April Teaching Trips

What a whirlwind of a month. I have met some wonderful people from all corners of the US.

My first trip was to Nebraska where I taught at the Prairie Pioneer Quilt Guild in Grand Island, Nebraska. I was fortunate as the International Quilt Study Center and Museum had just open that week. The quilts were very inspiring as they were from all corners of the globe as well as a great collection of Nancy Crows quilts.

In class we worked on the Early Pin Cushion and the Fiddle Fern Quilt. These creative ladies enjoyed working with wool and embellishments.

My next trip was to 'Out of Hand' in Calgary.

This wonderful store is owned by Dierdre and is bursting at the seams will many textural fabrics and embellishments. It was a treat to teach here as we had the best resources right at our finger tips. It was a great weekend to sew as it snowed non stop.

We worked on Pin Keepers and then on the Greenbrier quilt for two days. I was amazed at the stash these girls had. I have included a picture so you can see what they brought to class. What an inspiring trip and the best part about it is that I was asked to return next year.

The last weekend in April was Sally, Alice, Melissa and my 5th annual retreat 'Workt by Hand' in Tipp City, Ohio.

I am very excited as I feel we achieved what I had envisioned this retreat to be all about. It was full with 43 enthusiastic participants.

This truly was a creative weekend with many one of a kind pieces being produced.

I have included pictures of each of our pieces. We each started with a cream piece of wool and then a different color for our path and house applique. We then told a story.

Mine was about my childhood in Africa. My house is a Cape Dutch design and it is covered with African animals, flowers, birds and trees.

I had a lot of fun embellishing and keeping a journal about my quilt.

The annual dinner was at the Tippecanoe Hotel Gallery.

Fun was had by all!

We will be having our next retreat the last weekend in April 2009. If you are considering attending you will need to sign up early as everyone expressed an interest in returning.

I am leaving for The Stitchin' Post in the morning followed by market in Portland and then a week long workshop with Kafee Fassett. I will make every effort to blog as I am travelling.

Creative Stitching

Sue

New York City

What a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. I visited Prairie Star Quilt Guild in Chicago and it was good to meet new faces and share my passion of creating.

On my return Aimee, Jason and I flew to NYC to visit Andrew. It was great to see how well Andrew has adjusted. I know I have definitely lost him to the big City! I always look at it as one more place to visit and explore. We packed in many visits to Museums, shopping and dinning at many ethnic restaurants. Jason bought a new camera and spent much of the time documenting the graffiti in the city.

I am always amazed at how much creative energy is in NYC. I always find inspiration for new projects. If only I had the time to create everything in my head.

Creative thought

We live such busy lives and have lost sight of our environment. We are surrounded by inspiration in our daily lives and if only we took a few minutes a day to develop these thoughts.

I always try to encourage my children as well as my students to take a little quiet creative time daily to journal and use their hands to create.

I know for myself I am a much more contented person if I get a little quiet time daily. I am always amazes at what I accomplish creatively if I take the initiative.

I have enjoyed carrying a journal as well as a camera with me. You never know when you will be inspired. These images can then be used as a spring board for your own work.

I work primarily in hand dyed wool and love to add textural fabrics to my pieces. Two of my three new books are back from the printer. Flowerbed and Folklore. We have also kitted each of these quilts for your convenience.

I do encourage each of your to put your own spin on my patterns. Use these as a spring board for your own creative journey. I am enjoying embellishing and this can truly make it your own piece.

Tomorrow I am off to Prairie Pioneer Quilt Guild in Grand Island, Nebraska to teach two of my patterns. Time to pack!

Welcome

I have been meaning to start this blog for a very long time and I know I have so much to share with all of you. I feel like this is my most creative time of my life and I sometimes wish I did not have to sleep as my fingers just don't work as fast as my creative juices.

As I stand in my studio I am surrounded with wonderful colors to inspire me. Hundred's of yards of hand dyed wool, fun cotton fabrics, velvets, silks, ribbons, beads and textural threads.

It is like a treasure trove!



As well as designing I am also very passionate about teaching and sharing all that I have learnt over the years. I have just returned from a teaching trip at the Heritage Quilt Guild in South Holland, Illinois.


It was a wonderful class full of enthusiastic stitchers. We worked on blocks from my new quilt book, Flowerbed and had a great time embellishing and stitching. They had fun purchasing all the ribbons, threads and hand dyed wool I brought to share. Each block was unique and I can't wait to see the finished quilts.


On my way home I visited with Penny McMorris at Electric Quilt it was really good to see her again and catch up. If you are not familiar with the CD 'Folk-art Dreams' that I did with Electric Quilt you will need to seek it out. It has 190 blocks from 5 of my books and it is really fun to design with. And the other great advantage is it is a stand alone program. This is available at my website http://www.suespargo.com/


I am now packing to leave for Chicago tomorrow to teach at the Prairie Star Quilt Guild.

On my return Aimee, Jason and I are off to New York City for springbreak to visit with Andrew who is at school there. We are planning to visit visit museums, shop and just have a great time together.