EMPTY SPOOLS SEMINAR 2025 Why YOU Should Attend

 One of the most magical, memorable and important learning opportunities for quilters is EMPTY SPOOLS SEMINARS in Pacific Grove CA. I have been to many BIG events: 26 years of Quilt Festival in Houston, many times to AQS in Paducah, taught at Road To California twice—that’s a big show on the west coast. While all of these are great, NONE of these compare to Empty Spools Seminars. 

For detailed information on why I loved this SO MUCH this past March, 2024, read both my blogs about it:

The Overall Experience

My Fantastic Students

March 30, 2025-April 4, 2025 I will be teaching one of my MOST FAVORITE CLASSES: Two For One

Students LOVE this class and I always want to make another one as soon as I get home from teaching it. Eight fabrics from light to dark create two blocks, one Light, one Dark. It is so fun to try to find the matching pairs when the quilt is done. This is the Perfect 5 Day class, you will sew and sew and learn and laugh.

We need a few more students in this class so I am urging you to seriously consider joining us at this most magical place. It will change you as a quiltmaker going forward, for the better. It is easy to fly to Monterey and transportation from the airport to the Asilomar Conference Center is also easy by taxi or ride share. 

Find all the Registration Information HERE

If you have any questions I can answer to help you decide to join me here in March 2025, please ask away.  Don’t miss this opportunity of a lifetime.

Let’s quilt!

Barbara 

Houston Quilt Festival Part 1

 After not having Festival last year, I was thrilled to be back this year. 

Easy flights, both landing early, a good LYFT driver, and a wonderful welcome from everyone I encounter at the Hilton Americas hotel makes this the highlight of my year.

The view from my room:

My cozy bed:

On the airplane:

Food shots, always good to eat well when I can. Once the work starts it’s Protein bars and instant oatmeal most of the time:

Hotel oatmeal, not instant 

The first of a couple meals at Pappadeaux, a favorite

Salad bar lunch from Phoenicia

NOTE: the salad bar at Phoenicia just reopened last week and Pappadeaux reopened for business last week. So glad for both of those. The Executive Lounge in the Hilton remains closed.

Love seeing the Harvest Moon from my room when it’s close to full:

There is often public art on display in downtown Houston. This year there are painted sugar skulls to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos. Here are just a few photos:

When this posts Festival hasn’t opened yet. Part 2 will have photos from the show.

Let’s quilt.

Barbara 

Pre-Houston Studio Chaos

 If a messy space is the sign of an organized mind, I am in good shape. Several projects are in various stages and I don't want to put them away:

There is more Secret Sewing I thought I was done with but something came up and I had to make 3 more blocks, the kind that are not easy but make you feel accomplished when done. Sneak peek:

I also began an "I Spy" quilt for my 3 year old grandson's "big boy bed" which he will move into soon--one block of 63 done is a start, right?

This is the annual pre-Houston rush to get LOTS done. I will be gone close to two weeks so there are bills to pay, clothes packing to plan, laundry to do so the suitcases can get packed, appointments for personal stuff like hair and nails, and the usual, annual doctor visits I should know NOT to schedule in October. Two weeks ago I got the booster shot so this past week I also got the annual flu vaccine, a must before going to Houston--that's just part of  my annual Fall routine.

At least I don't have any garments to make this year, I will be using prior year garments according to the schedule we have been given. 

Staging area for packing--those two suitcases will be full soon and I'll be on my way to one of my most favorite places, with great people, my favorite hotel, and good food. And the weather is usually the best in Houston in the Fall. 

International Quilt Festival will be extra special this year because the Special Exhibit "My Joyful Journey" will be on full display. Twenty-three of my quilts, representing some of my earliest works to the four Best Of Show quilts, and those that mean the most to me in my journey as a professional quiltmaker. If you come to Festival, I hope our paths will cross during your visit. 

For those who can't make it, I'll take lots of photos and plan to create an "e-book" when I get home.  More on that when it's all set.

