The longer you live, the more interesting people you encounter, and this weekend I am appreciating the people I’ve come to know in my decades making quilts, and making an honest living as a fabriholic. Last night I got back from my personal creativity retreat in Santa Fe, with 3 nights at the opera (the costumes!), many hours wandering through galleries and museums, and some particularly uplifting time spent with remarkable artists.
While in Santa Fe I had a long loud lunch with Betty Busby and the New Mexico contingent of SAQA. We went to a local favorite cafe (away from the tourist trail) and basically opened and closed the place for the lunch shift. In one of those coincidences that are in the “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction” categories, it turned out the artists at the table are finishing a quilt for an artist who recently died, and before she left us, she gave them instructions on how to complete her quilt for a prestigious invitational show. I had heard about this bittersweet task being passed on to her friends, but to find after a couple hours that I had shared a meal with Gail Sims’ creative support team…well that was just remarkable.
Betty brought along one of her amazing 3-D Textile sculptural pieces, and we had a chat about the special stabilizer she uses, called Fosshape. If you are one of those people who scour our newsletters for unique new products, you may have noticed this in our New Product newsletter a couple weeks ago. We also started carrying another specialty stabilizer product used by Thread Genius – Marianne Williamson. She likes to use Pellon 809 in her heavily stitched art quilts.
Friday I stopped in La Veta as I was driving back to Boulder Colorado. You may recognize the name of that little town because it is where Ricky Tims is based. But I was on my way to see Judith Baker Montano, who lives in a colorful Victorian gingerbread house, full of art and color, and surrounded by a vigorous Southwest flower garden. Her husband Ernest was wearing a rainbow-hued tie-dyed shirt, as he watered the floral tsunami in the back yard. (Ricky is in Texas taping a show.)
I remember in the 90s when I first discovered Judith’s books, and her intricate lush embroideries, I was just blown away. Many years ago I visited her at home, while attending a taping at Ricky’s studio in downtown La Veta. This time I was able to spend some time visiting at her kitchen table, touring her studio, and admiring her detailed hand-embroidered landscapes. I have always had a special admiration for this kind of work, probably because I grew up with my Swedish grandma’s crewel embroidery work. I must confess I fondled some of Jude’s private hand-dyed silk ribbon stash while in her studio….
Judith has a private studio/classroom and has very limited availability for small workshops/retreats in her colorful space. I am doing some sourcing research for some of the specialty products she needs for her classes also. If you are a teacher and you need someone to stock specialty products for your students, please do contact me and we’ll see if we can help you!
…sharing your love of fabric,
Luana and Paul
Quilt/Travel Calendar:
Sept 21-29 – Alaska
Sept 27 – Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild – Lecture.
Oct 23-30 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival
Dec 4 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” – Quilt Canada
Jan 12 – Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit
Sat, April 9 – “International Quilt Trends” lecture – NEQM
