Kicking Off My 2020 Teaching Schedule with Improv FUN!!

My 2020 Teaching Calendar kicked off last week with two back-to-back guild visits and sold out workshops focused on improvisational designs!

First up was a visit with the Flying Geese Quilters' Guild in Irvine, CA. My Saturday evening flight down to John Wayne Airport was packed with 49ers fans, excited about their team making it to the playoffs. It made for an interesting boarding process where 75% of the flight were sporting 49ers jerseys and gear.

The next morning was a Slice of Improv workshop where we improvisationally sliced and diced to create some really spectacular blocks. My apologies I was having so much fun seeing everyone embrace improvisational piecing, that I only captured a few in-progress photos and missed snapping photos of everyone's collections towards the end of the day!  Hopefully I will receive a few emails with photos of their fabulous finishes (hint-hint!!)

Slice of Improv Fun with Flying Geese Quilters' Guild

The next day I had some downtime to hit up the hotel gym, catch up on email, and get ready for my evening Challenge Yourself! lecture. I was delighted to see Mary H bring her finished Interleave quilt from my Fall 2018 visit with the South Bay Quilters Guild. I was especially impressed with her pieced binding!!

Finished Intriguing Interleave by Mary H

Evening guild meetings always leave me feeling excited and a bit wired. As I tried to fall asleep, I found myself wanting a bit more weight and warmth. Yes, I could have turned up the heat, but since I had two suitcases packed with quilts, I reached for one of my larger quilts--Spinning Stars!

Benefit of Traveling with Quilts

I returned to San Jose the next day and had less than a day to unpack and repack before driving up to Santa Rosa, CA the next afternoon to visit the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild.

Thursday morning was my Free Motion CREA-TV & Reality lecture. There were several students from the local high school quilt club in attendance. I was in awe of their show and tell, especially their fabulous sense of color and their free-motion quilting skills all done on a domestic sewing machine!! Afterwards, my host and I visited the Sebastapol Center for the Arts where there were two regional SAQA Exhibits on display: Art Quilts and How Do They Do That?

As I walked in the door I was delighted to spot a stunning landscape quilt made by my friend Amy Witherow.

Amy Witherow's Birds at Frog Lake

Other quilts that caught my attention for color, design, and/or little details included...

Carole Rossi's Unaffordable Housing II: A Conversation

Jo Noble's Spring Sweet Peas

Kathy Nida's You Pollute Me

Renee Owen's This Old Demolished House Series: Mr. Mitchell & His Chickens

In the How Do They Do That? exhibit mounted by SAQA North Bay Connection, accompanying binders include documentation from each artist on their process and materials!

How Do They Do That? Exhibit by SAQA North Bay Connection

On Friday, I taught Free Styling & Spiraling. I was delighted to see how everyone embraced improvisationally pieced spirangle designs! In fact, I kept overhearing comments about how much fun these designs are to create!! What fun to pick up a few new tricks, techniques, and materials!

Free Styling & Spiraling with Santa Rosa Quilt Guild

What a fun start to my 2020 teaching schedule! Visit my online teaching schedule to see my current line-up of workshops and lectures scheduled for 2020 and beyond, including teaching engagements throughout Northern and Southern California, and visits to Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, and Nevada!! I hope our quilting paths will cross in 2020!!