From warm and humid to chilly and sunny-ahh, "there's no place like home"

Well, we are back from ten lovely days on the Zeiderdam Holland American ship-we visited Aruba, Panama (where my husband lived for three years in his teen years), Curaceo,Costa Rica and the Bahamas. I hope that someday you will consider going with us on a trip to somewhere and quilt while we travel. I don't have anything schdeuled but I hope to someday....stay tuned.
Above is my husband and myself at port. Gee it was wonderful having him with me and we had so many nice days and laughs and enjoyed so many wonderful people. He went around and met everyone he could... "where are you from?", "what is your town like?","what do you do?"etc.
Our friend Kit called him the "good will ambassador." On the way home he said "i have never met so many wonderful people. It was great to see him have such a lovely time as he works so hard and hardly ever gets away from it all.

I am always interested in local art anywhere I go. I saw these paintings on a bar in Aruba and I thought they were charming folk art that would be great quilts. Isn't the color and design fun?

The lips on these little girls was so clever. Simple and lovely colors in the bright sun.

Here are the little girls in their Sunday best....more great color and subject.

This is what Aruba looked like from the ship before we got off. I didn't buy very much there. I looked for folk art things and they were selling mostly things I could find other places. Life is slow paced here. Mark needed sunglasses and we spent an hour waiting for the girl to clean them, have conversations with different people there and ring them up. I finally went out and sat in the sun to get my vitamin D and to ask myself "am I too impatient to wait an hour for a sale?" And the answer is "yes, when there is more to see." She was nice though and very pretty.

Above is out ship and the windows with verandas to sit on and enjoy the view and the humidity.

Mark and I walked over to look at alot of fabulous boats and yaughts (unbelievable) that were expensive. We paused here to say that we might be able to afford one of these....maybe.

I took at photo of the cow above because I wondered what happened to her teets? They are missing.

My friend Molly did a story quilt about her first date with her husband. I was surprised when I saw this painting on the side of a building as it looked alot like her quilt. You will see her quilt in my new book due out November 1st called "Out of the Box."

This was a designer window and I just have to point out two things I push in my workshops. Cheddar is magic with many colors and black add's sparkle. Isn't this rose something? I think it is Louis Vutton

Here we are at formal night (one of three) with our great friends. On the left is Laurie Latta a retired teacher and her husband Kit who is also a retired teacher and next to them is Esko Typpi who is a retired Pilot for Alaska Airlines. On the right is Me, then my husband and then Susan Typpi who is a flight attendant on Alaska airlines. They were great fun to enjoy all of the fun with. Laughter is good medicine and we had alot of it.

I have to share these paintings from the airport in Ft.Lauderdale. Isn't this wonderful? So many possibilities for quilts and other art projects here! Color is such a great thing to enjoy.

Stay tuned for more to see and learn and enjoy. Please comment if you would. I love that because I know you are reading my blog.

Images of Flower Power-or aren't these fun???

I leave town (with my husband this time-hooray!) on Monday to teach on Quiltcruises.com and one of the classes that people will be taking is Flower Power- I can't wait because there are literally hundreds of flowers to make from this technique. The more I teach it, the more my students teach me-great fabric, great flowers.

John C.Cambell Photos-buildings,dinner and crafts

The lady above was not in my class.

These two ladies look like more fun. There are wonderful, beautiful old photos of people from way back on the walls scattered around. I took a few photos of the photos to share here.

Above are things made and painted by past residents of the school-everywhere you look is art

Another view of the little meeting room. Charming and comfy.


Marie on the comments tells you what this means. It was on the fireplace in the building I stayed in (I think)

This happy moon was in the office of one of the staff-isn't he happy and fun?

A handmade sign that made me smile. I love this..........

This folk art banjo hangs in the dining hall-isn't it a clever way to turn a record into a banjo?
Meals were all family style, healthy and delicious. MeatLoaf like Grandma's, Full turkey dinner, pork steaks, home made bread every day (different kinds), homemade desserts like Grandma's. Vegetarian, protein and any kind of diet you are on if taken care of too. I have traveled for 20 years and I have never had food this good anywhere where they feed so many people.

This sweet young man was the dishwasher and worked really hard. He wore a different hat everyday-a pizza hat, a pig hat and so on. He happily posed for a photo while clearing millions of dishes.

The excitement of folk art, quilts and new friends

Now I rarely share photos of good looking young men but this is the first person I met (at the airport) who was attending at John C. Campbell folk school. This is Brauck from Oklahoma and he just graduated from high school, is lovely on the inside, and cute on the outside and he had to leave our classroom because every woman in there had a girl for him. We later sat together at the end ceremonies. He reminds me of my own sweet son who has good morals and a great heart. This young man's Mother and Dad did a great job. He took blacksmithing and made a fabulous fireplace set and rose in a vase for his girlfriend.

