Category: Special Events

Special Events, tierneytravels

Birthday Colorado Roadtrip Part II: Leadville and an Emotional “Divide”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing the story of the Colorado roadtrip we took in early June 2025 to celebrate my birthday. For Part I of the story see the post – Birthday Colorado Roadtrip Part I: Glenwood Springs.

After leaving Glenwood Springs, we headed to see Leadville, Colorado  where John’s paternal grandmother grew up and he’d not return to since he was a young child.

To get to Leadville, we crossed the Tennessee Pass, elevation 10,424 feet above sea level, and crossed over the Continental Divide.

An Emotional “Divide“

As shown in the image above, the Tennessee Pass section of the Continental Divide is home to the 10th Mountain Division Memorial.

My late husband, Terry (aka “Terry the Quilting Husband”) was a HUGE military history buff, with a focus on the Napoleonic Wars (we visited Waterloo in Belgium), the Civil War (we visited Gettysburg), and World War II (he didn’t want to visit Normandy/Omaha Beach in France and I always suspect he stormed the beaches in a past life by how much the thought of visiting deeply disturbed him*).

*An interesting little story about Terry: His older sister, who helped raise him in a family of 7 children, told me after he passed, that when he was a young child he would set up very elaborate battles with his toy soldiers that were far beyond the knowledge, skill and understanding of a 4 year old child. She always suspected he was a former military person reincarnated or something.

He read/studied/engaged in historical miniature wargaming and military strategy gaming (historical battle reenactment on paper/tabletop game) extensively related to World War II battles and was quite the amateur historian when it came to the United States Army’s 10th Mountain Division which is based out of Fort Drum, New York (Terry grew up in NY and when he served in the US Army as a Medic he spent time at Fort Drum). The 10th Mountain Division had an significant role in the European Theater of World War II.

I was very familiar with the 10th Mountain Division as Terry and I had many historical discussions during the 33 years we were together.

So when John and stopped at the memorial on our way to Leadville I was completely emotionally overwhelmed. Not only because of the memories of discussing the 10th Mountain Division for years with Terry; but because I knew Terry would have so loved to see the memorial. It would have made him very happy and moved him deeply.

I spent some time alone just being with the memorial and my thoughts (John was very understanding). It was a very emotional (Continental) Divide experience…

Leadville, Colorado

We continued on to Leadville and explored the town.

Exploring included wandering around downtown Leadville and visiting an independent bookstore and antique shop – The Two Dog Market; and a yarn/craft shop – Fire on the Mountain:

As well as a very quirky hardware and antique shop – The Western Hardware:

I got a little emotional again during our visit to this hardware store as in addition to historical miniature wargaming, Terry loved fantasy wargaming (like Warhammer 40,000 and Dungeons and Dragons). They had a display of the same type of fantasy wargaming figures that Terry had a collection of and liked to paint (see image above). I then had to spend some alone/emotionally reflective time with this display.

It seemed that the Universe was providing me with quite the memory and grief tinged day!

We also paid a visit to the famous (at least in Colorado) adventure clothing factory store Melanzana while in Leadville.

Here I am in the image above with my new Melanzana “hoody” and cap made with leftover hoody fabric.

After Leadville we headed to Breckenridge, Colorado and then home. I didn’t take any photos in Breckenridge but here is a post from 2024 on on my first visit there – Breckenridge and the Continental Divide (we crossed a different section of the Continental Divide – Loveland Pass – on our way there during of 2024 trip).

Closing the post with a random photo – somewhere that we stopped near Leadville.

Even though it was early June, there was still snow on the ground!

(As a I mentioned in the previous post: Leadville is the highest incorporated city in North America, sitting at an elevation of 10,152 feet/3094 meters above sea level)

Outside Adventures!, Special Events, tierneytravels

Birthday Colorado Roadtrip Part I: Glenwood Springs

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing the story about how I celebrated my 60th birthday that I began in the post Birthday-ing with Bruno.

After our trip to Las Vegas (see post Birthday-ing with Bruno), the next part of my birthday celebration was a Colorado roadtrip in early June 2025 to Dillon, Glenwood Springs, Leadville and Breckenridge, Colorado.

I love Colorado and I want to get know as much of the state as I can/see as much of it as I can.

On the way to Glenwood Springs: Dillon, Colorado

We started out heading to Dillon, Colorado a small mountain town 10 miles from the Continental Divide; and is located 9,111 feet (2,777 meters) above sea level. In addition to Dillon, we stopped in the neighboring town Silverthorne, Colorado another small mountain town and visited the best Habitat for Humanity Restore (Thrift Store) I’ve ever been to!

Image credit: alignable.com

We spent an hour there wandering around and I found a lovely African basket there which I now use in my studio, along with a bunch of awesome CDs (I’ve rediscovered the CD player stereo component and have taken to listening to entire albums in the living, old school style!).

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

After Dillon and Silverthorne, we headed to Glenwood Springs and stayed at the awesome Hotel Maxwell Anderson.

Image credit: maxwellandersonhotel.com

John and I spent a lovely evening with our cocktails sitting in the room above on one of the sofas chatting about life.

During the day we wandered around Glenwood Springs (famous for it’s Hot Springs, which I refer to as “the community bathtub”*) and had a wonderful lunch at the historic Hotel Colorado which in “1905 became the temporary home for the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt and his assistants during a three-week bear hunting expedition. Already a fan of the state of Colorado, Roosevelt stayed at the Hotel Colorado on multiple occasions” (History of Hotel Colorado).

Here’s some photos from our lunch:

I love this quit when you enter the Hotel Colorado – any place with a quilt displayed when you walk in is okay by me!

Here are some of the “community bathtubs”* (the Hot Springs) that Glenwood Springs is famous for:

I love Glenwood Springs and have visited several times including taking the mind-blowing 6 hour train ride from Denver’s Union Station to Glenwood Springs (see posts Weekend in Glenwood Springs, Train Ride to Glenwood Springs, CO and More – Part I, Train Ride to Glenwood Springs, CO and More – Part II, Train Ride to Glenwood Springs, CO and More – Part III, and Train Ride to Glenwood Springs, CO and More – Part IV). It is one of my favorite places in Colorado, so far!

*You might be curious as to why I refer to the Hot Springs in Glenwood Springs as the “community bathtub”. Well the two times I’ve visited them and soaked in them, they were bath water temperature and it was like taking a bath with a hundred other people!

A Stop in Minturn, Colorado

On our way back towards home we stopped in Minturn, Colorado which is near Vail, Colorado the famous resort/ski town, and visited a tiny whiskey tasting room in a little house for the distillery the Minturn Whisky Company.

We had an awesome time sampling the spirits and John bought home a bottle.

From Minturn we continued onto Leadville (the highest incorporated city in North America, sitting at an elevation of 10,152 feet/3094 meters above sea level), crossing another section of the Continental Divide which I’d not been to before and then onto Breckenridge and back home.

