Stormy Seas

Winter at the beach is so mysterious. I love it. My beach experiences have always been on the Pacific Coast or Hawaii. I don't really know the east coast shoreline but I hope to visit someday. I just spent the last 5 days teaching in Pacific Grove, CA at Empty Spools Seminars. Wow, what a place. It’s held at the Asilomar conference grounds right next to Pebble Beach.
During this stay a rainy storm blew in and dampened the grounds and all of us. That doesn’t stop quilters one bit. In fact, it made the smells stronger and sweeter and the colors where brighter. In my class I am trying to get the students to look closely at colors and values in just one flower petal at a time. It can be very challenging. So the rain was an added blessing. The waves at the beach where breaking at least 6 feet high at times. Then the sun would peek through the storm clouds and let a little ray of light shine onto the front of a breaking wave as it crested. The wave would glow with a deep turquoise blue green, edged in white froth. I couldn't wait to plant my bare feet in the cool wet sand and squish it between my toes. Which I did while taking pictures of the stormy sea. I see a wave quilt in my future.
My room was so sweet - it even had a romantic fireplace. Too bad I was alone. But I was there to teach and encourage although I was having a secret romantic interlude with the ocean. Don't tell my husband!
With each teaching venue I try to push up the ante for myself in developing my teaching style. This time I became the “Queen of the PowerPoint.” Each day I could show the students visually what I was talking about. The first day was finding your inspirational photo. Second day was how to paint with fabric. On the third day, I taught how to use color and value to create realism. The fourth day they got a break. My girls did tease me about "where is our PowerPoint?" But that night I had a surprise for them. It was my turn to do a short presentation to a very artsy crowd of about 300. They had 3-4 teachers present each night and I was the last to present. By the last day, I knew the crowd was getting very wary of one more presentation. I seem to always be last and I wanted to do something that reflected me and my art. It had to be dramatic and memorable but short, no more than 9 minutes. So, in true Melinda style a great idea came 3 days before I left for the retreat. I had a dream about this PowerPoint presentation. Even the song I used was in the dream. I was very nervous about the timing but my friend, Dawn, helped me along the way. I have found out that I like working with this new computer techno stuff. It’s just a new art medium. So I have put up the presentation on YouTube for you to view and enjoy.

Next time I do this I will try and dream up my PowerPoint at least a week before I leave. NOT

Folsom Quilt and Fiber Show

This weekend is the Folsom Quilt Show in Folsom, California. It just happens to be my home guild and, yes, it is near the prison that Johnny Cash wrote and sang about. But this is one of the best local quilt shows I have ever been to and I am not just saying that because I am a member. There is so much talent in this group it is amazing. It is a funny and encouraging group of women and you just can't help but have fun there.
Here are some of the wonderful award winning quilts.
This first one is by is Judy Danes . Watch for her in the future as she will have a new book out in March on her thread painting that is to die for.
The second quilt is by Patty Berghamp who is a fabulous appliquer. This quilt is so perfectly stitched and would look wonderful in my studio.
The third quilt took my breath away the minute I saw it. WOW! It was made by Dee .
The last picture is of our fearless leader, Karla Delner, who found a friend who was being smuggled in the back of a baby stroller to see the quilts. You can see she has a firm hand when showing him the door.
Got to go now and take more picture today. Stay tuned for more.

Phoenix

Phoenix is so beautiful this time of year. Not only is the sky a perfect blue but the temperature is just right at 70 degrees. I was invited to teach at Quilting In The Desert in Phoenix. Right away I noticed, I do not have any idea how to travel with piles quilts and supplies. You would think that all those years as a fight attendant would have taught me something more than just how to serve drinks in turbulence. But I was there with my designer luggage, a stylish leopard print that I thought at the time was the cutest luggage ever. My traveling life has differently changed from a sweet week in Hawaii to down and dirty, business travel. Its hard for me think of these teaching trips as business because I love to do this so much. So I am now in search for the biggest, toughest and lightest(tired of paying for the extra weight) suit cases I can find. Not only did the handle break off my bags but the side's ripped.
As I watched the other very seasoned teachers fly into town. It was pretty obvious that I was the new girl on the circuit.
Paula Nadelstern was sporting 2 large vessels that she got in New York's garment district. Katie P M was wheeling in some well seasoned hard sided red and blue monsters. Pam Holland was quite chic with her red hard sided carry on with red patten leather Birkenstocks and a matching red purse. I see that this packing thing is an art form all on it's own.

