Karen Kay Buckley

I was fortunate enough to be invited  back to teach at the Applique Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Colonial Williamsburg  is one of my most favorite places.  I walked through the streets  each morning and it has a calming effect on me.  I love the architecture, feelings of times gone by and the memories.  Joe and I have visited this area together on many occasions.  One year we surprised my mother and took her to Colonial Williamsburg a week before Christmas.  This area is incredibly beautiful all the time but more so during the holiday season.

Here are some photographs of what I saw on my morning walk.

As I wrote earlier, my reason for being in Williamsburg was to teach for the Applique Academy.  You can find more about the academy at http://www.ellysienkiewicz.com .  It is organized by Elly Sienkiewicz and her trusty assistant, Bette.  The academy is structured for the students to spend three full days with one instructor.    I had a wonderful group of 20 students and it was a pleasure to walk in to the room and be with them.

One day they learned how to paint on their fabric to get the veins in some leaves and to get the shading in the flower petals.

Each afternoon the seminar holds some kind of fun function for the participants.  One day they have an afternoon tea and hat day.  Some ladies wore their mothers’ fabulous hats.  There were some great hats.

Barb found hats for us to wear.  For the record…Barb made me do it.

Elly in her wonderful hat.

And the afternoon events also included a show and tell of quilts that students brought from home.  Jan took my “Heard It Through the Grapevine” workshop with her guild in Harrisonburg, VA this fall and had her block to share.  Jan is behind the podium and her block is being held up on the left side of the photo.  Jan is an excellent  appliquer and her block really showed her great workmanship.

This event is so very well organized and the staff goes the extra, extra mile.  Each day they brought something special to me and my students.  On the day of the tea they brought a beautiful invitation for the event with a tea bag inside.  One day they brought a little gift bag with some chocolate treats and a dragonfly pin.  Each teacher received a beautiful coaster with a block from the quilt we were teaching on the coaster.  Elly and Bette  go well beyond the norm making this one very special event.  If you love to applique you must check into attending this academy.

This cute little quilt called “Costa Rican Dream” was made by Sally Freeberg from California.

Linda Anderson, also from California, made “Grand Guard”.  She won second place in the Art Critter category.

“Uninvited Guest” was made by Sharon Schlotzhouer from Colorado Springs, CO.  Sharon’s quilt won an honorable mention in the Art Critter category.  You can find out more about Sharon and her incredible quilts at http://www.sharonlschlotzhauer.com/gallery.html   Looks just like our bird feeder.  I’m pretty sure the squirrels eat more than the birds!

“Cluck Cluck” was made by Marta Price and quilted by Marla Monson from Grass Valley, CA.

“Something About a Truck” was made by Candy Brown from Auburn, CA.

“Hoot Are You, Hoot ,Hoot” was made by Sherry Glidden from Ladera Ranch, CA.

“In Praise of Natural Curves, Canyonlands Utah” was made by Kathy Schattleitner from Grand Junction, CO.  Kathy won second place in the Art Naturescape category.

“Surrender” was made by Maria Elkins from Beaver Creek, Ohio.

“Slowly Succumbing to the Elements” was made by Judy Leslie from Coquitham, BC, Canada.  Judy won Best Painted Surface.

Peggy Kragnes made “Green Miles.  She won 3rd place in the Large Pieced Traditional category.

“Carousel Stampede” was made by Cathy Wiggins from Macon, North Carolina.  She won the Director’s Award.  You can find out more about Cathy at http://www.cathywiggins.com/

“Red Feathers” was the Best of Show winner.  It was made by Claudia Clark Myers and Marilyn Badger.

Here is close-up shot.  Amazing.

“Larry” was made by Jennifer Day from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Jennifer’s write-up said that she took this photo of her sewing machine repair man.  Very cool.  You can find out more about Jennifer and her photography and quilts at http://jdaydesign.com/art_portraits.html

Hope you enjoyed viewing some of the fabulous quilts from the Road to California show.  I am off to Williamsburg this week to teach at the Applique Academy.  Talk to you next week.

There were lots of incredible quilts on display at the Road to California show.  I would like to share some of my favorites.

Denise Havlan won one of the top prizes with her quilt “The Pieceful Ones”.  Denise won the Masterpiece award.  You can find out more about Denise and her amazing quilts on her website http://www.denisehavlan.com

“Roman Tiles” was made by Ann Peterson from Surprise, Arizona.  Ann won a top award……Excellence in Machine Quilting.

“Soffito de San Marco” was made by Laurie Tigner from Rapid City, South Dakota.

Marilyn Badger won two prizes at this show.  For “Euphoria” she won 1st place in the traditional large pieced category.