I’ll share our adventures in Leadville and Breckenridge in the next post, but to close this post here are a couple photos from our roadtrip when we stopped at various scenic areas for a break from being in the car. Sorry I do not remember where these are located but they were lovely (smile):

Special Events, tierneytravels

Birthday-ing with Bruno

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I mentioned in the post Stitch a Quilt Store in Durango, CO we’ve been on a “Late Spring/Summer of Travel” which started in late May.

In late May we traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate my 60th birthday Part I (I wanted to two part birthday trip and the second part was a Four Corners/Mesa Verde National Park/Durango/Ouray/Pagosa Springs trip which I share in other posts).

So yes I just said it – I turned 60. It’s very shocking. I’ve been blogging since I was in my late 40s (October 2025 is my 12 year blogging anniversary) and when I turned 50 I kept it pretty secret in the blogosphere as I didn’t want my readers to know I was “that old” (ha, that is no longer old). At first I was going to hid the turning 60 but why – who cares?

Actually I only feel like celebrating getting older these days as 1) I can’t age backward so I’m stuck with it; 2) my mother only got to live to her early 50s; 3) my late husband passed at 58; and 4) I am in good health (at least in my mind).

Originally I was going to spend my 60th birthday in Bend, Oregon where I lived for 14 years before moving to Colorado in 2019. It would be my first time returning in 6 years since my husband Terry died suddenly in December 2018 and I moved in April 2019.

I was planning a wonderful reunion with several groups of Central Oregon friends, staying at several houses; and the opportunity for several of them to meet John for the first time.

But I couldn’t do it. Not yet. I ended up disappointing several groups of friends and giving a lot of apologies. I just could not return to the place where I “lost it all”. Grief is weird and people react different ways to big life losses.

I guess I am still reacting to the loss of my wonderful life partner and life in Central Oregon by not being psychologically able to return…at least not yet.

So I had to rethink what I wanted to do for my 60th birthday and I came up with a strange combination: 1) go to Las Vegas and see some type of major show (Bruno Mars); and 2) go on a major Colorado roadtrip!

So on part one of my birthday celebration we went to Las Vegas, Nevada for a couple days and saw Bruno Mars in concert at the Park MGM Resort (where we also stayed) in Vegas.

It was one of the best concerts we’ve ever been to in in our lives. They locked up your phone when you entered the concert venue and no photography was allowed so I haev no photos from the experience to share.

Here is a video I found on YouTube from 2024 to give you a taste of his music and talent if you are not familiar with Bruno Mars:

It was a cool experience watching a concert without anyone having their phones recording the show, taking photos, or checking their messages, etc. The entire audience, including John and I, were laser focused on the show without any distractions.

We had really good seats and discovered later in the show when Bruno Mars pointed her out and gave recognition to her progeny that we were sitting a tiny section over from Katherine Jackson, the mother of the Jackson 5/Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson! She was the special guest of Bruno Mars for that particular show so we kind of had a once in a lifetime experience to sit within 100 yards of the mother of Michael and Janet Jackson! The woman sitting in front of us broke down crying as she said she was a huge Michael Jackson fan and to be sitting close to his mother completely overwhelmed her!

(Security ushered her out of the show before it ended so no one got to bother her)

In addition to seeing Bruno Mars in concert, we enjoyed a fun couple of days wandering around Las Vegas and going to the exhibit I always stop and see when I am in Las Vegas – the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens.

Their current exhibit is Glam Menagerie: A Surrealist Summer. Here is the 3D tour if you’d like to see: Glam Menagerie 3D Tour.

Here are some of my photos from the exhibit:

We always enjoy yummy dining experience when visiting Vegas and in addition to stopping at some of our favorite places (Eataly, Taco El Gordo, and Din Tai Fung) we had a scrumptious breakfast at Paris Las Vegas Hotel in their Parisian themed restaurant Mon Ami Gabi.

I had the lemon curd and raspberry crepes and they were a “spiritual” experience in breakfast dining!

It was a good part one celebration and in future posts I’ll share our adventures during the second week part of my 60th birthday celebration.

.

Special Events, tierneytravels

QuiltCon February 2025, Phoenix Arizona

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I’d jump back into blogging by sharing my experience attending the Modern Quilt Guild (MSC)’s annual quilting convention, QuiltCon, for the first time. The convention was held in Phoenix, Arizona in February 2025. (Put the kettle on and get your cuppa ready, this is a long post…)

I’ll also share a couple extracurricular activities we did in Phoenix while there for the convention, which included a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden, the Phoenix Art Museum, and one of the Frank Lloyd Wright workshops Taliesin West.

QuiltCon 2025

I attended QuiltCon for the first time with a quilting friend (who was also a “first timer”) and our partners, and saw some really amazing modern quilts! The quilts were hung from curtained panels and when I first walked into the huge convention space and it looked like there were miles and miles of quilts to see!

So many impressive quilts and here is a tiny sampling of some of my favorites:

The artists/quilt names on these quilts in image order: Jennifer Candon/Chasing Rainbows (who had many fabulous quilts shown at QuiltCon), Steve Moe/Finally They Danced, Jane Rundle/Nurturing the Pod, Irene Roderick/Desperados, Emilie Trahan/Out of the Blue, Jennifer Candon/Modern Dresden, Jenny Hayes/Fokus, Wendy L. Starn/What Did We Do? What Will You Do?, Nikki Woolsey/Wild Geese.

In addition to the endless rows of quilts, there was a large (and seemingly endless) Vendor area:

Look at all those handmade bag samples in the image above! I wanted to buy all the patterns to make the bags (but I did not as I have many bag patterns already that have not been opened!)

Wandering around the Vendor area I got to meet several favorite quilt book authors and fabric designers including Elizabeth Hartman, Anna Marie Horner, Denyse Schmidt, and Blair Stocker. It was fun to meet/chat with the authors of some of my favorite patterns, books and fabric.

During QuiltCon, there were numerous interactive “Make and Take”s at various vendor booths where you could make a project for free (they supplied all the materials). I worked on an embroidered eyeglass case project at one of the “Make and Take” tables, but I’ve not finished it…

The samples in the images below are the talented instructor’s work.

Quiltcon was 4 days long but I only attended Day 1. Next year I will return to Quiltcon (which will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina), this time with a group of quilting friends, and likely attend the full 4 days. There is so much to see and do! (John will stay home this time).

Desert Botanical Garden

We attended 1 day of Quiltcon but we were in Phoenix, Arizona for a total of 5 days. Before QuiltCon we spent time hanging out with my friend’s sister (who we stayed with for a couple days) and visiting various sites of “artistic inspiration” like the botanical garden, the art museum, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s workshop.

My friend, her sister and I spent a day at the Desert Botanical Garden enjoying their collection of cactuses and other desert flora (the guys were golfing at one of the zillion golf courses in Phoenix).

