Last Week at QSDS in Ohio

Last week I attended QSDS (Quilt Surface Design Symposium) in Columbus, Ohio. I hadn't attended for a couple of years. This year they changed the location to a different hotel and because of scheduling problems ran the five day courses from Sunday through Thursday which seemed to throw everyone off a bit. I went to Elizabeth Barton's class on Designing an Art Quilt. Sometimes you have to get on top of your work.

My preliminary sketches for my quilt. We drew our design several different ways and then did value sketches.

My first fabric selections which I ended up changing.

Other student's work.

Some pieces from Rosalie Dace's class.

Another great piece from Rosalie's class

More Rosalie Dace. Both Rosalie Dace's and Elizabeth Barton's class were full. There were two other classes, Discharging with Bob Adams and a Shibori Class. Three classes were cancelled.

The Shibori Class.

Two UFO Quilts Bite the Dust

Ok, ok.....this is not a very great piece. The center embroidered fish is a class sample from a class which I took with Dorothy Caldwell a few years ago at QSDS. It had disappeared into my stash for quite awhile so I figured if I put it into "something" at least I could find it again. The white fish are Mother of Pearl buttons from one of my trips.


We were "mimicking" the embroidery from the Bihar region of India just using a straight stitch.


The second piece (ok...not all that much better) is just the absolute end of some scraps from a Koos style jacket which I made last year. I just glued them onto a background, added a few ribbons and strips of gold cording, and stitched away.
I held it all together under a washaway stabilizer and then soaked it after it was finished.

Two New Online Magazines

1. There's a new online magazine for stitchers of all types. http://www.needlemagazine.com/

2. The second magazine is the QSDS Voice:

Its a new magazine for professional and emerging quilt artists.The magazine is being officially launched today and you can have a free copy in your hands in a matter of minutes. Most of you are already familiar with the Quilt Surface Design Symposium, the internationally esteemed conference that brings world renowned quilt artists to teach in Columbus once a year. But the magazine is not just focused on the Symposium. The winter issue contains stories by Carole Pollard, Betty Ford, Mary Ann Tipple, Judy Robertson, Tracy Rieger, Susan Callahan and Connie Bloom (deep bow). They write about getting into Quilt National, art versus decoration, master classes, making friends and what it's like to be a professional dye artist. The magazine prints on your home printer in full color and in duplex, if you have the capacity to print two sides (to keep our carbon footprint small).Go to http://www.conniebloom.com/ to sign up for a subscription. You can also just click to download or just look at the first issue there.

After that, you will receive a copy automatically whenever we publish, thanks to our subscription editor Casey Collier. You can also print extra copies for your friends and quilt guilds at http://www.conniebloom.com./ On the navigation bar on the left side of the home page, click on the QSDS Voice and it will take you to a PDF.The magazine is a PDF file, which opens with Adobe Reader. You can get a free copy at http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/TO BE SURE YOU GET YOUR subscription, enter the following two addresses in your ADDRESS BOOK in the mail program of your computer. Make sure your security programs know our addresses are not spam: They are mailto:cbloom1%40neo.rr.com and mailto:connie%40conniebloom.com.

Bugs in my Belfry and Spring

I began this quilt which I am calling "Bugs in my Belfry" in a class with Jane Sassaman at QSDS during June, 2008. The bugs are fused. The edge is really a fairly bright lime green. I only need to line and bind it and another UFO bites the dust. In the meantime Spring has finally settled in and my cat is happy now that the dining room screen door is open for her outside perusal.

And the bulbs in the front yard all seem to have come up and bloomed.

Quilt Surface Design Symposium -QSDS

After the Quilt Show I spent a wonderful five days taking a class with Jane Sassaman at QSDS in Columbus, Ohio. This was the fourth year I have attended and it gets better every year. This class was using abstract designs. Connie St. Clair did abstract leaves for her first attempt. Here are her templates. One of Jane's Quilts and my favorite.
Still more of her work.
I decided to do bugs and made wings for them.
My first attempt at trying to pull it together.
Connie's first round on a green background she later rejected.

Another classmate whose name I as usual didn't note. The wings looked a little boring so red trim was added.
Another classmate's work in progress.
This was the beginning of a work by Barbara Lange from Germany. Check out the gorgeous quilts on her web page http://www.barbaralange.com/

I just loved this one.

Connie switched to a black background.


A small bug adds to the mix and I try to figure out which wings should show over the edge and which should not.

Barbara added a gorgeous butterfly to her piece.
More baby bugs join in (if you leave bugs overnight stuff happens) and I add a purple border which apparently is too dark and I will have to lighten up.

I didn't take photos in the other rooms as most were posted with no photo signs.

More QSDS - with Esterita Austin

Connie St. Clair and I spent a wonderful week taking a class from Esterita Austin. She is an absolutely great teacher. This is one of her pieces...taken from a photo of her cousin. It was recently in Quilting Arts Magazine and I'm sure, lots of other places.
Here is one of the students with her photo and work of a local homeless man.

This was a portrait of a woman from India which I was working on (actually this is the second version) and I don't like it at all. My friend Connie St. Clair's piece...done from a photo of a model. The body needs to be completed.
This was a terrific piece.


I just loved this one but the last day the maker was putting feathers on it. Not my choice of finishes.