Sally Ride Science

7:00PM - "A Piece of Me" iMovie with Q&A session/trunk show Galesburg Christian School, 746 Hawkinson Avenue, Galesburg, IL 61401. ( Rescheduled from FEB 21, 2013 ).

"Bent but Not Broken: Quilting in the Great Recession" by Mary Kate Karr-Petras The article features my quilt "Rapture" (2011), completed during the 2010 US economic downturn as well as during the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake.

Comfort for a cold winter's day: the most wonderfully delicious and easy-to-make asparagus (my favorite vegetable) soup!  I find all the ingredients at my local Aldis, or you may already have them on hand. the recipe snap off the tough ends and add to compost bin you're left with only the best part whirrr...whirrr...whirrr don't skimp on the (fresh ground) pepper slurp soon you'll have an empty bowl from Bear Wallow Books

2:00PM - Please join me for a gallery talk in conjunction with The Sum of Many Parts exhibit.  The presentation will feature my video, A Piece of Me, a Q&A session, and the quilt I'm currently making with the lao bu (handwoven, indigo-dyed fabric) brought back from my trip to Shanghai (September, 2012).  Here is a preview of my video A Piece of Me.    Along with five other quilts, it features  Portmanteau,   my quilt from the exhibit,  The Sum of Many Parts .   Iowa State Historical Museum 600 East Locust, Des Moines Iowa Second Floor Gallery, Oct. 4, 2013 - Jan. 31, 2014 More information about the exhibit from the State Historical Society of Iowa website: Making its North American debut at the State Historical Museum of Iowa, this traveling exhibition featuring works of 25 contemporary quilters from the United States – including two from Iowa. Des Moines is the only city in the United States to host the exhibitio...

This recipe is from Osa, the late mother of one of my high school girlfriends, Sonja.  Her mother was a Norwegian native and made this whenever I would visit.  It's good anytime of the year with chicken or turkey, but an especially nice way to use Thanksgiving leftovers.  The recipe is shown here in my own mother's handwriting from a book of her favorite recipes she gave me one year for Christmas.  When my own mother is gone (and I hope that is many years away!) one of the things I will miss the most is her cooking.  

It's been a long time since I've needed any safety pins, and even longer since I've had hair!  I was rifling through a storage drawer looking for safety pins (prepping two baby quilts for quilting), when I re-discovered a stash of hair clips.  They are such a great alternative to pins when finishing (hand-sewing) binding.  I had forgotten about them!  I don't know how many times I've been stuck by pins in the binding process.  Even with the hair clips, I somehow always manage to run the sharp end of my sewing needle under my left thumbnail a few times, and the blunt end usually punctures the middle finger of my right hand at some point. Ouch!  I made this quilt for my niece Jeny.  She and her husband, Seth, are expecting their first baby Spring 2014.  Here she is opening the quilt at her baby shower in Kansas City, their home.

A&E: Quilt show brings common threads to Iowa Des Moines hosts national premiere of quilt show from China By Michael Morain If you haven’t seen hordes of needle-wielding visitors around town, you will soon. They’re heading this way for the American Quilter’s Society’s largest QuiltWeek ever, which opens Wednesday at the Iowa Events Center with displays, demonstrations, gadget sales and more than $44,000 in cash prizes. So yeah, it’s an invasion. But they’re pieceworkers. They come in peace. On the same day the expo opens, in fact, the State Historical Museum of Iowa opens an exhibition of American quilts the U.S. Embassy in Beijing recently trotted around to five cities in China. Call it textile diplomacy. The project celebrates “the common threads between our two countries,” Arts Midwest President and CEO David Fraher said. His Twin Cities nonprofit partnered with the U.S. State Department and a network of state arts councils to make the show happen. Des Moines is the first stop o...

The inspiration (upper right in photo) - what I am guessing may be an overshot woven coverlet? (Photo from  Tunestam's Antiques  in Mineral Point, Wisconsin) ~ October 2013 In process on the design board in my studio  Binding the quilt Taffy is not impressed Beautiful hand-quilting by Amish quilter On the bed Done! April 2015 Overshot is a return to something simpler, a welcome relief  from the tedious piecing of some of my quilts. 

November 6, 2013, official opening of "The Sum of Many Parts" exhibit State Historical Museum, Des Moines, Iowa David Fraher, President & CEO, Arts Midwest Peter Capell, Board Chair, Arts Midwest   With Caroline Trumpold (IA), Patricia Lei Murray (HI) and son of the late Marguerite Cox With Caroline Trumpold of Middle Amana, Iowa    Patricia celebrates the exhibit opening as well as her birthday with Gayle Jorgens and Stan Wai, designers of the award-winning exhibit catalog    This will be the only complete exhibition of "The Sum of Many Parts" in the US.  I am thrilled that it will be in my current home state of Iowa at the State Historical Museum .  Look for further announcements on programming (gallery talks, panel discussions) dates.     Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs Press Release    

SATs SEP 14 & 24, 10A-1P, Home Ec Workshop , Iowa City Fun large-scale Chevron quilt (finished size ~60x70").  Endless color combination possibilities.  (Suggested pairing: machine-quilting class taught by Codi Josephson - date TBD)

This recipe is from a dear friend, a fellow quilter, and one of my "adopted" grandmothers, Caroline Trumpold, of Main Amana, Iowa.  Dill beans are a German treat to look forward to every summer, if you are fortunate enough to find fresh yellow wax beans.  This year I made them over Labor Day after stumbling on the wax beans at a high-end grocer in downtown Iowa City .  The summer before I got the beans from a vegetable stand upon special request.  The recipe is for about one pound of beans.  I think I had two pounds and did a recipe-and-a-half of the brine.

SATs AUG 17 & 24, 10A-1P, Home Ec Workshop , Iowa City   Be charmed by this ~ 44" x 55" quilt-as-you-go project!   Learn to make this wonderful quilt pattern by Teri Stillwell. All sewing skill-levels welcome in this fun quilt-as-you-go class.  Sew 5 strips from charm squares (5" x 5" squares), cut your sashing strips and start building your finished piece.  My goal is for everyone to go home with a finished (or very nearly finished) quilt.  Some homework may be required depending your individual in-class pace.  This is a great quilt to really showcase some of your favorite Home Ec fabrics!     Audrey cuts Maureen sews ever so joyfully Val sews on her binding  

A nice article by Mary Kate Karr-Petras for Quilters Newsletter about my trip to Shanghai, China in September 2012 for "The Sum of Many Parts" exhibit. 

SATs JUN 8 & 15, 10A-1P, Home Ec Workshop , Iowa City Come Celebrate the UNSTR8! June is bustin' out all over!  Learn to make this wonderful quilt pattern by Pam Rocco.  Work toward a finished 50" x 50" quilt in this 6-hr class, or take the top home and make three more to construct a quilt fit for a QUEEN!  Perfect gift for a bun in the oven or for someone you love bunches!  Whimsical and loose: recovering perfectionists welcome!  Emily   Linzee Maureen  Lisa So great to see each student's personality shine through in the quilts.  What a fun quilt, class and group of students!  Great job everyone! Me  I eventually machine-quilted this sample and gave it to my niece, Jessica, for her daughter - my great niece, Bella Rose.  Here she is wrapping herself up, peek-a-boo style, at her soon-to-be-cousin's baby shower in Kansas City, MO.