However what really stood out during our visit to the botanical garden was their exhibit Toward 2050.

Here’s an excerpt from the Toward 2050 page linked in the paragraph above:

“According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, global climate is on track to increase by 1.5° C by 2040, and with that, irreparable damage will likely be done to earth’s ecosystems if our course is not changed decisively and with haste. In the IPCC’s Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, clear goals and pathways have been defined to reverse our emissions of green house gases – 50% by 2030, and to arrive at net zero emissions by 2050, keeping the global rise in temperature to under 1.5° C in perpetuity. Hence, 2050 marks a very important point in our human history…

Textile work from makers from 45 U.S. states and 9 countries have become important parts of TOWARD 2050, which has culminated in this immersive installation at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona – February 8th through June 1st of 2025. Makers were called to create environmentally themed, textile panels in the style of “prayer flags”. Our goal was to collect enough double sided flags to define the pathways of ​this interactive labyrinth experience. That goal was met thanks to the generousity and commitment of all the makers participating in this project.” 

The exhibit was breathtaking and I walked the entire labyrinth (which took over a half hour to the center and back) that the handmade flags were arranged in. Photos will not do the my experience justice but here are some of my photos from the experience:

After I attended I found out from a friend that she made a flag for Toward 2050. I wish I’d known early so I could have found it and sent her a photo.

Phoenix Art Museum

We spent a half day at the Phoenix Art Museum and John, the woodworker, fell in love with an amazing piece of wood art we came upon in the exhibits:

I hope John makes a piece like this someday!

Taliesin West

One of the major highlights of our extracurricular activities before we went to Quiltcon, was visiting renown architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s workshop Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

A blurb on it from the franklloydwright.org website:

“Wright’s beloved winter home and desert laboratory was established in 1937 and diligently handcrafted over many years. Deeply connected to the desert from which it was forged, Taliesin West possesses an almost prehistoric grandeur. It was built and maintained almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of the architect’s creations.“

The venue ticket included a self guided audio tour that was amazing. It included a primer on basic architectural concepts so you could better appreciate what you were viewing.

I took a ridiculous amount of photos but here is a sampling of my tour experience:

John is a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design style and he was very naughty in the gift shop!

One thing I did realize after visiting Taliesin West is that Frank Lloyd Wright was heavily inspired by Japanese aesthetics and design. I appreciate his work but I am thinking he sort of “reinvented the wheel”.

Other Adventures in the Phoenix Area

My friend’s sister has a winter home (she lives in Colorado during the warm months and Arizona during the cold months) in a gorgeous suburb of Phoenix in a horse owner/rider community surrounded by amazing walking trails. Each day we went for a walk on the trails (and I got fresh Meyer lemons from a tree along the trail!) and we visited the horse ranch where my friend’s sister keeps her horses.

The home we stayed in was comfy and well appointed with two fun German Shepherds to play with!

Photo above: One of the pups needed to know where were at all times (the “herding” instinct), and ambushed us while we were in bed!

One day we walked a couple miles on the trail with the dogs to the local outdoor taco stand which had delicious food and “horse parking”!

Nothing like riding your horse to the taco stand!

My visit to Phoenix was pretty memorable and I so appreciated the hospitality of our hosts and my friend for making it happen.

I did make a “hostess gift” for our arrival – a set of horse themed drawstring bags:

And then upon returning home, I made a “thank you” gift primarily focused on her sister’s husband who had taken our partner golfing three days in row – a golf themed drawstring bag filled with a sleeve of his favorite golf balls:

Okay you’ve probably worked through your pot of tea now so I will end this long post.

Postscript

I’m working on overhauling my blog and rethinking it. It’s been 12+ years of blogging and I want to freshen it up as well as clean out some old stuff.

A Crafter's Life, Special Events, tierneytravels

Christmas in Miami

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

We spent the week of Christmas (12/22 – 12/27/24) in Miami, Florida with my family. One of my stepsons joined us along with my siblings, their kids and my sister-in-law. We came from Oregon, Virginia, Delaware and Denver to meet up for Christmas week!

Here is John on his way to get our rental car in the Miami airport with the artificial Christmas tree we brought along on his back!

John and I rented a couple loft condos in a converted former industrial building so the 8 of us would have plenty of space; and made our condo the main Christmas area with the tree, stockings and meals served there. I put on a fireplace video with Christmas music from YouTube and hung the stockings on the entertainment center for ambiance – ha!

Here’s what our condo looked like with a view of Miami’s skyline:

John made several wonderful meals and it was so good to sit down with the family from all over the country and share his yummy cooking:

I spent an evening on Espanola Way in South Beach with my siblings and their kids wandering around and it was magical!

John got to go on several rented bike rides along South Beach with his son Z who is an avid cyclist in Portland, Oregon (they didn’t appear to take any photos).

Miami was beautiful and decorated for the holidays:

I got to spend a morning wandering around downtown Miami with my sister and visiting the really lovely Brickell City Centre shopping area.

We stopped for some amazing pastries at the Rosetta Bakery.

Our family was so sweet and the day after Christmas they threw a surprise party in the afternoon for John and I at the other condo to celebrate our love and our commitment to family. They decorated the table with my favorite – sunflowers!

My brother, sister and stepson all made amazing speeches and John and I got pretty choked up! It was a very special afternoon.

On our last day in Miami, before heading to the airport, a couple of us went to Coral Gables and spent time in a delightful independent bookstore – Books & Books. It has a cafe, a bar, and endless rooms of books! I didn’t want to leave but eventually we had to head to the airport – ha!

I loved the cozy looking windows looking out to the outside dining at the bookstore.

The week flew by fast and we didn’t get to do all the things we planned (like go to the beach!) but it was a very special Christmas!

Hope your holidays were wonderful, I’ll be catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts I’ve missed in the near future 🙂

Papercrafting, Special Events

Card Making Party, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the second post in the two post series on the Card Making Party I had on Tuesday. The first post, Card Making Party, Part I, shows our set up and work in progress.

This post is a gallery of what everyone made.

I only made three cards as I was pretty busy hosting:

But my guests were more prolific – here is a sampling of the cards they made:

There was an art quilter in the group so you might be able to pick out some of her cards! The snowman was made by my friend who is a retired 1st grade and Kindergarten teacher – she simply looked at an image on her phone and cut out the snowman from paper scraps, and then embellishing it with paint pens!

Everyone who attended said this card making/crafting party was “Exactly what they needed”.

Papercrafting, Special Events

Card Making Party, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s cold out and Colorado Winter is upon us (even though it’s not officially Winter yet), so it was time for a fun crafting get together distraction!

Tuesday I hosted a card making party for three of my friends in studio. In this post I’ll share the set up and crafting in progress; in the next post I’ll share the cards we made!

