On the Road: Washington State Fish, Bug, and Butterfly Classes

On my first stop during my teaching tour of three quilt guilds in the greater Seattle area, I visited Block Party Quilters, which is based in Sammamish (accent on the second syllable, please), east of downtown. Neither I nor Tom had ever visited that part of the country before, so he decided to accompany me. This was a benefit to the guilds where I gave my lecture, BPQ being one of them, as I was able to have Tom use his carry-on to transport three more quilts! He also assisted as techie for the setup of the digital slide projectors. You’ll see more of him in the scenic shots at the end of the post.

It was at BPQ that I met Arlette Wentz (above) and Freda Clark (below), who produced two beautiful examples of fabric collaged images in this Fish, Bug, and Butterfly two-day class. Now that I’m home and going through these photos, I have the presence of mind to notice how nicely these ladies were dressed to match their collages—though I was told that Arlette usually does match those colors.

In making my rounds through the class, Freda’s pin cushion, which is a felt version of the classic tomato variety, caught my eye (below) since Tom and I already had an upcoming pincushion blog post in the works, published last week. Freda laughed as she recounted that the gathering of materials for this little cushion project with a friend, was more involved than she anticipated.

The two days of class passed in a flash, with these few photos the only ones I even thought about taking (besides the in-progress photos in the slide show below).

As I finished packing up my teaching materials, Pat Norris and her daughter Ruth Nevin (who is holding her mom’s fish creation below), paused long enough for a photo and a goodbye.

To see daughter Ruth’s fish and progression photos of all the collage work from this lovely class, check out the following slide show.

Block Party Quilters Student Work

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A few days earlier, shortly before our descent into Seattle, Tom got the photo of Mt. Rainier (below) out the plane window, which they tell us is visible from various parts of the city. We’ll have to take their word for it since the clouds never lifted enough for us to see it again. Instead, I bought postcards—and trust that the mountains aren’t Photoshopped in place.

Our hosts while I was teaching at BPQ were Trish and Grant Merrill (above, with me). What a wonderful couple who made us feel right at home in their guest cottage, served breakfast every morning, and were so charmingly surprised each time we recounted our adventures of the day before. Those are Merrill’s prized dahlias behind us and below. I have a new appreciation for those flowers, how they’re grown and the inventive names they have been given. Thanks Trish and Merrill for your hospitality.

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My second stop was in the northern suburb of Shoreline, WA with Quilters Anonymous. I gave both evening and morning lectures for them in addition to the two-day class. This is a large and enthusiastic group of fabric lovers who made for a great audience. Thanks Ladies!

The days I was teaching, Tom was off on his own local adventures, but came back early enough on the second and final day of QA’s Fish, Bug, and Butterfly class to get a few classroom photos. Unfortunately, major pack-up had already occurred. What’s missing is the height and tumble of fabric piles and the general creative mess of a workshop—stuff I love to see happen.

I also love to see how different people treat the same subject. For instance, a fanciful bee above, a realistic treatment below. Note the different sorts of fabrics used for each “look”—medallion-like prints in Gail’s bee, with lightning from a cloudy sky print to interpret the lines and flow of the open wings.

Jeanette has used batiks and smaller prints to show the value—light to dark—gradation and form of the insect’s lower body. She cut around prints to describe the “fuzziness” of the bee’s head and shoulders.

In this very fanciful butterfly, Michelle Murnane released the constraints of my pattern’s details and let her butterfly become ruffled instead. This insect’s “story” became one of a frilly princess. When auditioning body fabric—she liked both options above. With a “Why not both?” suggestion, she did just that, below. Michelle also found inspiration in her fabric prints for this girl’s antennae. I get a smile seeing the evolution of a “personality” in this very fluffy, yet somehow determined looking, butterfly princess.

And now to present the in-progress work of the class as a whole.

Quilters Anonymous Student Work

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In any class, most students won’t get to the point of auditioning backgrounds for their subjects, but there’s always those exceptions. Barbara Martin, below, had her collage glued in place enough to cut her fish from it’s foundation fabric. At that point, she could start playing with fabrics for background options—laying her fish on each, giving a a different look and feel to her subject.

Jerri Stroud, below, took one of my Maine retreats three years ago, and Tom did a special interview post with her as well, so it was nice for both of us to see her again. She showed us a few of the collage quilts she’s been working on since—she has definitely caught onto this technique—she’s agreed to let us feature those quilts in a future post. In this class, Jerri kept her fish on it’s foundation fabric, and continued the collage into the background, letting it grow into a watery reef garden.

