What? April was, well, last spring. Still, it is my blog, and to get a bit of perspective on my life— as in I could use an update myself—here we go.

Oh April. Oh April. How you laid me out flat.

This was one of those months when my head almost popped off. I could physically feel the external expectations of my daily life and the internal need to go on a bedroom readathon dueling it out. I sometimes wonder how these different aspects of my personality manage to co-exist. The Driven Yes, Put More On My Plate Please Maria usually wins out, but occasionally the Let’s Shut It All Down and Let the Emails Pile Up Version of myself does win a round.

When I last wrote an update, I was in the thick of the 2016 SAQA Conference in Philadelphia. Here is the fabulous and fine AK SAQA contingency. Amy Meissner, Diane Melms, and myself.For the conference, I organized 24 indivdual six-minute-forty-second presentations about everything under the sun from shipping artwork to bloggging to finding your voice as an artist.You read all about the three sessions here—Round One, Round Two, and Round Three. As I wrote in my first blog post about the event,

“The afternoon of the talks, a crowd gathered. And stayed put. Riveted by our own ability to entertain ourselves. It was standing room only. Every one in that room left knowing that the members of SAQA are not only amazing artists but also incredible speakers. It was a thrilling event to be a part of.  If you are a SAQA member (and if you are reading this blog you most likely should be), there is a webinar featuring eight of the talks from the event.”
After the Philadelphia conference, I took a road trip with fellow SAQA artist Cindy Grisdela. Her new book, which you can pre-order now, looks like all kinds of wonderful. Cindy left me in Lewes, Deleware with my blogging pal Mary Deeter .For the next few days, I would be teaching and lecturing for the Ocean Waves Quilt Guild . They are a large, active, and incredibly well-organized organization. It was pleasure to share my work and knowledge with them. My host took me to the Alantic Ocean for my very first time. From there, I boarded another plane to head to sunny Florida to spend some time with the South Florida Modern Quilt Quild . The president of their quild, Allison Schnackenberg, gave me the BEST introduction ever. And they were a great audience.On my day off, I got more beach time in Fort Lauderdale.And then we had a crazy day of Making Prints out of Solids.

I did not to leave! But I did. I spent that first week back in Alaska trying to catch up on Project Every Day.

If you want to know more about Project Every Day, you can read this introductory post I wrote here. Or you can follow along on Instagram where I try and post daily. Or you can just go here and look at all of the images at once and be done with it. I am also doing weekly documentation of the project on my website. And I am happy to say that I am completely caught up! If you are interested in making any of the garments, this is the place where I will be listing the pattern, fabric, etc… 

While I was gone, the snow melted, and I had the horrible realization that I was taking my photos in an inadequate location. Don’t tell my photographer, but instead of being on day 144 of this project, we are really on day 41. We tried out several new locations around the yard.

And finally decided the road in front of our house was the best location. It give a good view of the “landscape” while also giving you a good look at my clothes.

With the help of staff and volunteers, I managed to organize and execute the Wrangell Mountains Center’s annual Spring Break Up Party.  The Wrangell Mountains Center connects people with wildlands through arts, science, and education. If you think that’s a good idea check out their website for more information.

I have no made no progress on the socks.

But I did manage to finish a really beautiful piece. It is called the Lori Shawl and the pattern is by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

I used Swans Island Pure Blends Fingering which is a really yummy yarn. Does anyone else out there have an addiction to the squishy nature of garter stitch?

Recapping this month, it is clear to me why my head almost detached from my body.  CRAZY.

I will give a complete update of where I am teaching, lecturing, and showing work in the Images, Ideas, and Updates May 2016 (I promise), but if you want a general idea you can visit my website .

Three events are on the radar here in Alaska this summer.

I will be teaching at the Valdez Quilt Festival  in Valdez, Alaska from Thursday September 8 -Sunday September 11, 2016.  Over the course of four action packed days of stitching madness, I will be teaching Circles & Curves Sampler, Lines + Triangles = Squares, Making Prints out of Solids, and Modern Broderie Perse.

As part of the Summer Arts and Lecture Series, I will be giving the lecture 15 Years of Patchwork for the Wrangell Mountains Center on Thursday July 7 at 7PM at the Kennecott Rec Hall. 

And I will be doing a one day sewing marathon called SEW FUN at the Wrangell Mountains Center on Saturday July 9 from 10AM-10PM.  You get to stitch for 12 hours straight while I assist you in your every sewing need. It is always a high light of my summer. <> I have written several blog posts about this event here is one of them. If you want more links, just let me know.

Yikes. To much to much to say, but at least it is a start. And I don’t leave the state again until the end of October. Time to hunker down at the sewing machine.

06 Jun This entry was published on June 6, 2016 at 4:22 PM. It’s filed under News And Events and tagged Ideas, Images, SAQA, Updates, Valdez Quilt Festival, Wrangell Mountains Center. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.