Day 1 in St. Paul, what a week!

Last Tuesday, I drove 400 miles from Chicago, IL to St Paul, MN, the longest road trip I have driven by the way, to teach 4 classes at the Minnesota Quilters Show and Conference. It was a wonderful show put on by an all volunteer committee, very impressive!

Nina, my daughter and class assistant, painting fabric and then her coffee cup.

My first class on wednesday was Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts. I always enjoy teaching this class so much, it's probably one of the most information packed classes, squeezing as much info as I possibly can into 6 hours. This was my smallest class of the week with 11 students, the rest of the week's classes were full with close to 25 students.

All week my classes were held in a huge room with plenty of space for students to work.

There were a lot of wonderful paintings, the class created freezer paper masks, textured backgrounds, gradated colors, worked with glazing paint to create more contrast and intensity with color and painted fine lines and details. I always provide images for my students to work with, so they don't have to stress about being creative while they learn new skills.

It's so fun to see the different ways people paint the images, while they practice the different techniques.

Nina's painted fabric that she worked on in class.

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Hitting the road to St. Paul

I have been busy for the last week, packing supplies for teaching 4 classes at the Minnesota Quilters Show and Conference this week. I have never been to Minnesota before so I am looking forward to seeing a little more of the midwest. Now add to this pile 2 more suitcases for clothes for me and Nina and then I am also dropping my son off at the airport for a trip to the east coast on the way, so we also have to fit him and another suitcase in the car, good thing he packs light, lol.

The tall stack of boxes is all metal kits for my class Heavy Metal Play Day. Each student is getting an awesome metal tool kit courtesy of Walnut Hollow with aluminum and copper metal sheets to work with. I am also teaching this class in Long Beach at International Quilt Festival next month so if you havent signed up, you should, you get a about $40 of free supplies with this class! It's a total deal!

I took my first full weekend off in a long time to go to the Chicago Blues Fest, what a blast, 6 stages playing awesome blues music and it's FREE! Here's a video from 2 years ago of a couple of my favorite musicians at the Blues Fest, enjoy!



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ATC's for MIU

The other day Pokey posted photos of ATC's (artist trading cards) on Facebook, that she made for MIU (Make It University).  I love her fly ATC and would love to make a trade with her for one, so I made a bunch for the Trading Post wall in Long Beach at International Quilt Festival.

Leslie Jenisen, Me, Pokey and Jamie Fingal

My ATC's were made from left over portions of my Black and Bloom quilt that will be hanging in the special exhibit Between the Spaces.

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Have you always wanted to paint but don't know where to start?

Oh Deer, Look What's Become of Me!   detail

In August I am teaching one of my favorite classes Painting Imagery for Art Quilts at the Create Retreat in Lisle, Illinois, just outside Chicago.

I love to teach this class not only because I love to paint, but also because I love seeing peoples amazement when they are able to do things they never thought they could. People are hesitant to try painting, because they have this misguided notion that certain people have an "artistic gift" that they themselves do not possess, so they don't even try.

Learn to use freezer paper masks and painting backgrounds

Well I am here to tell you that is baloney, painting is a skill, consisting of various techniques that with practice you can perfect, the more you practice the more natural it will become. The reason some people are so good at painting is because they do it a lot and you need to keep in mind it's never too late to start.

Learn to paint smooth gradations

Painting on fabric is unlike painting on canvas though, with canvas the paint sits on the surface and you can push it around and manipulate it. On fabric the paint sinks in and stays, so there are different techniques you need to learn to cover large areas smoothly, avoiding blotchiness and keep the paint from bleeding.

Learn what tools and techniques to use to control the paint more effectively.

The consistency of the paint is one of the first things we talk about in class, it is such a simple thing that can make the act of painting so frustrating for people. Too thick and the paint is hard to spread on the surface evenly, too thin and it bleeds in places you don't want it to go.

Learn to paint smooth gradations, work with transparent glazes and paint fine details.

Besides learning different painting techniques for creating gradations, glazing paint to create more visual depth and painting smooth lines, you'll also learn about different types of paint, how each affects the hand of the fabric, increasing value contrast in your work to create more dynamic imagery, basting a painted surface for quilting and non traditional binding methods.

This is an information packed class geared to help you feel more confident working with paint on your next textile project.

