November 14, 2008

It is hard to believe that just last week the trees around the parking lot of the inn were still in full color. Now all of the leaves you see on the trees are on the ground — waiting for raking!

This is what it looked like while the annual Fall Retreat was in session. Just beautiful!

Here is the happy crew that took advantage of the Fall Retreat to enjoy the inn and the area while working in their favorite medium. Some came for the full 6-nights and some for just 3 or 4. Peggi has already signed up for next Fall! We can’t wait.

Liz Berg was here teaching her Abstract Quilt principles. I first met Liz in California when she and I were in the same art quilt groups – first the Studio Art Quilt Association (there is a fund-raising auction of some incredible fiber art going on right now on the SAQA site), and then the California Fiber Artists. I knew then that she’d be a wonderful teacher, so I’m glad that I finally got her to come out East to teach a workshop for us.

Liz put this hard working group through their paces as they studied the elements of design and created first compositions on paper and then in fabric.

Here are Alison and Melinda totally focused on their work!

This is a shot of some of the students first work in fabric. Isn’t it fabulous!

This is Susan Garfield-Wright strip piecing on her featherweight. She created a wonderful composition using the fabric she created with the strips. A Nancy Crow alumni? I forgot to ask.

The colors of the trees in the front yard matched the fabric used in the studio!

Here is Liz with Moira, who came all the way from Australia for both Liz’s class and also Carol Soderlund’s workshop (with a fun couple of weeks in NYC in between).

You can see on the table in the foreground the notebook/journal that Liz had everyone create from the handout, their own notes, sketches, and thumbnail compositions. What a fabulous idea and a great reference.

Here is Sheila from Canada. If you see her ask her the way to Woodstock! She and Liz arrived a day early and went on an unintentional tour of the Catskill Mountains on their way back from Woodstock to the inn. They had a grand time anyway!

This weekend is our final 2008 workshop (Boohoo! And I mean that!). Larkin Van Horn is here teaching a plethora of beading and embellishment techniques. It’s only the first day and already everyone is creating such interesting designs. Larkin is the author of Beading on Fabric: Encyclopedia of Bead Stitch Techniques, published by Interweave Press. I’ll start take taking pictures tomorrow.