Gardening and Graduation

I find it very hard to focus on work and quilting when my garden starts to bloom. We have such dreary winters here in Ohio that I just love to spend as much time outside with my hands in the dirt especially when the weather is sunny. We have had a wet summer but the temperatures have been great. For once we experienced a spring and then followed by a mild summer. We normally go from winter to summer with not much good weather in between.

I am very fond of perennials and have large flowerbeds filled with color. One of my favorite things to do is sit out in the early morning with my coffee and watch the birds.

I have four children and my third child Jason just graduated from high school. Andrew and my mom and dad flew in for the celebration. It was great having everyone home.

Andrew is now back in NYC and Jason is in India. It is amazing how quickly time together passes. I am just so delighted they are all doing so well and experiencing life to the fullest.

I am travelling to Primitives of the Midwest tomorrow so will keep you posted on all the classes at Quilters Station. It will be good to see a bunch of my friends again.

Once again I am over packed, I am finding it very hard to pack with the new restrictions on baggage!

A week with Kaffe and Brandon

It is wonderful to be a student sometimes. I always get another perspective and find it very stimulating as well as humbling at the same time.

Wendy, Melissa, Michelle, Betty and I spent 5 wonderful days learning and laughing together. We stayed at a home in Sun River and spent our days in Sisters. The first day of our workshop was a hike which was enlightening as it started to make us aware of the wonderful colors that surround us. We seem to take this so for granted especially with our busy lives today. Even though it was very early in the season we still found amazing color underfoot as well as miracles in nature. This area of the country is a special place I have become very fond of my visits here. It is so different to Portland which is not that far away and is one of my favorite places to visit.

The second day was our painting class which was a challenge. We were given copies of one of Kaffe's fabrics and we had to recolor it using a famous painting as inspiration. It sounds easy but you need to know how to mix color as well as achieve a fabric you would like to put in a quilt!

The next two days were quilt days. We designed two quilts a floral and a bowtie. I was amazed to see all the varieties in the class. The best part was choosing all the borders for the quilts. Many had wonderful wild fabrics which just brought them alive.

Our final day was knitting. We were pretty worn out my Friday but still found a little energy to buy more yarn and start new projects. The one project we could not let Melissa talk us into was purchasing coffee bags to make recycled purses. She tried very hard but I am proud to say we left that project in Sisters.
The Stitchin' Post is a fabulous store, the staff are great and I was made to feel so at home both as a teacher and a student. I am delighted to be returning to teach at Quilters Affair in 2009.

Spring Quilt Market

Quilt Market was in Portland, OR. One of my favorite cities. Wendy and I arrived at the convention center and were met by Melissa, Michelle and Betty who I had not seen in a long time. We were a good team. It did not take us long to get organized and have the booth complete. Even if I say it myself it looked great! I had three new books and 2 new patterns. The first day we sold out of all the books I had shipped so we then took orders. We stayed at the Northrup Inn which was wonderful. Just far enough away from the bussel of down town but still a tram distance to travel. It was fun to try new restaurants as well as shop at Powell's book store and the local knitting stores. The last day I had coffee with Sarah from Material Obsessions in Sydney Australia. I am delighted to say we talked about my upcoming trip to teach in Australia in April 2009. How exciting! She also gave me a personalized copy of their new book 'Material Obsession Contemporary Quilt Design'. It is a wonderful book! I am happy to say this will be available on my website at the end of the month

http://www.suespargo.com/

I have many new possibilities from quilt market. I try not to get to excited until they happen. I will have to keep you in suspense until the time

is right to share. It was great to see all my friends who are shop owners as well as the designers that I know. I also bought many new fabrics and embellishments which will be on my website soon. My favorite fabrics were from Westminster fabrics and Seven Seas. I have so many ideas in my head about what to do with all these new textiles. I am hoping I have more time to sew once Cathy joins us. It was a very successful market for myself so it was good to pack up on Sunday feeling very satisfied and head to Sisters for our creative week with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably.

Teaching in May

Well once again the time has gotten away from me. I will be posting small posts for the next few days to catch up. I am delighted to say that my friend Cathy is now an employee of Folk-art Quilts and will be a great help to both Michelle and I. I am hoping this will free up a great deal of time for me to pursue the tasks I am neglecting to get done.

May was a very busy month. I taught at Oakland County Quilt Guild in Rochester Michigan. We had a small but very enthusiastic class fun was had by all. We created table rugs and the Ginger Grove Quilt.

Next I taught at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR. I had a full class and we had great fun creating blocks from my new book Flowerbed. We worked in wonderful hand dyed wool, velvets and then embellished these blocks with great embellishments. You can see some of the blocks that were created. I will miss Quilters Affair in Sisters this year but am very pleased to have been invited back to teach July 2009.

The weather in Sisters was fabulous. My sister Wendy joined me from Spokane on Wednesday. We rose early on Thursday morning and drove through the mountains to Portland for Quilt Market. I was amazed at the amount of snow that was still around.

I just love Portland! I will share all that happened at market shortly.

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.