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Travel

When we arrived at Seattle/Tacoma International airport, we rented a car (a little red one that I named Carmine) and let Google Maps direct us to our hosts Trish and Merrill Grant’s home in Bellevue, WA, just a short 25 minute drive (with no traffic). Since we arrived early in the day (we had gained 3 hours coming from Maine), we unloaded the car and set off to explore the Snoqualmie Valley, or as much as we could see in an afternoon.

Out first stop was Rattlesnake Lake, a flooded river valley once home to a small logging town, now dotted with the stumps of drowned trees. This recreation area was also the home of the rain drums, which are most easily explained by watching the video below.

We also saw the Snoqualmie Falls (see video below), which are the falls featured in the cult television show “Twin Peaks,” from the early 1990’s, which was shot in the area. (Tom later visited the diner also used in the show.)

After, we had a great “first dinner in Washington” at the Black Dog Arts Cafe—a very cute and artsy hangout—where we were treated to local talent during their open mic night.

More photos from the Snoqualmie area in the slide show below.

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The next morning we went for a walk at a nature preserve on Lake Sammamish, then I prepped for the evening lecture at Block Party Quilts in nearby Issaquah.

The following two days Tom was on his own while I taught the BPQ class. On the first day, Tom was very active. He hiked Mt. Si overlooking the Snoqualmie Valley (8 miles round trip, 3,000 vertical feet) then went on a 8 mile outrigger canoe paddle with his childhood friend from our town of Harpswell, ME, Charlie Butt, or C-2 as he is known to his family and old friends.

The next day Tom took it a little easier, ordering a cherry pie at the cafe where they shot scenes from “Twin Peaks” and attending “DoggyStock,” which is described as a music benefit for rescue animals, though Tom says there was little music, but lots of fun animal related booths and activities.

More photos below of Tom’s encounters with the outdoors, “Twin Peaks” nostalgia, and many pup portraits from DoggyStock. His “Running of the Pugs” and “Corgi Races” video follows.

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After the BPQ class, I had a couple days off between guilds and Tom and I spent those days in downtown Seattle. Our itinerary included visits to the amazing and colorful Chihuli Garden and Glass and the nerdy and kitschy Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). That evening after dinner at a small pub named Cyclops, we rode the monorail, just to say we’d done it.

Chihuly Garden and Glass slide show:

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MoPOP slide show:

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Out and About in Seattle:

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Our second day in Seattle we took the monorail again when we visited the world-famous Pike Place Public Market (not “Pike’s Place”), saw the first Starbucks (where the line ran along the block, so decided not to purchase a coffee there), experienced the (the disgustingly fascinating) Gum Wall, checked out the Olympic Sculpture Park, and went on a recommended “Underground Seattle” tour to learn a bit about Seattle’s history. Photos from all those sights are below.

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Finally it was time to move on to Shoreline, WA, and the second quilting guild stop. Our first, sad task was to say goodbye to our hosts for that first week, Trish and Merrill Grant. On the way to Shoreline, we stopped at Seward Park for a hike through some old-growth forest right in the city. That evening and the next morning, I gave lectures for Quilters Anonymous.

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One evening later that week, while Tom was out on a second paddle with C-2 and his outrigger canoe club, I had my own adventure at Archie McPhee, a funky trinket store in Seattle whose claim to fame is being the home of (among other oddities) the Rubber Chicken Museum, and the world’s largest rubber chicken. I came home with a few unique stocking stuffers.

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On day one of the Quilter’s Anonymous class, Tom went to the Ballard Locks and Fishway to watch the locks transfer boats from Puget Sound to Lake Washington, and to see migrating salmon climb the fish ladder. Some seals had figured out that they too could use the fish ladder as a sort of salmon buffet.

On the second day, he took a tour of the Boeing plant in Everett, where they build passenger and cargo planes such as the 747.

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We had heard tell of Seattle’s “Freemont Troll,” and on our last evening in Shoreline, we tracked him down—hanging out under a city overpass, posing as a community art installation. Grasped in his left hand is a white VW Beetle—just like my first car, the D-Bug.

The next morning, before daylight, we caught the Edmonds-to-Kingston ferry across Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula. We had one last look at Seattle across the (still cloudy) Sound before setting off on the next stage of our adventure in Washington State. (Coming next week!)

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