This is Marilyn Wall who is well known in this area (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia)for her quilting classes and expertise. Her quilts are fabulous! I had the priviledge to stay with she and her husband Kermit at their home in Seneca, South Carolina on the most beautiful lake you have ever seen. It was quiet and wonderful and Marilyn and her husband are two of the nicest people you will ever meet and talented too. In their home was handmade, stain glass windows, clocks that had fabulous wood, wallhangings, water color paintings, awesome quilts, all kinds of wood working things (chairs, pens, wine stoppers, holders, trims and too many to name)....everywhere was their first rate art work-plus mCCoy pottery, old linens and great old figurative pottery holders. Here Marilyn stands in front of her border which is all photos of her Grandchildren, children and their drawings. It is going to be a 50th anniversary quilt. If she teaches in your area, be sure to take a class from her.

This is Mary Lou. What fun to have another Mary lou in class! Mary Lou was a school superintendant and a wonderful addition to the fun and the color of the class. Her husband took woodworking while she took this class. That is the way to do it. Isn't this quilt great? She put flower power blocks in the middle just for fun-she does have a story to go in there.

This is Harriet who has enough energy for all of us. This is her first story quilt and she was alot

of fun and her husband was taking classes all week also. This is really the norm here.

Above is Carol who makes her own wood furniture and I mean awesome stuff anyone would love to buy. She makes clothes, weaves, does stain glass, and about everything else you can think of. Carol is a YOUNG 71 and is a real example of how to be exzuberant and exciting and creative.

Donna on the left of Carol was in the weaving class. I met her on the shuttle going from the airport to JCCampbell's. She dropped in to visit and we ate many meals together.

Above is Cathy who is funny and fun and has a million good stories and she is quick to think of funny things to make us all laugh. Her best friend is below. I am going to tell one of the stories here.

OK, this is Sara who is Cathy's best friend. Sara is hilarious too and she and Cathy met on a cruise to Turkey. They met when they found out they both quilted. Sara and Cathy both lost their husbands. Sara decided one night she had never owned a horse. So, the next day she phoned Cathy and said "I did some impulse shopping today." Cathy said "what did you buy now?" And Sara said "a horse." So that is going to be her quilt story. We all howled over this funny story. NOW THAT is impulse buying for sure!

This is Tina's blocks. I don't have a photo but Tina finished her quilt completely. She put my pattern "Sew Spoiled" into the center of this border and buttonholed it by machine and it is fabulous.

Here is Ann, finishing up her border. Isn't this a wonderful color pallette? Ann is a really experienced and talented quilter. Remember Ann because I am going to do a story about my birthday dinner at her home when I was in South Carolina. Ann's husband took French cooking while she took this class and he made us dinner. Stay tuned......

More borders and blocks for you to look at and enjoy..........








The folk art snake hangs on the wall in the studio-this studio has awesome light........

Here is a typical stash and the directions out of my book for the hoochy mama blocks.

Smiling while they quilt-isn't that great? No grumps.

Here are Ann and Carol who discuss the Hoochy Mama blocks in the book.

Here are the class comediens. I laughed so hard one day my stomach hurt that night. But I was still grinning when I went to bed.

Here is Jan who amazed all of us in many different ways. Jan has a creativity coach. Jan lost over 30 pounds last year. She decided she could barely walk up 2 flights of stairs so she ended up working through this and entered a contest to run 400 flights of stairs. She came in 6th in her age group. Next she decided she wanted to be in a play (which she had never done). She is now in the leading roll. And in one year she made 40 quilts to give away at Christmas....all in different pallettes. Then she took the names of each quilt, wrote a story, had a one woman show and then gave them away. We all had our mouths open when Jan spoke. She is amazing and she is lovely at heart. She is married to her highschool sweetheart who was taking blacksmithing that week. He was a fabulous person. Stay tuned for the heart he made in class, signed and gave me. It was a lovely birthday gift. I hope Jan will send me photos of her finished quilt pallette. She made up her own blocks and we all oh'd and ah'd. I wonder what she will do next. I plan to see her in a movie someday and as a New York Times best seller author.

Below is Silvia who also had a great sense of humor and got us all giggling. Silvia was stretching and learning about choosing her own colors and values. She makes all kinds of quilts and has been a real fan of John C.Campbell for many years.

Above are Silvia's blocks. Her worm was really creative and fun! And she made up her own flower on the top.