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While at the Minnesota Quilters Show, I visited the vendor’s mall. . .okay, more than once!
During one of my visits, I spotted the Sew Ezi Sewing Table.
It is lightweight and folds flat for transport and storage. The wheels make it easy to move. What a perfect table for class, use at a vacation house, take in an RV or for the sewing studio.
The work surface is large and the clear inserts are cut to the owner’s sewing machine. I ordered one for my Pfaff 7570.
I was impressed with this table. It is very versatile. I’m always looking for something to use for a light box. This table has an option insert that turns it into a light box.
An Ott Light will fit under the clear light box insert and this creates a perfect space for tracing a design.
I talked to several students in class about the table before I purchased one. I asked “Who has one? Do you like it?” One of my students, Twilia has TWO! She keeps one at her cottage and uses one at her home. She uses hers all the time and even has used it when having a party and needing some extra table space for serving. I thought that was another fantastic use for this table.
I ordered one, along with the light box insert and an insert for my Singer Featherweight machine. I think it will be a perfect table for many reasons. . .
I’ve never been to Rochester, and found it is a great town! My hotel was in the middle of downtown, just two blocks from The Mayo Clinic.
Right across the street was the shops at University Square, a small mall filled with unique shops. Counterpoint was just one of the stores. I loved the window, how retro! I remember Marimekko from the 60’s and 70’s.
Outside the University Square, I found a courtyard. Since it is summer, the dusk came late. I enjoyed many evenings in this courtyard.
The iron fountain is certainly unique and amazing in this close-up photo.
This little fellow had fun running to the water, touching it and running back to his mom.
Semva Art Gallery was also in the Courtyard. Their window displays were inspiring.
I love this design. . .I’m thinking quilts!
The courtyard was filled with flowers. This petunia was so bright, it almost glowed.
As I looked around, I noticed a Celtic design around this tree.
Another great quilting idea. . .
While I was in Rochester, a downtown festival, Rochesterfest was happening at the same time. I enjoyed the nightly music, the parade and the Art Festival. One evening, the downtown was filled with booths.
This booth featured woven rugs and blankets. They were all Peruvian designs, all of them beautiful.
One booth featured iron work. This copper birdbath had a beautiful patina.
Yet another booth had glass. . .these hand blown balls were fascinating.
I’m back from the Minnesota Quilt Show and had a wonderful time! I wanted to blog while I was there, but I forgot my “cords” bag. What was in it?? Only the cord to hook my camera to my computer and the battery charger. I was able to take a few photos before my camera battery died. Now that I’m home, I can grab the photos and post them.
I had a wonderful time visiting Rochester, Minnesota, seeing the show and with the students in my classes.
My classes were the best. My camera ran out of battery before I could take many photos, but I did capture this one.
One of my students (Peggy, was this your fabric??) brought in this wonderful tie-dyed fabric. After we made some blocks, I played with the cubes and used the fabric as a background. We loved the effect and had to take a photo! The cubes are from different peole in the room. It all worked so well and looks fantastic.
The Show was absolutely filled with quilts. There were three rooms filled with beautiful quilts. I took some photos of my favorites while I still had some battery left.
I love scrap quilts and this Friendship Star quilt is lovely. The play of light and shadow is perfect.
Of course, the hexagon is one of my favorite shapes. This quilt is very cool! Wish I had a close-up.
Another scrap quilt, all done with warm colors. The illusion of depth comes and goes. I love it!
I must be wishing for fall! I loved the leaves in this quilt. It looks like a fall day with leaves falling from the trees. Nothing like a walk in the woods in a beautiful fall day.
Have you ever seen a “Quilt on a Stick?” A great idea and a wonderful auction idea!
Everything is packed and shipped, my clothes are almost packed and soon, I’m off to Rochester, Minnesota for the Quilted Jewels, the 30th Annual Minnesota Quilters Quilt Show. I’ve taught there in the past and have had a great time. I always enjoy my visits to Minnesota!
I’ll be teaching
The show is always wonderful and I can’t wait to see the vendors! If you are a blog reader, be sure to say hello!
