We all know there are plenty of classes you can take online with Creative Bug, YouTube, Quilt University, etc. and they offer convenient learning; often technique-based. If you live in the middle of nowhere or have difficulty fitting in-person classes into your life online classes offer a connection to the quilt world. If you live near a quilt shop, a sewing center, part of a quilting bee or are willing to travel to a retreat or special workshop, I encourage you to pack up and leave the house. Nothing beats the real thing, NOTHING. Especially if it's something you value, have planned for, or want to treat yourself. Sparking new ideas by venturing out, seeing, touching and sharing with other like-minded makers is so satisfying. It definitely fuels your MOJO when you HANG OUT WITH OTHER QUILTERS as you always learn something new. You all must be kind, supportive and shine together. You must give and take. You must bring your best self to the party. That's how these things work. Leave the therapy session for a few close friends. And if there is a toxic dose of backstabbing or cattiness, RUN! Find a new group that you deserve and deserves you. Seriously!!

I take classes too. Always have, always will. Sometimes I go solo, with a friend, or with my mom and sister who live on the East Coast! Yes it involves planes, trains and automobiles, but I plan for it! It's not only wonderful for CREATIVE MOJO, improvement of skills and techniques, but it makes the most special memories, never to be forgotten, worth the money and time. Life is what we make it. We need to do special things for ourselves to stay happy, healthy and growing. 

In the spirit of all this learning and filling up our creative tanks, I decided to host my very own workshop here in sunny California next spring, March 24-26, 2017. It's a first for me! I'm going the extra mile (read about it here) as I enjoy teaching and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. My focus is about creating a rich and fertile work space where you can stretch boundaries, learn more about color, value and composition and be supported in the best of ways. To have fun, laugh and feel awesome. I am about meeting you where you are, celebrating what you do know and helping you to shine even brighter. ​

We all hit the wall, lack ideas and stare at our piles of fabric without a clue of what to do with them! It's normal. Knowing that helps take the sting away from feeling uninspired. But do something about it. Take that class you've been thinking about. You'll be happy you did.  If you can swing a trip to the East Bay of San Francisco, take my Octagon Shimmer retreat, I would love to have you. I promise, we will have a ball. 

As always, 
xo

Thoughts from the Studio. 
Keep it Creative- Part 2. Fuel your Mojo.

Hey Creatives! Welcome back. Two weeks ago I talked about your creative spark and nature walks to get you thinking. 
Today is more about active exploration of what you can do to fill your creative mojo cup and learn what the pros do!

1. Be a SPONGE! This post is heavy photo based, full of images that appear to be random and chaotic. Why? To show you a snippet of my creative process and how easily a nice, neat, white table becomes piles of color, action, confusing mess, juicy, fun, promising and stimulating- Full of possibilities! How does that happen and why is it important to creativity? Because a critical part of the process is TO BE A SPONGE! No judging or ruling out yet...Just collecting and soaking up what grabs your attention. (No need to curate now, that comes later)
Be the magpie who is attracted to all things shiny and just can't help herself from bringing it back to the nest!
a. POSTCARDS, MAGAZINE PAGES! Collect postcards from pretty much anywhere that intrigues, they're cheap & tangible. Collect color tabs from paint stores or design shops. Rip out pages of catalogues, magazines (sneeze while doing it at the dentist's office if you are that bold!) Quilt designs are noticeable everywhere we look and great references to file.  
b. COLLECT BOOKS! Quilt books, graphic books, home decor. Visit the museum and if you love the exhibit, get the book. Go to library sales- full of great books for cheap! Flea markets.....etc....No matter how sophisticated our technology gets, the way we leaf through a book and truly ingest whats on a printed page is a rich and wonderful experience. I reference my books all the time for inspiration. Any good idea is worth exploring again. Derivatives are always an intriguing path to go down and in the quilt world, so much new work is inspired by tradition.  
c. SOAK UP NATURE. Study pattern and repeats in our natural world. Quilts are just geometric simplifications of so much complexity in the designs from Mother Nature. Color is also wonderful when your palette is chosen from nature. It always, always works! 

2 Make STYLE FILES are crucial to organizing your wonder/wanderings! To get to the point of having enough stuff to spill out on your dining room table, your studio desk or your college kids now tidy, unused bed, you need STYLE FILES! I keep them in light plastic snap folders marked: MODERN QUILTS, NATURE GEOMETRY, COLOR EXPLOSION, MONOCHROMATIC, ETHNIC/IMPROV DESIGN, TRADITIONAL/AMISH QUILTS, MUSEUM, QUILTCON, etc... Name them whatever your interests are. If this is your first time creating style files, keep it manageable by choosing your top 7 or so categories. Don't overwhelm yourself but do organize your ideas. I have many obsessions (I pretty much appreciate ALL colors and ALL styles when designed and made well- plus I have so much fabric design files in addition to quilt design.... so my library is  over the top, but it's my full time job, so it works for me and I do love it. ) One of my finest textile design teachers from FIT told us on the first day: "You are as good as your best reference" Just make sure you do what works FOR YOU!

There are so many other sources of creating style files too: Pinterest, iPhoto, Instagram and various other applications suitable for screen viewing. Today we focused on the tactile inspiration. I still prefer them even though I am a huge fan of the online availability of endless inspiration. But for now, we have limits and boundaries....That is also part of the creative process. Knowing when to reel it in,  put your head down and get to work. 

