I think I've amassed about 10,000 miles in my frequent flyer program within the last month. Or at least it feels like 10,000 miles. I have been away more than I've been home the past four weeks, and have hightailed it all over the continent.
My journey began with our CREATE retreat outside of Chicago, a total blast! I taught my Printapalooza class to 20 students, and we spent six hours getting very messy by screening, painting, dyeing, monoprinting, and discharging fabric.
We also enjoyed the outdoors by doing a little sun printing. Can you guess who this is? I laughed when I found out she was taking my class!
Next up was our Quilting Arts TV taping in Ohio...
The above quilt is featured in one of our Save My UFO! segments, where we showed pictures of the unfinished quilt (in distress) and the "rescued" quilt that was finished by another quilter. This finished quilt above was one of my favorite transformations!
Want to know what I stare at when behind the table? The floor director, Billy, (left) with his crew, and to the right is Mike Murphy, the director. Mike's responsible for telling all the cameramen from the control room what camera they are going to next during the segments. He is extremely gifted at this as it is fast-paced. He also enjoys a good sense of humor...but I can't for the life of me tell ya' what he's doing in this picture!
Meet Alan, the sound guy. Here he is miking up Helen Gregory who made two guest appearances.
Alan loves Bernina, too!
We had a lot of very talented guests this season, including Jeanne Sumrall Ajero and Sarah Vedeler.
And Judy Coates Perez who demonstrated the COOLEST discharge segment, plus showed an incredibly fun way to paint on fabric with acrylic inks!
Ana Buzzalino also came to film, and she was nice enough to gift me this pillow. I need to buy just the perfect couch for it. Isn't it pretty?
Other guests who taped include Candy Glendening, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Diane Doran, Elin Waterston, Margaret Applin, Terry White, and Debra Gabel. We also have a number of segments taped at International Quilt Festival/Cincinnati that will be a part of this season.
I left the taping on late Friday afternoon to head to my favorite place on the planet: Napa Valley...
Cindy, my best friend from high school, had a very special surprise 40th birthday party held for her....
Here I am with her and her dad, who throughout my life has taken my teasing and pranks like a true sport. I first met Cindy when I was in 6th grade in dancing school. We carpooled, and the first time her dad drove me home, I purposely gave him the wrong directions. I kept telling him to turn "left"...just so I could talk to Cindy longer in the backseat. We still laugh about this today, and this picture sits proudly on my desk as a fond reminder of how patient he was.
I had a great time away from Quilting Arts headquarters, but I am glad to be home (and at the helm). Looking at my calendar I can't believe my next trip is to My Favorite Show on Earth: International Quilt Festival!
Houston or bust.
Are you joining me?