I converted my studio table (putting away the cutting mats, rotary cutters, pins, etc.) into a card making supply station and the lunch buffet station:

We were not short of food options! One of my friends brought her homemade chili and I had made broccoli cheese soup! We didn’t coordinate the menu, people just brought what they wanted – and both of us were thinking we needed a hot liquid dish to warm us up!

My studio table went from this before the party:

To this (in order to accommodate 4 crafters!):

I set up a “crafting placemat” (some pretty hard-sided Rifle Paper Co. placemats I found thrifting) at each crafter’s station, along with their own light and some basic supplies (scissors, glue stick, etc.). I also included a little holiday gift for them – a mug for their coffee//tea filled with goodies.

After diving into the lunch buffet, everyone got to work making lots of cards!

Sometimes even taking to the floor for special card making techniques (small hole punching using my eyelet kit).

Special Events, tierneytravels

Visit to the Upcountry Museum in Greenville, SC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is sort of a continuation of the posts Variegated Yarn Surprise  and Men Hypnotized by a Computerized Longarm… about our trip in earlier this month to the Carolinas (Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC) to meet up with our Asheville, NC based friends E and S who needed a break from their post Hurricane Helene life in Asheville.

While in the Carolinas, we roadtripped (E and S brought their temporary rental car as their car had been totaled by a tree in the hurricane) to Greenvile and visited the he Upcountry History Museum to view the traveling show Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West. My quilt, Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet is part of that show.

Here are some photos of the museum’s interesting interior:

We headed upstairs to see the show and I discovered my quilt was on display as you first enter the exhibit!

I filmed a walk-through of the exhibit and uploaded it to YouTube (and I was so proud of myself figuring out how to add music so you wouldn’t have to just listen to my breathing!):

While I was there they museum’s Special Projects/Media Relations Director Meg Hunt came up to meet me, chat with my group (John, E, S and me) and take some photos.

Yes I am terrible at selfies…

I really appreciated her taking the time to visit with us.

Okay next post on the trip will be about our fun time at the  Fall for Greenville Fall festival.

Created using Layout (app)

Adventures in Paper Piecing, Special Events

Paper Piecing Paradise

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been working on an English Paper Piecing (EPP) quilt forever and my most recent post on this quilt was in May – All 99 are finally done!.

Someday the quilt I finish will look sort of like this quilt from Issue 1 (October 2016) of Quiltfolk Magazine:

Well a week or so ago (not sure exactly as most of October seems like a blur) my quilting friend and her partner; and attended the opening of two quilt shows, one of which I will share in this post and the other in the next post, at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

The first show of the opening was all ENGLISH PAPER PIECED QUILTS – English Paper Piecing. There were so many amazing quilts and I am inspired to complete my quilt someday (smile).

Thought I share photos of my favorite quilts in the show, including the details on some quilts to show the immense EPP work that was done to make these quilts.

My photos don’t do the quilts justice and some of them I had to take at off angles as the exhibit was super crowded and it was difficult to get a photo of a quilt without a group of people in front of it.

The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum has a gift shop/quilt shop inside of it and it was open for the evening show. I wandered around the shop and then John wandered around it and found some fabric he liked – a mathematical themed print. I am going to make a laptop case for him out of it and will show share an image of the fabric when I post about the laptop case.

Here is John buying the fabric for his laptop case – his first personal fabric purchase in quilt shop:

Special Events, Studio

Now Quilting the Denim Quilt!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a sort of follow up to my post: ScrapHappy October 2024: Recycled Hope .

Finally I am machine quilting the denim quilt I made last year which is currently called “What Direction Do I Go?”.

Here is up on the design wall before quilting:

Here it is in progress while I am quilting with the first color of thread (I used two colors):

Here it is partially finished (I am over halfway done with adding a second color of thread):

I am quilting it in a style I call “Organic Matchstick” quilting. Yes I totally made that phrase it. Matchstick quilting looks like this:

Image credit – Epida Studio – epidastudio.com/how-to-quilt-it-matchstick-quilting/

My quilting is a bit more “organic” with an occasional line touching or a little wiggle (why yes I of course planned that – ha!)

Here is the back of the quilt, I love the feel/texture of the quilting:

I cannot wait to finish it. I plan to do a “facing” instead of binding the quilt. Okay well back to work for me!

Postscript: Halloween Cuteness

Oh and here is some Halloween cuteness (yesterday was Halloween). We stopped over a friend’s house last night and they had two of their dogs in Hawaiian shirts dressed up as “Magnum. P.I.“ (if you remember that that 1980s show starring Tom Selleck):

Here are Pepi and Lewis doing their best Magnum, P.I. impersonations. Dolly the Aussie Shepherd was having no part in it!

Bet you can’t tell the dogs apart from Tom Selleck, right? Ha!

We had quite the giggle over the dogs’ costumes 🙂

Agriculture Report, Special Events

Agriculture Report and a Concert

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

AGRICULTURE REPORT

What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well I was inspired by  @quiteayarnblog‘s ongoing series of posts titled “Agriculture Report” (and this title always cracks me up) that are actually updates of what is going on in her garden. I just had to adopt this same title for updates on what is going on in my garden/my “garden report“…

I figured I would get one more “Agriculture Report” in for the year now that the growing season in Colorado’s Front Range where I live. I think this is the only update I am providing since my July 19, 2024 post Agriculture Report: Plantings Gone Wild .

As I mentioned in the July post, the free seeds I got from one of my local libraries really took off! Here is what the plants looked like in the raised bed John built at the end of September:

I’d routinely been getting tomatoes from the upstairs porch tomato plants and I started getting tomatoes AND our first cucumbers from the seed planted crops in the raised bed!

John made a Cucumber Salad with our first cucumbers (which are the first cucumbers I’ve ever grown!):

We recently returned from a trip to the Oregon Coast and the weather at home had changed radically (getting colder and colder at night) and there is rumor of a big freeze and possibly snowstorm at lower elevations (we live at 6000 ft above sea level). It has already snowed at the higher elevations (we have a lot of 14,000+ ft above sea level mountain regions in Colorado). So it was time to shut down the garden for the season. Plus it was time to “blowout” our sprinkler system/winterize it, so the plants wouldn’t be getting any more irrigation and where going to die out.

We harvested a bunch of tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini (but only a little as the rest did not ripen they were planted too late) from the raised bed:

John made pickles with the cucumbers and so far they taste delicious (they are still aging in their “pickling”):

In addition to the cucumbers from our raised bed, John used a hot pepper (not sure what I planted) and fresh thyme from our garden.

Besides vegetables, we had some luck with free flower seeds we got from the library. It took awhile but the Cosmos flower seeds I planted really took off:

We plan to put in a couple more raised beds next season, and I will be more organized in my free seed plantings (I hope the library hands out free seeds again next year). I did overcrowd the one raised bed, and the carrots, onions and spinach I planted from the free seeds did not grow.

Oh and would you like to see some photos of real harvests? A couple weeks ago we went to the Sunday Farmers’ Market in Parker and the fruits and vegetables were bountiful!