Let's quilt. 

Barbara

The Business of Teaching

 It sure seems like a long time ago that I was traveling once or twice a month to teach quiltmaking around the country.  Bookings that were cancelled or postponed are starting to come back now,

I have been quite content to be home, sewing, quilting, designing, all day, every day. My husband and I enjoy each other's company and have plenty to keep us busy so we are not under each others' feet all the time.

My Happy Place

My Studio--the biggest room in the house

As new bookings come up, I hope to keep it to no more than one travel job a month, about 7-8 months of the year. I love "being" at a guild or show to teach and lecture  but the "getting there" part is not the most fun.

Today I booked flights for two upcoming trips, arranged a  hotel for one of those, updated and sent the supply list and lecture description to one guild, and sent prospective dates in 2022 for another guild. And at the moment, I am hard at work on a BIG project that will have me very busy for a while. 

Going to the Ninigret Quilters of Rhode Island in early August will be fun. I haven't been to RI before. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary so chose the Lecture "Ruby Jubilee"--which features the International Quilt Festival Ruby Jubilee in 2014. There will be stories about that great exhibit and my Red and White--By the Numbers quilt and how it came to be.

The workshop they selected is the Charming Sampler, using 3" blocks to learn several skills:

Sample is 33" x 33"

There are two trips in August--Rhode Island and Dallas. Two in September--Houston and Florence, AL . October brings me back to Houston for almost two weeks. Somewhere in there, we will fit in a family vacation to celebrate a big anniversary and a big birthday. 

I enjoy being busy. And it is good that life seems to be returning to some sense of "normal". Now, if I can just remember to slow down enough to enjoy the creative process.

What do you hope to do with the  new "freedom" that seems to be coming our way?

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Looking Ahead

This year is almost half over and I am already looking ahead to 2020. Both 2019 and 2020 are closed, no more room for bookings that take me away from home. I still enjoy teaching locally and have lots of quiltmaking to get done. Right now I am doing some "Secret Sewing" I am eager but unable to show you at the moment. Stay tuned...

Travel remaining for this year is exciting:

June 18-21 SW FL Quilters Guild--lecture and Two-for-One Workshop

August 8,  Heartland Guild, Cullman, AL  Lecture 6:30 pm

August 17-20, Tape The Quilt Show, Denver, CO

October 23-November 4, International Quilt Market and Festival, Houston, TX

November 21-23, Faithful Circle Quilters, Downer's Grove, IL--lecture and Antique Rose Star workshop.

2020 starts off with a great trip: Teaching at Road to California:
 Four classes January 22-25, 2020--Registration opens this Friday, June 7--I will post photos of the classes after it goes public.

I am very pleased to be going back to this terrific show, which is celebrating its' 25th anniversary. This is a not-to-be missed show for so many on the West coast and around the country. There is a large Faculty offering amazing classes for the entire week. The quilt show is pretty wonderful too, the best of the best on display.

April 22-26 will have me on the Faculty of the Virginia Consortium of Quilter's Celebration! This is a full-circle kind of job--I joined VCQ as a brand new quilter in the 80's and learned so much at the quarterly meetings and first two Celebrations I was able to attend before moving from VA to Alabama. How exciting to be returning to join their slate of very talented Faculty members. Registration is coming soon for this show.

April 28-May 3 It will be my honor and pleasure to be one of the 3 judges for the Lakeview Quilters Guild quilt show, Houston, TX. Judging shows is a job I love and take seriously. This show never fails to delight and I look forward to it.

June 9-14 has me back in Southern California, with the Orange Grove Quilters of Anaheim and the Beach Cities Quilters of Mission Viejo. Two lectures, two workshops--if you are local, I'd love to see you there.

August 4-5 has me returning to the Cumberland Valley Quilt guild, just up the road, outside of Nashville. A lecture and a workshop--so nice to be invited back to this wonderful guild.

