• How to Make a Layer Cake!

    And now for a bit of humor:
     
    How do you make a layer cake?
     
    Here is my recipe: Start with a foundation made of some sketches you need to file away in your artwork portfolio – when you have the time to find the appropriate folder.
     
    Add a few bills that need to be paid as soon as you get some checks you are waiting for.
     
    Next you will need a contract that you need to fill out for a teaching engagement in 2019 (no pressure there – huh?)
     
    at this point a photo of a quilt you needed to enter a show (the page was big enough to print two images and who wants to waste a two cent sheet of paper, you never know when that second picture will come in handy)
     
    Scatter some business receipts that you cleaned out of your purse but didn’t have time to sort through before rushing off to a class – they really spice up your cake.
     
    Don’t forget to tuck in a JoAnn’s coupon flyer – and hope it doesn’t expire before you get around to pulling it out again.
     
    And finally frost it with some supply lists you printed out for (oh dear, I have no idea why I printed those).
     
    And don’t forget the filling between your layers – things in sheet protectors have a lovely texture but admittedly make it hard to keep your cake level as they tend to be slippery.
     
    Now let the cake age a bit before consuming (but don’t forget those JoAnn’s coupons have a shelf life).
     
    Perhaps I would have eaten it sooner if I had made it chocolate!

    My 'Vanilla' layer cake (I shoulda made it chocolate!)
    My ‘Vanilla’ layer cake (I shoulda made it chocolate!)

  • Another Mola From An Accomplished Student

    A few days ago, I met with my small quilt group and one of the members, who like me only makes it to meetings occasionally, brought her Mola in progress from the class I taught about a month ago. Yolanda is a talented quilter and skillful at hand applique and she chose a horse as the design focus on her Mola.

    Way to go Yolanda! I can’t wait to see it finished.

    Yolanda's Mola featuring a horse
    Yolanda’s Mola featuring a horse

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  • Holy Mola Batman, It’s Sleeping Cats!

    I teach a lot of classes every year and I’ve been teaching them for many years. Much of the time, my student’s work flies off like fledged birds that make their way out into the world without a backward glance but every so often one returns, all grown up, for a visit.

    Jane's Mola of a Navajo pot.
    Jane’s Mola of a Navajo pot.

    I got two such visits  in the last week, one never flew far from home as it is still waiting to fully develop its wings in a friends studio who I see on a regular basis though this little bird has been modestly out of sight the days I’ve spent there sewing with my friend; I had to ask her to coax it out so I could take this photo; this is my friend Jane’s Mola of a Navajo pot; I created the pattern but she is the first person to actually make it.

    Then, just the other day I was teaching a machine quilting class at the Montavilla Sewing Center in Gresham and one of my students had brought in a quilt she made from a class she had taken from me a few yeas back. Here is Rita’s ‘Let Sleeping Cats Lie’  quilt.

    Kudos to both Jane and Rita and thank you for letting me share your work with everyone.

    Rita's 'quilt - Let Sleeping Cats Lie.
    Rita’s ‘quilt – Let Sleeping Cats Lie.