They have one stand at the Farmers’ Market that allows you to fill a large bag for $15 with whatever they have at their stand (and they have a lot of choices). They are very liberal on how the interpret “fill a bag” and they let me balance a very large head of cauliflower at the very top of the bag! They were also giving out free acorn squashes with purchase (I made a nice soup from mine) – I think they had more squash than they knew what to do with.

CONCERT

October 12 we went to see an awesome outdoor concert by our favorite Icelandic band, Kaleo.

We did see them at Red Rocks Amphitheatre this summer, and it was wonderful to get to see them again but at a smaller venue – Breckenridge Brewery’s Littleton Colorado Campus’ Farmhouse Concert Venue.

Here is a little clip from the concert I took:

And here is the full performance of this song that made John fall in love with the band as much I did when I first heard them around 2016:

But our favorite of their songs is not sung in English, it is sung in their native Icelandic language – Vor í Vaglaskógi – and based on Icelandic folklore:

Hope you enjoyed the music! The lead singer, JJ Julius Son (Jökull Júlíusson) has quite the voice/vocal range, and we love the musicianship of the band.

Special Events

Okay a reveal on the surface design piece….

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a quick little follow up to this post Misadventures in Fabric Surface Design.

In that post I shared the “hot mess” that my first piece looked like after I completed by surface design activities:

But I didn’t show what it looked like after the whole process was done.

My piece went through a series of soakings after I made it, then was laundered and dried.

And here is how it came out….

(drum roll)

Yes, even worse. But a new kind of awful. I like variety in my awful – ha!

Thanks in advance for your kind words like you shared on the first post about my misadventures in surface design, however I will not believe them on this reveal – ha!

But I am keeping the piece and will cut it up and use it in something…someday…I think…

Special Events

Misadventures in Fabric Surface Design

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I joined a group of quilters for a Surface Design workshop.

In case you are not familiar with the term “Surface Design” I looked for a formal definition, found many variations but essentially fabric “Surface Design” is creating original patterns and prints on fabric using various mediums which can include dyeing techniques, printing techniques, drawing, painting, embroidery, etc.

Little did I know this was not my thing and that I would be happy to continue purchasing commercial designed fabric after my MISADVENTURE IN SURFACE DESIGN!

The other quilters were very experienced fabric surface designers and their quilts made with surface designed fabrics have shown and been award ribbons at Quilt National, been show internationally, and have graced the covers or pages of Quilting Arts Magazine.

Here is an example of one of the quilter’s amazing collection of fabrics she has surface designed to use in her art quilts:

And then there is me who was totally clueless.

They threw me right into it and I was introduced to the equipment and chemicals involved in fabric dyeing, screen printing, and manual surface design including how to mix dyes and how to prepare your fabric with a soda ash solution soak. We dried our prepared fabric on the clothesline.

Here I am trying to “surface design” (but only making a “hot mess” on fabric):

So I failed at surface designing but perhaps I will try it again someday like in a formal class and not with a group of expert surface designers, ha! For now I will stick with commercially purchased fabric that someone else has designed!

Special Events

International Quilt Museum, Lincoln Nebraska, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing the story of my first trip the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska  to the that I began in yesterday’s post International Quilt Museum, Lincoln Nebraska, Part I .

After we finished our “behind the scenes tour” (see yesterday’s post for more on that) we had some time to wander about the museum before we needed to get back on the road to drive 7 hours back to Denver.

Okay so now back to my experience wandering the museum’s exhibits.

Below are photos from some of the exhibits I really enjoyed while we wandered around after the behind the scenes tour.

Sue Spargo: A Journey in Quilting Exhibit

Sue Spargo is known for her amazing hand embroidery work. The images below that I took do not do the quilts justice, they were amazing. When I lived in Bend, Oregon she used to come to Central Oregon all the time and I could have easily taken classes with her, too bad I missed out on the opportunity!

Feed Sacks: An American Fairy Tale Exhibit

I got teary eyed viewing this exhibit because I thought of all those women that make quilts (and clothes) with what they had available – feed sacks. If you aren’t familiar with “feed sacks” there is an explanation in one of the images below. The exhibit had examples of actual feed sacks they used which was amazing!

The 4th image below is a modern quilt honoring those Pioneer women who made quilts from feed sacks and the Pioneer men of the same period.

Trek – Victoria Findlay Wolfe Exhibit

I actually took a LOT of photos of this Victoria Findlay Wolfe exhibit but the photos did not do the experience of the exhibit justice. When you walk into the exhibit it has it’s own large gallery room with high ceilings and you are visually overwhelmed with these HUGE quilts covering “floor to ceiling” with some quilts that spill on to the floor of the gallery.

Manhattan Quilters Guild – “Rebound. Renew. Reimagine.” Exhibit

I really enjoyed this exhibit and fell in love with a recycled denim quilt (Renaissance by Emiko Todo Loeb) in the exhibit which is in one of the images below.

So that is a little on our experience at the International Quilting Museum. Here is a YouTube video (courtesy of the PBS series Craft in America) if you’d like a little more info about this amazing museum.

Special Events

International Quilt Museum, Lincoln Nebraska, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A couple weeks ago I went on a road trip from Denver, Colorado to Lincoln, Nebraska and attended a “behind the scenes tour” of the International Quilt Museum.

From the museum’s website

The International Quilt Museum’s mission is to build a global collection and audience that celebrate the cultural and artistic significance of quilts. The International Quilt Museum is located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus at 33rd and Holdrege streets. The museum has the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection, dating from the early 1700s to present and representing more than 60 countries. 

We had an amazing tour guide, a retired high school teacher, and did the behind the scenes tour with another group of visiting quilters. Here I am about to go on the tour:

Our first stop was the room where they handle quilts in their collections for various archiving activities or setting up for exhibit. The staff of course wear gloves when handling the quilts and we were only allowed to view the quilt they were evaluating from afar:

In the other group on the tour with us, there was a family group who had requested to see ahead one of their relative’s quilts that are part of the International Quilt Museum‘s collection. We chatted with them and their mother/grandmother (who was passed) was a renown quilter and several of her quilts are at the museum. This specific quilt was made for her grandson, now a grown man, and they wanted him to see it in person after all these years. It was a sweet and very emotional family moment for them and I enjoyed chatting with the family and learning more about their family matriarch the renown quilter.

In the room where they archive and evaluate quilts, they had a humorous wallhanging that gave us a smile – a traditional “Sunbonnet Sue” but she was wielding a knife!

If you are familiar with this famous antique quilt block pattern then you might get a giggle (or fright) out of the knife wielding version!

We also toured where the museum stored it’s huge quilt collection in special moving racks/vaults.

I’ll continue the story and photos about my first visit to the International Quilt Museum in my next post.

