Craft Napa 2017

My friend, Leslie Tucker Jenison and I start each adventure by taking a photo of each other over a glass of wine. Toasting the start of Craft Napa 2017.  We dined at Fume in downtown Napa on Tuesday night. 

On Wednesday, I helped Leslie set up her class at Pokey's Art Barn.

Inside the art barn - all set up for her class

View from the porch of the art barn

Zen Stitching - my first night class on Thursday.  I had kits for each person to start their own Zen Stitching project.  National Nonwovens supplied all of the black wool blended felt for each project!  Havel's Sewing send me a cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter to use in my workshops!

Student work.  The flowers were cut on a Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine ahead of time and put in each kit

I loved the variety of ways my students arranged the felt on their pieces

It's all in the details

Twirly Whirly Swirls - don't you just love the signs that Pokey had made for each class?

This is a partial photo of the art quilt that everyone would be making.  I pre-Mistyfused all of the fabrics ahead of time for this class.  We used a Sizzix Big Shot Pro and a Sizzix Big Shot to cut the two different sized spirals and dots

Class photo of finished work - there were ALL fabulous!

Each day at 5:00pm all students would meet in this section to be part of the group pic with all that they made in workshops!  Such a fun bonus to see the variety of artwork!

Saturday's class - Hexi Art Quilt

This piece only uses two fabrics.  All of the fabrics were pre-Mistyfused ahead of time. Hexagons were cut on a Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine

I loved seeing the differences in each art quilt and how they positioned their hexi's

Saturday night was Wine Blending, which is always such a highlight of the retreat!  Leslie Tucker Jenison was designated the chemist mixing our blend.  I was one of the judges tasting all of the wine from each team and it was difficult.  Our wine came in second. We each received a bottle of the winning blend to take home.  I carefully padded it and wrapped it in a plastic bag and put in my suitcase that I checked.  Success!  No breakage!

Sunday - all aboard the wine train

Sunday afternoon at Frank Family Vineyards to taste their wines - always a treat!

A beautiful tree at Frank Family.  What an amazing retreat we had!  I am still basking in the glow of all of the things that I experienced, renewed friendships, meeting new people, teaching, dining out, drinking coffee and having a blast!  Until next year!