Mekong Delta

The second day Wendy and I took a trip to the Mekong Delta. We had a driver and lucky for us we had a guide who could speak good English. It was a wonderful drive south out of the city. We travelled through rural villages and came across many people on there way to the market. On our arrival at the Delta we were taken to our very colorful boat. The unique Mekong Delta consists of 1,740 miles of canals and life on the water has not changed for centuries. There are many floating markets along with homes were people live on the water. This area is full of coconut, mango, longan trees as well as rice paddies as the soil is very fertile due to the rich alluvial soil that flows into the distributaries from neighboring countries. We travelled the waters through many down pours and visited a coconut farm as well as many orchards.

This is the first bridge that had just opened linking the biggest islands. Up to this point the only way around the delta was by boat.

We were treated to an authentic lunch on a local island. This was the main course. It looked rather unfriendly but was delicious!

At the end of the trip we took a small boat ride through the many very small rivers that are part of the water ways. It was wonderful to actually experience the way the local people live on the water. They are very resilient mainly farming to make a living.

Tomorrow I will post about our trip to the village where our quilters live. This was an eye opening experience and really touched my heart.

Sue

First Day In Vietnam

We are home from our travels. I feel very blessed to have been a part of this trip. As I have so many exciting experiences to share with all of you I have decided to post our trip over many days. So please visit daily for the next update. Wendy and I met Della from DellaQ, in Seattle and flew through Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was an over night flight and 13 hours ahead so we lost nearly half a day. On arrival Wendy and I were blown over by all the traffic which included millions of motorbikes and bicycles carrying many outrages wares. The noise level was also something new. Everyone honking there horns just to let you know they were there, not out of anger or frustration. You would see anything from 4 people on a bike to a complete store. I guess when that is your only mode of transportation you pack it like we would our SUV's! The other amazing site was all the power lines. Throughout our visit I was reminded many times how we take many things for granted. The first night Della took us to the local outdoor market for dinner. It was great we shared a few local dishes of food. We then retired to our hotel for the evening. It was good to get our heads down. Sue

The 50LB dilemma and other happenings

There is good news to share from Spokane.  Jason has landed a job at the Gap store in town and starts on Sunday.  Given the state of the economy and job market he has done very well in finding one so soon.  In the meantime he and Pete have been busy creating. First a nice new kindling holder in preparation for winter. We are having such great weather that its hard to believe there will even be one this year.

Our first of three gates has been completed in the veggie garden and boy what a great work of art it is. Pete and Jason have nicknamed their creation the fish-hatch.  It is the entrance near mom and dad's house and in honor of our mom's maiden name.  We are all very proud to be half FISH.

The last two weeks have been very busy preparing for our trip to Vietnam and making sure everything on the work front is up to date.  I have now realized that the studio will remain a mess until my return and some things will be left undone.  I hope to leave a little list and perhaps some of it might be done before I return.  It is all about the power of positive thinking, right?

It is time to start packing and here are a few of things I am taking for our workshop which brings me to the 50 lb dilemma.  It is always a challenge to abide by the new weight restrictions when you teach as Sue can attest. Hopefully the packing gods will be with us and we wont need to discard our underwear and other necessities at the curbside check in!  

We are both very excited to have this opportunity to teach in Vietnam and encourage you to look at the organizations website at  http://www.vietnam-quilts.org/

We will be meeting up with Della of dellaQ at the airport. It is through her efforts that we are on this journey so visit her website at www.dellaq.com to find out more.  We are looking forward to sharing some time together.

We hope to be able to keep in touch with you as we travel but if problems arise we will blog all about it upon our return.  Keep creating and enjoy the last throws of summer.

Wendy

Back Home and Stitching

I arrived home very late on Wednesday night and

have struggled a little with the time change. I was really happy to have my new house quilt with me on the plane as I had a few delays as well as long lay overs. That's what happens when you try and save a few dollars on a more reasonable flight price. I am always amazed at how many people have idle hands, this is always one of my best times to stitch, no interruptions and it sure makes the time pass quickly.

Here is a sneak preview of my new quilt along with more beads I just can not resist. As you can see I just love the combination of hand dyed wool and fun cottons along with many yarn and bead embellishments. It is hard to know when to stop. The only reason I am hustling is that I may be teaching this quilt early next year and will be needing to have it photographed shortly. It will also be an upcoming book in the spring.

Along with this quilt I am working on my 2008 BOM. I am very excited with its progress along with all 13 birds that will appear on the quilt. Here is one with a little attitude.

Today I have just been writing my newsletter for September and here is a new kit 'Red Clover' that will be available as soon as the updates are made. This quilt was featured in the Australian Homespun Magazine earlier this year. I had fun using hand dyed wool, raw silk, velvet and cottons and embellishing with fibers, beads and buttons.

I have been on the computer all day and have grumpy teenagers to feed so I am going to call it quits for the night.

Hope you all get some stitching time it sure makes me a happier person.

Take care

Sue

CHANGES

Jason is beginning to settle in and our dogs have been quick to figure out that having him here is a very good thing. 

 

Sue is on the road again today heading home and we all miss her already. It has been a busy time together, a lot of things have been accomplished and as usual there is never quite enough time to do it all. We played, traveled, learnt, created and worked together. We looked at more colors to add to Sues line of wool threads with Tristan. Watch for a color chart of the current colors to be posted on her website soon. They are wonderful to use and luscious to look at. 

A few projects have been left to be completed at a later date but we have managed to finish one of two quilts from our workshops with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably.  Mom is wrapped up in Sue's version. Boiki, mom and dad's adopted dog has adapted quite well to his new life of luxury.