Special Events

Batik Blocks for Teal Charity Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This year I am participating in the Ovarian Cancer Fundraiser Quilt coordinated by the awesome Australia based quilting goddess Kate @ talltalesfromchiconia. I am contributing two blocks to the quilt and I thought I would share those blocks with you.

This year’s theme is the sea and I signed up for the “deep sea” section of quilt blocks.

I researched deep sea creatures found in Australian waters and decided to make a block inspired by the Deep-Sea Bullseye Scallop and a block inspired by the Dumbo Octopus. Then I pulled out my box of batik fabric scraps and sorted out my teal and blue scraps.

In the images below you will see the original photo that inspired me (photo source hyperlinked) and then the block I created based (loosely) on that photo. Note: my smartphone camera photographed some of the true teal as blues and so there is a lot more teal in the blocks than it appears in the images.

The Deep-Sea Bullseye Scallop

Dumbo Octopus

The blocks are on their way to Australia now – crossing my fingers my fabric deep sea creatures arrive safely!

A Crafter's Life, Special Events

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Trees…

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been working on some handmade holiday gifts so not much to post right now, but I thought I’d get you in the holiday spirit with a collection of delightful Christmas trees!

My beloved local library (yes after 4.5+ years in Colorado I have finally fallen completely and madly in love with a library...I thought no library could replace my beloved Deschutes Public Library in Bend, Oregon but finally I am able to love again!) has a delightful and whimsical display of Christmas trees inspired by literary classics and popular culture.

There are 32 decorated Christmas trees are scattered around the first and second levels of the library and are called the Forest of Stories. I tried to see every tree during my weekly visit to the library; and here are the trees that I found most intriguing:

BARBIE TREE

NANCY DREW TREE

Oh how I loved reading Nancy Drew books as a kid!

THE HUNGER GAMES TREE

JURASSIC PARK TREE

If you’ve only seen the movie and never read the book, I highly recommend reading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton! This is where I first learned about “Chaos Theory”.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S TREE

Here’s a terrifying movie I do not recommend (and I like scary movies). We went to see it a couple weeks ago with John’s granddaughter and son who have played the video game. It was disturbing and a movie I never care to watch again, ick!

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS TREE

A magical book from my childhood I will not forget!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES TREE

THE NIGHT CIRCUS TREE

I highly recommend this delightful book! I keep a copy in my home library.

TREASURE ISLAND TREE

STUDIO GHIBLI TREE

MAYA ANGELOU TREE

Beautiful tribute!

TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW TREE

I’ve heard many good things about this book by Gabrielle Zevin. A friend gave me their copy and it is sitting in my queue to read.

BRIDGERTON TREE

Complete with “Lady Whistledown” gossip sheets! I’ve never read the books but did enjoy the Netflix television series which was sort of mindless but juicy entertainment!

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA TREE

HG WELLS TREE

His novel The Time Machine (1895) is quite the science fiction classic!

There were a lot more trees (32 in total as I mentioned earlier in this post) but this post would go on forever if I shared all the photos I took! I chatted with the library staff and they said they had so much fun decorating the trees!

OUR TREE

Speaking of Christmas trees, here is our set up for this holiday season. We put and decorated our right after Thanksgiving:

Can you spot the Miniature Schnauzer (Mike) staring at me?

Let’s zoom in closer…

Our Christmas tree is not even closely creatively decorated like those trees at my local library; but we do have some fun additions to our tree to this year.

Last year during a holiday together, we had our guests including John’s sons and granddaughter, decorate pre-made/printed ornaments with “bling” and colorful markers. We had such a fun time doing it. Everyone signed their ornaments and left them behind with us.

Well now we get to display them on our tree each year! Every time I look at them I smile and remember the laughter and joy decorating them!

Our group was most adults and it was fun to watch the adults have so much fun coloring and decorating simple cardboard ornaments. We had so much fun doing it we are going to do it again this year!

I’ll close this post with the reference for the title of this post. “O Christmas Tree” is the English version of the German Christmas song “O Tannebaum”.

Let’s transport you back to my childhood Christmas for a moment and my parents are playing Nat King Cole’s Christmas album on the record player…

Good memories…
Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Reception

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This afternoon I attended a reception at Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum hosted by eQuilter and Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum for those featured in the Colorado issue of Quiltfolk Magazine.

It was wonderful to meet the other quilters and groups (such a local guild) that are features in Issue 28 of Quiltfolk Magazine; as well as wander around the museum and look at the latest exhibits.

Here is a selfie I took at the reception:

Greetings!

Here is the beginning of the photographer trying to “herd cats” for the group photo of quilters featured in the magazine:

I had John take photos with my camera as the photographer attempted to get us into place…

Here is one of the attendees who had a beautiful quilted jacket she made:

We did some “yearbook signing” (remember that from high school if you went to high school in the US?) and some of us signed each other’s magazine copies.

I’ll share in another post some of the awesome quilts currently on display at the museum, include an all scrap quilt exhibit.

Publications, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events, tierneycreates

Quiltfolk Issue #28 Colorado Released (and I am in it!)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a pretty nice way to start October, which is the 10th Anniversary of my tierneycreates blog month (first blog post on October 27, 2013): Issue 28 of Quiltfolk Magazine – Colorado – hits newsstands today, October 1, 2023, and is available for purchase online.

I am featured in Issue 28: Colorado and here are the previous blog posts I shared about this honor: Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I, Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II, and Preview of Quiltfolk Issue 28 – Colorado).

Before I go any further, I want to give credit to those involved with the article:

Photography: The photographer was Melanie Zacek (Instagram: @melanie.zacek), and her stylist was Kimberlee Zacek (Instagram: @kimberleezacek)

Writer: The writer who did my interview was Dr. Sharbreon Plummer (Instagram: @sharbreon)

Guess what? Quiltfolk has provided me with a 20% coupon code (TierneyQF28) to share with family, friends and my social media family (those of you who have been with my blog a long time, we are practically family now aren’t we…or am I delusional, ha!):

I thought it was creative that they took one of the photos from the photoshoot for the article and made it into the coupon 🙂

Here is the link if you are interested in the issue (hey we can still be social media friends even if you do not read the article, no obligation):
Link to Issue 28: Colorado Info/Purchase page: https://www.quiltfolk.com/issue-28-colorado/

Although they are providing me with three (3) free copies of the issue since I am one of the quilter’s featured in it, I did go out to this link to buy another copy with the coupon code and discovered it worked for the year subscription also, so I got that instead.

Additionally I discovered they were having quite the special deal for their introductory $80 per year subscription price: besides the 4 quarterly issues include in the subscription, you could get one back issue for free (and Issue 28 – Colorado was one of the choices…) but you also got some free fabric (Riley Blake Shades of Autumn 5″ squares) and the ability to buy 2 more back issues 60% off! Not sure how long this deal is going to be active but wanted to make you aware of it.

I know I sound like a salesperson for Quiltfolk, but I just wanted you to be aware of this awesome deal.

