Luke Haynes at BluDot

First of all, if you aren’t familiar with Luke’s work, go check it out right here. Amazing, right? He’s talented and smart and thinks in ways that I can’t quite understand sometimes, but I’m always immensely impressed with his work.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to do some work with him, including those white on white on white quilts that I keep talking about. I love seeing them come together, creating circles on top of circles. So it was extra exciting to see them having up in the front window of Blu Dot when I arrived last Friday for the the opening of Luke’s show there.  20140427-194004.jpg

The place was bumping all evening with sandwiches and drinks, plus it was great fun to see some familiar pieces, as well as some new ones.  [Sorry for the iPhone pics, but that’s all I had for the evening. Luke is sure to be posting more on his site, so don’t miss out there: lukehaynes.com]

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I finally met up with Sheila Frampton-Cooper, whose work I absolutely adore [check it out at zoombaby.com], and chatted with her for a bit. Swoon. But most of the evening I spent hanging out with Andres and his wonderful partner, Maureen. He and I have been online friends since around the time I moved to the Los Angeles area, but illnesses have keep us from meeting until now. And I’m so glad we finally did! We got along just as well as I thought we would and it was great fun to have a couple to chat with about fabric and quilting and all the amazing work that Luke had done.

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It was a lovely evening and my first night out (gasp!) in Los Angeles. I stayed longer than I’d planned, but I was kind of grateful that the sun had set by the time I headed to the car because I got this view:

Blu Dot in West Hollywood

Great show with wonderful people and I can’t wait to see what Luke dreams up next.

Mother-Daughter Time in Sisters

The quilt show in Sisters, Oregon is one of those events I have long planned on attending, yet never managed to make happen. This year would have likely been another missed opportunity if it hadn’t fallen on my mom’s birthday. I’d promised we would go, but the month’s spending money was already gone. My dad was kind enough to fork over the cost of gas and we were able to carpool with another first-timer in her car. (I’m continually grateful for the generosity of others.)

We had a spontaneous sleepover at my folks’ house, then the three of us headed out at a quarter to seven. Nearly three hours later, we rolled into Sisters and saw this:

The 1300 quilts that had been submitted to the show hung everywhere. Inside. Outside. Off second story railings and from the catwalks below.

I realized how much I love white and bright quilts, yet I never make them. I think it’s time to remedy that. Maybe with a version of this string quilt with scraps?

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The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had a special exhibit area where we got to meet up with fellow area quilters. I ran into Monica and Elizabeth, then Scott from Gen Q and finally met Emily of Carolina Patchworks.

I saw a version of one of the few quilts that I absolutely must make: Denyse Schmidt’s Single Girl quilt.

All in all, we had a marvelous time, strolling among the quilts for more than five hours. We left just after the thunder and rain started, a first in the show’s history.

If you haven’t had the chance to go, try to make it. I’ll be there next year. Maybe with a quilt to submit.

This year, though, was special. It was all in celebration of my mom’s 63rd birthday.