A minor blog emergency happened here yesterday — my laptop died!!! Yes, it is really dead, all dead, even though it is only 6 months old.  The good news is that it is still under warranty so it will be fixed up, good as new, in another week or so.  But, I didn’t get a blog post done yesterday.  So, I bundled up my hard drive with all the photos on it, and took it to the office — where it still sits.  Now, back home and ready to post on my big computer, the photos from Houston aren’t here!  I guess it’s time to take a little break from showing IQA competition quilts and explore more local happenings, right here in good old Albuquerque.

Katie PM Demonstrates Painting Techniques

We are very fortunate to have such a well-known quilt artist living just down the road in Santa Fe, a mere hour’s drive.  Katie Pasquini-Masopust taught her two-day Painted Stitched Canvas class at Ann Silva’s Bernina Sewing Center.  I was lucky to be one of the 20 students in her class.  Even though  I had taken the class a couple of years ago, I had so much fun that I did not want to miss out.  Besides, Katie had new material.

Painting Canvas – Red to Blue

We began by painting three canvases, each in a different color palette.

Paintings Drying on the Floor

This allowed us to continue painting while the wet canvases dried on the shop floor.

Painting Canvas – Work in Progress

We added bits of fabric for texturs and then added more paint.  What a blast!  Most of us didn’t want to stop the building our layers.  But, stop we must.  One of the items on our supply list was to bring a painting shirt – which most of us did.  It was about then that Steve Silva, shop co-owner, strolled by the classroom, wearing in his perfectly pristine blue shirt — not a spot on it.  We set about correcting that asap!

Painting Steve – Hands All Around!

Painting Steve – Katie adds Stamps

Painting Steve – A Work in Progress

Painting Steve was progressing well, but he just needed something else . . . . and, Katie had taught us about splatter painting.

Painting Steve – the Final Touches by Ginny Gaskill

Out back they went, Steve and Ginny, for the Finishing Touches.  It’s a good thing that Steve is a good sport!  But, back to work on the real reason for being in class!

Making the Collage -Work in Progress

The next step was to cut the three canvases apart and reassemble them – just like we do in quilting.  We created a painted fabric collage from our parts.

Making the Collage – Work in Progress

It was fascinating to watch the various combinations emerge.  Great creativity in this room, inspired by an amazing teacher.

Stitching the Canvas – Lynn from Gallup

Once the collage was to the student’s liking, the pieces were stitched together.

Student Projects

Above are just a few of the student projects!  We all have enough work completed to make even more combinations.  Katie also taught us to make a Six-minute Zipper Bag and book covers for the not-so-lovely paintings.  What a great two days! Thank you, Katie, for being such a great teacher and Thank you, Steve, for being a good sport!

Painted Canvas Collage by Yours Truly

Here’s what I did in class!  I highly recommend this class for everyone, even novices!  It is way too much fun and the sewing skill level is easy!