Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Quilt Seminar - Jan 27-Feb 4 2007
Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Quilt Seminar - Jan 27-Feb 4 2007
Every year for the past four years I have had the pleasure of attending a one week quilting seminar in Hilton Head. The seminar is hosted by Jinny Beyer, who, due to her own high stature in the quilting world, has drawn many wonderful quilt artists to the seminar to teach and discuss their quilting techniques. In past years I've met and attended classes with Jinny as well as Caryl Bryer Fallert, Jane Sassaman, Ricky Tims, Patricia McLaughlin, Sharyn Craig, John Flynn, and Hollis Chatelain. In addition, Jinny has an amazing staff of quilters who teach classes as well as assist her during the main lectures of the seminar. Add to that the idea of being surrounded by over 250 people who share my passion for quilting and you can begin to see why, as I've told my guy Jeremy, it's the most fun I have without him all year.
This year, Jinny had as her guest speakers Diane
Gaudynski, Esterita
Austin, and Judy Dales
(shown right to left in the picture to the right).
What a treat!
Diane's quilts are beautiful studies in muted tones (she calls it mud) with the most amazing machine quilting you are likely to see anywhere; Esterita incorporates many techniques in her quilts - including interesting fabrics and even paint to create quilts with depth and realism; and Judy creates magnificent quilts consisting of many curves and swirls.
I got to Hilton Head a day early as did my friends Marcia and Linda. Since I had a car this year, we decided to take a little tour of the island. This picture was taken at the southern end of Hilton Head near the beautiful red and white lighthouse. I was actually on a fact-finding mission on marinas. My plan next year is to have the boat docked somewhere in Hilton Head during the conference.
My first class was with Jinny, who taught a wonderful class on Compass - the computer drawing tool that she uses to create her designs. I'm in LOVE.! What a great tool. The theme of the conference this year was kaleidoscope designs. I drew up this design using Compass by the end of the week. I'm thinking of branching away from my color 'comfort zone' and doing this in autumn colors of yellows, golds, reds and oranges - with some teal mixed in (have to have at least ONE of my favorite colors). Now I just have to get sewing!! I'll let you know how it goes.
Judy Dales taught several classes on designing and piecing curves. I've seen this quilt in my quilting magazines as well as in Judy's book. It was wonderful to see it up close and personal. Judy calls it 'This Bud's for You' - in reference to the buds that bloom out around the perimeter of the quilt.
My good friend Linda took a class from Esterita which included the painting techniques she uses. Beautiful - especially when you consider that she created it in a one day class.
I caught this picture of Estrita one morning - she looked so relaxed sitting in the hotel lobby checking her email.
Each year the conference explores a theme in detail. This year we looked at kaleidoscope designs. As part of the group workshops we pasted up several sample mock-ups based on a kaleidoscope pattern. It's always interesting to see how a few changes in a quilt design can make a big difference.
I wouldn't miss this conference for anything - which seems to be the attitude of lots of the attendees, many of which have been coming for several years. One lady, Mary Kay, couldn't make it this year. Her friends created an effigy of her so that she could still be there in spirit!
Carole and Jinny with Diane. Carole is an amazing lady who works for Jinny who not only creates beautiful quilts, but works as the conference coordinator each year.
We have two special dinners during the conference - one on Wednesday night and one on Saturday. I'm enjoying a pre-dinner glass of wine with my friends Vareen, Marcia, Linda and Becky.
Esterita with her Stone Portals quilt during a class I took from her.
We got together in my room one evening for a little wine and cheese and a mini 'show and tell' on the quilts we brought. We also have a big show and tell evening at the conference where everyone gets together - but this was just with a few friends in my room. Linda is getting comfortable under my quilt and Vareen shows off her beautiful creation.
Jinny used to be quite the runner so every year she makes sure that we get SOME time outside on the beach by scheduling a one mile 'fun run'. With most of us it's more like a one mile fun 'stagger' up and back on the beach - there are no records broken here. We all have a good time and get a little exercise and fresh air. You can tell how seriously we all take it. I snapped the second picture while Jinny is giving the two minute warning in the background.
Jinny takes our times as we finish. Don't we all look exhausted after our 'run'? At least we got warmed up enough to loose some jackets!!
We all get together one evening toward the end of the week for 'stitch and share.' The Angels were made in Andrea Perkins class during the seminar - she always teaches a doll class and the resulting creations are always on display at the stitch and share . The halos may be a bit crooked and one of the angels even has tiny empty thread spool curlers in her hair. Gee, just like real quilters!!
Esterita and Judy were working on a project and Judy proudly showed me her hand-knit socks!!
The conference came to a close much too quickly. These are pictures from our table during the farewell dinner on Saturday night.
Before we left last year, Vareen (shown in the middle in the picture below) suggested that we each make a block with a Turtle in it. It was our last night, and we found ourselves in our usual nightly haunt - a beach bar called 'Turtles' out behind the Westin resort. Somehow we all got our blocks sewn, but it was funny to discover that we'd all waited until the last moment to do it. When we got back together, we laid out our blocks to see how we could make a quilt out of them. Fortunately Marcia and Sandy had each made more than one block and Marcia had brought along some extra turtle fabric which we used as sashing. We bought some border fabric at Jinny's shop - et voila! - a turtle quilt was born.
We drew names on the last day and Sandy got the honor of taking the quilt home with her. Shown left to right holding the quilt is Linda, Janet, Vareen, Sandy and Marcia. My block was an applique of a turtle in a boat holding a glass of wine. This is my first successfully completed applique - so I'm quite proud of it. (Thank you, Barbara for showing me how to do this!!!)
