Radio City Music Hall

Yesterday a few of my cohorts and I took the train into the City to see the Christmas Spectacular.  I saw it when I was newly married with my late hubby and the in-laws (almost fifty years ago) then about 10 years ago with a date and then yesterday.  It's something you only need to see about every ten years because it doesn't change much.  Now they have added some 3-D film sections, which the kids love.  My favorite parts are always the Rockettes dressed as reindeer (the opening number), the Parade of the Tin Soldiers with its amazing precision, and the living Nativity scene with the live camels and donkey, so beautiful and touching.

My great-niece, Kristen, was recently hired as a Rockette but the new hires always start in Nashville so I didn't get to see her. She is a student at the Boston Conservatory and is an incredible dancer.  I thought she would be a ballerina because she is so talented at that, but since she was a little girl her dream has always been to be a Rockette, so she is thrilled.

Here's Kristen on her opening night.  Isn't she beautiful!

Brookfield Craft Center Opening

Friday night was the opening for the big Holiday Sale at the BCC from 6 to 9 PM.  I got there a little after six and it was already mobbed and stayed so all through the evening.  We had lovely live music, wine and plenty of goodies.  It was a great night.

Here's my friend, Mary, looking at some pottery.

Just a another view of part of the crowd.

I love the way they had things displayed, often in color families.  They had painted some of the walls in bright colors which enhanced the wares. That's my "Alley View " on the wall.

This corner had some stunning green glass and my "Verdant" on the wall.

My "Recapitulation" is above an array of blue pottery.

My "To Time" was all my itself on a narrow wall just across from the check-out desk.

These little garden quilts of mine came out very blurry.  When I go back over I'll try to get a better shot.

I fell in love with these darling little sweater sets.  Alas, no one to buy them for.


I volunteered from 2 to 6 on Saturday and while we were not as mobbed as on Friday night, it was steady all day with a lot of sales.  They alway have fabulous jewelry, mostly silver and stones and some beautiful beaded Kumihimo necklaces made by my friend Barbara.

The scarf selection was amazing and I bought two: a scrumptious hand painted silk and a gorgeous silk Itajime Shibori.  I also bought a great present for my son, but I can't say what in case he reads this blog.

If you live anywhere near Brookfield, CT, please stop buy.  Everything is hand made in the USA and a lot of it from Connecticut.  You will be sure to find some great holiday gifts or something for yourself. I did both!  The sale runs through January 6 and if you go to this post, you will find the postcard that lists all the times and dates.

Why Knot?

When I was working on my red silk Dupioni quilt for the texture challenge with my FiberWorks group I thought that the section where I used the double needle and then French Knots would make a wonderful garment.  You can see the quilt here.

This is a detail of the section of the quilt with the double needle and French Knots.  I used cotton batting behind the silk to give it more body and to make the cording effect more prominent.

So I bought some more Dupioni in red, of course, and have cut out a simple jacket.  I am using the double needle again.  It is the widest one they make, I think, with the needles being about a quarter inch apart.  I put flannel behind the silk this time instead of batting.  I don't want a puffy jacket.
I am only doing the technique on one front and half of the back.  My dilemma was whether or not to make the French Knots since they take so long to do.  But I thought that they really do look nice.  Above is the result of two nights in front of the TV. You may notice that the lines of French Knots are interrupted.  I like the look  and it also means I have to do less of them. I still have more to make on this piece.

This is the fabric that I will use for the other front and half of the back.  It's an embroidered Dupioni and really is luscious in person and redder than this picture shows.  Those circles are about the size of a half dollar coin.  I can't decide which side is the right side.  I like them both. For the sleeves I will use the plain red with no tucks.

I'll show the finished jacket, but don't hold your breath.  I have such a busy schedule coming up so it may be a while.  And I have all those knots to make!

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday.  Go see what everyone else is up to.