“Tucker’s Tulips” was made by Susan Garman from Friendswood, Texas.

You can find out more about Susan at http://suegarman.blogspot.com

Here is a close-up of her quilt.  Fabulous quilting.

“Borrowed Roses” was made by Jerrianne Evans and quilted by Cynthia Clark.  It is a pattern from Susan Garman.  Susan was well represented in this show.

“Bed of Roses” was also made by Susan Garman.  She won 2nd place in the traditional large applique category.

“Respite” was made by Linda Anderson from La Mesa, CA.

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One of my students at Road to California brought her finished piece from the workshop I taught there ten years ago.  I apologize for not having the student’s name.  If anyone knows the maker please email me and I will add it to the blog. (I lost my note with the maker’s name. )   The block looks great! Great texture on the butterfly wings, great circles and great point.  Like I said, a wonderful block.

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At the recommendation of some blog readers and students I read “The Kitchen House” by Kathleen Frisson.

I started it on my flight to California and finished it today.  It was a hard book to put down.  I wanted to keep reading but, well, life gets in the way sometimes.  Lavinia, a white servant girl, is brought home by the ships captain to his tobacco plantation.  She is raised by the captains illegitimate (slave) daughter who runs the kitchen for the main house.   Being raised by the servants creates bonds but because Lavinia is white she will lead a different life.  The story is told through the eyes of Lavinia and Belle.  As I mentioned, the book was hard to put down.  My only complaint….I wanted more at the end of the book.  It seemed to end abruptly.  But, I still thought it was a very good read.

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Today is my oldest girl’s 14th birthday.  I feel very lucky to have her in my life.  I tell her every day how much I love her. 

HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY SASHA.  I LOVE YOU, YOU SWEET DOG.

I’ll have more quilts from the Road to California show to share next week.  Have a great week.

I recently taught locally for the Lemoyne Star Quilters located in Lemoyne, PA.  It is always good to be invited back to a guild.  Here are some of the ladies working hard in the machine applique workshop.

I am not sure why but it always makes me happy when a mother and daughter take classes together.  Mother, Kathy, and daughter, Maureen, are on opposite sides of this photo.  Eileen and Karen are in the middle.

It’s great to teach so close to home.  I’ve known many of the ladies from this guild for many years and I love going back to work with them.

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After the big trip to Lemoyne, 20 minutes from my house, I got on a plane to California.  I taught at the Road to California Show.  You can find out more about the show at http://www.road2ca.com  When I arrived at the hotel the show organizers had a goodie bag for each of the teachers.  Inside our bags there was this large piece of chocolate with quilting designs.  The candy was made locally by Logan’s Candies.    You can find out more about Logan’s at http://www.loganscandies.com 

Guess what?  I did not have any to bring home!

They also had a can of olives in our goodie bag.  Now, those I did bring home!

I flew in a couple of days early and Joe came along.  We drove up to Mount Baldy, located just a couple of miles outside of Ontario where the show is located.    One of the nice things about this area…you can be at sea level while in town and within a short drive you can be in the snow covered mountains.

The drive up to Mount Baldy was really beautiful.

I am fascinated with the bark on the eucalyptus trees.  We do not have eucalyptus trees where I live.

Now, for the exciting part of the pre- quilt show trip.  Joe got us tickets to see a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Joe corresponded with one of the nicest guys ever, Don Reed, who is the warm-up comedian for the Tonight Show.  Here is a photo of Don with Joe.  If you ever meet Don or get a chance to go to a taping of the show you will know how Don got hired.  He’s a funny guy.  We laughed a lot.  He hooked us up with great seats and….

Got us backstage after the show to meet Jay.  Awesome.

Before we left for this trip I knew we were going for a taping of the Tonight Show.  What I did not know….we were also going to a taping of the Ellen show.    Joe decided this would be a nice surprise.

The show we went to was the day before Ellen’s birthday show.  After getting home and watching the birthday show we were really bummed.  The people who attended the birthday show got $250 gift cards, a three day stay at a resort in California and more.  What did we get?  That would be nothing!   Bummer.  But, we still had a great day.

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On the plane ride to California I finished reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s new book “The Giving Quilt”.  I’ve read several of her other books in this series called the Elm Creek series.  I really liked this book.  The story line starts with several quilters coming to a retreat to make charity quilts.  The author introduces us to these ladies by telling some of their back story and why they came to the retreat.  As all of us who quilt know, getting together for a retreat teaches us more about ourselves, our friends and quilting.

Next week I’ll share some of my favorite quilts from the Road to California Show.