I’m looking forward to my visit with Quilter’s Guild of Indianapolis tomorrow and Friday.
I’ll be presenting my “Quilts of Illusion” lecture on Thursday evening.
On Friday, I’ll be teaching my “Patchwork Illusions” class.
See everyone soon!
Another beautiful day in Portland, Oregon, so I decided to walk to the Convention Center. Along the way, I spotted this art installation in the lobby of a building. I don’t remember the name of the building, but I certainly remembered this artwork. . . interesting inspiration for a quilt!
Once in the Blank Quilting booth, we had a few minutes to say hello to each other and get ready for our day. Here is our Vice-President, Jeremy Jeffries with two of our sales reps, Kathy Hewitt and Cathy McLees. My buddy (and AMAZING sales rep) Cheryl Aldrich is sitting in the table in the background.
During a break, I visied the Handi Quilter booth. This is the creator of the first portable home machine quilting frame, and these are amazing quilting machines.
I had to try my hand at it!!
Headed back to the booth, I ran into this lovely shop owner and was admiring her shirt. She was kind enough to pose for a photo.
I don’t know about you, but I see a very cool optical illusion quilt in this shirt!!
During lunch, I spotted this arrangement on a table outside Starbucks. (Okay, I didn’t eat lunch that day, I had a latta!)
I thought it was interesting and took a close-up.
After three days of Quilt Market, my mind is full of inspiration and my heart is full with the new (and old) friends I’ve been with. Back at the hotel, I noticed this stained glass in one of the restaurants.
Now it is time to pack and head back home, I can’t wait to get into my studio!
Quilt Market started on Friday. The weather was perfect and the skies were clear. From our hotel, we had a beautiful view of Mt. St. Helen AND Mt. Hood. It is rare to see both so well. It was a good start for Market.
Mt. St. Helen
Mt. Hood
Since the weather was so perfect, I decided to walk to and from the Convention Center, about a 4-5 block walk. As I walked, I took note of the scenery.
The fence and the trees created a nice perspective view. On closer look, the flowers made an interesting scene, against the wrought iron fence.
A few blocks away, the spire of the Oregon Convention Center.
A close-up.
Once on the Show floor, I was able to meet many shop owners and Vendors.
Janet Rice-Bredin from Bontanical Art Quilts was only a few booths away from our Blank Quilting booth. We noticed her beautiful booth and her friendly personality at once. (You can read her blog at http://janetricebredin.blogspot.com/)
We loved her patterns and her placement of color.
On closer look- Allthe fabrics were from Blank!
She loved our fabrics and used Gilded Greenery, Splash, Essence, Bali Rain, Floret and many other of our lines in her patterns!
Gilded Greenery by Karen Combs for Blank Quilting
Essence by Karen Combs for Blank Quilting
Bali Rain by Blank Quilting
More Market news tomorrow!
I’ve just returned from Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. This Market is like every Market I’ve ever attended: exciting, inspiring and exhausting! There is nothing like it! I plan to post photos and thoughts over the next few days. . .
I left for Portland last Tuesday. Alarm was set for 2:45am in order to make a 6am flight. There is just something WRONG with getting up for the day at 2:45am!!
After flying most of the morning and a significant time change, I arrived in Portland at 1pm. Due to misplaced luggage and and meeting up with the other members of the group, it was 3pm before we arrived at the hotel. I could not wait to get into my room, unpack, freshen up and get something to eat!
The view from my room was beautiful. It was a “city” view.
We spent the remaining few hours getting ready for set-up the next day and I could not wait to get some sleep!
On Wednesday, we set-up the booth and prepared for Sample Spree and Schoolhouse. This is a photo of the booth after many hours of set-up!
Thursday or Schoolhouse/Sample Spree day is always a long, but exciting. We finished setting up the booth during the morning, presented four Schoolhouse presentations during afternoon and set-up and worked Sample Spree during the evening. By last count, it was an 18 hour work day!
Here we have people coming in for my “Creating Illusions in Quilts” Schoolhouse.