Wordless Wednesday

New Business Cards

I finally got around to making new business cards.  I loved my old ones that my niece had designed for me several years ago, but the info on them was hopelessly out of date. I kept hearing about Moo Cards and how easy they were to work with and they were right.  It's all done online with super directions and many opportunities to change your mind.  After I had it all set up and sent through I realized that I could have had a color for the background or for the print.  They had a lime green background that was the exact color as the quilt. that would have been cool, but I was too late. Maybe next time, but these should last me awhile.  I wish that I had them when I was in Houston.

I only ordered 100 because I don't want to get stuck with too many in case my info changes again.  I chose a slice of a small quilt that I like for the front and all of the cards will have this design. It doesn't look like it here,but the left side is pure white.

 I chose two different designs for the back.  This shot of one of my cabbage quilts will be on half of them

and this slice of my "Technicolor Ginkgoes"for the other half. This is also the quilt that I am currently using as the banner for my blog.

I wanted something colorful and eye catching and I think I succeeded.  What do you think?

I've linked up again with Off the Wall Friday.  Go see what everyone's up to.

Flower Garden Makeover

You may remember this flower garden quilt that I made awhile ago.  I thought I was finished with it. The little quiltlets had been quilted with just batting, no backing, so that when I put them on the big quilted background they just stuck.  I then pinned them down and sewed around the outside of each one with a straight machine stitch.  I thought it looked great.  But as I took it to a couple of quilt groups for show and tell and rolled it around the pool noodle for transport, the little quiltlets started to sag. I couldn't have them sagging while hanging at a show.  Hey, there's enough sagging going on around here, I don't need saggy quilts, too, so I spent two nights of TV time unpicking the stitches and removing them.  It really wasn't too much of a job.

Today I will fuse each little quilt back onto the background and stitch them on again. Hmm, do you think fusible would work on my sags?

Holiday Sale

I'm sorry to be away from the blog for so long.  I seem to have been very busy since my return from Houston.  One of the things that kept me busy was making some small pieces for the annual sale at the Brookfield Craft Center.  This is the first year that I will be participating and I am delighted to be among the fabulous artists who will showcase their work.
It has aways been my go-to place for finding unique handmade Christmas gifts.  There will be scarves of all kinds, pottery, glass, metal, wood, jewelry, fiber, paper, and more.  I will have several small art quilts mounted on canvas.

I plan to be at the preview and artist's reception, so if you are in the area please stop by.  If you can't make the reception, the sale will be on all through the holiday season.  If you go you won't be disappointed.

Houston

I am back from Houston and the International Quilt Festival where I had two quilts juried into "Quilts, A World of Beauty".  I had been notified ahead of time that one of them was an award winner, but I didn't know until the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday evening that Brown Planet, a Collaboration was a third place winner in its category, Art Quilts Abstract, large.

If you follow my blog, you will recognize this as the quit that I made in collaboration with Kathy Loomis, an excellent award winner quilter.  You can read more about it here where she wrote about it on her blog. I wish that she could have been at the show to share the excitement, but she was unable to attend.

Emerald City had also been juried into the show.  Although it was not a winner I was very pleased that it had been accepted and to have it hanging in such good company.

Another of the many exhibits there was "In the Eye of the Quilter" in which quilters entered photographs that they had taken. I entered the maximum number of three that were allowed and thought that they had been rejected since I never heard from them.  So I was surprised and delighted to see two of my photos in the exhibit. Both of them had been taken on my recent trip to Hawaii.  The first is of an African Tulip Tree and the second is the bark of the Rainbow Eucalyptus.

The quilt festival is an amazing experience!  I have been many times, but each time I am in awe of the impressive amount of quilts and the incredible talent displayed.  I was honored to have my quilts hanging among them.  The show runs from Wednesday evening, with a preview night, though Sunday afternoon.  Last year there were over 60,000 attendees from all over the world. Classes on numerous topics start on Monday and they are always well attended.  I find that it takes all my time to view all the quilts and see some of the vendors and I don't take classes anymore, although I have in the past. It is an exhilarating and exhausting experience and I'm glad to be home and back in my studio planning what I might have for next year.

I'm linking this post to Off the Wall Friday.  Hop on over to see what everyone else is doing.