The next week I head west to the Prairie Quilt Guild of Wichita, KS, lectures and workshops there. I don't often get to the Midwest so I hope to see some of you there.

September 22-23 will be a driving trip to Blairsville, GA, the Misty Mountain Quilt Guild, a lecture and workshop there. I look forward to seeing this part of GA, away from the big city.

2021 is open, for now. If your guild is interested, now is the time to contact me.  In March, I will be in Naples, FL for a lecture and two days of workshops.

As always, I enjoy reaching out to my quilter friends with this blog. Even if you can't get to a class, I hope you find something of interest here from time to time.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

A Visit to Brentwood Tennessee

I had the pleasure of visiting the fine quilters of the Cumberland Valley Quilters Association in Brentwood, TN recently.  Joyce, their President was getting ready to convene the morning meeting. About 125 people were in attendance and they had much to see and do before the meeting:

This is an active guild, with a quilt show every other year, two retreats a year, charity quilts always in the making. bus trips--Paducah is coming up next. Lots to do and friends to talk to.

The Program chair, Eileen, has been my contact for some time now and it was a joy to meet her in person. After we got the technical side ready, hooking up the laptop to the church's projection system, I was able to talk to many members who came up to see the quilts and tops I brought.

It is fun to talk to other quilters and I am still surprised when quite a few came up to tell me they follow my blog. My Lifetime quilt segment I brought was quite a hit:

20" square, 1.25" finished half square triangles

One of the nice ladies, Jane I believe her name is, asked if she could show me some hexagon blocks she has been working on, made from men's silk ties. I was thrilled to see them as I have collected silk ties for quite some time but hadn't yet seen a project that inspired me to use them. These certainly did. She is making them with the English Paper Piecing method. Thank you, Jane, so much, for showing them to me:

Brentwood is in Metro Nashville and traffic seems to grow daily. I chose to come up the day before so I wouldn't have to worry about being delayed for the morning meeting. The Drury Plaza Hotel is very nice, I've stayed in Drurys several times, but my view wasn't all that exciting:

Of course, I'm only in the hotel to sleep so there is no need for much of a view. This is the important part:

The bed was very comfortable.

Since I arrived the day before I had time to stop at Stitcher's Garden, a well-known quilt shop less than 3 miles from my hotel, in Franklin, TN. It is quite the place and most first-time visitors are quickly overwhelmed:

You must watch your step, there are bolts everywhere, high and low. If you are looking for a specific fabric, one that is several years old perhaps, you might just find it here. I stumbled on the Kaffe Fassett stripes aisle and did a little damage there. I also found a bundle of pretty brand new dark green Civil War fat quarters I just had to have.

I would love to know how many individual fat quarters are in this shop--a half a million maybe? Who could ever know?? There are far more than you could count, that's for sure. This is just a very small portion:

My main reason for stopping there was to pick up some fat quarters that potential students could use if they decided to take the day and a half Smitten Workshop that started in the afternoon, just after my lecture and a quick lunch. More than once I have decided to take a workshop after hearing the speaker at our guild meeting and have to quickly prep for the class. They would not have time to go get their machines and fabrics so I brought extra cutting tools and those purchased fabrics to make it easy for a person to join us immediately. One person did when she found out she had the afternoon off--she was glad to get fabric hand-picked for this class and was able to cut out her blocks as she learned the sewing steps needed.

The Lecture was "Color and Quiltmaking--Don't Be Afraid" and it was well-received. After the PowerPoint, I talked about the quilts and tops I brought--quilters do love to see real quilts "in the cloth". An excellent lunch was provided for me and the students who were game to take on Smitten:

We got a good start with 3 hours of class time that afternoon. We ended promptly as there was potential for bad weather that evening. If you live in the South long enough, you know to heed the warnings--we left the building at 4 p.m., it was over 80 degrees, the wind was really blowing and the sky was full of heavy clouds. Eileen and I had a wonderful dinner at the Granite City Brewery adjacent to my hotel. Even though there are many great restaurants in that area, I wanted us to get an early meal, with little traveling so Eileen could make the trip home as soon as possible. You don't want to be on the Interstate when tornadoes could pop up. We ate and had a great time getting to know each other bettter, then she was able to get home early. We did get pretty strong storms through the area between 8-10 p.m. but no damage I could see. And as usually happens, the next day dawned much cooler and clear.