Harnessing your own creative potential gives you a path to navigate and builds on your already existing knowledge. All of us need to hear it again and again with fresh ears. 
1. Be a sponge. Keep your eyes open and scour the world for the good stuff. 
2. Organize your Style Files. Start one that's been hiding in the little nooky part of your mind. 

xo- Until next post.
Creatively yours,

Thoughts from the Studio.
Keep it Creative- Part I. Fuel your Mojo.

1. Born Creative 
You came into this world with a creative spark. Believe it. Scribble it on a sticky note for the fridge and your car dash.        "I was born creative". Say it out loud—Again and again and again. Train your children, get a parrot. 

Hope, wonder, curiosity, experimentation, silliness, action and reaction. Children embody creativity with the least of efforts and it's a main ingredient for growth. We marvel at the beauty and freedom of a child's way of being. Creativity nourishes us, drives us, transcends us. It is vital to our well being as individuals and our culture as a whole. We all get blocks too. Sometimes for hours, days or even years...So lets tackle it. We have such potential...are you open?

Beginning in elementary school, we begin to lose touch with that space to play, discover, fall down and get up with humor, forgiveness or ease. As we age, pressure and duties increase and we lose touch with our playfulness, our creativity. Later, we beat ourselves up, declare ourselves lazy, overworked, bored or bitchy. Or worse: someone else does (BIG YUCK!). Doubt is a disease that attacks from inside and out. As we experience life's highs and lows, if we do a little self reflection, reassess what we need or what makes us tick, we often find ourselves yearning to be in touch with that creative spark again...because is just feels right to remember and honor something we were given at birth. This is where your craft comes in. Are you feeling connected to your work? How is it really going? Are you ready to get out of summer mode and into a fall rhythm?

Finally I want to share with you the wisdom of a creative collective. At Quilt Con 2016, I was a guest speaker on a  panel of designers from our industry talking about how to keep the MOJO alive.  We all had different stories and thoughts to share, taking questions from the audience on what to do when you hit a road block.  The messages shared were similar, even when our paths meandered in different directions. We all get stuck, we all have fear and we all have to work through it, show up, have a plan, deviate from that plan, create bad stuff to get to the good stuff. We also have learned to trust the process, to forge ahead and slosh through the muck to get that groove feeling that is so worth fighting for. It's a practice. It's a commitment. It's the best high I know. ​

To wrap it up today let's keep it simple, real simple. Embrace two things this week:
1. I WAS BORN CREATIVE

2. GO OUTSIDE

We will delve a little deeper next week, until then, be good to yourself. 
​Creatively yours, xo

PS: Sale this weekend in the shop. 20% off all items until September 6th. Use code: luckyme
All sales come with this free pin up below- For your workspace: Pattern free to make your own in previous post. 

recommended reading:
Carrie Bloomston- The Little Spark.  
Austin Kleon - Steal Like an Artist.
Sherri Lynn Wood- Improv Handbook for Quilters.
Amy Butler- Creative workshops.  

​Hello Dears,
I am honored to share that I am a Guest Artist at 2016 Quilting in the Garden which takes place at Alden Lane Nursery from 9am - 4pm on Sept 24-25 amongst centuries-old valley oak trees in sunny Livermore, California: Home to the famous Alex Anderson who helped start this event many years ago to mix her love of quilts and flowers. 

Quilting in the Garden is a BIG DEAL.  Unlike any other, there are close to 300 curated, top notch quilts hung from trees for two days. The staff strings them up early each morning and takes them down at closing (I can't wait to photograph this process!). In addition to 25+ quilts of mine and quilts made strictly from my fabrics, the other featured artist is C&T Publishing who will be showing various Author's Quilts, which you know will be impressive! A special treat is a tribute to Yvonne Porcella, a bright spot in quilting history, curated by Pokey Bolten and OUT OF THE BOX QUILTERS who have a special exhibit. As always, this event is FREE and open to the public! It nurtures the community and many enthusiasts come out to OOOHHH and AAAHHH over all the beauty that surrounds us.

In case you are wondering more :) there are multiple classes being offered from Sept 21-27. I am teaching a day long workshop of The Elephant and I quilt/pillow class on September 22 and there are just a few spots left. We are going to have a lot of fun paper piecing and working with bold color. There are eight other classes offered by artists such as Freddy Moran, and Mary Mashuta. If you have never taken a class from either of these amazing women, you owe to yourself to experience these legends. They are Bay Area Quilt Gems. Classes are well priced and filling up as I speak, so if you're interested act now! 

​​What a wonderful way to spend the weekend with a complete Jennifer Sampou and C&T pop up shop,  classes, plants & succulents galore!  I would love to see you there!!

Many of you are from parts of the world far and wide and unable to make it—don't fret. I will be taking lots and lots of pictures and post after the show here on my blog and even more so on my Instagram account where you can find me almost daily. These pictures above were taken by me last year when Freddy Moran was guest artist and her quilts always knock my socks off! If you can make it, I will be so delighted to see you either in my class on Thursday the 22nd or over the weekend at my pop up shop with my darling husband and the C&T gang.  Don't be shy and be sure to SAY HELLO, as I LOVE seeing and chatting with other quilters and fabric enthusiasts. 

Much love