This is a group picture of Jinny with her staff. That's Jinny down in the lower right hand corner.
Three end of conference pictures - Judy, Jinny and Janet - Carole and Linda - and Vareen saying goodbye to Linda - Until next year!!!
Quilt Show - Each year Jinny sets up a quilt show with quilts that were created by her, her staff and her guests. I've seen so many of these quilts over the years in my quilting magazines, but it's always such a treat to be able to view these works of art up close and personal. There were so many amazing quilts in the show, but here are just a few of my favorites.
Judy Dales created these quilts. The first one was not in the quilt show, but she had it displayed during the class that I took with her. The flowers are all pieced curves. The second one below is called Hot Splash . Her notes on the quilt say that 'Water usually evokes feeling of coolness and refreshment, but not when it comes in the form of perspiration. Anyone who has ever had a hot flash has also experienced a Hot Splash where where the coolness of water is overwhelmed by internal heat!' Amen...
. 
This is Jinny Beyer's Windows quilt. This is possibly my favorite quilt - although it's really hard to choose only one from all of the wonderful quilts out there. Every quilt tells a story, and this one was created by Jinny in the aftermath of 9/11 to commemorate all those who lost their lives on that day. She and her husband were up that morning packing for a flight to Italy later that day. Jinny had planned to design a new quilt based on the wonderful tile floors in the Italian cathedrals. Needless to say, they did not go. All of the gray and dust and ash filled her head and the occasional strong red white and blue when a flag would suddenly appear. She and her husband decided to drive to the eastern shore of Maryland a few days later. She packed the car with stacks of fabric in the colors that were present in her mind together with a poster of the floor of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. The quilt started with the central circle and grew from there. Jinny's goal was to have one piece in the quilt for each of the victims. There are 4777 pieces in the quilt - the center is dedicated to her friend Barbara Olsen who was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. She calls the quilt Windows because of all of the windows people were looking out of on that day ... windows of buildings, windows of airplanes, windows of emergency vehicles, ... windows of TV screens...
As with all of Jinny's quilts, this one is hand pieced and hand quilted.
These are two of Jinny's earlier quilts. The first one is called Suzi's Box. Jinny made this quilt in 1975 . It is her fourth quilt. I can't really remember my fourth quilt, but it was probably something incredibly simple like and 'around the world' quilt with just squares. Anyway - this quilt is made with wood block Indian cottons (she and her husband lived in India for a time back in the 70's). She designed it after a mosaic mid-Eastern box owned by her friend Suzi Golan.
The second quilt is called Ray of Light. This quilt was started in December 1976 and completed in October 1977. Jinny entered this quilt into the Good Housekeeping and U.S. Historical Society contest, "The Great American Quilt." The quilt took first place, winning over 10,000 entries that were submitted. This quilt was also voted among the "100 Best American Quilts of the 20th Century" by a national panel of quilt experts in 1999. The third picture below shows a close-up of the center of the quilt. Again, as with all of her quilts, this was hand pieced and hand quilted by Jinny
Two more of Jinny's quilts that I love are Day Lilies (on the left) and Sundance (on the right). These quilts were created using fabrics from Jinny's palette collection. These quilts were pretty much responsible for me splurging and buying the set of 150 fat quarters in the collection. I've never regretted the decision, and, in fact, have found it as a wonderful base for my mini stash now that we're living on the boat.
Day Lilies was completed in 1996 for the 1996 seminar theme of 'Tessellations'. Six tessellating motifs make up each "lily." The quilt was first featured in her book Designing Tessellations and a pattern for the quilt is available in her book Quiltmaking by Hand.
The design for Sundance started as an 8-pointed star which Jinny then enlarged to approximately 60 inches. She then fragmented each of the shapes for a kaleidoscopic effect. This quilt is featured in Jinny's book Color Confidence for Quilters. The quilt was started in 1989 and finished in 1992.
These are two quilts that were created by members of Jinny's staff - Ricki Selva and Barbara Hollinger.
The first one is called Starstruck and was created by Ricki Selva. I love this quilt. It positively shimmers when you see it in person. Ricki does a lot of work with floral prints shading from light to dark. While this quilt 'reads' as black and white, it contains all the colors in the rainbow. Ricki set the center star on point and fragmented the areas to create the effect.
Larger than Life was created by Barbara Hollinger. A fabric designed by Jane Sassaman is featured in this interesting take on a Lone Star quilt. I love the way the huge leaves seem to grow out of the star in the center.
Mariposa is another of Jinny Beyer's designs. She designed this kaleidoscope quilt for her new fabric collection of the same name. Carole Nicholas, Barb Hollinger and Jinny collaborated in making the quilt top which was finished in just 3 days.
Sunset Vespers in the Low Country was created by Diane Wyte. Diane says that "This quilt was inspired by the beautiful sky after an intense hurricane that ripped through the coastal Carolinas. As Diane and her husband, along with their neighbors emerged from their houses to survey the damage caused by the high winds and severe rains from the tail end of Ophelia, the skies greeted the neighborhood with the most beautiful array of color, almost as if to say, "I'm sorry!" What a reward at the end of a frightening day!"
The Well was created by Esterita Austin. This piece was conceived by Esterita when her mother was dying. Esterita says, "My mother was my spiritual guide, my mentor, my strength. She awakened in me the power of positive thinking and empowered me to use it. She taught me that we are all governed by a universal as well as our own internal force. Her presence in my life is a gentle encouraging force of light and spirit illuminated by the belief in self. Although she is no longer her physically she still walks beside me guiding my path."
Hope you enjoyed the 'mini' quilt show!
Updated March 27, 2007