Men and the art of Quiltmaking . . .

I went to the AQS quilt show in Des Moines this weekend . . .

I had Friday off, and I busied myself shopping, packing, cleaning the litter box, and taking out the trash.  When I picked up Ed from work, we headed northeast.  We listened to the last hour or so of "Abarat, Book Two" by Clive Barker, then started on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larson.  We drove as far as Ottumwa, IA, and stopped for the night.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we hit the road again.  We got to Des Moines in plenty of time:  we parked the car, got our passes, and found the hall where Joe Cunningham was gonna speak.  There were two other men present who were also included in Joe's book, Men and the art of Quiltmaking:  Mike McNamara and Erick Wolfmeyer.  The four of us did a round-robin of autographing each other's copies of the book, LOL!!  Then, we took the time for a "photo op."

Pictured above (from left to right) are Mike McNamara, Erick Wolfmeyer, Joe Cunningham, and myself.

Joe gave an interesting lecture, featuring many of the men in his book and their quilts, but it wasn't well-attended; there were less than two dozen people in the hall.  Afterwards, Ed and I went to see some of the quilts, particularly the display curated by  Joe of some of the male quilter's quilts.  This is me beside the quilt I had on display (which is also featured in the book).

Ed and I wandered around for a little while, looking at some of the other quilts, but I had seen who I came to see, and there were a LOT of other quilts to look at (it would have taken the rest of the day).  I still had a long drive ahead of me.  So, I had a twelve-hour drive for a two-hour visit, but it was worth it for me.

We headed back to St. Louis, stopping only for gas, and food (and chocolate).

I may do it again next year . . .

Des Moines, here I come!!

Remember I mentioned being interviewed for Joe Cunningham's book, Men and the Art of Quiltmaking??  I submitted three quilts for inclusion in the book, and prepared a pattern for one of them.

Well, his book is now REALLY a book (a living, breathing, physical thing)!!

AQS (American Quilter's Society), the publisher is gonna launch the book at their show in Des Moines, IA, October 6-9.  Joe will be there, signing copies of his book.  One of my quilts will be there, as part of a promotional quilt show, in conjunction with the book launch.

And, I'M gonna be there, to stand near and talk about my quilt . . . I'm thinking of driving up for opening day and driving back afterwards (or maybe find a hotel along the way and sleep).

I've never been to one of these shows (no, I've never been to Paducah, either) . . . what are they like??  If you've been to one, I'd love to hear from you.

Other happenings . . .

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted . . . sorry. Here's a few other things that have been happening . . .

After work, I shipped three quilts to Paducah for a "photo shoot." They've been selected to accompany the article about me in Joe Cunningham's book about male quilters, due out next spring I think. Here's what they look like:

Last week, I stopped by my photographer's gallery. Ten years ago, I gave a small quilt show around Mardi Gras. I asked if I could do one next year around Mardi Gras. He said, "sure!!" Guess I'd best get to sewing, huh??

I took part in a fabric swap on the Yahoo! QuiltGuy group with the theme "Winter Blues." I got 29 fat quarters in shades of blue. I'll be starting a new quilt with them, with an eye toward making it my first published pattern. Keep your eyes peeled . . .

Thank you for reading my blog, and please leave a comment and follow this blog!!

In Like Flint in Flint (like) . . .

This weekend, I attended (and participated in) the Flint Festival of Quilts 2009 in Flint, Michigan . . . if you ever get the chance or opportunity to attend, jump on it!! There were six different quilt shows with six different themes in six different locations . . . I attended three of 'em.

There were several rooms of quilts featuring star blocks, star fabrics, or star quilting at the Longway Planetarium (go figure) . . .

The Greater Flint Arts Council curated a show of small art quilts entitled "Nature" . . .

The Flint Public Library hosted the 20th Anniversary of the Flint African American Quilters Guild with a quilt show in the library. They also featured ME as lecturer on Saturday afternoon (you knew I was coming to that) . . .

I spoke for about an hour to a room of about 150 men, women, and children . . . I entertained my audience with tales of taking up sewing on a dare; bonding with my father over a sewing machine; and, "outing" myself . . . then, the lights went down, and I showed them slides of my quilts (they "oohed" and "aahed" appreciably, in all the right places) . . . the lights came up, and I told them about my current design system: I also gave away nearly 200 sets of my design tiles (though I'm sure some of 'em took more than one apiece, LOL!!) . . . I spent the next hour signing autographs, taking pictures, and getting a couple of possible commissions (if they follow through).

The entire lecture was filmed for Public Access TV . . . the producer, Ernestine, loved me and my presentation!! She thought me a natural, the way I interacted with the audience and kept them involved. Hey, I'm passionate about quilting . . . talk with me for more than five minutes and you'll "catch it"!! Ernestine had 4-5 markets to show the finished product; had orders for the DVD; and, promised me a copy I could embed on my website. I gave her a flash drive with jpegs of the slide show (to insert post-production).

About 10:30 p.m., I got a call from Ernestine . . . she had a problem with the jpegs: they weren't high-resolution enough!! (Did I think to take my photo album with me?? No.) She wasn't far from my hotel, and was gonna retrieve the flash drive from her technical guy and return it to me. She arrived around 11:30 p.m., but wasn't coming into the hotel because of her chemically-induced asthma sensitivity to the chlorine in the indoor swimming pool. We sat outside in our jackets and she talked about politics, and sex . . . I stopped her before the topic turned to religion because it was 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning by then, LOL!!