I did met some wonderful people at this retreat. Very creative and sweet. We laughed a lot. I have been invited back for next January which I look forward to. Next time I fly to Phoenix I will take the right luggage and spend more time in the airport because they have one of the best art exhibit in a airport that I have seen so far. Even there freeway art is fabulous. So if you are ever going to Phoenix take the right luggage and spend time looking around, it's quilt a treat.

The picture is of my favorite airport art “Samson” by Artist Brian Goggin. Its here at the Sacramento airport down at Southwests baggage claim. Which is really not that comforting while waiting for your bags to arrive.

January Baby

I don’t know why I hate the cold so much. I was born in January, I am supposedly a winter baby. But I do dislike the cold.
Yesterday I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday. It was 80 degrees in Southern Cal. They had all the windows open and were trying to let the breeze in. I instantly had a childhood memory and remembered the smell of that warm southern California air in winter. The skies are really blue and you can see the snow capped mountains up at Big Bear. If you stood on the roof of their house I bet you could see to the beach that is only 10 miles away. I remember as a teenager we would ditch school on days like this and go down to the beach. No one would be there and for miles you would see nothing but white sand. In the summer these same beaches were so full with sweaty bodies you couldn’t find a place to lay your beach towel.

I just got a call from The Quilt Show's producer, Angel. I’m going to be on their show later this year. I am doing my taping for the show in March. First thing she asked me was "what is the temperature there?" I said “what?” she said it was 14 degrees in Chicago and snowing. She needed to live vicariously through me for just a moment. Aren’t you in California? What a baby I am. It will warm up to a nice 60 degrees today here in Northern California. Maybe even 63. So OK! I may be a winter baby, my birthday is coming soon, which I would like to forget. And I hate the cold. I still can’t figure that one out. I’m pretty sure the lesson here is about learning to be content with where you are who you are and at how old you are going to be.
I have added some pictures of my January garden and the colors are quite beautiful. You couldn’t get these colors if it was hot. And I wouldn’t have the wisdom I have if I weren’t another year older.

It’s a New Year!

It’s a New Year. I am so grateful for the chance to live another year doing what I love. To create.
2009 is going to be a year of travel, teaching and trying new techniques. I am off to Phoenix at the end of the month for Quilting In the Desert. Then back to Asilomar in February for Empty Spools Seminars.

I truly love to teach and the art of teaching is everchanging and constantly pushing me in new directions. I recently had a student not sure she wanted to take my class. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do flowers or raw edge appliqué and she wants to work in black and white. I know, why is she taking my class? It made me think. As an artist why do we take classes? Ask yourself that. Why did Mary Cassette hang out with Monet? Why did Van Gogh hang with Gauguin? Think about it!

Could it be to learn?

How can you learn when you come to a class wanting to do your own thing? How can you grow as an artist if you don’t want to glean something from the teacher and those around you? I don’t get it. When you stop learning you might as well just die. You know it all. How sad it that?

Art is a never ending process. It’s not who finishes what or what awards you receive. Creativity is playing, making mistakes, trying new ways and solving the problems. It is never about finishing. Because there is always something new to figure out. Completing a project is your reward for solving the creative problems. Then you take what you learn from that project and move on to the next, one hopefully more challenging and difficult.

I have been playing around with computer art for the last few months, trying digital fabric printing and manipulation. It has been great fun and challenging. I love my computer, it is such a great artist’s tool. My husband had no idea what he was doing when he taught me how to work the computer years ago and now I am just as nerdy as him, except when it crashes. Then my sweet man gets the frantic wife call from me at work. Picture him sitting in his PG&E truck working in the hood, giving me tech support over the phone. He is still the top nerd.
Here is my first computer art piece. It’s called “A Boy and His Yace”.

My son’s security blanket was a lace placemat we had gotten as a wedding present. He went through all 4 placemats before the age of 4. That’s one a year. I added the last bits of the lace I had saved to the quilt. He is 3 in this picture and very serious. The beads around his body are little sayings that he said as a child. The numbers in the background represent his love of numbers at an early age (he was doing math at 3). The butterflies are him leaving the nest and spreading his wings.

So this year let’s try to learn from those around us and try new things and see what happens along the way.

God bless you in the New Year.