I showed a slide show and a trunk show at this Schoolhouse.
I just LOVE being with quilters! They are the best! Just look at these smiles! (For all of you in my Schoolhouse - I TOLD you that you would be in my Blog!) 
I enjoyed all of our Schoolhouse presentations and met many wonderful people.
After cleaning up from Schoolhouse and hauling many, many boxes to Sample Spree, we set up our tables.
It is hard to picture, but this HUGE room is filled with tables and right after this photo was taken was filled with shop owners - ready to buy! Sample Spree is open from 8-10pm.
Back at the hotel, it is midnight and we finished setting up the booth, Schoolhouse and Sample Spree. Tomorrow, the show opens and I can’t wait.
More Market news and photos tomorrow!
As a traveling teacher, packing and unpacking are part of my job. As soon as one trip is over, another is upcoming. For the few weeks, I’ve been making lists and packing for Spring Market. Everything has to be shipped tomorrow, so I’m getting down to the wire.
This year Spring Market will be held in Portland, Oregon. It is a beautiful city. It has a population of over 2 million residents. The city covers 130 miles and is listed as the cleanest city in the U.S. Companies such as Nike, Adidas and Intel fuel the local economy. Portland is located an hour from the Pacific Ocean and is close to Mount Hood. (Check out the link for the Mount Hood web cam!)
There is always lots to do, to prepare for Market. I’ll be doing two Schoolhouse Sessions for Blank Quilting: Secrets of the Selvage and Creating Quilts of Illusion.
I will debut new colors in my Gilded Greenery collection.
And my new collection called Nami will also debut.
Often I am asked, “How do you design fabric?” Sometimes I am inspired by a concept, sometimes a texture, sometimes by a need I see as a quilter. Many different things inspire my fabric and quilt designs.
For Nami, I was inspired by antique and traditional Asian textures. To give the collection a clean, yet traditional feel, I used the combinations of indigo/white, black/white, red/white and red/black.
In order to have designs that worked well together, I selected curvilinear designs and geometric designs. These play well off each other and can be used together in a quilt.
The three curvilinear designs are:
The floral designs are inspired from traditional Asian textures. The wave design is inspired from an antique kimono texture.
The three linear designs are:
Each of these designs were directly inspired by traditional Sashiko quilting patterns. In the third design, the stitching lines show.
What is Sashiko?
Early 18th Century, the wives of Japanese farmers, fishermen and lumberjacks made warm garments by stitching two pieces of heavy fabric together. They used fine running stitches throughout the entire garment. At first, the stitching was used for reinforcing and repairing damaged fabrics but later became more decorative. The cotton fabric was dyed very dark blue with the root of a native plant. We know this color as indigo.
By the end of the century, this particular style of stitchery was known as “SASHIKO”. Around the late 19th Century, sashiko appeared in cities. The style was adopted for warmth but the stitching designs became more elaborate.
I created this kimono quilt as a free project giveaway for this collection. Be sure to ask for your shops to order Nami and ask for the free project sheet.
I also played with Nami and Gilded Greenery in this quilt, Celtic Vision from my book, Celtic Pieced Illusions.
I used the Cinnamon and Saffron colorways from Gilded Greenery and three textures Nami in this quilt. I think it is an amazing combination!
From time to time, I thought I would mention some of my favorite quilt shops, new quilt shops or shops that would make a good “mini shop hop.”
I don’t know about you, but I love finding a new quilt shop! I just heard about one in Cullman, Alabama:
Simple Pleasures Florist and Quilt Shop
1605 3rd St Ne
Cullman, AL 35055
(256) 734-5016
This is a photo of their beautiful display of Splash and Lava from Blank Quilting.
Cullman is a fun little town in northern Alabama. It has a large flea market, weekly farmer’s market and on May 17th, is Strawberry Day. Yum!
While in Cullman, don’t miss the Sewing Gallery, another great quilt shop!
Sewing Gallery
320 First Avenue. South East
Cullman, Alabama
256-734-7377
www.sewing-gallery.com
320 First Avenue. South East
Cullman, Alabama
256-734-7377
www.sewing-gallery.com
Road trip anyone??
