Vine Time

"Vine Time"

11" w x 12 1/2" h mounted to 14" painted canvas

$170.00 plus shipping

This piece was created after learning how to use tyvek as a design element. The tyvek here is the grape cluster. The cluster was created using a hand dye fabric covered with green painted tyvek which was then melted. The additional 3D leaves are also melted tyvek. The binding is stitched with machine embroidery and then beaded.

Grapes to me are timeless and a constant design source. The beauty of vineyards and the luscious colors the leaves and grapes offer for artists is endless. My dining room and kitchen are designed with grapes and they sneak into my work sometimes too.

Art will be bubble wrapped and boxed appropriately for shipping and comes with a Certificate of Origin and Fiber Art Care instructions.
Shipping Insurance can be added for an additional fee at your request.
You will be notified by email when the item is shipped.
International orders please contact me for separate fees: robin@nestlingsbyrobin.com

LEM4 on Tour

For those that follow what I am up to, I am happy to report that the LEM 4 panel created for the Dream Rocket project from the beginning of the year is now on tour. The covering date for the rocket has been set for 2011 and in the meantime Jennifer thought it important to share these works with the children of the country until that date arrives.
I have put a black box around our piece that is now on exhibit at Great Explorations Children's Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, May 1, 2010 - August 1, 2010. It would have been a lot harder to find if not for Chris Gilman's beautiful red balloon:) For those of you with kids, maybe a field trip is in order......

Other Market Meetings

While at Market this year I had the pleasure of attending 2 demos. The first was done by Lura Schwarz Smith, author of Secrets of Digital Quilting-From Camera to Quilt. She does beautiful work and the tips for creating depth along with using your printer were very accessible.My second demo was from Ruth Chandler and Liz Kettle, two of the authors of Fabric Embellishing-Basics and Beyond. They showed lots of fun creative ways to texturize your work.

Then there is Jane Davila! I am not sure what I could say that probably hasn't already been said about Jane (sweet, funny, sharing). I have been taking her online marketing class--my first online class. I already knew about 60% of the information but her comprehensive layout of everything has been so helpful as reinforcement that I am going in the right direction. Her dedication to making sure we all got what we needed out of the class was priceless.Fortunately her schedule allowed for us to go to lunch along with her lovely daughter and helper extraordinaire:) Every working mom should be so fortunate! We sat and chatted about all sorts of things and the pleasure was all mine. In the internet world we rarely get to meet the people that we develop relationships with, so this was a treat. For that reason alone I would recommend a Market trip and once you are there, the reasons to be there will grow by leaps and bounds. What better way to have your thumb on the pulse of our industry?

I am cautious taking classes at Market since I know that most of the material is only aimed at Quilt shop owners. Although I wish they focused more on the large population of designers that also make up this industry, if you are clever enough you can adapt a lot of the information to your needs in your business.

Meet Charlotte Angotti....quilter, teacher, stand-up comedienne!!
Almost 2 hours of non-stop hilarious stories about owning a shop, teaching classes and how to improve the classes you are teaching at your shop using natural progression for beginners to keep them intrigued and coming back. Great information no matter who you are. I am not a shop owner but I do teach classes and honestly the biggest thing Charlotte does to keep people coming back has nothing to do with quilting:) I don't need a class in quilting but I would take one of hers just to hang out with her! Her personality is her biggest selling point and I can ADAPT THAT to my business. I felt my $20 was well spent as I watched her work the room. I realized that I too have that capability but I don't utilize it enough.....stupid being 'overly professional' wins out. Don't get me wrong, professionalism is paramount but does not have to exclude having fun and being myself more, right? So take the classes but learn to read between the lines.

Meet Leigh Layton in fabric form.... Can't you learn a lot about a person through their art? I learned that Leigh has a wonderful sense of humor and loves to play with words. There were plenty of beautiful quilts at Market and this one just tickled my funny bone:) Do you see what I see?

The parting shot for this post is from one of the quilt shops we visited while in Minneapolis. Susan and Celine shopping and above them a quilt from our friends at The Quilt Branch...it was like they were with us in spirit:)

Meet Susan Knapp & Mary Jane Mattingly, aka

The Quilt Branch.

Aren't they adorable? Don't let their size fool you...these two have personalities and hearts larger than life! It was a real pleasure getting to know them better and see their work in person. Here their booth displays beautiful quilts from their new book in the "Six Halves Make a Whole" series along with a new ruler. Below is the sweet signage that hung from either corner of their booth. I know this is mischievous but I really wanted to push that mini quilt every time I looked at it so it would appear to sway in the breeze:)
This last picture shows the booth neighbors and workers: (left to right) The Quilt Branch, Suzn Quilts, and Perkins Dry Goods.

Susan and Celine's helper, Molly

Not only were the women of these 3 posts booth neighbors but we were all living together for 5 days and oh the laughs we had. It says a lot about the character of all that not a rough patch was had in that time. We were there to support and take care of each other and we did! I was even able to lend a hand because the coffee was made in time for me to be human:) Thank you!

Market always amazes me and whether you like art quilts or traditional quilts, there is something to spark your interest. We laughed about being surrounded by all this beauty for 3-4 days and once they announce it is over the whole room changes in a matter of minutes just like Cinderella when the clock strikes midnight. It is a sight to behold and all that hard work is bearable (dare I say fun) when you are surrounded by caring people there to help one another.

