Friday, April 29, 2011

Columbia FiberArts Guild at Portland Convention Center


Columbia FiberArts Guild has a booth at the Gathering of the Guilds at the Portland Convention Center this weekend.  We have a variety of fiber-related products made by our talented guild members:  quilts, decorator pillows, scarves, clothing made from recycled blankets, recycled felted pincushions, katazome banners, purses, fabric, cards, baskets and more!  (Double click on the photos to view the products close up.) You still have Saturday (10am - 7pm) and Sunday (10am to 5pm) to stop by and say hi.  CFG is in the Handweavers Guild section of the show.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Portland's Gathering of the Guilds April 29 - May 1

Portland's annual Gathering of the Guilds is this coming weekend at the Portland Convention Center.  It's one of the biggest craft sales you'll see.  Represented are pottery, woodworking, beading and jewelry, sculpture and metalarts, glass, and handweaving.  This year Columbia FiberArts Guild will have a booth in the handweaving section.  I'll be helping with the CFG booth, #909 right between the handweavers and the woodworkers, so stop by and say hi.  The show hours are
Friday, April 29, 10am - 9 pm
Saturday, April 30, 10am - 7pm
Sunday, May 1, 10am - 5pm
There's no admission.  Hope to see you there.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Latest Guatemala Bound Quilts


Here are the most recent additions to the Guatemala Bound group.  The quilt above is by Nan's group in Anchorage.  Those below are mine.




This Bluebird quilt has a long history.  I started this quilt as a queen size bedspread when I lived in Albuquerque in 1978.  It did have another row of larger log cabin blocks on both sides and the top.  I began to quilt the piece but never finished.  After hauling this quilt around for 30+ years, I recently got it out again.  I took off the outer rows of blocks to make it twin size, and I finished it!  Good riddance to this UFO.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Two More Quilts Delivered to Guatemala

I experimented with mailing two of the Guatemala Bound quilts, and it worked!  USPS only guarantees delivery to Guatemala customes, then it's up to the Guatemalan postal service.  Well, the two quilts actually arrived at the orphanage, and I received an email from them!  It's too expensive to pursue mailing the rest of the quilts, but I'm now looking into using an international shipper.  It's progress anyway.  Here are the latest two quilts to make it to Guatemala.  The top one was made by my sister, Linda.  The second is a product of Nan's group in Anchorage.  Thanks again to everyone for their contributions.


"How to Steal Like an Artist"

Someone sent me this link a few days ago, or else I saw a reference to it.  I've lost track.  But, this is worth reading.  Please do.

How to Steal Like an Artist (and 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) by Austin Kleon

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Tribute to Judy Hopkins

Last month a long-time friend from Alaska, Judy Hopkins, passed away.  I first met Judy in 1985.  She was  an enthusiastic and energetic member of Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters, the local guild.  In 1986 Judy was named Alaska state winner of the Great American Quilt Contest (the "Liberty Contest").  Around that time, she began teaching quilting classes in Anchorage.  I had been quilting about 15 years by that time, but mostly traditional quilts.  In 1986, at Judy's urging (she actually handed the entry form to me), I entered one of my quilts in Quilt National and was accepted!  My quilt, These Raindrops Are Rosie's Fault, became part of Quilt National '87 because of Judy's encouragement.


These Raindrops Are Rosie's Fault by Bonnie Bucknam, shown in
Creative American Quilting, a Better Homes and Gardens book published in 1989

Judy's enthusiasm and ability to think outside the box got many of us in Anchorage to start making non-traditional quilts.  When she was writing  One-of-a-Kind Quilts in 1988, her assignment to me was to make a "Bonnie Bucknam-style" quilt using her formula.  At that point, I didn't know I had a style.  But at Judy's urging, I created a quilt that was eventually used on the cover of the book. 

Paradise2 by Bonnie Bucknam

Judy taught improvisation classes in the late '80's and early 90's.  She had us turning blocks in wonky directions, cutting without a pattern, and adding what she called "coping strips" to fit everything together. Although she returned to traditional quilts herself, she was an impetus for many of the early art quilters in Alaska. Our lives were changed because we knew her.

My friend Rosie Huntemann writes:

Quilters everywhere lost a friend when Judy Hopkins passed away March 9, 2011. In the 1980’s, she asked a group of Anchorage quilters to make quilts for her soon to be published book, One-of-a-Kind Quilts. We had specific assignments, but were able to incorporate our own unique ideas. This was the first of 18 quilt books Judy either wrote or co-wrote. She did her magic with rotary cutting techniques, inventing tools for using up scraps. We can thank Judy for inspiring us to design our own art quilts.

Judy was an organized, witty woman. We will all miss her friendship, expertise and her big, Alaskan smile.


To read Judy's obituary in the Anchorage Daily News, click here.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Handwerk Vending at Clark County Quilters Annual Show this Weekend

Hi all
I'll be a vendor at Clark County Quilters 36th Annual Quilt Show this weekend.  I have lots of hand-dyed fabric and hand-dyed vintage table linens.  The show is today, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm, at
Vancouver Church of Christ
9019 NE 86th Street
Vancouver WA
It's an easy location to find.  Take the Padden Parkway exit off the 205 Freeway and head east.  You'll see the big church to the left.  Turn in on 94th Ave to get to the church parking lot.  There are about 25 vendors and over 200 quilts, so come look around!

Version 2 by Bonnie Bucknam

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

"What Remains" at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum


Last weekend I went to La Conner with two friends from the Vancouver/Washougal area.  Cathy Erickson's show, What Remains, opened at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum, and we went for the opening.
It's been such a cold spring here in Washington, all the flowers are late blooming.  It was supposed to be tulip festival time in La Conner, but we didn't see even a peep of a tulip.



There were some daffodils blooming near La Conner. 


Cathy Erickson with one of her quilts in the exhibit, What Remains

What Remains is a show of quilts and photography by Cathy Erickson and poetry by Margaret Chula.  To quote the museum's website:

In the 1940’s over 120,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned in internment camps. From the newborn baby to the aging grandfather, all their lives were changed dramatically. Now only photos, stories, and rock rubble remain of the time. The art quilts and poetry in this series attempt to capture the spirit of what remains over sixty years later.


You can read more about the show on the Museum website, or on the websites of the artists, Cathy Erickson and Margaret Chula.