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.
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.
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:
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 …
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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