Back from Houston

Hello everybody,

I’ve been back from Houston for a week now and it is amazing how busy it is at the office after a week away, despite the fact that I did check email … good thing for Internet and an iPad.

Market was good once again  I did two demos for Wonderfil Threads and it was very interesting.  My friend Julie, of La Todera, had a good market too.  Below is a photo of her booth.  She had a very colorful backdrop to her patterns and samples.

julies_backdrop

We started a “tradition” last year, of getting together with friends, new acquantainces, some old ones; people we see once a year.  We then go to the Phoenicians, a supermarket a few blocks from the convention center, buy dinner and goodies to share and go and sit at the rooftop of the Hilton Americas.  Below is one of the photos I took the first night we went.  The one on the left is Julie from La Todera, and no, she doesn’t always hold a bottle of wine … :) and the people on the right need no introduction:  Kaffe Fasset and Liza Prior-Lucy.

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Here are a few photos of the booths at Market, some of the things I enjoyed the most.

The first is a new line of fabrics by Tim Holtz, the king of steampumk:

 

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I want them all … the lettering caught my attention.  Of course, I would also like to have that beautiful armchair in my living room … but they wouldn’t part with it!

Another one, from Contempa.  Once again … the couch caught my attention.  And yes, it would look right at home in my living room.  But … no success …

contempo

It was a busy time.  Between the demos in the morning, and trying to see everything in the afternoon … plus trying to look at the quilts and all the exhibits – I know I did not cover them all. But I did the best with the time I had.

 

Here are a two photos of Margaret Jessop’s quilts:  Dream Tree and The Four Elements:

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The_four_elements_margaret_jessop

I taught a few classes.  The first one was my “Simple Landscapes with Stitch and Paint”.  I had almost a full class, and everybody enjoyed it and did quite well.  We were working on Janome sewing machines, and it is difficult to free-motion quilt on a sewing machine that you’ve never used before.  But we had a person from Janome available when needed, and that was a great advantage.  Thank you Janome!  Here are a few photos:

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The second class was my Introduction to Fabric Painting and I had 24 people in the class.  Long story short … when I got to Houston, the day before the class when I was preparing for it, I realized that I did not have any white fabric paint.  So I have to thank Julie for going to the Texas Art Supply store a few minutes before the store opened and getting 4 bottles of white paint in time for the class.  I also want to thank Judy Coates Perez who sent her daughter Indigo with a glass with some white paint.  Below is a group photo at the end of the day:

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The last day for me consisted of a 3-hour class for Inktense pencils, a demo for Mixed Media Miscellaney on Inktense pencils again, and then from there I had to rush to Open Studios for a 2-hour demo on Inktense Pencils.  :)  They went very well … a couple of photos from the class:

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Don’t you love the way those leaves match her sweater?  She did a really good job with them.  What she’s holding in her hand is Fabric Medium, which is used instead of water so once the work dries and cures for a couple of days, it can be ironed and heat set for colourfastness.  I use Golden GAC 900 – available at most art stores.  Liquitex also carries a fabric medium as well as Jo Sonya and other brands.

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I have received a lot of emails on this class and from people who were at the demos with different enquiries.  I love the fact that I could give people something to get excited about.  I hope they give it a try and love it as much as I do.

And this is it for now.  I am off to do some work.  More on that later.  For now … keep quilting.

Ana

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