I just got back from my third annual five day retreat called High Desert Hues, O'Keeffe style in Santa Fe, New Mexico where Georgia O'Keeffe spent the later part of her life painting the landscape. Santa Fe has a gorgeous museum that our class visits with a private tour. We also take a trip to the famed Ghost Ranch that further helped develop her modern style. As students of the Madeline Island School of the Arts, we are privy to getting the inside scoop to all things Georgia. Quilt makers embark on learning about O'Keeffe, studying her art and how we can approach our own quilt making regarding color, value and sewing curved seams, using SKY ombres to capture blended textures so evident in Georgia's work. 2024 was a sold out class with 21 students and it was enriching for all. We shared stories, techniques, ideas and good humor. Learning more about what a determined, gifted and modern woman O'Keeffe was gave us all more confidence and inspiration to follow our own path and to live the life we want. O'Keeffe is most famous for her florals, one simliar to this sold for over 40 million dollars. Our docent entertained us with stories about Georgia and "the men" in her life like Alfred Stieglitz, her mother's dedication to her excellent art education and ultimately how O'Keeffe crafted her legacy to be one of international acclaim and the most influential American female artist of the 20th century. It was an amazing week to say the least. Private docent tour at the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe had us feeling very special indeed! Students learn to sketch their ideas on large newsprint, sew curves, and raw edge applique to capture different textures and style. Each piece made is unique and special. We talk about quilting ideas on the last day so each person goes home with a plan! Chimney Rock in Ghost Ranch is a great hike for the folks who want to break a sweat after our tour, Walk in Georgia's Footsteps! Mary has been going to Ghost Ranch for 35 years and was so excited to create an art quilt with Mt. Pedernal in it. She reminded us that Georgia said if she painted Pedernal mountain enough, God would give it to her. O'Keeffe's ashes are spread over this very mountain, so we think she got her wish. Leaving Ghost Ranch....Adios! Pedernal in the background. Michele Wyman and Jollyne Toste, veteran GOK students worked on some pretty spicey hot projects. It's not their first rodeo! Both inspired by different works of GOK. We talk color, value and how to trouble shoot our work, especially come hump day. Wednesday can be a head scratcher but we work to make good decisions and continue to sew and create. The Marys, Sue, Carol, Donna and Jamie display their work with pride! A particularly special addition to the class was my sister! She loves to work with upcycled cashmere and made some big juicy flowers. I thought should put it on a hat. She isn't so sure...haha. What do you think? I am energized and full of gratitude for the week we had at MISA High Desert Hues. Special thanks to Charles and Annie from MISA for creating a platform for us to plan these events together. I am looking forward to next year, April 26- May 2, 2025. For 2026 I am teaching back to back weeks. The first week is for new students and the second week is for alumni only! The dates are May so stay tuned for details! Because you know, time flies.
Now Go Create! xx Jennifer
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The Hills Quilt Along: Have you signed up? It's FREE!If you are on Facebook or Instagram you may have seen my posts about The Hills Quilt Along. I am so excited to be presenting my very first QAL and honored to be doing it in tandem with quilty friend, Latifah Saafir! My Hills quilt is based on Latifah's pattern, Molehills. I love the big arching fans and the ability to show off my SKY ombrés accompanied by my Chalk and Charcoal prints. I had started this quilt during an online class Latifah offered during the pandemic and when the quilt was finished, I was so smitten with the results that I had to share it with you as a quilt kit. And what better to expand upon the enthusiasm than to offer a QAL (Quilt Along) to all our followers, with tutorials, encouragement and group support in making this awesome quilt. Schedule:The Quilt Along begins next Monday, January 22nd and lasts six weeks ending on February 26th. There will be videos, pdfs and written instructions for you to get all the extra helpful tips and tricks. To join in on the fun, sign up for the QAL and receive a weekly email from me and Latifah. Latifah teaches us how to make these fans with ease and accuracy, so don't be deterred by the curve! Just getting started?For week one, you need just three things: 1. Purchase the Molehills Pattern from Latifah 2. If you like using acrylic templates over paper ones, purchase from Latifah. 3. Gather your fabric from your stash or order a The Hills quilt kit from my shop. This is the personal part of a QAL and what makes it so exciting. I believe all fabrics will look smashing in this quilt once the concept of color and variation is considered. We are on round two of kit shipments which are expected in March, so videos will be available for months to come. We've got over 500 signups so far, Woohooo! Follow Along:Whether you have the desire to join in or watch from the sidelines, be sure to follow along on our social media posts to get updates on work in progress, participant's fabric decisions, Q&A, interesting tips, etc... We know many of you are going to blow us away with your talented making, creativity and color selections. Below are the follow along links: #TheHillsQAL #MolehillsQuilt Jennifer's Facebook Group, The Pou-Crew Latifah's Facebook Group, Sewing with Latifah Thanks for stopping by my blog today! And we'll share photos on the HILLS QAL here as well. Cheers!
