notes from elinor

Galavanting with a tour of force

Off to the airport to pick up The Beautiful Heather and her mother.  They are all set for Quilt Market including a vabulous quilt with Heathers brand new line of fabric which we have had on order for a year.  A bit of window shopping and lunch and in comes my precious Beth with her gorgeous hair flapping in the breeze and I am in a swoon of pur joy.  My family and my dear friend and partner in business.  Her are some pics:                                                                                                     

Aren't we cute!

The Tour Guide..The Queen Maureen

Heather shopping

The End of a Perfect Day!

                                                                                                                                             

Galavanting with a tour of fouce

Kay-La-Belle from Kalispel

Well I hope this works.  I just finished entering the pictures for my new doll but it ended up on someone elses blog.  How do you do that?  I am trying again.

Kalispel MT. and the fabulous Quilt Gallery

On the scene, The fairy godmother of Emmet Augustine and Tulahah Rose.  She is sending her RSVP for the wedding on Thursday the 8th of July 2008 in Albuquerque at the EDAC Conference.  She will be there with bells on to bless the event.  Toddles until then.  Hortense

What a spectactular trip.  Do not miss the best of the best in the mountains of Montana, Joan Hodgeboom's Quilt Gallery.  I spent three days teaching and three at play.  Joan and I managed to make in fits and spurts, five dolls.  Including Hortense made of my favorite knits found in thrift stores, childrens tee shirts and odd socks, plus so gorgeous hand dyed cotton velveteen.  Wel also produced two Angelas, on looking decidedly like Ms Joan herself, and a brand new soon to be available pattern      Kay-La-Belle from Kalispel.

Fabric Depot April 2008

Two students and their work.  It was such fun seeing Linda again.  She and I have been plotting to make a fairy garden in the back yard.  She'll be here on Monday to see to consult on the possiblitities.  As for The lady shown hand sewing she was a treat as well.  She and her sister are both Piute Indians.  She sewed her Della doll entirely by hand.  I just stood back and let it happen.

These are the traditional dolls the she and her sister make.  They have leather faces.

The mermaid was Linda's show and tell and the cement leaf is part of the future fairy garden.

Could not resist taking a shot of the youngest member of the calss making her first doll.  She is employed at Fabric Depot.

Nancy Palamino and Marge were there as well Nancy finished up her Chicken Shamen and Marge worked on Maggie goes shopping and brought a doll she won of mine from Camp Doll "U".

Having a great time painting, using Stabalized Fabric by Jacquard and everything else I can lay my hands on.  I am in love with 4"x4" canvases.  Do some of you face painting on one of those and hang it up.  Say you're not half bad!  I'm using these little canvases in the face painting class I teach.  Making art for no particular reason is such a great thing to do for the world.  Love epb

So what else is in Nebraska

Check out www.5thststudio.com.  It is in Louisville Nebraska.  The gal who owns this place was the owner of Art Chicks Gallery.  I went bananas over that.  I didn't blog about it but I wrote it up in the Association News Letter.  So Marie Fay, Roxanne, and made the trip to Louisville and started a project for "The Cow"  We were making flags that said CELEBRATE! for their shop hop.  What a hoot.  It was all there, all the paints all the papers, pens, you name it.  You would not believe what she has done in this place. What fun we had. 

Back to Nebraska-Twice is Nice

It was so sweet to be there, and after we got free of the little Omaha airport suitcases and all, I was ready for an adventure.  For the first time Marie Fay was with me, curios to know why Nebraska is indeed my favorite state.  We hit the Cosmic Cow which is sweet indeed.  Truly one of favorite quilt shops.  First I am free to play there and second grazing in among the polka dots and stripes is lovely.  Roxanne and Rich who own the "Cow" are great fun.  When they first opened we established "A Pink Shrine" in the bathroom.  You must visit and bring offerings.  I do every year and now it's beginning to be fabulous.  People sign it.

Soome Stuff I Wanted You To See

Now I have been storing up things that I wanted to share with you.  I did a class in Moro, Oregon, down past the Dalles and the shop(I believe it was Lisa's Stitching Post) owner included her child who painted a marvelous collection of faces.  Some were very good and some not so good but the remarkable thing was there was no self consciousness.  The girl revelled is just doing it.   

I love having students brin me samples of their work.  I have often said that when I see what you do I can help you to get to where it is you want to go, even if all I do is cheer you on.

Of course it is fun to see my own work mirrored back to me but I must say my biggest thrill is when a student bring me a new thought, something that surprises me.

Now this is a page from a button collection that I bought.  A woman whose father's health was failing started him sewing buttons to a card to keep his hands occupied.  Isn't it grand!

A very old sock doll came to class

Well I Call This Amazing

Well I call this amazing,  I have been trying to get into this blog for months and finally I can.  Let's see there has been Halloween (no comment there except that Charlotte was a fabulous mermaid with her mothers artistry and Star Wars was a big deal among my grand boys).  There was the great day of my sister Muff's (http://muffsnest.blogspot.com/) moving in here. It was after the best Houston International Quilt Market of my life with both The Beautiful Heather (http://www.heatherbailey.typepad.com/) and my daughter Laura Gunn (http://Lauragunn.typepad.com/paintinmyhair/) bouncing and gliding down the isles as my heart lept up to meet them.  Heather was there to schmooze and Laura to find a home for her glorious paintings.  Micheal Miller will be putting them on fabric for the fall I believe.  That means with any luck that Laura and I will both be showing a line in the fall.  I will be with P&B Fabrics.  The other bits of excitement at Quilt Market were that I am doing a book with C&T publishers and Beth and I bought a line of fabric from Free Spirit by Tina Givens call Zazoo!  You will love it.

Well back to the Muff treck.  My brother Ross and she picked my up in Houston and we wended our way back to Vancouver and moved the kid in.  She eight years younger than I am and we get along very well.  As a matter of fact I feel younger and I love getting up every day knowing she is with me for the rest of my life.  We have collaborated on some projects because she is a fine photographer.  The C&T projects rely heavily on her photos.  I can not begin to tell you what fun we are having.  We do Curves together and reminisce, sing the same songs, have common memories.  Life is very good!

Then there was Thanksgiving with Maureen, Evie, and their children, plus some other family.  Joy,joy,joy!  Christmas followed close on it's heels.  Visits up north to wish our Isabel Coleman a happy birthday and see her wonderful sisters.  Now I am making stuff for the book and traveling to teach.  I leave soon for Jacksonville Florida, then CHA (Hooby and Craft Industry), San Mateo to the fair grounds for PCM and Doll Alley.  Now I want to include some of the articles I failed to get to you in a timely manner.  They all have pictures so you shouldn't nod off.  Oh here's new and exciting thig.  My daughter Rachel has a blog as well.  She's into the cloth diapering world and you adore her charming offering.  She's burstin with talent and great ideas. (http://harperclothing.typepad.com./)