  

Our Vietnam trip is further along and in between all the other projects Sue managed to finish this, a beautiful knitted beret from the latest Rowan magazine. I swear she has ten hands. 

Wendy

Color Play

I collaborate with my sister Wendy on many aspects of my business so I am very excited that she is going to blog alongside me. We have endless creative ideas and this will be a great way to let you see what we are up to behind the scenes.

Today we have been working on some photographs for my books to be released at spring market. We will be posting some teasers soon. We were planning on taking a walk through the woods to photograph but the clouds stormed over and kept us inside. There was even a chill in the air and we wished we had finished our latest knitting projects, lovely colorful wraps to keep away the cold. I am feverishly working on my Brandon Mably wrap (right) while Wendy is busy trying to finish her Kaffe Fassett wrap.

We have collected lots of yarn for the Brandon Mably wrap and Wendy has dyed quite a few skeins as well. It has been interesting to play with color, using hand dyed and variegated yarns and playing around with light and dark contrasts.

I go through a similar process when I choose colors for applique often finding that the fabrics I use for images need to be highlighted. I accomplish this in many ways, shadowing with darker colors, couching contrasting fibers and even beading edges of applique.

We are very fortunate to have so many wonderful materials available for embellishment enabling us to make our projects unique. Here is a glimpse of what I am bringing home. Who can resist these!

I also could not help myself when I saw this and of course it had a bird on it.

Sue and Wendy

Vacation in Spokane

I am having a wonderful break with my family in Spokane, WA. The weather has been warm and I have been able to spend time in Wendy's lush flower gardens. Life has been a little slower so I have had time to think about new projects for next year as well as finishing up some handwork on up coming pieces.

 

We spent the weekend in Canada driving the Selkirk Loop. What an amazing area! I was able to find a few wonderful pieces of hand made pottery to add to my collection as well as a lovely green handwoven shawl.

Wendy and I will be spending the rest of the week finishing up our quilts from our Kaffe Fassett class as well as planning our trip to Vietnam. We leave in three weeks to teach for a non profit organization in Ho Chi Minh City.

My son Jason is relocating to Spokane and arrived today. I am very excited for him and wish him well with his new venture, I will miss him greatly.  

Martha Stewart - Dreamers into Doers Contest 2008

I am excited to share that an essay of the growth of myself and my business was submitted to Martha Stewart's 'Dreamers into Does 2008 Contest', by my daughter Kelly.

I will be highlighted as 'Doer of the week' as of July 30.

To read my story, leave a message and meet others who have turned their dreams into reality you may go to http://www.marthastewart.com/dreamers?lnc=58bcbb90f0c79110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=breadcrumb_community

July in New York

This month I have travelled to upstate New York and New York City. Very contracting places but I loved both for there own special qualities.

I first taught in Saranac Lake at the Adirondack North Country Quilt Camp. It was very hot but set in a beautiful area around Lake Placid. I taught 3 full day classes. We had great fun creating pincushions, the Victoria Tote and the Thistledown Table Rug. Here are some of the projects in progress to entice you to get out your needle and thread.

I just returned from a fun filled week in New York City. My son Andrew is interning in the city this summer so I just could not pass up a visit. My quilting friends Kim and Cathy joined me. We spent many hours in the trim stores and came home with enough trims to embellish for the rest of your quilting careers. We also visited the Folk Art Museum as well as many interesting new stores. We took in a cruise around the city which gave us a very different perspective.

We found a wonderful park under the bridge in Brooklyn which was full of inspirational art.

My son Jason would have loved it!

We finished our evening standing in line for 1-1/2 hours the famous pizza from Grimaldi's Pizzeria. As you can see Andrew and Kim had to pose for me before getting stuck into the garlic and cheese pizza we ordered. It was delicious! Well worth the wait.

Aimee is due back this week from her 3 week stay in Spokane. It has been a very productive visit. Wendy keeps sending me photos of all the projects they have been creating.

I just hope she made some for me! They know I love handmade wares.

She has been dabbling in handmade pottery, cement flower pots and bird baths, picking strawberries, learning to dye wool and even been kayaking a few times.

I think life will be very boring once she returns!

Primitives of the Midwest

What a fun filled week we all had in Missouri. As usual Rita and her staff from Quilters Station in Lee Summit, MO went all out to make everyone feel very welcome and at home. Opening night on Wednesday evening was filled with many laughs as Jennifer Erbe Keltner from American Patchwork and Quilting entertained us with a sneak preview of many quilts that will appear in upcoming issues of the magazine. I was very fortunate to have Jennifer as one of my students in my Folklore class on Thursday along with many other creative quilters. We used many ribbons, velvets and beads to create the blocks from this quilt. The following day we created a new needle roll using many textural fabrics, making roving balls by hand and embellishing with beads and buttons. On Saturday was my Altered Textile class and I was delighted with the results. We first wrote in our journals drawing different shapes and ideas for embellishment. My students had appliqued some of the block ahead of time and then we embellished with layers learning about the use of ribbons, fabrics, velvets and wools to make each piece unique. I can't wait to see the finished result of each block. I am very excited about the possibilities of teaching this class in other locations. Here is a sneak preview of the start of some of their creative pieces. They all had different ideas to make a one of a kind block. I encouraged them to use it as a sampler to try new stitches as well as colors and textures. Jason arrived home from India on Tuesday. Rather tired but full of many entertaining stories. I have so enjoyed being home for a while. The weather in Ohio has been great. I have spent many evenings in my garden and on my new deck stitching. I am packing suitcases again and will be on my way to teach in upstate New York on Wednesday. Looking forward to some more designing time as well as new projects to stitch when I return.