My flight back to St. Louis was uneventful . . .

My first stop was for some lunch . . . my second stop was to buy a new copier/printer/scanner (mine was "pushed down the stairs" years ago). Now to scan some thirty photographs so I can overnight 'em back to Michigan tomorrow . . .

Later, sweet tater . . .

The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd . . .

Last evening was the opening reception for my quilt show in Ste. Genevieve . . . WOW!! What an experience!!

I'd had a terrible morning (my rental car got a flat before I even left town, and I had to have AAA change the flat before I could return the car and get another; one of my cats required an emergency trip to the vet because he got his collar caught in his teeth; and, I had to buy new business card holders and hardware for the curtain rods I hang my quilts on because I couldn't find what's here in the apartment (somewhere)).

I got to the gallery only four hours before the reception was to open, and went right to work, hanging framed magazine articles and quilts. I was gonna check into a cheap motel for the night, but Sam, one of the co-owners, shuddered and suggested the B&B a block away. It was a great B&B: I had a shower and changed clothes (I didn't dare have a nap for fear of sleeping away the evening). I stopped into a storefront restaurant for dinner . . . the two women at the next table said, "hey, aren't you the guy in the picture across the street??" (The gallery owners had a poster of me in several shop windows.) Imagine that . . . me, the celebrity!!

It was a great reception!! The owners had set up a live feed of the reception on their Twitter cam, LOL!! (had I known THAT, I woulda given you fair warning . . .) During the evening, over 100 people came through the gallery; I handed out nearly an entire box of business cards (250 of 'em); I shmoozed a lot of folks (quilters and non-quilters alike); I did a lot of talking, LOL!! I told a lot of people about the design tiles and my take on symmetry (I just happened to have a set on hand for people to play with). I could get used to this!!

After the reception, I went to small party at some friends of the gallery owners . . . I got in after midnight. I was up by 7:30 a.m., showered, and ready for a new day (and, a great breakfast at 9:00 a.m.)!! I entertained my table with the design squares after we'd eaten . . .

Yesterday was busy . . . Today, I'm anxious

Five items of note happened yesterday: I burned the palm of my hand with some soup at lunchtime (it's better today) . . .

I mailed tax papers and promotional pictures to the Flint Public Library for next month's lecture . . .

I mailed signed contracts for a lecture/workshop in Santa Rosa next year (March) . . .

I visited an old friend in the hospital (I love that old man; I don't know what to do for him; there's nothing I can do for him; it hurts me to see him like this) . . .

I had most of a box of quilts photographed (all the quilts use the same set of templates; many are for the show this week; I'll have all of 'em added to the website next week).


I anxious for only two things today: I expect delivery of my new business cards from VistaPrint and computer memory chips from Greg in the mail . . . woo hoo!!

Small pieces quilted . . .

Tonight, I finished quilting the three smaller pieces (pics to come) . . . they all still need to be bound.

I experimented with different quilting angles on these pieces. On one piece, I quilted parallel rows at a 45 degree angle . . . one another piece, I quilted parallel rows one unit wide and two units high (think of a diagonal line through a 1 x 2 rectangle) . . . on the third piece, quilted parallel rows one unit wide and three units high (a much steeper angle). The quilting lines coincide with angles within the piece, so I'm happy with 'em.

Now I'm debating whether to design and start a new quilt to use up more of the fabric swap fabrics, or "go scrappy," and clear out some leftover squares and cut fabric from old projects . . .

Mardi Gras Men quilted . . .

Last night, I finished quilting my Mardi Gras Men quilt . . .

Today, the yet-unbound quilt hangs on my office wall (pics to come) . . .

I took down the three smaller tops (36" square) to take home to start quilting tonight . . .

I'll bind all four of 'em at the same time . . .

What is it?? . . . What am I doing??

I primarily use foundation piecing for my quilt tops . . . I sew my fabric pieces to a foundation of lightly-starched muslin. I treat the two layers of fabric as one. When the top is complete, the muslin remains (unlike paper piecing, where the paper is torn away).

I found that using batting and a backing made the resulting quilt too heavy, too hot, too too . . . Now, I only use a flannel backing (and no batting). It can be used year-round ("Quilts aren't just for winter, anymore . . .").

This weekend, I began working on the Mardi Gras Men quilt. I'm sewing parallel rows of white thread at a 45 degree angle (you can just make it out in the pic below). I'm about 3/4 done.

I have two questions for you: is it a quilt (or a coverlet)?? . . . am I quilting (or sewing a lining to a quilt top)??

Channeling Rooney and Garland . . .

". . . Let's put on a show!!"

Three weekends ago, I ran into Scott and Sam, a couple who run an antique shop/art gallery in Ste. Genevieve, MO . . . they asked if I'd be interested in mounting a quilt show in their gallery for an upcoming Art Walk (which happens the fourth Friday of every month).

Two weekends ago, Ed and I spent the weekend in Perryville, MO, not far from Ste. Genevieve, and I had the opportunity to scope out the place.

This weekend, I decided to mount a quilt show the end of August. I need to quilt the following four quilts in five weeks:

The first three quilt tops are 36" square; the last quilt top is 72" square.

What has me psyched is that all four quilt tops were made using the same set of templates, though no two patterns are alike (and there are infinite possible patterns).

More to follow . . .