Quiltfolk provided me with the photos from my photoshoot to share what I wanted on social media. I’ve selected a few of my favorites to share with you.

In the photo above they made me take off my glasses because of the glare from the sun causing my lenses to be very dark (they are Transition lenses). I never take off my glasses, I’ve been wearing them since 2nd grade and I feel naked without them, so I was trying to control my super awkward feeling!

Well that’s my big announcement to start October 2023 and my 10th Anniversary Month of being a blogger!

Special Events, tierneytravels

The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A continuation from yesterday’s post The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part I.

I’ve shared background on my father’s legacy in older posts such as this post – Creative Inspiration: Stories My Father Told Me (re-post) His legacy is more than I’ve shared in previous posts and in this post you will learn even more.

As I shared in the previous post, my younger brother, younger sister and I traveled to Saltsburg, PA to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony/dedication ceremony on Tuesday September 12, 2023 of a classroom at The Kiski School where my father, Raoul A. Davis, Sr. (1931 – 2008) was the first African American graduate (1950). (He attended The Kiski School for his Senior Year of high school)

Below is the placard to be mounted in the dedicated classroom:

To give you all the background on this, I am going to share the excellent post my brother did in the social media platform LinkedIn:

Yesterday we celebrated a legacy. Seventy-four years ago yesterday, my father, Raoul Davis Sr., courageously walked through the halls of The Kiski School as its first African American student. Returning to those same halls and seeing the reverence with which he is remembered, touched my heart in ways words can barely express.

The Kiski School has long stood as a beacon of excellence, nurturing young men to become their best selves. My families gratitude to the entire Kiski community is immeasurable – from the dedicated staff and the spirited students to the school’s leadership, who made me and my sisters feel like we were home. A special nod to Carla Ross and Mark Rhodehamel, whose warmth and dedication were palpable throughout our visit.

To hear the current students express appreciation for my father’s willingness to be a trailblazer was humbling. It’s one thing to know your parent’s worth within the confines of home, but quite another to witness the far-reaching impact of their bravery. Kiski set the foundation for my dad to go onto to the founder of the URBAN LEAGUE OF LONG ISLAND, INC. Serve as the Executive Director of the Urban League of Albany. He loved working with the National Urban League going back to Vernon Jordan.

He worked with street gangs in New York City on creating truce, and served with distinction former NY Governor Mario Cuomo to celebrate African American culture in the state.

In 1949, the foresight of Dr. Clark, the headmaster at the time, is a testament to Kiski’s enduring spirit of inclusivity. By actively recruiting my father and ensuring he had a memorable experience, Dr. Clark did more than just integrate the school; he set the stage for a more inclusive future.

As Kiski steps into its 136th school year, the Raoul Davis Sr. ’50 Classroom stands not just as a brick and mortar testament but as a symbolic commitment to honor diverse histories and ensure that every student recognizes the strength that lies in unity and diversity.

Kiski’s commitment to celebrating trailblazers and preserving the legacy of those who’ve paved the way is commendable. My father’s story, intertwined with Kiski’s, reminds us of the unwavering spirit of those who dare to be the first and the institutions that support them.

Thank you, Kiski, for keeping the legacy of Raoul Davis Sr. alive and for reminding us that true legacies are built on the foundation of courage, determination, and resilience.

The Kiski School is a private all-boys preparatory (prep) school that was established in 1888. Here we are arriving at the school and were warmly greeted by the two security officers at the gate who took this photo:

Two awesome Directors from The Kiski School, Carla and Mark (who were also responsible for making the classroom dedication happen and are in the first photo below), gave us an amazing tour of the school’s grounds. Here are some photos from that tour:

As you can see in the photo above, The Kiski School overlooks the town of Saltsburg and there is a lovely view!

During the tour, my sister came up with the awesome idea of a cool group standing/feet photo around The Kiski School image on their rug in the administration building:

(Just a little humor: my sister and I both have an obsession with dapper mens footwear – there is something so cool about a dapper pair of mens shoes. We really got a kick out of the wonderful shoes that the Director Mark wore – the brown shoes to the right – and we became obsessed with them! We might have to convince our husbands to get those shoes! Ha!)

The ribbon cutting ceremony was an experience I cannot put into words. It was VERY stirring.

A touching speech was given by a young man of color who was the current Class President. He shared how my father’s legacy has inspired him. Here we are in a selfie after the ribbon cutting ceremony with that amazing young man:

My siblings and I were trying to keep the tears out of our eyes (we weren’t always successful) during the speeches. Then we got to actual “cut the ribbon” with a giant pair of scissors to the new classroom dedicated to our father. They gave us a pair of giant scissors to keep to commemorate the event.

Inside the classroom was a slide presentation of photos from our father’s time at The Kiski School and the amazing art by the artist Yvonne Davis (no relation):

One of the photos in the slideshow (“Class of 1950”) was of our father standing on the back steps of the school. My siblings and I got a chance to stand on those exact steps during the tour before the ribbon cutting:

We got chills when we stood where our father stood 73 years ago, I cannot put into words what I experienced but it was amazing.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony we met with an amazing group of students in the school’s library, answered their questions, and had a panel interview for their school’s newspaper. We were interviewed by an engaging young man who definitely has a future in journalism if he likes!

It was an experience I cannot put into words, talking with the group of young men in the library post ribbon cutting. It was like interacting with a group of glowing beacons that were going to help improve the future of our world. It is a moment in time my siblings and I will never forget and we are so appreciative to The Kiski School for giving us this moment.

We also got to see the collection of communication that the school kept on file from the time our father attended, including this piece of correspondence from 1949:

Little did our father know when he wrote this letter in 1949 what his amazing legacy would be!

I’ll close this post with the amazing stained glass window in the same building as the school library which really captured my attention (the photo does not do it justice):

Publications, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Preview of Quiltfolk Issue 28 – Colorado

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I shared in the posts Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I and Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II, I will be one of the Colorado quilters featured in the October 2023 issue (Issue 28) of Quiltfolk Magazine.

Thanks to my friends K and L, I’ve recently discovered that Quiltfolk Magazine has posted a preview for the issue and if you’d like to see it here is the link – Issue 28 Reveal.

Here is a screen shot from that link of me (Tierney Davis Hogan):

I’ve been sent the draft article to review as well as a proof of the photos to assist with captioning but I haven’t seen the complete article yet – can’t wait!

Feature image credit: quiltfolk.com

Shows and Exhibits, Special Events, tierneycreates, tierneytravels, WCQN

Black Pioneers Exhibit Celebration, California Museum, Sacramento, CA

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West exhibit opened at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA on June 10, 2023 however the official exhibit opening event occurred on July 15, 2023 and I attended.

I was so surprised to discover my quilt Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet was used as their show poster! The museum staff told me how much they loved my quilt.