I enjoyed my time in the Denver area. While there, I drove from Denver to Boulder to visit the Celestial Seasonings plant. The view as I drove towards Boulder was beautiful.
As I took this photo, I noticed the ground in front of me was “moving.” As I looked closer, I saw dozens, if not scores of prairie dogs!
I love tea, so I was excited to visit Celestial Seasonings.
They offer a factory tour, so I was off to the Tour Center to book my place in line. The tour was fascinating! We saw how the tea was mixed and packaged. It all happens at this plant. The entire factory smelled wonderful!
After the tour, I visited the Tea Shop and bought lots of tea. My favorites: Sleepytime, Mandarin Orange Spice and Goji Berry Pomegranate. Yum!
Denver is a beautiful town. We took some amazing photos!
We were getting hungry, so we decided to have High Tea and the famous Brown Palace Hotel.
It is a beautiful building, built in the 1880’s.
The stained glass ceiling was amazing. Looks like a quilt!
We have a lovely tea, just look at this beautiful plate.
Last stop, the Molly Brown House.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown movie was my favorite as a child. I just had to visit her home.
The house was closed, but we took lots of photos.
The house is a Queen Ann style and the gingerbread was amazing!
I played with my camera and was able to take a photo of the house in sepia. Looks like the photo was taken 100 years ago! (Can you see me on the stairs?)
While in Denver, I spent some time with my friend, Barbie and her daughter, Courtney. I’ve known Barbie for years and recently she and Courtney have moved to the Denver area. I was exited to see them! We had a wonderful time, visiting some sights in and around Denver.
I fully believe in “filling the well”, or in other words, take time for yourself and fill your mind with inspiring people, places and things. We decided to spend time time at the Denver Art Museum. Our first stop, the gift shop:
We found these cool woven place mats.
Some beautiful glass coasters.
I loved the light coming through these vases.
We viewed the new Gee’s Bend Quilts exhibit, an Impressionist exhibit and a small Amish quilt exhibit.
Next, off to walk through downtown Denver. At the capital building, we spotted this engraving, “One Mile Above Sea Level.” Well, we had to get a photo together, a mile high.
There are many sculptures around the city. We found this giant bear peering into the convention center.
More on our visit in my next post!
Just can’t wait to get on the road again!
All the electronics are charges, quilts are packed, workshop supplies have been shipped, clothes are washed and waiting to be packed and I’m headed back on the road. For the next 11 days, I’ll travel across the country, teaching and lecturing.
My first visit is with the Arapahoe County Quilters and the Columbine Quilt Guild, both in the Denver area. Thursday night, my lecture at the Arapahoe guild is on “Quilts of Illusion.”
On Friday, my class is a “Patchwork Illusions”, an easy way to create amazing 3-D quilts.
Next, a visit to the Columbine Quilt Guild. On Saturday, the hands-on workshop will be on the illusion of transparency. This is a fun illusion that uses color to create the illusion of transparency.
My lecture will also be on Transparency. I’ll show different ways to put this illusion into quilts and will show many different quilts of illusion.
If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and say hello!
My next stop is a cross country flight home, hop in my car and drive to Johnson City, Tennessee for two classes at the Somewhere Sewing quilt shop.
The first class is Celtic Illusions is based on my book, Celtic Pieced Illusions. A fun way to create pieced Celtic quilts.
Christmas Cube is a beautiful 3-D cube and is so fun to create!
While I’m traveling, I will also be starting my “Combing Through Your Scraps”, online class at Quilt University. For complete information, visit Quilt University.com.
What a wonderful time we had in Virginia! We loved seeing Jamestown and Williamsburg.
My visit to the Colonial Piecemakers was fantastic! We had a wonderful time at the workshops and lecture! What a fun group.
Here they are, hard at work, piecing cubes.
While everyone was working, I noticed Mary’s jacket. She had a beautiful mola on the back of it and had used batiks with it. The jacket was stunning and what a clever way to use the Mola she received from Panama.
