Tag Archives: studio tour

time to regroup

The past few weeks I have been focused on preparations for a local studio tour that was held the last weekend in August. Here are a few pictures of our set up at the beautiful home studio of Diana Cronin and her Egg & I Pottery in Chimacum, Washington during the Port Townsend Studio Tour.

Gail Hustedde and Diana Cronin
It was so fun to spend time with Gail Hustedde and Diana Cronin during the studio tour!
Gail Hustedde pottery
Some of Gail Hustedde’s beautiful pottery on display and an explanation of her soda firing process
Diana Cronin's colorful pottery on display at her home studio, Egg & I Pottery
Diana Cronin’s colorful ceramic pottery on display in her Egg & I Studio

We enjoyed chatting with all the visitors, and their interest and support were much appreciated!

This week I’ve been busy recovering from the tour. There were a few custom orders from the show to complete, the remaining items to sort and inventory, as well as cleaning up the studio after those weeks of furious making.

In the process of cleaning up, I purged lots of old magazines, books and yes, even some fabric!cleaning-up

This week’s main goal is to write and test a tutorial for a block to be presented next week as part of the New Block Blog Hop sponsored by Cloud 9 and featuring their wonderful organic Cirrus solids. This is my first attempt at a tutorial, so lots of learning opportunities for me! Here’s a hint: it will involve improvisational piecing, and will be written for people who are new to improv, so be on the lookout for that post one week from today.

color palette for New Block Blog Hop

There are about 70 participants who will be presenting a pattern or tutorial for a 12 inch (finished) block made with the beautiful Cloud9 fabrics. On September 12-14, be sure to check in at each of the hosts’ blog posts for a list of blog participants and a chance to win a bundle of Cirrus Solids! At the end of the hop, the featured blocks will be collected and assembled into charity quilts.

Off to the drawing and cutting board!

small improv projects

The past couple of weeks have found me busy creating inventory for an upcoming studio tour. For those of you in the area, it is the annual Port Townsend Studio Tour , and I will be located at the Egg & I Pottery studio in Chimacum, thanks to my talented friend, Diana Cronin. For more information about the tour and to see Diana’s colorful ceramic pottery check out the links.

Art PT poster

I thought it would be fun to have some items that would coordinate with Diana’s pottery, so I have been busy making coasters and mug rugs.

stack of mug rugs and coasters

I played with bright scraps of fabric and improvisational piecing to create these colorful accents for the home. Some improv, straight line quilting was added for the finish.

bright mug rug and coaster set

mug rug, coasters

If you have been thinking about trying some improvisational piecing, or if your scrap box is overflowing, you might want to give a small project a try.

mug rug, coasters

Now I’m off to work a little bigger and make place mats. With any luck, I’ll have those to share by the end of the week. Hope you have time to play this week, too!