About Last Night

Judy Ross' Freak October Snow Storm with admirers

Local Color's Opening Reception at the Guilford Art Center last night was a terrific event!!  Oh, my.  Great food and drink provided by art quilt group Sisters in Cloth, music by local musician and Sister husband John Page, and a beautifully installed exhibit.  Everyone was sorry for the evening to end.

  And then there are those of us who are also sorry that this is the final installation for our Local Color.  It will be on display until March 16 when all the artwork will be returned to the artists.  Bittersweet.

Kate Themel surprising me with hard copy of Local Color

Tom Themel, Kate Themel with Ruth Anne Olson.  Kate's Blood Iris on wall

Mary Lyn and John Page

Christina Blais in front of Lottie the Lobster

To Lowell and Back

It really was not a big logical leap to plan to meet old friends for dinner in Lowell when it happened to be the weekend of the Lowell Quilt Festival and the Opening Reception at the Brush Gallery's 'Tangled in Blue' exhibit.  DH and I drove to Lowell early enough to check into our hotel, see the quilt festival (purchase a few necessaries), get to the Brush's always wonderful Opening, AND meet our friends at our favorite restaurant!

DH took pics whilst I meandered, looking at beautiful work and bumping into friends.  I hope you enjoy some of his photos.  

3 Cohesive Pieces: Brenda J. Jones

3 Cohesive Pieces:  Lee Sproull

3 Cohesive Pieces:  Sharon Monahan top. mine bottom

Lowell Quilt Festival:  Alice Means

Lowell Quilt Festival:  Alison Dea Bolt

Lowell Quilt Festival: Beatriz Grayson

Tangled Up in Blue @ Brush Gallery: Carol Vinick&mine

Tangled Up in Blue @ Brush Gallery: Gwyned Trefethen

Tangled Up in Blue @ Brush Gallery: one of Judy Ross'

Tangled Up in Blue @ Brush Gallery:Lisa Corson

Tangled Up in Blue @ Brush Gallery: Sandy Gregg

Mystery Solved!

First, the mystery: Remember my last post about the beautiful fabric from a forgotten source? Well, okay, not forgotten...more not remembered. I was right that I had acquired it this year as it was fairly high in the stack of treasured pieces on my design table.

It was created by Dijanne Cevaal!! As soon as she emailed me I remembered....of course! I met with her in Geelong, Victoria, Australia while visiting there this past Mar/Apr. How could I have forgotten?! Oh, oh, BTW go to her blog. She has some of her fabulous Sentinelle's for sale.

The photos in today's posting have nothing to do with the mystery or Dijanne. They are pics I took at a regional quilt show that I enjoyed this past Sunday. The Farmington Valley Quilt show was one of the best local exhibitions of the season. I had high hopes as it is the guild for several of our art quilt buddies.

This first pic is by Judy Ross and won Viewers' Choice. The second is also one of her pieces. The third is...oh, darn...I don't have it's creator! I took the pic as it reminded me of the work of one of my old friends, Jude Larzelere...and, surprise, it was created by one of her pupils.

I have even returned to the digital image to read the show label...no luck. You'd think after the last post I would have learned to write these things down. How soon resolutions are tossed aside. Sad.

Another Extravaganza

Yes, the Sisters in Cloth did it again. Another successful gathering with fellow art quilters in a day of what we call an "Extravaganza".

This year we HAD ;^) to drive all the way to Simsbury (one has to remember that CT is a really small state about 90x125 miles in area) where we had been invited by Sew Inspired shop owner Vivian Lazich. She hosted the entire event in her studio-classroom, even offering us coffee and donuts on arrival. The space is large enough to easily seat our members and guests, with design walls for the charity blocks we all brought, her demonstration space, tables for our lunch, and still plenty of area around her two long and mid arm quilting machines for members to take a test drive.

Actually, the real reason we jumped at the opportunity to meet there was really, really basic. There is a tragically declining number of quilt shops (or fabric stores in general for that matter) in our state. The wonderfully serendipitous bit for us is that Vivian is an art quilter at heart and always is on top of the newest fabrics, books and techniques without forfeiting favorites. Net-net: we all came home with goodies.

Vivian had just returned from Spring Quilt Market and was full of information about new STUFF...like the mystery of Decolourant...go figure how that stuff works.

I forgot to take a picture of the 9 patch blocks everyone brought for our annual charity quilt (s). This year we chose to make them from Asian fabrics. Our goal is to send the finished quilts to Japan Earthquake Relief. I'll photo and post when they are completed.

Of course, the best part of any of our meetings is Show and Tell (followed closely by the yummy food always present). This year was no exception. I have posted two of the photos on the Sisters blog if you want to see a couple different ones. Here are posted the work of three of our guests whose work we always look forward to seeing.

The top photo is a quick take on Judy Ross's Sunflowers...well one of her pieces. She had several to offer....she is famous and envied for her prolific, and quite beautifully crafted work.

The second photo is Rosalind Spann describing her recent "playing" with dyeing interfacing.

The third is Toni Torres' with the second in a series of work she is creating based on "hands"...the first was Healing Hands (as I recall)...as it is in a current show she had to pass around a photograph of it.