Christmas Time is Here!

When the temperature changes I get a little moody, I am a warm weather girl by nature and could easily live on the beach on a deserted tropical island. But I love Christmas and all that comes with it. I just finished decorating my home inside and out. When I was putting up the twinkle lights on my white picket fence the neighbors walked by and scolded me for being late this year. They said they count on me to bring the holiday feel to the neighborhood when I put up my outside lights. That was so sweet. For 26 years I have been in charge of the outside lighting. Joe usually gets stuck working lots of overtime when the weather turns cold. He works for the gas and electric company. I am pretty mechanical so I love to figure out where to place the cords and how many strands of lights I can get on one extension cord before it blows. Then the thrill of figuring out which loose bulb on the strand is causing all the problems before I give up and just buy a new strand.
I seriously had thoughts of not decorating this year. There is a sad feeling in the world this year. The economy is the worst its been in 50 years. There is greed and evil all over the news. I think the greed makes me the sickest.
Then I remember a story about my grandfather Hopkins. He was a wonderful grandpa. During the depression he owned a grocery store in Decatur, Illinois. It was hard times for everyone but by owning a grocery store my grandfather and his family (my dad) never had to worry about food. But that didn’t stop my grandfather from leaving bags of food on the porches of families in need. He did this all year long. That is just what you do, you think of others. So I did, and then I realized how much I love Christmas. I love the music, I love to decorate, I love sweet family times but most of all I love the meaning of Christmas. I love to know that 2,000 years ago the world was changed because of the birth of a special child in a manger during really hard times. And that is why we have Christmas today.
From my family to yours, have a Merry Christmas and try to remember the true meaning of the season.

Teaching at IQA Houston

It has been a wild few months. I feel like I am just now caught up on my beauty sleep.

I had a manicure and pedicure last week for the first time in years. I all most fell asleep in the chair. I highly recommend the treatment. Next week, I am going to try a facial. I know, what has gotten into me?

Well, I think it’s all this hard work, doing what I love. When you are privilege to be working at what you love, you sometimes forget to stop and take a breath. It’s like I can’t get enough. To be able to create is so thrilling and fun I never want it to end. Joe is anyway reminds me to eat. Probably so I won’t get grouchy at him.

This was the first year teaching at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. What an experience. I walked into the teachers’ lounge that first day and there where all my favorite teachers. To think I was there with them. My teaching supply’s had not arrived yet, because someone was a little busy teaching allover to look at her calendar and get thing sent in time. I knew they would arrive because I had to pay the big bucks to make sure they did arrive in time. The IQA staff was fabulous and so friendly. They helped me with everything. Thank God because I needed it.

Friday was my Cone flower class. It was full with 26 students from all over the world. Wow! Great class, except when I returned from lunch, I left the room key in the door and someone took it. You sign your life away when you get the room key and of course my room I had only one key. After class Peggy and I spent hours digging through the trash tearing the room apart looking for the key. It took us hours. That night I missed the SAQA reception that I had reservation for. This was only the beginning. Late that night about 2 am I hear a lot of noise from the adjoining room. It was Halloween night so that is to be expected. At about 4 am I am awoken again by a loud bang of a door closing and then screaming and banging on my room door. The person was screaming to be let back in his room but had miss took my room for his. his room mate was not waking up. This went on for awhile. He was banging so hard that my door was moving. I was so scared. I called security for assistant. Finely his friend let him in the room where they proceeded to yell at each other for another 10 minutes. It was a great night.

Next day very tired, I waited to be let into my room. Still can’t find the key. I set up the room. Today we are doing a new pattern I design for Houston, the Yellow Daisy. It’s a little more challenging than most patterns, but is so cute. Class is full again with 25 students. As we were getting to know each other and setting up, the “teachers pet” from the next room, comes in and tell me to “keep it down”. They can’t hear in the next room. Funny! But wasn’t she in my class yesterday and had a little attitude with me even then? I tell her to inform the teacher that she may want to speak up a little bit more. I still can’t find that key. Maybe she knows where it is?

Before lunch break I received a visitor to my room. This was the very balls-z woman that told me on Preview night a couple of years ago “That my stitches where S—t.” Not crap, but S--t ! To my face! I won 2 awards’ that year. What more could a girl ask for. She just wanted to come back and inform me that I need a new sewing machine and hoped she hadn't hurt my feeling back then. I told her that when the money tree brings in a new crop of $$$ I will certainly up grade. Not every one that wins at Houston has a fancy machine. Some of us our on a budget and have to earn the money. It seems that everyone just wants to help. I found out later that she also told Hollis Chatelain that her binding was S--t.

