Great art often inspires great art, and I’ve been inspired by my Color-of-the-Month table runner patterns to capture them in watercolor. I’m delighted to create in both media, as they complement each other. Quilting is a precise, geometric discipline, whereas watercolor is a loose and often uncontrolled process. Watercolor has a mind of its own, [...]
Posts under ‘Learning from the Masters’
Top Ten Habits Revealed
Look what the post man delivered today to my mailbox! My Top Ten Habits article is on the cover of the Feb/Mar Quilter’s Newsletter magazine above the masthead. Woo-hoo. I’m thrilled, proud, and humbled all at the same time. My husband and I are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. In the [...]
Behind the Scenes
After I shot this video at Dragonfly Quilt Shop in Watkinsville, GA, I gave a lecture to the Cotton Patch Quilt Guild in Athens, and drove home for a late-night arrival. The same day, my elder son attended a workshop at the local Apple store on how to use iMovie.
I’ve been the computer expert in [...]
Julie & Julia: Bon Appetit!
This weekend after my younger son’s eye exam (not ready for glasses yet, but soon) we had dinner at Provino’s, a delicious family Italian restaurant. I had the Spinach Tortellini, David enjoyed the Shrimp and Scallop Fettucine, and the boys both got something equally rich and delightful. It was the perfect meal to precede our [...]
Quilt Camp at Willow Ridge Press Studios
This week I hosted six children in my quilt studio to make Quillows. They were practically giddy they were so excited! We planted the seeds of lifelong sewers and quilters, and they were beaming with pride and tightly hugging their Quillows when they left.
On Monday we started by making a mini-Quillow. This turned out to [...]
Art Week: Gee’s Bend Quilts
Today’s the final day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week, and I’m concluding with a bang: quilts from the Gee’s Bend quilters. I’ve featured works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Previously I [...]
Art Week: Wood
It’s wood day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week. I’m featuring works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Previously I featured sculpture and glass.
The wood pieces in the Big Canoe Fine Art show [...]
Art Week: Glass
It’s glass day in the Quilts & Creativity Art Week. I’m featuring works of art from the Big Canoe Fine Art show in honor of my own art quilts that are on display at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. Yesterday was sculpture and you can see it here.
The glass-blown artwork in the Big Canoe [...]
Art Week: Sculpture Day
It’s art week here at Quilts & Creativity, in honor of my upcoming talk at the Ann Litrel gallery in Woodstock. I dropped off the quilts today and got a behind-the-scenes tour from Ann, and her gallery is gorgeous. Her paintings are luscious and color-rich.
I’ll be talking about my color inspiration, how I [...]
A Real Book’s Lasting Value
I want my work to last. Longevity is one of the three main goals I have for my books. The other two? A post for another day.
I realized long ago that it took just as long to write a book that was trendy and out of print after two years as it did to write [...]
Color Mastery Gallery Talk
Ann Litrell, a local painter in Woodstock, Georgia, invited me to speak at her gallery event to raise funds for charity. Here are the details from Ann:
Gallery Show and Fundraiser – The Colors of HOPE: Author and quilter Maria Peagler, with local quilter Mary Litrel, will show selected quilts from their collections at the gallery [...]
Top Ten Ways I Budget for Quilting in Tough Times
Even with the tough economy, I’m still spending money on two things: quilting and books. I can give up eating out, pedicures, car detailing, my housekeeper, and Starbucks without feeling deprived. But you take away my quilting and reading, and you’re messin’ with my priorities. My inner Madea might just come out.
I’ve long had a [...]
Some Good Financial News
As I climbed onto the elliptical machine this morning, my neighbor Sue was on the adjacent machine watching a financial news network. I couldn’t help but quip, “So what’s the good financial news?” We both had a good laugh, which is about all you can do when all you hear around you is “meltdown.”
I actually [...]
Quilt Project Runway: Katie Pasquini Masopust
Katie Pasquini Masopust has a new book on creative quilt design called Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter: Easy-to-Follow Lessons for Dynamic Art Quilts. All about taking inspiration from photos and artwork and using them as a source for your quilts. Katie professes not be good at drawing realistically, so she takes her photographs and [...]
Behind the Scenes at Fall Quilt Market 2008
Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.
I’m in Houston, TX this week and I’ll be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the giant trade show to the quilting trade: Fall Quilt Market. From this show come the new fabrics, books, patterns, and designers you’ll be seeing in your quilt shop in 2009. And you’ll hear about them [...]
From Sketchbook to Art Quilt
(You’re gonna want to scroll down for this one.) So what does all this stuff about sketching have to do with quilting? It prepares you for the single moment that inspiration strikes. I want to make a quilt of a house, a bird, a cup of coffee. I want to make [...]
Art a Key to Happy Life for the Aging
Thanks to Alyson over at ArtBizBlog for the heads up on this great NPR story on Aging Artists. I was intrigued enough to read the more detailed summary of the study, and was delighted at the attitude of these artists, who struggled financially but were elated with life and their art.
“Art is what makes [...]
Cool Tools for Your Blog
I’ve got an article in the upcoming issue of Professional Quilter magazine called Developing Your Blog as a Marketing Tool. I love blogging. I get to write daily posts that let readers know a little about me and my work and connect with people not only in my own community, but across the [...]
I’m On Mary Lou’s Blogroll!
I feel like I’ve arrived. Mary Lou Weidman has added me to her blogroll. Wow. I’m so honored. Mary Lou is one of my all-time favorite quilters, not only for her courageous use of bold colors, but also for her gracious and optimistic attitude.
I have all of Mary Lou’s books, and [...]
Making Something Beautiful from Nothing
One of my Christmas gifts to myself is the memoir Eat. Pray. Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’m finding it more entertaining than spiritually uplifting, but one of Elizabeth’s experiences resonated with me and I haven’t been able to forget it. During her stay in Italy, she experiences the Italian notion of l’arte d’arrangiarsi [...]
Learning from the Masters: Faith Ringgold
In my last installment of the “Learning from the Masters” series, I’m profiling Faith Ringgold. One of the first decorating steps I did in my studio when we moved to our current home was to put prints of Faith’s work on the wall above my sewing machine. Faith’s color-infused work speaks to me [...]
Learning from the Masters: Deidre Scherer
The third artist in my “Learning from the Masters” series is Deidre Scherer. Deidre is not a quilter, but an artist who works in fabric and thread. She creates beautifully expressive portraits of our aging seniors, but uses no batting or bindings. In fact, she celebrates the raw edge, both in her [...]
Learning from the Masters: Ruth McDowell
Ruth McDowell is the second quilt master I’m profiling this week in my “Learning from the Masters” series. She is the only quilter whose work I see and consistently say to myself, “I wish I had made that quilt.”
Ruth is well-known for her complex and rich piecing in her art quilts. I admire [...]
Learning from the Masters: Gwen Marston
In my first “Learning from the Master” post, the quilter from whom I’ve learned a great deal is Gwen Marston. First, I admire her attitude, which is perfectionism in quilting is overrated, and you don’t have to suffer to make a beautiful quilt. Gwen learned by copying the masters, Mennonite quilters and [...]
Sunday at the High Museum
Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), Claude Monet, (1872/1873). Public domain image courtesy of Wikipedia.
I took the day off on Sunday and went to the High Museum of Art to view their Inspiring Impressionism exhibit. It did not disappoint. Displayed were multiple works by Impressionist greats Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Paul [...]
