but who noticed, I was slaving away in my classroom. It was landscape day and I wanted to get as much input and feedback from Sue Benner as I could. I chose this photo of autumn Aspens:

Here is my version:

From across the room, you can really see the reflection. Sue was very happy with it. And so am I.

One of the great things about being here first week is getting to be first to sign up for next year and you get a discount. Here is the faculty for week one:

Paula Nadlestern
Elizabeth Barton

Here is a quilt by Elizabeth:

Velda Newman
Gabrielle Swain: Here is her quilt on display here.

Susan Shie
Sue Benner
Hollis Chatelain
Libby Lehman
Barbara Watler
Lura Schwarz Smith
Jeanette DeNiolis Meyer ( I am signing up for this or E. Barton) Here is her quilt:

Session 2
Charlotte Yde Here is her quilt:

Joan Colvin
Gerry Chase
Janet Steadman
Phil Beaver
Carol Shinn
Susan Cleveland
Carol Taylor You know, we all lover her work and I hope to take her class:

Phillipa Naylor

They will be on the Art Quilt Tahoe website with more description of their work when the current sessions are over. So look them over and sign up for next year!!

And, dessert du jour! DebR wondered what last night’s dessert was. I think it was sort of an apple strudel. This was some sort of creamy decadent thing.

Sue Benner gave me a very challenging first assignment and I was a half a day or more behind the newbies. The three pieces are now complete except for quilting. Here is the piece I had started to layer yesterday. I went in this morning and added some black and white shapes and filled out the squares. Sue likes the color use that I have done in this piece:

This piece is a crowd favorite, but Sue thinks I did not do enough to blur the background. I have fused organza spirals to this.

This piece was a lot of work. Sue kicked my butt to get this where it is. Everything I tried – she nixed. But it worked. This is a great piece now and you can’t see the background.

The rest of the class started on the curvilinear exercise this morning. I went back and did mine tonight after a couple of glasses of wine!! We had to rotary cut curved pieces of several fabrics and arrange them on a fused background, a whole cloth background or directly to the batting. I chose the last. Here is my work:

We were given a quicky homework assignment. Cut three fabrics into curved pieces. Fuse them into a block that could be trimmed to 10 inches. Cut the block into nine patches and then rearrange and fuse them. Here is my effort:

Sand, of course, dessert du jour:

Mrs. Mel did her slide show tonight and she was hilarious. She explained blogs to everyone. I’d say that 30% had no idea what they were. I, however, met more loyal readers today.

It is a rainy day in Tahoe, but who cares. We thought it would snow – maybe tonight. The big excitement is the momma bear and her cubs who are hanging out and raiding the garbage dumpster.

My assignment today was to make 3 fused backgrounds out of squares of fabric and then alter them by layering different motifs on top. Here are my back grounds:

The top and bottom pieces are fabrics from sample books that I got from my architect son-in-law. They are silks designed by Jack Lenor Larson and other high-end fabrics. The center piece is mainly Japanese textiles.

I got the bottom one sort of done by adding squares and rectangles:

I am not sure what I will do with the other two – maybe circles for one and leaf shapes for the other.

Here is some of Sue Benner’s work:

This landscape is done with the edges of fused fabric that she trims off – the unfused edges become 3 dimensional design elements. I always threw those away!! Just look at this!

Here are a couple of her flower series. She is teaching this next year:    

After each lunch and dinner, one or more of the instructors gives a slide presentation. Tonight, the adorable Paula Nadlestern was on. Here is one of her quilts:’

I leave you with the dessert du jour:

This is such a fabulous place. If you have never been – save your pennies and come next year. I will tell you the faculty in another post – lots of new people!!

I’m here! It is so much fun to reconnect with the artsy quilters from last year, dinner tonight was the Sonoma County Table with two guests: Mrs. Mel and my roomie, Kris. She is from Kansas city and works at a Chico’s!!! She is a reader of my blog, so she is one step ahead of me in the getting acquainted department. She is taking Mrs. Mel’s class.

And here is Mrs. Mel with moi!

Here is the dessert du jour.

We were upgraded to a suite and it is awesome. I let the jet-lagged roomie have the bedroom and I am on the sleeper sofa. Here are some shots of the room:

And look what is in the silent auction. I am seriously bidding on this. A gorgeous pillow by our own Gabrielle, who we miss!!!

Oh and there is that Mrs. Mel again – loves the camera.

Where have I been?

First, I want to say how much I appreciate the kindred spirits who commented on my latest rant – I so appreciate each and every one!

Monday, I worked on the church newsletter and finished it on Tuesday. Whew!

Wednesday, we had a guy here to refinish the floors in our entry, kitchen and eating area. They are white marble. Never put marble in a kitchen, especially if it has not been treated with a finish to prevent etching by acidic food. Ours apparently were not treated – as we discovered too late!! I asked this guy if there would be a lot of dust – no, he says. Wrong. My studio is in the loft which hangs over the kitchen. I was trying to get a quilt done for a show this week-end and so I was quilting with a dust mask on!! I left and went to Kaiser to take a wild ride on the CT Scanner and got a flue shot. I came home and went back to work on the quilt with dust mask in place. Then came the first smelly chemical. Arrrgh! I left the house and went to Whole Foods and ate Chinese chicken salad. Then I went shoe shopping. I bought RED Dansko clogs and  pair of brown and black Jarkings, a new brand to me, but so comfy.

Back home, to do some more quilting, whoops, the second chemical is going down and we need to leave the house for an hour. I called my friend, Janet, and went to her house for a visit. She had been to Houston so I got all caught up with her Houston adventures. I finally got home, made dinner and went back to quilting, which is so much harder to do at night!!

Thursday was guild day. Look who came for a visit and brought a raffle quilt!! And as you can see, he was VERY excited!! His name is Josh, and he is training to become an assistance dog.

Here is the quilt:

After guild, I went out to lunch with friends to celebrate Patsy’s birthday. Back home to work on the quilt. I finished it at 11 pm.  The quilt I am referring to is the I Sing a Song of the Saints of God for our church’s All Saint’s Festival which started tonight. I dropped it and my I remember Mama quilt off at church and worked in the SDA office all day.

Tonight I went to the art show reception and look!!, I got a second place ribbon –

Here I am with my new ribbon

Here is the best of show, a beautiful clay piece by my friend BJ, titled St. Brigid looks over the fields:

Tomorrow we are having activities all day. On Sunday will be the procession of Saints. Here are the Saint puppets that were made for the event. The parish voted on their favorites to be depicted, and we were not limited to the traditional saints.

Here are Mother Teresa and St. Francis.

And Martin Luther King and Mary ( a rather matronly Mary!!)

And the Black Madonna;

So, that is where I have been. Tomorrow, I will spend most of the day at the festival and then I must come home and start packing for AQT!! I can not wait!! I am taking Sue Benner’s new class. I’ll see Mrs. Mel and Robin of Quilt Antics, coming all the way from Hawaii, and connect with old friends and meet new ones. My Five Fish has been entered in the AQT challenge so it will be hanging in the dining room all week.