I would love to see you at Create this August, last year was a blast.

Triple Inspiration!

Last month Jane La Fazio taught a lesson to her monthly art quilt class using teabags, similar to the work I have done collaging them on fabric. 

One of her students, Susie Zolghardri, had also been reading Carla Sonheim’s book and did some cat drawings, using a pillow as the support below the drawings to get more playful shapes, as Carla suggests in her book. Susie traced her cat drawings to teabags and made this adorable quilt!

It's so fun seeing inspiration from three different sources all coming together to make something new.

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Homemade Whoopie Pies!!!!

It was pouring rain, nothing to do outside on a sunday afternoon, so Nina had the brilliant idea of trying to make whoopie pies. These are a treat that anyone growing up in New England would have fond memories of. It is like a chocolate cake sandwich with creamy filling.

A box cake mix would probably work just fine for making these, but I used my favorite Chocolate Zucchini cake recipe, omitting the cinnamon and baking the cake at 350°. The cake is very moist, so they can be a little sticky but oh so tasty! I was thinking of dusting them with a little cocoa or powdered sugar to help with that.

To make the individual "buns" we experimented by pouring big spoonfuls of batter on parchment lined baking sheets and baking them for about 6 minutes, but they spread too much and looked more like big pancakes. 

So we switched to pouring about half the batter straight onto a large baking sheet/jelly roll pan lined with parchment. See, there are other uses for parchment paper than fusing! The batter was about 1/4" thick and then I baked it for about 9-10 minutes, until it was springy to the touch. After the cake was cool, we used a biscuit cutter to cut out circles of cake.

For the cream filling I used a delicious recipe for a boiled butter cream frosting that has the perfect consistency, it's not too sweet and tastes a lot like whip cream. They came out perfect!

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Rained Out at the Chicago Antiques Market

Nina and I went to the Chicago Antiques market down the street this weekend. Shortly after we got there it started raining and didn't really stop for the next 36 hours. We did manage to get a couple photos outdoors before we had to make a run for the inside part of the venue.

I love this naked bridal mannequin, ready to dance but without her partner. I feel like that sometimes, lol.

She should hang out with the other mannequin who lives in our neighborhood, she stands on a fire escape looking across at the el at Lake and Halstead. I think the mustache is a nice touch. Nina snapped this photo the other day on our way to the grocery store.


Love this box of glass fishing floats.

My big find of the day was this 1939 mens day suit. I couldn't believe the jacket was such a good fit, it just needs a little tailoring in the upper back, otherwise the size is perfect.

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The Chicago School of Fusing, Girls of May Birthday Bash

Earlier this week we met for the annual May birthday party for Laura, Frieda, Emily and Anne.

 Laura Wasilowski greeted us to her humble abode in Elgin.

Anne Fahl and Trish Williams listen attentively to Jane Sassaman while Frieda Anderson takes notes and Emily Parson knits. It looks like such serious business, but this is more like it

Frieda showed us that her newest book Fabric to Dye For was recently translated into Spanish.

We had a fabulous potluck lunch!
from left to right Emily Parson, Jane Sassaman, Ann Fahl, Laura Wasilowski, Trish Williams, Barb Vlack, Frieda Anderson and Anne Lullie.

It is always so nice to see sweet Emily, who dyes and sells the most gorgeous sock yarn. I gave her a big skein of yarn to dye that my friend Erylin from New Zealand spun for me last year.

Laura models some of Emilys knitted baby blankets as a sarape.

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I have an article on sewing metal in Volume 3 of the emag In Stitches

Interweave's newest issue of In Stitches is now available for download. It's a great new magazine format that has written articles, videos and slideshows. Check out this great table of contents.

Along with my article, there is a slide show of high res photos of many of the ways I have combined metal with textiles

and a video showing different techniques for sewing and embossing metal.

If you'd like to learn more about what's in volume 3, watch this video featuring Jane Davila, the new editor of In Stitches and Pokey Bolton who gives an overview of the various ways to navigate the emag format.



I also heard there will be an ipad version available very soon as well!

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Between the Spaces Curator Interview

Check out this wonderful interview in the International Quilt Festival spring newsletter with Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, about their new exhibit Between the Spaces that premieres at Long Beach Quilt Festival this July.

Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal at International Quilt Festival

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