The class was held in a beautiful church building. The rafters were open. With the sun shining in, I noticed a lovely design. Hmm, maybe a new quilt or quilting design??
Here are the cubes made in class, all together on a design wall. Pretty cool!
We have a fantastic time!
Williamsburg has always appealed to me on many levels. I love the historical nature of Colonial Williamsburg. I love the quaintness of the restored town. Everywhere I look is a charming scene.
As a quilter, this also appeals to me. I love the geometrical nature of Williamsburg. The fence along this garden.
As I travel, I am always looking for inspiration for my quilt and fabric designs.
The lines of a gazebo and color play of a bright yellow against the white of the gazebo and the fence show me color and line combinations.
The straight line of a chimney, the angle of a roof and the perspective inspire me.
The repeating line of a fence against the octagon building intrigue me.
In this close-up, I find inspiration for a quilting design.
Everything where I look is inspiration for a quilt. This design along the edge of the roof would be another amazing quilting pattern.
This lamp has an interesting design that wraps around the lamp. I also enjoy seeing the play of light against dark in this photo.
I love taking photos through windows. This photo has an interesting grid pattern and a beautiful scene beyond the window.
In this courtyard, I noticed the shape of the buildings.
At the end of the building was a shed. At closer look, I noticed the patina of the roof.
At even closer look, I noticed the shape of the roof shakes as they covered the roof.
Yesterday, we woke up before 3am, left the house at 4am and caught a 6am flight to Virginia. I’m looking forward to teaching at the Colonial Piecemakers on Friday and Saturday. However, Rick and I decided to go a few days early and do some touring before my classes.
Our first stop was the Jamestown Settlement, first permanent settlement on America, 1608. It is on the banks of the James River.
While there, we watched some of the archaeological digs and met the “Chicken Lady.”
Here is a recreated barrack. Rick was interested in the construction.
Late in the afternoon, we went to Colonial Williamsburg. As we arrived, a fife and drum corp was marching down the street.
We also saw a new-born lamb.
All in all, Colonial Williamsburg is a magical place.
More in a bit. . .
I’ve enjoyed my few weeks at home, but it’s time to get back on the road. In April, I have 4 trips scheduled.
The first one is to the Colonial Piecemaker’s in Williamsburg, Virginia. (One of my favorite places!) I’m looking forward to my visit with them.
Next is the Araphoe County Quilters and the Columbine Quilt Guild in the Denver, Colorado area. Can’t wait to visit them!
The final trip for April is to the Somewhere Quilting quilt shop in Johnson City, Tennessee. Love eastern Tennessee and looking forward to this visit as well.
As with any trip, there is always lots of planning. This week, I spent several days printing and packaging handouts, sorting quilts for my classes and lectures and packing class supplies.
For each trip, I unusually plan on 2 or 3 days of concentrated prep time, not to mention the months of planning with the program chairs of each guild. Kudos to these hard working people who plan workshops and lectures!
As you can see, Cocoa is helping as I sort quilts in to “workshop” and “lecture” piles for each guild.
Whew! The first round is printed, collated, sorted, packed and ready for shipping. Round two will be next week!
Yesterday afternoon, Rick and I decided to meet our son, Josh in Nashville and go to the Nashville Auto Show.
On the way, we made a detour to Wild Oats, my favorite market!
Well, I went into the Market, Rick decided to go next-door and visit the electronics store!
Heading into Wild Oats is a sensory treat with all the colors and wonderful smells.
Look! Three kinds of asparagus!
The floral department is a treat. Look at this unusual flower. . . a kangaroo paw.
I love the cheese department and picked up some of my favorite cheeses.
The chocolate aisle is fantastic. Love the emergency chocolate!
After leaving the market, we headed into Nashville. The view from the sky-walk into the convention center is beautiful.
The convention center is right across the street from the historic Ryman Auditorium. The tall building is the A T & T building, but everyone calls it “The Batman Building”. Can you see why?
As we were walking along the sky-walk, I spotted some beautiful carpet, three floors down. Love it and love the lights!
