Last weekend I was unexpectedly at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium at Peace College. A friend had won a scholarship to this years Symposium at the 2010 event and at the last minute was unable to attend. She called me early last Tuesday morning to ask if I wanted to go in her place. I had been at the 2003 and 2004 NC Quilt Symposium at Peace College and had always want to again - and even had tentative plans to go this year until my computer was laid low by a nasty virus and I had to upgrade my equipment.
It was an amazing weekend. I was very inspired by the lectures, the quilt show, the vendors (my wallet is much thinner),the classes and of course just being around so many others that have the same love of quilting as I do.
Luckily the classes my friend had chosen were in areas that I have a great interest in - using photos in quilts and beading.
The photo landscape class by
Mary Ellen Kranz was fantastic - I learned more about my printer and how to get great quality prints from an ink jet printer. This is an area I have worked in a lot - but this class in going to take my work to a whole new level. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this class as the fabric I took with me to work with - didn't. I chose a sunset picture of a sailboat that had a lot of oranges and dark blues - I had greens, light blues and browns! I knew I had the right fabrics in my stash - so will work on this piece after we return from the National Brass Symposium in Atlanta this weekend (my son Jeremy is a music major at the University of South Carolina and his major instrument is the trumpet.)
The second class I was enrolled in was Organic Beading by
Nancy Eha. Again a great class and teacher. I have used a lot of beads and embellishments on my quilts in the past but she had interesting techniques that I had not seen before.
After I added the Cabochon - I relaized that my fabric (my own hand dye) had a wonderful butterfly in the background and so did the rest of the samples on the edge. I want to go back and bead the butterfly as its own piece.
When we arrived at the quilt show, my group from Charleston had a wonderful surprise. One of our members,
Judy Heyward, had won Best of show for her quilt Swamp Hibiscus. At the closing ceremonies she also was awarded Viewers Choice. Both very well deserved.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend and a true gift.
While he was enjoying the music - my husband and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, a must see if you are ever in the area. I am the gardener but my husband also truly enjoyed the day. As an engineer he especially liked the Kendeda Canopy Walk. The walk was a suspension bridge that seem to just float in the air.
