Art Quilt Tahoe

I have just returned from one of my favorite teaching venues, Art Quilt Tahoe. In recent years it has been held at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center on the south end of the lake. This year the weather was unusually warn for the first few days. The sun was shining and the water was a beautiful clear turquoise blue.

The classroom was bright and roomy as the students jumped into their plant studies. By the second day they were finally fondling fabric and their compositions began to take form.

Here are a few samples of the quilt tops that evolved over the four days of class. I have grouped these by color and adjusted the scale to fit this blog format.  Every project was unique even though some people worked with the same subject. Above is Leslie Bixel's Borage Plant and Carole Rouin's Lotus interpretation.

This is one of the most satisfying aspects of teaching... to see the subjects filtered through each individual head, heart and hands. For example, look how Sara Roche's Lotus above is so different than Carole's.  I love Jo Kellar's version of the Red Hot Pokers in her garden.

On the last day of class the weather began to change and the conversation shifted. Everyone was anticipating the snow and a safe trip home. As you may have learned reading this blog, I love exciting weather and quite look forward to the drama it creates. As predicted, it began to snow late in the afternoon of the last day of class. Being the final teaching job of the year, I was delighted for such a lovely introduction to the holiday season.

This is how it looked as I packed my suitcase for the trip home the next morning. Beautiful!!!! The sky show was astounding all the way to Reno airport.

When I arrived home, it was much warmer, but our blooming Christmas cactus was yet another indication that the holiday season is on its way!