Remember the movie with Jack Lemon “The Out of Town-ers”? Well this week I felt like I am now in the sequel called ,"The Out of Towner II." I again had to wait to find someone to lock up the room and was to late and too tired to make the Silver Star banquet. Alex Andersen was receiving her Silver Star. She has had a big impact on my quilting life and yours to. She is the number one quilter that has brought the Art of quilting to the main stream and put a young, hip face on it. It was cool to quilt because Alex. We all owe her a lot, especially me.

So the question is. Should I teach again next year at Houston with all the drama and problems? You bet! It’s the most wonderful quilt show in the world. And if you haven’t been, you need to go. It’s like living inside an art museum and fabric mall for a week. You get to eat, drink and sometimes sleep quilting in all its wonderful forms. Are you kidding!!!!! Yes, I will be back teaching next year.

Oh and by the way, they never found the key and they charged me $50.

Shelburn Museum, Vermont

My family and I just got back from a trip to Vermont.
As my dentist said, while his hands were in my mouth,
"Why Vermont? Do you have family there?"
No, we don't. But in a way, I do. 2 of my quilts have been on display at the Shelburn Museum since May. The show will be over by October. I had to go and see that it was a reality that I was in a real and very noted museum.
I planned the trip for months. Even Matt wanted to come with us. We took the red eye to New York then onto Burlington, Vermont. We stayed at the this adorable place that was better than a bed and breakfast called the Howard Street Guest House. www.Howardstreetguesthouse.com. Check it out.

Vermont is so beautiful and green. The houses are so quaint and charming and come in every color, even yellow.

The Shelburn Museum is fascinating with all of its exhibits and collections. When you first arrive you are greeted at the big red barn.
There was a sign on the wall noting all the exhibits on display. There on the sign was a picture of my Pansy quilt and the exhibit I was in.

The museum in in Shelburn, Vermont on Lake Champlain.
It's one the nation's finest and most diverse and unconventional museums of art design and Americana. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in a remarkable setting of 39 exhibition buildings on 45 beautiful acres. There is even a Vermont light house, covered bridge and the famous boat, Ticonderoga. The Shelburn also has one of the largest and most noted quilt collections in the world.

This year they where highlighting the special exhibit Mary Cassatt: Friends and Family.
They had planted the grounds with chosen varieties of flowers for the occasion. To go along with the event was a special exhibit of flower quilts, historic and new. That is where my quilts come in. They where shown in the Hat and Fragrance Textile Gallery and Gardens. It was so cool. The next room had Hat Box collections that were to die for.
Next to that was a display of hooked rugs
and needle work samplers.

After we saw where my quilts where, we went over to the Mary Cassatt exhibit. She has always been one of my favorite Impressionist painters. She was also the good friend of Electra Havemeyer Webb's mother, who founded the Shelbune Museum.

I was just staring at her paintings when I hear laughing coming from the next room.
It was Joe and Matt reading a timeline of Mary's life. They both thought it was so funny that she came to a point in her life where her family (like mine) told her that if she was going to be a real artist, she needed to start selling her work and that she was also known for being outspoken and spoke her mind. I didn't see what was so funny.

As I walked around studying her works I realized that my art was in the same museum as Mary Cassatt.
I felt a lump in my throat and tried not to show Matt or Joe that I was starting to get pretty emotional. Then my sweet son came over to me put his big arms around me and told me how proud he is of me.
That was it!
Tears start to fill my eyes, then a security guard, watching all this, started to share a story about the exhibit. "...and that one over there is the first Monet to be brought to the United States." He looked at us funny as I tried to catch my breath. I finally had to tell him that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, because you see, I have 2 of my art quilts here on the same grounds as Mary Cassatt and Monet.
This can't be happening. But it was.
He quickly told the docent and they all made a big fuss that made me want to get out of there real fast.
Joe was making funny jokes about me and my quilts that made everyone laugh.
Matt just gave me those big brown eyes that said he knew how I felt.

Later, I spent about $200 in the gift shop and was able to calm down and felt much better.
It's amazing what a little shopping will do.