Mod Mood Workshop in OC

 I haven't posted in so long I feel like I am going through blog withdrawals... not really that I'm addicted to blogging. And during these past two quiet months, while moving, remodeling and dealing with many other crazy things - I've also gone off coffee (one of my top ten loves and definitely an addiction!) in the interest of seeking more balance to my days. I miss the coffee a lot, but I feel a lot better and wake up much happier too...
Anyhow - During the chaos, I was able recently to take one weekend off. I went down to Orange County to take a class with a few of my LAMQG gal pals and our guild sisters in the OCMQG. It was something that Yolanda had arranged a while back and though her health kept her from being a part of the class, we did get a visit from her and I was able to spend my evening Saturday night hanging out and talking projects with her.
Yolanda had really loved Sherri Lynn Wood's mod mood quilt and asked her if she'd come teach a 2 day class for her guild. I think it must have been about 7 or 8 months ago when we all arranged it, this has been much anticipated. I even got myself a hotel room and didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night for anyone.
Sherri is a really nice person. She opened each day with a centering (but not religious) guided meditation where we focused and calmed down. Artistically, I found this to be a great practice. I've done it to a small extent with some of my collage sessions before, but never with quilting. When we opened our eyes, we were to select colors from our piles based on how we felt.
Given all the chaos I've been dealing with these past few years, it was no wonder to me that I had this colorful, but quite subdued and controlled color pallette. I need order, not self-expressive chaos, these days.
Sheri showed us her process for making improv'd wedges and how she puts them together to make these grand (and small) sweeping curves - this, of course, appealed to me.
The second day was spent figuring out how to put our work together - using all sorts of techniques in our tool boxes to get these to look the way we wanted them to. It was really challenging - but fun.
It was good that SEWING PARTY - the store we were meeting in, has such amazing huge design walls in their classroom. (Everything is bigger in Orange County, I've learned)

Sherri, in the white shirt, talking to all of us about layout options.

LAMQG friend, and Sew Modern owner, Lauren showing me how much fun she was having.

What it looked like when Lauren, Liz and myself combined our work together,  it looks much better in this photo than it did in person.

my piece at the end of the weekend.

I still wasn't able to finish my piece, but I am happy with what I ended up with. It was a great experience that included a lot of laughing with friends.  I do intend to finish the piece when I get a chance to finally get my studio sorted out, unpacked and up and running. That's a few weeks away - because of all of the setup I still have to do ((((SIGH)))) - but I'll keep you posted.

oh - and while making this post, I found the following pics on the OCMQG blog and also Sherri's blog.... you can see me and my dear sweet friend, Latifah, getting our mod moods on...