in Athens, OH. And what better way to start than with food.

Yes, Good’s Ice Cream Parlor and Candy Store is fabulous! We got to sample the Hawaiian lava salted caramel chocolates. Yes, we have some for the road. Yes, we’re saving the double chocolate nutty fudge cake ice cream for dessert! But, gee whiz, dinner won’t be for a few hours, so Sherry insisted we eat a bite for lunch at the best bbq in Indiana!

And we didn’t even have to leave the car! And how fun was it to just chow down at Fall Creek in the middle of town.

And staying at Sherry’s is like living in an art museum. Here is one little sample of art postcards she collects:

We don’t want to leave!! However, we get to come back on our way home from Quilt National. We’ll post again soon!

Our segment on American Patchwork and Quilting Radio is today! You can listen live at 4 p.m. ET or wait for the recording to be posted. Click here to listen. We had so much fun chatting with Pat Sloan, that we wanted to celebrate the show with you. Pat asked us a lot of questions about our book, Furoshiki Fabric Wraps: Simple, Reusable, Beautiful.

Furoshiki means “bath spread”

She was very intrigued with the idea of taking a square of fabric (you can tell she knows her audience well!) and wrapping it just right to carry a boatload of stuff. And, if you wrapped just right, you could carry the boat, too! Anyway, we’d love to know what you would want to wrap up. Just leave a comment on what you would wrap up by Monday, May 27, 2013. We’ll draw a name from all the entries and give away a copy of our book. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

We just finished taping our segment for next Monday’s edition of American Patchwork and Quilting Radio. We hope you’ll “tune” in then. Okay, so it’s not your grandparents’ radio. You can listen to the show live via your computer, listen to previous broadcasts, or download different shows via iTunes (for free!).

So, what was it like to tape a radio show, you ask? Well, Pat Sloan, the host, is a professional. We had already exchanged a number of emails before the show and knew exactly what she was going to talk about. All the technical details were spelled out, and we were called promptly. A good model to follow. Did we spill any beans about all the skeletons in our closets? Well, no, but we did talk about the fabric stash we have there! And come back on Monday – we’ll have a surprise for you!

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is holding its annual conference this year in Santa Fe. Whoopee is all I have to say! Never having been there and having to listen to all of Deb’s ravings about the place – not to mention a blog post about the Folk Art Market – I can’t wait. I’m also looking forward to the “Santa Fe Spotlight,” the little benefit auction that will be held there. It looks like I’ll be able to bid on almost 50 matted pieces that are app. 4″ x 6.” Deb made her auction pieces a while ago (she’s so quick, that one) and encouraged me to make a high-tech quilt, too. Well, you know how you sit there and sit there and you’re just not feeling the love? At the same time, I had been toying with the idea of seeing whether or not I could actually make a batik watercolor quilt like the one we had made for a commission to fit into a 4″ x 6″ mat opening, so I decided to try that. Well, it wasn’t easy! We usually work with 2 1/2″ squares, but this time I used 1/2″ squares. Boy, did my eyes get buggy. The hardest part was trying to make the colors move in such a short amount of space. I also used multi-colored thread to quilt it, and I liked the effect. You’ll have to click on the image to see the thread and the actual size.

“From the Jungle”

Deb kept seeing the desert, but for me it was like looking out from the jungle into the light. You can see whatever you like in it! Hope some of you make it to the SAQA conference in April.

The Northern California/Northern Nevada Region of Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA) is mounting its first regional exhibit this April. We had always wanted to organize an exhibit when we were the regional representatives, but it remained our big regret. So, when Franki Kohler organized one in Oakland, we jumped at the change to submit. Titled “Put Your Best Foot Forward,” members were invited to submit 12″ x 12″ quilt art. Now that it’s been a while since we made the piece, it’s kinda hard to remember how we dreamt it up in the first place! In any case, we started riffing about my love for tomatoes and Deb’s loathing of tomatoes, and the rest is history!

Ode to Sacratomato

The exhibit runs April 1 – May 31, 2013 at Creative Framing and Gallery in Oakland, CA. As the time nears, we’ll remind you and tell you a little bit more about the quilt. Here’s Kris’ chance to publicly thank Deb for always letting Kris eat her tomatoes.

We taught our first batik watercolor quilt class of the year this past Wednesday and can’t stop talking about it! We were so busy consulting with the students that we forgot all about playing our trivia games, and, boy, do we have some great trivia questions about batiks! And, yes, you read correctly–we served as consultants. The participants quickly grabbed the concept of slowly transitioning from one color to another and got to work immediately. They were so interested in understanding how to diminish harsh lines, to create luscious glows, and to use the “muddy” colors that the day came to an end before we knew it. We have to admit that we know most of these ladies–they’re members of the American Sewing Guild-Placerville Chapter–but we think it was the creative energy flowing throughout the room that was the real reason we had so much  fun  together! Of course, the chocolate didn’t hurt. Take a look at the results of their hard work.

• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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• Class Samples

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Great Backgrounds!

They learned how much the base fabric will change the entire look of the finished piece – check out the unusual examples above.

ASG-Placerville rocks!

Nothing like a group photo to cap off a great day! It’s too bad we missed a few ladies – they were still fusing!

What a crazy idea for Tech Tuesday, but we just had to tell you about our recent interaction with Google and why we love Google even more than before. It’s true, we can’t wait to check in and see if Google has changed its banner to some special doodle. Did you know you can peruse all their doodles – even the ones that show up in other countries but not ours (’cause even Google realizes we are not as sophisticated as other parts of the globe). Click here to check them out.

One of Kris’ favorite doodles was when Google commemorated Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday.

Google Doodle for Lucy

Click here for the interactive version.

Okay, back to why we love Google even more than before. We recently subscribed to Google Apps for Business. Because we often collaborate with Kris at home and Deb at the studio, we needed to access more and more files simultaneously. We were also able to get a good deal on project management software. (But that’s a topic for another Tech Tuesday). Deb had to clear up some questions we had, so when she filled out her request for help, she was offered a choice of telling Google how she felt that day (like confused, angry frustrated, etc.). Hey, what a way to get to the heart of the matter. Deb was so convinced that the dropdown menu helped her articulate her feelings better than anywhere else that she just had to tell Google. And guess what Google did . . . wrote her a handwritten letter!!! Now how’s that for making technology human! We ♥ Google!

Letter from Google