Last week I had the chance to head over to Los Angeles, and speak at the Valley Modern Quilt Guild, held at HighTech LA, a very cool building (with great gates).
They had these signs all over the school, which I think is a good motto for retreats and workshops, right?
The place we met was one of those classrooms that can be changed around to suit the needs of those using it, and it was a good space for giving a talk: well lit, comfortable with a good microphone. I stayed until the end of their Guild, as I was curious to see what they were working on. I especially liked their Challenge for that month: Curves.
Saturday, I headed back to teach a workshop for them at a local high school; the workshop was held in the costume department of the high school, and the teacher worked on costumes for an upcoming production while we used her room.
First up, a little show and tell. The woman holding the quilt is the principal of the school, and I’m happy to be in her company, along with the other fine members of this guild.
It’s always fun to see what gadgets people bring, and I loved this one: a veritable traveling trunk of supplies, that you just unzip and Voila! it is available. No more packing up and forgetting something. (I don’t have anymore information on it, but I know she purchased it online.)
As soon as we finished the center block, it was photo time. I love how some centers come forward and some recede. Such a creative group! I didn’t do a very good job on taking a picture of the group, but there might be more on their Guild Website. They decided on the Two-For-One class: a quilt in the morning, and free-motion quilting in the afternoon.
Thank you, Valley Modern Quilt Guild–I had a great time!
And in other news… It is the ONLY reason I did an update on my iPhone this early. Usually I wait a while until they get the bugs out, but I couldn’t resist. They also have a ball of yarn, if you are interested in that.
And I finished my November Gridsters Bee blocks early this month and am sending them off to Allison of Quilt Studio 62, who is our Queen Bee this month.
In addition, I’ve had a question or two about what paper I use in the foundation paper piecing I did for the recent Crazy Cushion Class. I recently purchased a ream of paper from them (after 10 years of using the first one), so I took some photos in the store.
It’s a vellum from Neenah. I updated this post, where you can find more information.
Don’t know what to do with all those real “decorator” pumpkins you buy for fall? A recipe for Stuffed Pumpkin is a good way to enjoy them one more time.
The year we lived in Alexandria, Virginia I brought home handfuls of leaves from my walks and scanned them for the future. I love looking at them at this time of year, as we here in Southern California don’t have fall color like this.
Happy November!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
It’s nice to see where you’ve been, and what you’ve been up to. I sure like that LA facility where the MQG chapter had their meeting. What our quilt chapter wouldn’t give to have a space like that. Our venue options around here are limited, and very expensive, especially for workshops. I’ve never used a translucent paper for FPP, but I can understand the advantages. When I run out of the 400 pages I have here, I’ll keep that in mind! 🙂 The bee blocks you made are so nice – scrappy! Just the way I like them. As for pumpkins… I don’t buy them anymore. They just don’t seem right in our tropical climate. But, I get how you miss those fall colors. October is when some folks around here go north for just that reason. All I have to do is remind myself of a typical autumn day in the Midwest, when it’s chilly, and dark with drizzly rain, and know I live in the right place for me.
I love those costumes! I spent many years creating costumes for plays in which my daughters participated. I still get the costume bug this time of year. 🙂
Wow…that is quite a costume supply room! I probably couldn’t have sewn, wanting to spend all my time looking into detail about them instead. I’ll bet everyone enjoyed it.
I love Allison’s blocks. That is going to make such a fun quilt.
I am going to have to check out that new emoji. How fun is that?
I hope you get to enjoy some of those fall colors in NY. We have two trees here that give great colors usually in November and December, but not in numbers to make one stop and look in awe.
Oh wow, what a very interesting space to hold the class on Saturday! It sounds like it went well and I hope you had a great time with the guild.
Looks like you had a full house for your workshop. Bet your classes are fun.
That looks amazing – everyone sewing together. And I can’t believe your high schools have a costumes department. You really are a textile nation 🙂