Meet Susan Marth

Since I left St. Louis in 2007 I have been fortunate enough to attend Houston to assist Susan of Suzn Quilts in her booth. I must admit to my alterior motive of using business as excuse to get to see her. Being a military spouse for 20+ years has it's challenges and leaving loved ones is by far the biggest. Working hard and playing hard should go hand in hand and Market offers both. This year we added Spring Market to our list so I could selfishly see friends twice this year.
Susan displayed her book, "Best Friends", in beautiful Moda Christmas fabrics by Holly Taylor. She also unveiled her newest pattern, "Ginger Bliss"....aren't they the cutest? It always feels strange to me to be surrounded by Christmas off season but it also makes me itch to get busy doing something new and fun to have for this next season.

Her new "Celebrate" pattern is so cute and versatile as well. Can you tell I am a fan?

Being a fan goes beyond her adorably original designs though. We met via a quilt guild meeting that she was lecturing at. I asked her to lunch so I could pick her brain about the design/pattern world. Honestly if we talked business for 30-45 minutes out of the 3+ hours we spent together, that would be a lot. It was just one of those meetings where you start talking with ease and before you know it you are regretably pulling yourself away because your family will expect you to come home eventually:)

This booth reflects the comfort of my friendship with Susan. You walk in and want to sit and sew and chat for hours. We should all be so fortunate to find that in a lifetime.

Meet Celine Perkins

This is the talented Celine Perkins of Perkins Dry Goods and I am proud to call her my friend. Here she happily stands at her booth prepared to laugh with you or teach you how to use her wonderful Perfect Piecing Seam Guide.

"Twelve Oaks"

Tradition along with beautiful salmons, browns, and blues decorated her booth at Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis, MN this year.

And you will notice in the next photo a poster for PASSPORT to Minneapolis. This smart group of business owners found a way to meet as many attendees as possible because who doesn't like a good treasure hunt?? We all know that every booth contains treasure and this guaranteed that shop owners would search a bit harder for just the right treasure to take home to their shops.

Celine is a Minneapolis native and graciously invited 4 of us to stay with her during market. Work is so much nicer when there is an evening gathering of brilliant minds to look forward to at the end of the day. Good food and Great friends-mixed in with a little rum have always made me smile and on this trip I was fortunate enough to add a few more names to my heart.

This is one of the quilts from Celine's new book, "Abundance". The queen size version is in the previous photo with the poster on it. This is Celine's 3rd book and her patterns contain something for everyone.

I was fortunate enough to stay an extra evening before I flew out and I had her all to myself. She took me to a Macys for dinner where we were served a popover that is considered a tradition there. I have never had anything like it! It was fluffy and eggy and crunchy on the outside....YUMMMM! Thank you, Celine! It was an extraordinary treat getting to know you better.

May Craziness

Just as I was gearing up to vend at my local quilt show this year, strep throat reared it's ugly head and took out me and my husband. I honestly can't remember when I have felt so awful since I am the healthy one around here. Being our first year as empty nesters this was a challenge and we were pitiful, each on our own couch and covered in quilts. Whoever got up to go to the bathroom was tagged as the caretaker. The strep went straight to my voice and straight to my husband's ears. One day I squeaked at him "Well aren't we a pair? I can't talk and you can't hear." To this he replied, (can you see the punchline coming???) "Doesn't that make for a perfect marriage?" HA HA HA!
I have declared that we can't both be sick at the same time in the future!

Through it all I was able to get my work done, be reasonably prepared for my show, and speak with a very lovely Marge Simpson voice. My reward was a second place ribbon on a work I can't show yet and an Honorable Mention for another piece that was quite the challenge to figure out as it went along.

"Stingray Swirls"

This piece was computer designed, hand appliqued, machine quilted, faced and beaded.

The next 4 shots are of my booth from left to right. So above is the left wall where I realized that I do have a style in the pattern side of the house....yay! Below is the back wall featuring my logo quilt "Las Flores de Amigas". I am so proud of this quilt. This year was the second time that it was chosen to be a part of a guild raffle quilt and thankfully a member of our guild won it.

This next photo shows the right wall of my booth where lots of fun items were available. A lot of these items will soon be available on my website gift store for sale. I had brought some of my art along with handmade beads, ornaments, and hand-beaded scarves.

The backside of the right wall was open to the demo area and I didn't want to waste the space so I displayed alternate colorways of my designs there.

There were so many beautiful quilts at our show and I can't possibly put them all into one post. To start us off though, is Patti Brown's Storm at Sea. Patti is meticulous about her piecing and this quilt is no exception. Her patience to do those mariner's compass blocks deserved the ribbon even without all the other work:)

The quilt is approximately queen size and won 2nd place in the group category due the added talent of Laurie Mayo's quilting. After letting the quilt speak to her, many adorable details were added through quilting. The pic below shows these great turtles she added. There were also seahorses, starfish, and regular fish.

In our art category, Eileen Williams won the Arts Council sponsored Merit Award for Art and Innovation for the 3rd year in a row.

Here we are in front of her beautiful quilt, "Grazing in the Grass". I would love to say she is the competition to beat but there is no competition anywhere near her level of work....and sweetness:) I am so proud of her.

Lastly are the guild challenge quilts. Unfortunately only half of them are pictured below but you get the big winners in this pic. Our theme this year was Fresh Picked in NC.

I am the grapes in the upper right. The picture doesn't show it but the pear below my piece is 3D with a zipper in it so it is like a purse...too cute!

The piece below is the big winner in the challenge category by Carol Stens. The bird and all the fruit is 3D and we all know the extra work that takes.

Congratulations to all the winners at the Crystal Coast Quilt Guild show 2010. I know our judge had her work cut out for her because there were so many quilts that deserved ribbons. Our members are very talented!!