It is the end of April and it has been a great month. The 5th anniversary of Alegre Retreat was spectacular. We had fire works, we had a lecture by John Hendricks himself on his new book coming out soon, and we had cupcakes and carrot cakes. It was awesome. If you want to join us or learn more about Alegre Retreat go to www.alegreretreat.com. It is just too much fun.
Then we had the SAQA meeting here in Santa Fe and that was great seeing so many friends in my own little town. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
I am packing once again. This time I am off to teach in Scotland and Holland. In Scotland I am giving a master class and showing 16 of my quilts at the Lock Lommond quilt show along with the students finished works from the master class I gave there last year. So that should be really exciting. Oh and giving the one day color classes during the quilt show.
In between the master class and the show I had a week off so arranged with a dear friend in Holland to hop over there and give a two day Ghost layer class with an extra day in there for so sightseeing in Amsterdam.
When I get home it will be time to go to Quilt National for their opening.
It is really a very busy year but I am enjoying it.

Happy Creating - love and hugs
katiepm

Join me and 10 participants for a dynamic online class focusing on color and composition. I've designed 8 lessons for you to interpret and incorporate your own creative ideas. You'll have 2 weeks to complete each lesson before sending a digital picture to me and I will then post all pieces in a private Yahoo group in your own file. I will give every participant a personal, thorough critique of each lesson and will host a final critique of class works so that everyone learns from all. 

To Join: click on Teaching and then Online Classes on the navigation bar at the top of the webpage. Complete the registration form. This form will be sent to me and I will add you to a class of 10. I will let you know which date your class will start. On the start date you will receive in an email the lesson. Create a piece based on your interpretation of the instructions. This piece can be any size that you like. My pieces are 16 inches but any size and format will work. You will have approximately 2 weeks to complete and send me an image in an email. I will then send you a private critique of the work and the following day send you the next lesson. You will be invited to join a private yahoo groups site where there will be a folder for each participant. I will post each participants piece at the end of each lesson so you can see what everyone is creating. The final critique will be sent to everyone so they can learn from the other participants. The cost of the class is 175.00. When you sign up I will send an email with more details. If you have any questions you may email me at katiepm@aol.com

love and hugs
katiepm

It is the first few days of 2013 and already I know that it is going to be a great year for everyone! Christmas and New Years were great and I am really glad that they are over and I am in my studio rut again. I love being in my rut!! Since coming home from the Houston Quilt Festival I have made two art quilts and a bed quilt. Here they are.

 Now I am off to Spain on the 10th to teach for Rosario Casanovas and hopefully get a little sight seeing done too! This is a bit short but I still have packing to do. I hope all of your New Years dreams come true and that you have a healthy and prosperous year.

love and hugs
katiepm

Two whole months in my studio working on hopefully two new quilts. I have started one and I am really enjoying it. I taught my new class, Watercolor to Quilt at Houston and it was a huge success!! Everyone created such beautiful works, or at least got a good start on them. To see all of the pieces that were started go to katiepm on facebook and click on Likes, I posted them all there. I made this painting in one of my demonstrations in the watercolor class then cropped it to get the best part.

As of the 11th of November this is what I have finished.

It is a lot of fun to work on, trying to match fabrics to the paint. Music is playing and I am happy. Check back at the end of the month to see what I have finished or I will be posting the process on katiepm on facebook.

I have a very full year in 2013 so please check out the itinerary page here to see where I will be and maybe you could join me for a class!
I will be teaching overseas in Spain, Scotland and Holland , Two trips to Canada and some very fun venues in the US.  Quilting Adventures in Texas, Hudson River Valley Art Workshops in New York, Alegre Retreat at Gateway Colorado, Vermont Quilt Festival, Vermont, Long Beach Summer Festival in California, AQS show in Grand Rapids, MI, Quilting by the Lake in New York, Front Range Quilters in Colorado and Nancy Crwo Barn Workshops in Baltimore Ohio.

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and a really wonderful Christmas.
I will post again in January and enjoy my time until them with my family and in my studio with all of my fabric and paints.
love and hugs
katiepm

I have just returned home from my trip to Japan. I won this trip! It was the prize for winning the Quilts Japan Prize at 2011 Quilt National for my quilt Con Brio. 

Con Brio - With Spirit 65" x 65"

The award is 7 days in Japan. With one day of class and a lecture. There was enough interest for me to teach the same class twice.

I chose to teach the stitched painting class because part of the quilt that won me the trip was a stitched painting.

There were 35 students in each of the two classes. I also brought my best friend, Randi, along for the vacation part of the trip.

Mr. Seto Jr. and Ryoko introducing me to the class

First class of Stitched Painters in Japan

I had the most wonderful translator, Nao, for both of the classes and my lecture.

She made it all go so easily and we enjoyed our time together.

Nao my wonderful translator

I gave a lecture after the first days class and that was really fun, there was a banquet meal afterward with the audience.
The second day of the stitched painting class went just a smoothly as the first day and I convinced my friend Randi to take the class too. She was a little nervous as she is not a painter but she ended up having a great time after all!

2nd day of teaching Stitched Paintings

Traveling buddy and best friend Randi took the second day of class

Then the teaching was finished and it was time to do some sightseeing. My luggage lock got stuck and the wonderful guys at the front desk tried to help me fix it.

With the language barrier we played a lot of charades. 

Lock broke on luggage and the boys trying to get it un stuck

Japanese picknick in our hotel at the base of Mt. Fuji

The next day you could not see the mountain for all of the clouds around it. I had heard that it is often that way and you are lucky if you get to see it. We didn't have much hope but went to the fifth station of the mountain which is as far as you can go by car. Still no Mt. Fuji, but we could shop at the souvenir stores anyway. Then for five minutes the clouds cleared and you could see Fuji San!! Everyone ran out of the stores and restaurants to get pictures then we turned back around and it was gone. What a great moment to actually see it clearly.

Dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Seto

Pink Lotus

White Lotus

Our last evening was spent packing and trying to figure out how to get all of our souvenirs home with us. So we decided to do a Japanese picnic in our room. complete with Saki. Farewell Japan and thank you for all of the great memories. Randi and Katie

Japanese picnic in our room while packing

Chopstick farewell

love and hugs

katiepm

We also had a new baby! The circle of life!

I have been working on my pieces for quilt national and finished a few pieces for my new class, From Watercolor to Quilt. It is a really fun class where you play with all sorts of watercolor techniques that are then turned into abstract quilts. Here are two of my latest for this class.

painting for the quilt

quilt

painting for the quilt

quilt

On the 17th I fly to Japan to teach for two days then 8 days of sightseeing!! I am so excited. This is for my Quilts Japan Prize that I won at Quilt National last year. My best friend Randi is going with me so we should have a ton of fun!! Check back next month when I get home and post about that trip.
Check out the itinerary page to see where I am going to be teaching for the rest of the year and maybe you could join me and we could have a great time.
Until next time, happy creating!

love and hugs

katiepm