This week I’m very pleased to be writing from sunny Arizona. In January, 2012, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my friend Evelyn in Mesa, meet many delightful quilters, and do a number of lectures and classes. It was a great time and you can read all about it at: https://chrisquilts.net/?p=2162. You may remember that Evelyn stored her unfinished quilts (UFO’s ) in the master bathtub!
Do you see the orange/black/yellow piece? Well, back in 2012, I pulled it out and discovered it was a “circle of illusion” ring Evelyn made in a class with Andi Perejda. I loved it and told her she needed to do something with it. She said “ok” and handed it to me, saying “your turn”. The challenge was on. I took it home to Wisconsin and chose to piece a mini Mariner’s Compass for the center. Next I appliquéd the whole thing onto a brown batik and shipped it back to Arizona. Evelyn added a “dragon’s tail” of flying geese. We both participated in the quilting and decided to enter it in the first AQS Quilt Week Phoenix. As soon as Evelyn was notified of it’s acceptance she invited me back to AZ! What a great place to be, especially this winter!
It was a joy to stand together in front of our quilt and a lovely opportunity for the Quilt Sissies to have a reunion (If you missed the saga of the Quilt Sissies, it all began with this post: https://chrisquilts.net/?p=3448 ).
They joined us for frosty Coke’s on the sunny patio (much more enjoyable than the frosty stuff back home)!
And Joan D. is here from Wisconsin too, to add to the fun!
Every room of Evelyn’s home is actually a gallery of her beautiful fiber art. I thought you might enjoy a bit of a tour. This is her living room:
And even the bedrooms:
Here’s the artist in her office:
It’s a real treat to stay in Evelyn’s lovely home and to spend time with her family and friends! I’ll close with a picture of a clever storage idea from her studio. She’s created a pressing/cutting station at chair level by placing a long, fabric covered board across a large number of stacking drawer units.
It’s really quite convenient, and I know because I’ve spent a little time stitching here (when I can pull myself away from the patio 🙂 )
I hope you’re staying warm, wherever you are!
PS I have to add a little aside, because it made me laugh out loud. Last winter my husband was in the Caribbean on business while I sat home during an ice storm. He sent me a picture of a cold drink on a patio, overlooking the ocean, with the caption: “we’re having icy issues here too”. I didn’t find it all that funny. So yesterday I sent him the photo of the frosty Coke with the Quilt Sissies above, with the caption: “We’re having problems with frost”. His response -“They can’t reach their frosty drink. You all should be reported for cruelty to stupid quilted figures”. I just had to laugh!