xx Jennifer NEW YouTube videos out now!SKY ombrés work magically with your stash. True statement, I promise. You may shake your head and say "That's crazy- She has never seen my stash....how the heck does she know?" Go ahead, watch the video below My Ombre Color Teacher and see for yourself. Just a 1/2 yard of one SKY fabric blends with over 80 pieces in my own stash. My stash is wide and deep: Modern, vintage, antique, traditional and quirky as it represents 40 years of collecting...so this was eye opening and a bunch of fun. Can you imagine if I did 45 more videos highlighting every SKY fabric? I don't think there would be much left in my stash that wasn't used! Going out on a limb here, but as a betting woman, I believe if you pick one or more of your favorite SKY Ombrés, you will be amazed at how much of your stash shines when placed next my ombré. A whole new lease on the "I'm a desirable and pretty fabric you've had shoved in the back of the cabinet for 10 years!" kind of thing. Also, utilizing fabric that you have been saving is great way to ensure that we are quilting with little to no waste! The sum of these matches made in heaven is nothing short of a BIG WOWZA! And maybe even get you to use some of that stash up ;) We have made two YouTube videos dedicated to how to use your stash with SKY in building a quilt. We picked Octagon Shimmer Quilt (OSQ) to demonstrate this concept. Of course you can use any quilt pattern. The nice thing about OSQ is that it uses big pieces as well as narrow strips, which gives variety of how the fabrics play together. Note that we use everything from small prints, solids, bold florals, stripes, reproductions, hand dyes, batiks, marbled and more. All styles work and provide a variety of interest. Begin making a quilt with SKY Ombré and your stash. Jennifer shows how to use the Evening SKY fabric as your color teacher. This exercise uses the Octagon Shimmer Quilt Pattern and the Jumbo Octagon Shimmer Templates, both can be purchased at jennifersampou.com. The above quilt in the making is still up on my design wall and I will have the top finished by November 28, when I have to bring it to Tanque Verde to share with my students. I will definitely make a few more YouTube videos to share my process. So stay tuned! If you love color and octagons, plus the idea of taking a quilt-cation, please check out my retreat at Tanque Verde next month. I would love to have you. It's going to be amazing and a once in a lifetime creative jaunt filled with desert skies, horses, spa, pool, amazing food, cowboys and yes, quilting too :) It's been a busy fall and I look forward to being in the quiet yet expansive beauty of Tucson at the ranch. If you are home in your studio, keep the iron hot and the sewing maching humming :) xo Holding my breath... SKY Reflections is finally shipping!It's Friday and I am boppin' over here. Over a thousand colors at your fingertips SKY ombrés make you feel like a color pro. Just found out this morning....New colors are shipping NOW! We've waited since October 2021...And the time has come! Add these luscious 16 new, painterly fabrics to the original 30 and you've got 46 Ombrés that cover all your bases. They are amazing on their own or coordinated with your favorite fabrics. Here are the differences between the NEW and ORIGINAL: You'll use them all. 1. New SKY REFLECTIONS are based on how colors of the earth reflect into the sky, once you read the color names, you'll catch my drift. 2. Speaking of color names: I am thrilled to inform y'all that each name is listed on the selvage every 20'" so you won't have to sharpie the name on the side! WOOT WOOT :) 3. You can easily tell the difference between the OG and NEW based on selvage color: White & Black. 4. Every color is it's own unique pattern. I made 16 pieces of art using pastels. The ORIGINAL is one design colored 30 different ways. We created a 34 page glossy SKY OMBRE lookbook which you get for FREE if you order $150 or more from my shop. You can also get the downloadable PDF version for free here or purchase a hard copy to plan your next projects. It was a total labor of love and the work of many makers. If you are a shop and want to purchase wholesale, write Colette . Every Wednesday starting May 11th I will be doing a LIVE INSTAGRAM Makers Chat with all the talented women who made things for the lookbook. They are pattern designers, friends and students. Please follow along to be inspired and get an inside peek at what goes on in makers' minds and how we get a lookbook into production. The cover of the book features SKY LOG CABIN which is updated with ombré, thin strips and a secondary star pattern. It's a new pattern of mine and I am teaching it at the wonderful art school, MISA Madeline Island Sept 19th-23rd. That is a wrap for today. I am headed downtown Orinda to set up for our first Makers Popup that a bunch of creative women are setting up for today. These people understand the importance of spreading beauty and inviting community to come together to inspire one another, help eachother through difficult times and splash color into our scope of vision. I am hanging a bunch of SKY banners in a small alley to create a canopy of color. Have a wonderful Mother's Day to all. I wish I was closer to my mom to give her a hug this weekend. Coffee date and Facetime will have to suffice until our summer trip to the Cape. But I will be with my boys and soaking it all up. Peace to you and yours.
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