After looking down, I looked up and saw this amazing sight.
After entering the car show, I lost track of Rick and Josh. Oh here they are. . .can’t get them away from the Corvettes!
Looks like Rick has found one he likes!
Oh my, this Saturn Sky is cute!
I’ve just returned from a fantastic conference, Quilting Advetures. . .Texas Style. It was held at the T Bar M Ranchin New Braunfels, Texas.
It is a beautiful place! This is the building, where my class was held.
I worked with 10 amazing women during the 5 day class. We focused on my Patchwork Illusions technique and my Celtic Pieced Illusions technique. Each person selected their own colors and designed their quilts. It is always fun for me to see what each student creates!
They worked hard and produced some beautiful work.
The last morning, we took photos of each person with their work.
Mary Ellen Clifford created a 7 cube design with rotating light sources. She also created the quilt Celtic Vision in her own colors. Love both of them!
Ginny Daly created 3 cubes and rotated the light source to the center. Notice the fourth transparent cube in the center! She also worked on a Celtic Illusions quilt, we see it in progress. Beautiful!
Linda Diaz worked on 3-D cubes in two different sizes. Love the small cubes with the large ones! She created an original Celtic Pieced Illusions design, here it is in progress. Fantastic!
Anna Lee Fahey pieced 10 different small cubes and placed them in an amazing design. Notice the different light sources and the impossible figures that appear and disappear. She added some small cubes on the side, just for fun.
She also created a Celtic Illusions quilt in beautiful greens, and golds. Love both designs!
Charlotte Keener created four 3-D cubes and placed them with multiple light sources. The dark background really makes the cubes “pop”. Charlotte also created an interwoven heart Celtic Pieced Illusions quilt. Love them!
Carole Weaver created a beautiful original Celtic Pieced Illusions quilt. I love the colors and the design!
Lee Whittle created a multiple cube tower with pieced 3-D cubes. They also have multiple light sources. Beautiful!
She also made a beautiful Celtic Pieced Illusions quilt, using several lovely batiks.
Marilyn Wilson made several large 3-D cubes in different colors and blocks. I love the Friendship Star, the Ohio Star and the Nine-Patch blocks in the different colors!
She also created a beautiful Celtic Illusions design in several colors. Notice the weaving on the center design. Love it!
Martha Cropper created a beautiful Celtic Illusions design with a gradating background. It is fantastic! She also pieced 3-D cubes in several different colors, it is in process and she plans to add two more cubes. Notice the rotating light sources!
Sandra Hammond pieced 4 different 3-D cubes and plans to add more 3-D corners. I love the different design elements and impossible figures in this design.
She also created a lovely Celtic Illusions quilt. Love both designs!
Here is our class photo:
While at Quilting Adventures, I had the privilege of teaching with Sue Benner, Joen Wolfrom, Rachel Clark, Debby Caffrey, and Paula Scaffidi. I snapped their photo while we were enjoying the sunshine and waiting on our rides to the airport. It was a pleasure to be with them!
I’m here in Texas, teaching at a wonderful retreat, Quilting Adventures. . .Texas Style.
We are having a wonderful time and I’ll post photos soon. We are working on the Patchwork Illusions technique
and the Celtic Pieced Illusions technique.
While at the Friendship Star Quilters Guild last week, Susan, one of my students had the coolest thing on her sewing machine! The bendable bright light!
This small wonder had a pure white light and attached to the sewing machine. The best part, it attached with a mounting bracket, no magnets!
Susan was kind enough to share the web page with me: http://www.bendablebrightlight.com/ .
What a cool notion! Perfect for those dark corners in class or anytime you want more light. . .
This weekend, I had the privilege of teaching and lecture for the Friendship Star Quilters in Gaithersburg, Maryland. What a fun, friendly and talented guild! We had a blast in the MORE PATCHWORK ILLUSIONS class.
Everyone worked on drawing patchwork blocks into a 3-D shape.
Just a few of the cubes made in class. Everyone selected their own colors and block!
Wow! Their cubes look fantastic!
Karen Combs
