Denyse Schmidt workshop

I feel so lucky to be a part of the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild! Do I say that all the time? I think I do. Anyhow - this past month was really special for us - we were able to bring Denyse Schmidt - who is basically the pioneer of modern quilting to LA to teach us and do workshops for us!
I bought Denyse's book years before I ever started quilting and have looked and have looked at it over and over. (highly recommend) The difference about Denyse is that she's an artist first. She graduated from RISD and has the art knowhow and design aesthetic that make her really stand out among quilters.

The weekend started with a lecture out at Art Center in Pasadena and we spent about 2 hours learning about Denyse's processes and her journey and what inspires her. I came home even more excited to spend Sunday day with her in a 5 hour class that had only 10 other people with me.

(alissa haight carlton took these 2 pics of our class)

We spent the first half of the day working on improvisational piecing - where you pick pieces out of a paper bag without looking and work with what you've got - it's a great exercise in letting go and broadening your horizons.  As I kept drawing out pieces, they were nearly all solids and that was a real stretch for me... here's one of the squares I ended up with. (I love them).  I plan on using them to make something that I can really enjoy. Still thinking about what that might be, though.

The afternoon was spent with us sharing some design issues we had with her on current projects and getting her insight. I brought in my collages and talked about how I can't seem to bridge the gap between my art and my quilting quite yet... She helped me to get started and I love what I made from these!

I'm inspired to keep working on this - it's so far out from my current color scheme and comfort zone.... I really have some new ideas as to how I can move forward on this journey.  I already have 3 more "squares" (they're not square) to add to these and I'm buzzing with ideas.

(me and Denyse with my squares and inspiration collage - you can tell how super nice she is...)

Generation Q Magazine

There's a new quilting magazine in town, and though it's not print (yet!), it is being headed by the gals who were editing Quilter's Home magazine (whose last edition is out now...) and a few of their friends.

Generation Q!



It's starting as a blogzine  TODAY and then plans are to take it through digital zine phase to print within a year. Ambitious! I heard about all of this at the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week where editor Jake Finch is a member and shared with us the great news of this new magazine and also the need they have for people plugging their endeavor with publicity. Find them on FB, tweet about it, but definitely start checking in with them. They promise all sorts of contemporary inspiration for the modern sewist and quilter.