We spent all day working on Smitten blocks. By early afternoon, there were enough blocks to demo the process of assembling this quilt, which is not hard but is SLOW:

The students all seemed to have a good time and learned some things. I enjoyed my visit with them very much. Our class ended at 3 p.m. which was just in time for me to head out as the afternoon rush hour was starting. I made it south of the area with no problems, and was home about my usual dinner time.

When I visit guilds, I often think "If I lived here, I would love to be part of this guild". CVQA was no exception. I enjoyed our time together and hope we get to do it again someday.

My Smitten quilt is now on its' way to San Diego, where I will teach this class again June 17, 2018.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Illinois Quilters Inc--Stars All Over

I recently spent time with the Illinois Quilters Inc.in Northbrook, IL. Their program person, Sue, saw me in action at Spring Festival in Chicago as I gave Open Studio presentations the last 3 years and booked me to come teach for them.

A great hostess, who took care of everything, Sue:

Flying into O'Hare with very minor time delays, I was met by two great hostesses, Sue and Martha. They  have the airport run down pat--Sue came into baggage claim to help with the bags, while Martha circled or went to the cell phone lot--no parking permitted at the arrivals area unless you are loading your car. They keep you moving. As soon as my bags arrived, Sue texted Martha and she pulled up to the curb as we exited the building--very smooth.

After dropping off my personal luggage at the hotel, we headed out for a lovely meal and conversation at a Market/Deli. Quilters always feel like they've known each other forever--these women quickly felt like old friends.

Then we headed to the church were the meeting was held to get the technical stuff done--connecting my Ipad to their projector worked perfectly--we felt so smart but were probably just lucky. The lecture was "How to Make an Award-Winning Quilt" and it was well-received.

The next day we gathered back at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, for our first class:  Feathered Stars Precisely Paper Pieced. This is usually a 9-12 hour class but the guild asked if I could do it in one day. As long as everyone had all their pieces cut out before class, we could give it a good try. It was pedal to the  metal all day and they got pretty far along. One amazing student, Nona, worked really hard and got 2/3 of her star pieces made: 

This was helpful for the rest of the students to see--it's like a jigsaw puzzle.  Here is some of the student's class work:

Vickie, I think

Bill, the lone gentleman in the class

Martha, I think

Lynne--don't you love the orange against that blue?

All in all, they did great and most figured out why it's usually a longer class. But they all know how to finish their stars once all the "parts" are pieced.

Day Two was a new class with a few students staying on and a some new ones joining the fun. We made String Stars--Save Our Scraps, here are a few:

Barbara, with a Christmas theme

Diana, with plans to make an "exploding" star

Vickie, very scrappy and happy

Mary with a beautiful scrappy red, white and blue star

Lynne, determined to use up lots of bright kids fabrics

This time we remembered to get a class shot

Everyone got their block assembled, or very close--a successful day.

Nona, from the Feathered Star class, was the class "hostess" for the second day but did not take the string star class. Instead, she worked hard to complete her Feathered Star, in between taking lunch orders and going to get lunch.

It is helpful for students to see how all those paper pattern pieces come together--the jigsaw puzzle. Here is Nona's before she assembled it:

And, ta da! Nona and  her beautiful block--thanks for keeping at it for most of two days, Nona:

I had a great time with these good folks. They fed me well, showed me around and did their best in class. Too soon it was back to O'Hare the 4th day to head for home.

A few days later, Bill posted his completed block on Instagram--beautiful block, Bill:

I hope to see more Feathered Star and String Star blocks from this group in the future.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara