Out & About: SAQA Conference

Yvonne Porcella, the first President of SAQA, with one of her quilts

I’m finally back home after an amazing two week trip in America.  After Paducah, I spent a few days in New York, mainly in the Met Museum and then I went onto Washington DC, where I spent more time in museums and at the SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) annual conference.

Katie Pasquini Masopust, the second President of SAQA, with one of her quilts

I’ve got loads to share and intended to do so whilst I was on the road, but I couldn’t download the photos from my ‘proper’ camera until I got home and I didn’t want to short change you with them less good ones – especially as the artwork and quilt-work I saw was astounding.  So I will be posting on this trip for a while.

Judith Content, the third President of SAQA, with one of her quilts

The SAQA conference was held just outside Washington at Alexandria, right by the river.  It was a lovely location.  I was slightly concerned about going by myself, but I needn’t have worried as many others were in the same position and we all met some great people.  Activities included artist speed dating to get to know other attendees, various talks and I had a quilt critique session, which threw up some ideas and opinions I had not considered, so it was very valuable.

Sandra Sider, the fifth President of SAQA, with one of her quilts

These photos are from the Sunday morning session.  SAQA is 25 this year and five out of six of the ladies who have served as president were at the conference.  They all shared one quilt they had made whilst they were president, whilst talking about the impact being a member of SAQA and its presidency had on their lives.  It was fascinating and also rather funny.  It also emphasised the old (but true) adage: the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. 

Kris Sazaki, the six and current President of SAQA, with one of her quilts

If you get a chance to go the SAQA conference, I would highly recommend it.  I met so many wonderful people who are doing really interesting art and I’ve come back super-charged-up and raring to go... once I get over the jet-lag of course!

Out & About: Katie Pasquini Masopust workshop

detail of the finished quilt

Last May (yes, I can’t believe it was so long ago!), I had the privilege of participating in a workshop led by the well known quilt artist, Katie Pasquini Masopust at the Studio, Loch Lomond.  It was five full days and I really enjoyed it.  The subject was from watercolour to finished quilt.  By the end of the five days, all I had to do was bind the quilt... which is why it has taken me so long to share it.  As June was rather busy with PomPoms and then other things took over, I only got round to finishing it a few weeks ago.  

The finished quilt

 I learnt a lot from Katie and her process is really interesting.  This is a quick and rather abbreviated summary of what we did.

My original watercolour

We painted lots of watercolours (most of mine were disastrous but the aim wasn’t to create a great watercolour painting, just source material), then we selected the best bits of each one before deciding which one to make into a quilt. 

The selected detail to make into a quilt

These were then traced and blown up in full sized patterns, which were meant to be copied exactly.  She also does ‘proper’ appliqué – none of this raw edged stuff – and showed us her technique. 

The back of my applique

 

Laying out the pieces to applique

Applique in progress

 

Finally, Katie heavily quilts her pieces to add interest and tends to use a similar coloured thread to the fabric, using a different pattern for each area.

Quilt ready to be trimmed

Being awkward, I was the only person in the class who created a horizontal piece, but now that it is complete and trimmed down to rectangle, I think I may prefer it to be hung vertically. 

 

It was a great learning experience, not just for what I learnt, but for what I also discovered about my own working practices.  For instance, I don’t like working to exact patterns, I want things to evolve and life is just too short not to use raw edge appliqué (besides I like the effect)!  Also, I like the quilting to add to the design as well as the texture of the piece. Overall, it was a great experience and even though I am highly unlikely to make another quilt like this (it is Katie’s technique after all, not mine), well worth going to.