On Learning

One of the nice things about joining a quilt guild is attending workshops. In our short two years, the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild has had a machine quilting workshop with Juanita Yeager, an Unruly workshop led by the talented Tonya Ricucci, and a needle turn applique class taught by Mary Sorensen. Mary liked us so much, she joined the guild.

Yesterday's workshop was all about cartographic or map art quilts and was taught by Valerie Goodwin. Valerie demonstrated many interesting techniques including emotional and color inspiration, composition, fabric collage, and mixed media. We all chose a favorite place and sketched a rough idea of what we wanted on our quilts.

I chose the neighborhood I grew up in. It was a classic mid-century subdivision with neat rows of houses and plenty of young children for afternoon football games, bike riding, and other shenanigans. Ever play that game where you blindfold your friend and feed them odd condiments from your fridge? They have to guess what they were eating. My poor friends. We had some odd condiments.

I wanted to use some of the kimono scraps Yumi sent me to add color and interest. The piece is approximately 19" x 12" and is comprised of cotton fabrics, fused silk organza, and acrylic paints. We sewed the initial background pieces to crinoline. I still need to stitch everything down and quilt it.

I made the Red Lobster bread again. We need this like another hole in our head. It's really good toasted with a poached egg on top.

Veggies (and lots of garlic!) for turkey noodle soup. That turkey recipe was a keeper. Even the stock was super flavorful.

I watched We Bought A Zoo and cried my eye makeup off. I thought it was going to be a funny movie. It's really good and I didn't mind the Matt Damon eye candy either. The little girl was particularly cute.