Gesture Drawing

The first drawings I do of botanical subjects are gesture drawings. I place my pen or pencil on the page, and without looking at the page I follow the lines of the plant from bottom to top. Sometimes I run out of page before I run out of plant, so I'll draw it again until I have learned to fit the plant on my drawing sheet. I think some of the most lyrical and elegant drawings result from gesture drawings. One learns to really look at the subject, rather than assuming anything from past experience/culture.

This is an ink drawing of Chicory intybus, one of the few true blue wildflowers that grow in my region.

Quiltfest 2008

A notice from Susan Purney-Mark, the Publicity Director of the Assoc. of Pacific Northwest Quilters:

Quiltfest 2008 is coming soon...don't forget to add the dates August
8-10th, 2008 to your calendar! Quiltfest is the biennial quilt show
hosted by the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters. The show
will feature over 250 quilts from the best quilters in the Pacific
Northwest including BC, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho,
Alaska, Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

The show is held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Centre
in downtown Seattle. As well as the show there are many special
exhibits from Canada, Japan, South Africa and the UK. Its an event
not to be missed! We hope to see you there! For further information
see the web site: www.apnq.org

Portland International Spring Quilt Market 2008 Final

My husband Sid is my booth helper (one of my customers called him 'Booth Candy'), but also lends a hand wherever needed with others. His job is also to scout out a local microbrewery/restaurant and lead us all to dinner at the end of the last day. He chose the Deschutes Brewery, which had just opened, and which Sid had researched on the internet before we went to Portland. It certainly was excellent - the beer, the food and the service!

Sid and Tracey Browning (Quizzles) from Australia

Sid tells a good story! To his right are Tracey Browning and Helen Stubbings (Hugs 'n Kisses) of Australia, and Shannon Haley-Funcke of Iowa, President of Quilt Press.

Jean Boyd on the left (Patterns by Jean Boyd), myself in the middle (Botanical Art Quilts) and Tricia Sherman on the right (Great Canadian Shop Hop).

Life is good.

Portland International Spring Quilt Market 2008 #3

International Quilt Market is a pile of hard work, but as you can see in these photos it is also a whole lot of fun. You never know who you'll meet wandering down an aisle. I noticed the name "Karen Combs" on the tag of a lady in the Blank Textiles booth, and invited her back to my booth. Karen has designed many of the Blank fabrics that I use in my quilts. She was so appreciative of my work that she brought a number of Blank people back, including le grand fromage Mitchell Blank, the President of Blank Textiles.

Karen is a designing dynamo, author and teacher. Her website is www.KarenCombs.com and her blog is Karen Combs.
Here we are struttin' our stuff!

Sharon Pederson visited our aisle, known as
Little Canada. Sharon was debuting her latest book,
Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter
published by Martingale & Company.

A sassy lady sporting a new henna
tattoo also stopped by. Her initials
are Tricia Sherman, and she is the
owner of The Great Canadian Shop Hop as well as being a media star for QNNTV.com.
I met Tricia in 2007 when she filmed
the 4th episode of GCSH at Country Concessions, a quilt shop in
Cookstown, Ontario.
I was one of the featured designers.

Tomorrow will be the last post on Quilt Market - photos from the Deschutes Brewery!

Portland International Spring Quilt Market 2008 con't

One of the most wonderful things about International Quilt Market is connecting with old friends and meeting new ones. Although we come from different parts of the globe, we are all in the same business and share common challenges and goals. These are photos of friend's and neighbor's booths.

Jean Boyd of Patterns by Jean Boyd and Upper Canada Quiltworks, having a chat with Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero, the owner/designer of the software company Kaleidoscope Collections.

Christine Baker of Fairfield Road Designs and Nellie Holmes of originellie's, also under the banner of Upper Canada Quiltworks. I asked for an action shot and I got one!

Barbara Cribb of Wild Thymes Pattern Co., my booth neighbor. Barb's wool creations are gorgeous, and her handouts for the Schoolhouse sessions were the best I've ever seen.

Tracey Browning of Wysistas and the creator of Quizzles (interactive quilt pattern software). Tracey and Helen (the next photo) were our neighbors at International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City last year. They both hail from Australia. It was great to reconnect with them. In fact, I found them in the quilt books aisle at Powell's Book Store!

The fabulous award-winning Helen Stubbings of Hugs 'n Kisses. Helen gave me one of her coveted Boobie Buttons, which I sat and coloured in her booth. You can see the buttons on her blog, Helen's Hugs.

Tomorrow I'll post more action shots...

Portland International Spring Quilt Market 2008

International Quilt Market, a wholesale trade show, is held twice a year in the U.S. Fall Market is always in Houston in late October. Spring Market moves between several cities in the northern areas. Last week Market was in Portland, OR. Portland is a beautiful city located in the Pacific Northwest on the Columbia River. Mount Hood and Mount Adams are visible, and Mount St. Helen's is northwards.

My husband Sid came along to help, and we arrived a day early to explore downtown Portland.

The first amazing visit was to the Portland Chinese Classical Garden, also known as the garden of awakening orchids.The other wonderful experience was spending a couple of hours in Powell's Book Store, the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. We filled our packsack with books of all sorts. What a treat!

The next day was booth set-up.

My booth - Botanical Art Quilts

And lastly, a photo of Sample Spree - a wild frenzy of shopping!

Tomorrow I'll show photos of friend's and neighbor's booths.

The Bed Quilt Club 8

I'm slowly digging through all the work generated from International Quilt Market in Portland. I'll post about Market starting tomorrow. Today, however, I'll share the last Bed Quilt Club meeting which was held 2 days ago. Marg kindly emailed the photos to me, as I was up to my neck in printing patterns and couldn't attend.

Once again, the guidelines:

1. You must be working on a bed quilt.
2. There are no deadlines or pressures or responsibilities.
3. You can Show & Tell any project.
4. Helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

Myrna's quilt is away to be quilted. She is SO going to win the Speed Queen Award.
Pat shared news of a huge new Canadian Shop Hop to be held this fall.

Doris did some reverse sewing where she had used the wrong colour logs in her blocks. These are the beautiful result! The pattern is "Cabin Fever" from Trudie Hughes' book Log Cabin Quartet.

Gwen finished her quilt top. The pattern is "It's Always Green in Miami" from Jane Hardy Miller's book French Braid Quilts.

Marg sewed 25 more Friendship Star blocks. She is hosting our final get-together at her camp on Manitoulin Island on June 21st. Here's proof that I'm psychic: Pyjamas will be worn. Gin and tonics and single malt scotch will be consumed. There will be a few tears and much laughter.
A good time will be had by all!

Colleen wasn't able to attend, but brought in her 9 Patch Block exchanges earlier. The 9 Patch Block exchange rules are:

1. 3" finished size blocks, 1" finished squares.
2. No solids or whites.
3. The dark squares are at the outside corners and centre.
4. Blocks will be 2 fabrics: light and dark.
5. We have to include every block from the swap in our quilts.
6. We can add as many extra blocks as we want to our own quilt.

Starting tomorrow - some great photos from Quilt Market.