Here are some of the photos I took (including the poster and my piece, see videos below to see the other quilts in the show):

This quilt has gotten a lot of mileage! I also found it posted on other online advertisement for the show:

GoodDay Sacramento morning show had a segment on the exhibit (you will see my piece toward the end of the segment):

GoodDay Sacramento

CBS News Sacramento also had a segment on the exhibit:

CBS News Sacramento

And here is the walk-through video I took while at the exhibit:

I recently returned from a long weekend in California. John and I visited family and friends in Oakland and Sacramento California. I’ll share some photos/stories from those visits in a future post.

A Crafter's Life, From the Archives, Special Events

From the Archives: Ladies Friendship Circle

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was randomly thinking about this memory the other day and thought I would re-post it. If you’ve been following my blog a very long time (at least since 2016) you might remember the post – The Ladies Friendship Circle (1931).

In 2013 I facilitated the completion of a quilt started in the 1930s and given as a gift to someone 80 years later (who was alive when the quilt was first started). Here is the story:

THE LADIES FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE (1931)  

82 years ago in 1931 (note this post was originally written in 2013) my friend’s MJ’s grandmother and her group of friends made a quilt top for MJ’s mother (the new baby in 1931). The quilt was never finished. MJ wanted to finish this quilt for her 82 year old mother who had kept it packed away in a chest for 80+ years and surprise her for Christmas.

After searching several quilt shops, MJ and I found the perfect backing and binding fabric at one of our wonderful Central Oregon quilt shops.  Then we had the quilt professionally longarm machine quilted.

MJ and I spent an evening sewing down the quilt binding to finish it. We were both snuggled under the quilt as we each worked on sewing down one end of the binding. MJ planned to surprise her 82 year Mother with the mind blowing Christmas gift of a lifetime – a quilt top put away since 1931 that has been turned into a quilt!

Something very special about this quilt: MJ’s Mom is the only person living from this time period of this dear group of family and family friends – so when she gets the surprise quilt for Christmas she will see the names of the long-passed very dear people she grew up with.

I warned MJ – when you hand your Mom the quilt at Christmas, it is going to be a “blow out the tear ducts moment”!

MJ presented her mother with the quilt for Christmas in December 2013 and yes there were many tears of joy. Imagine receiving a completed quilt that was started when you were a child, by people who loved you and are now are long gone.

MJ’s Mom passed away in mid 80s and I am so glad she got to enjoy this quilt before she passed.

Quilts are love (as most quilters know) and this quilt contained the “spirits” of the departed loved ones entwined in the quilt’s hand embroidered stitches. I liked to imagine these “spirits” being very pleased that their quilt was finally finished and given to the intended…even if it took 82 years…

Publications, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I shared in Part I (if you are just joining us, see Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I), I was invited to be part of Issue 28: Colorado in the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine.

I had an amazing Zoom video chat the previous Friday with Dr. Sharbeon Plummer, one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers who will write the article about me; and then a very fun photoshoot inside and outside my home with the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot team.

I thought I would share some “behind the scenes” photos from the photoshoot that I took while the photographer was getting set up and/or the stylist was doing her styling magic.

Inside My House

The photo above is not a grouping of quilts to be photographed together, but rather a selection of quilts the photographer wanted to do individual close up details on. The first photo in the series of images above shows some of the photographic equipment they unpacked for the photoshoot.

Outside My House (Front & Backyard)

So that’s about it for now about this incredible opportunity.

As we get closer to the release of the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine I’ll have some type of “social media” package with a preview of photos from the article I can share as a teaser and a discount coupon to share on my blog and Instagram for followers who would like to purchase a discounted copy of the issue.

The photographer and stylist set up some really cool photos and I cannot wait to see the outcome of the photoshoot. I also cannot wait to read the article of course!

If you’d like to see some additional behind the scenes photos check out the Instagram feed of the stylist @kimberleezacek (see her “Quiltfolk” reel) as well as the IG feed for Quiltfolk Magazine – @quiltfolk – which has a reel called “Issue 28” showing the amazing road trip by the photographer (Melanie) and stylist (Kimberlee) as they travel through Colorado meeting with quilters and photographing their homes and studios (as well as the beauty of Colorado).

A Crafter's Life, Publications, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the follow up to my recent post: What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall.

I was invited to be featured in the October 2023 issue (Issue #28) of Quiltfolk Magazine.

On Friday June 16 I had my Zoom interview with one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers; and and on Thursday June 22 I had a photoshoot at my home with one of the Quiltfolk photographers and one of the stylists.

So where do I begin? How about with a little background/history?

Quiltfolk Magazine is a quarterly magazine which features interviews and stories about quilters and quilting communities in a specific US state or region.

image credit: quiltfolk.com

I’ve been reading it and subscribing to it (on and off when I feel inspired to pay the annual subscription fee) since it’s first publication in October 2016 – which featured quilters and quilting communities in Oregon, the state I lived for 14 years before moving to Colorado.

First issue, image credit: quiltfolk.com

And I’ve been working on a quilt similar to the one on the cover since 2016! This cover inspired me to try out English Paper Piecing (EPP).

(I now have around 68 rosettes done, so I am getting close to the 99 to finish the EPP quilt.)

I love Quiltfolk Magazine, I have collection of past issues and each one feels like a beautiful ode to the art of quilting.

Check out this link to see the beautiful covers on these issues – Archive – Quiltfolk.

Okay so with that background perhaps you can imagine my shock, surprise and honor to have received this e-mail from the Editor in Chief of Quiltfolk Magazine on May 24, 2023 (excerpted and text condensed):

I am writing to you today because our team is currently in the process of planning an upcoming release, Issue 28: Colorado, and we came across your name and amazing work. We would like to know if you would be interested in being featured in our next magazine issue? First, a little about us: Quiltfolk is a 164-page, ad-free, print-only quarterly publication for quiltmakers and quilt lovers. We are a travel magazine as much as we are one about quilts. We go on the road four times a year to find America’s quilt stories, covering one state per issue. I’ve attached a PDF of our most recent release so that you can see how dedicated we are to producing a first-rate magazine for the national quilt community that we love. We were founded in 2016 and have been steadily growing ever since, now reaching tens of thousands of quiltfolk across the country. If you are interested in being featured in Quiltfolk, Issue Issue 28: Colorado, (and we hope you are!) please confirm by responding to this email. Then, next steps are as follows: One of our writers will reach out to schedule an email, phone or Zoom interview with you within the next three weeks. We will also be in touch to coordinate an in-person, socially distanced photo shoot with our crew. (The photography team consists of one photographer and their assistant. Occasionally, a writer may join them.) We are currently planning photo shoots between June 19th – 28th.

I stared at the e-mail for quite a while before my brain fully registered all the words! Quiltfolk Magazine, friggin’ Quiltfolk Magazine, which I’ve loved and read for years is inviting me to be in it!

Of course I replied “Yes”!

More to come in Part II…