Artist in Residence and a New Online Class!

I spent the end of March as Artist in Residence for Empty Spools Seminars in at Asilomar. I was so honored and excited for this opportunity, and it did not disappoint. The grounds and architecture are spectacular. The location and views are incredible. Spending 5 days in this setting, creating and stitching was a joy. Best of all, I was in a position to have meaningful chats with so many attendees throughout the week, on creativity, our love of the craft, and the ebbs and flows that come with the territory. This is exactly what my new online class focuses on - but more on that later!

I want to give a special thank you to Gayle Wells and Suzanne Frank for allowing me to join them at Asilomar this year. I loved every moment.

I was able to showcase a few pieces that I have worked on over the past two years. It was fun to see them hanging together in such a beautiful setting. But, can we just take a moment to admire that ceiling?

I purposefully set up the area to invite people in to get up close to my work. So much of what I do needs to be viewed up close to enjoy the textures and stitching. I am happy to say I had people milling about the entire week! I think I may have heard a few cogs turning with new ideas!

For my working project, I had printed out a photo series of doors that I wanted to use as inspiration for some new blocks. These were amazing doors from a house in Mexico that I stayed at a few years ago. Each was in a courthouse steps format, but the doors were all different sizes and dimensions, so they each had a unique design formation, I had hoped to replicate this in some way. I also wanted to incorporate these wonderful Hmong ribbons that I had held on to for many years. They are tiny, intricately pieced bars and triangles that are made into yards of ribbon.

I grabbed a bunch of my solid scraps and began making improvisational courthouse steps.

I have a lot more work to do, but I am happy with what I have so far. They remind me of little jewels. Which is a perfect way to remember my time at Asilomar.

A few more shots of the room. These are some of my older quilts that are hanging off the balcony. I wanted to honor the changes that I have gone through with my work.

My biggest quilts look itty bitty on that grandiose stage!

I made sure to get a lot of walks to the beach in.

And of course, I took lots of photos of line, shape and color to inspire future work. I would love to use This for a hand stitched idea.

I love the color combination in this one.

Now that I have given you a bit of inspiration, I want to share a very special online class that I will be teaching this coming Saturday, April 23. This one is near and dear to my heart, as I have been developing the topic over the past two years.

There are still spots left, so I wanted to give it a shout out. Sign up quickly if you want to join in on the fun. You can read about it below. The class will be hosted by Hello Stitch Studios.

You can sign up at https://www.hellostitchstudio.com/events/online-ignite-your-creative-mojo-with-pati-fried