The Chicago show is on now and you can go here to see pictures. Click on Exhibits in the side bar. All of the entries for “Celebrate Spring” are shown with the winners noted. Nothing for “Spring Burning” this time around, but it looks like a nice show!

Meanwhile, I got the books to a point where I could do the sales tax yesterday, planted four azaleas (Conversation Piece) and worked some more on the Houston entry.

I’ve never had good luck with azaleas, but these were on sale for a good price and healthy looking, and now that I have a shade garden I thought it was worth a try.

It’s been so long since I submitted to this book, that I forgot what I sent them, but my complimentary copy arrived yesterday and I am blown away by the quality of this book published by Lark Books.

There are over 400 pages with every sort of art quilt presented by many well known or emerging artists, juried by Karey Bresenhan. I was fortunate enough to have two of my quilts included!

The glossy pages are not the greatest for photographing, but you can also see my images on the website gallery of large quilts, where you can also read their stories. Click on Gallery on the left of your screen.

Watermelon Wine, 2006, 69.25 x 55″ page 231
This image is a little dark, but that is my fault as it was sent before I had my monitor calibrated.

Bittersweet Memories,2005, 62.5 x 49.5″ page 335
It’s neat how they coordinated the facing pages to compliment each other.

The new piece that I am working on will be for IQA’s Celebrate Spring if all goes well. But I am not ready to show it yet. In the past, I have made two different small works about the process of springtime burning of the land and they have both sold. This current piece is on the same theme but is much larger, and I hope, more impressive. Here’s a little bit.

I hope I have, or can find, the fabrics to pull it off! It is curved seam piecing and will be embellished with beading.

Yesterday, Mary and I went to see “Men Who Stare At Goats”, a rather strange movie. Not a bad movie, but sort of weird, they say it’s a true story – I don’t know….

Afterwards, shopping, I found Stephen King’s new book. It has over a thousand pages, 1074 to be exact, so knowing that I would never finish it in the time allowed by the library I had to purchase it.

He may be my favorite author and is not producing so prolifically as he once did so I was excited to start the new book and was not disappointed. I will take it with me today to the Art Gallery as it is my day to work there, and I can read in the quiet times.

It’s probably been a year since I submitted to this upcoming Lark book, and gleeful reports of acceptance started coming in to QuiltArt while I was still in Atlanta. As time passed with no letter for me, I was resigned to not having any work in it. But, yesterday my letter finally came! “Bittersweet Memories” and “Watermelon Wine” will BOTH be in the book which will be out in the spring of 2010. How cool is that?

I’m home from my trip to Ohio for the SAQA Conference and the opening of Quilt National. It was a wonderful experience and I feel like I learned a lot and met lots of new people. First and foremost, Robin who took us up on the space that Del was unable to use this year. Robin was a great roommate and companion for the time in Athens and we found we had much in common.

I drove the approximately 800 miles by myself but I had a great recorded book, “Sweetwater Creek” by Anne Rivers Siddons that I highly recommend. It had a good plot and enough suspense to keep me awake and interested which is more than I can say for “The Believer” by Nicholas Sparks that I tried to listen to on the way home. It had a predictable plot, characters and dialog – and I expect, ending, if I ever get that far. I had to go to PBS instead.

The weather going, and throughout the conference was about as perfect as it could be. Some of the scenery was quite gorgeous, like these fields of dense yellow. Is it a crop or just weeds? I do not know but I can see it in a quilt for sure!

This is the early morning view from our hotel room; you’re just missing the lovely sound of the birds greeting the day. Of course they started greeting the day at 4:30 AM! Those “distant” trees are not so far away, that’s mist and fog creating a lovely atmosphere.

I came home to backed up orders that will go out today so if you are waiting, know that your patterns are on the way. Two quilts need to be packed and shipped and there is so much e-mail to catch up on. Perhaps I will tell you about the conference another day.

“The Old Homestead” was selected by juror Bruce Hoffman of the prestigious Snyderman-Works Galleries for SAQA’s 2009 exhibit Points of View.  Mr. Hoffman chose 30 pieces from 148 qualified entries. This helps to renew my vision as it was not long ago that I received the “no thanks” from Quilt National.  “The Old Homestead” will be shown soon at PIQF, as well.

Yesterday’s mail brought my copy of Gloria Hansen’s new book “Digital Essentials” and I can’t wait to read it!  Gloria is a wealth of knowledge on the subject and has so generously helped me in the past. In fact my website was designed by her company Gloderworks . I seem to have conquered the now familiar territory of show entries to some extent but there is SO much I don’t know. I am very technologically challenged! Order your own copy from Gloria.

Finally, I found the YLI invisible thread I needed so I can get on with quilting the second POPPY quilt.  But probably not today as I am looking forward to going to a little workshop on collage by Karen Stiehl Osborn today!

The Monarchs are migrating.
I spent another hour digging in the new border Sunday but it was in the sun and hot, so after lunch I took a book and went to the hammock for a read.  I’m reading “Kingdom By The Sea” by Paul Theroux.
I have been really looking forward to it because I so enjoyed my visit to England and Wales, but he is not interested in the least in old churches and castles and does in fact seem to focus on the negatives in a very pessimistic way and one wonders why he bothers to travel at all, as he certainly does not seem to enjoy it!

Me – I LOVED seeing the castles! I wish I could remember which was which!

One of the trees that shades my hammock has lost all but a few leaves so when I started I had nice dappled shade, filled with the migrating butterflies. I soon dozed off but the sun shifted enough to blast me awake with brightness and heat. I went inside and spent the remainder of the afternoon folding and packaging POPPY!.

Saturday I taught a Machine Quilting class at a quilt shop about an hour away. There were only 5 students but that was all that would fit in there so we had a cozy full class!  Everyone did so well and seemed to have a good time and I got to buy some more batiks! Unfortunately I have not been able to find YLI Invisible Thread anywhere around here so I guess I will have to order some so I can get back to quilting the poppy sample.

In the meantime, I putter and dig in the garden – not much left blooming now but it is a great time to transplant.

Well!  It has been some time since I checked in here. I guess I am a one trick pony with a one track mind – once I get started on a project it is all I want to do.  I finished the hand work on the binding Thursday, “Mon Grand Père” is done! The entry requirements are different from any others I have done and took some pondering, but that is done as well, and I sent it off Saturday morning. So – it is out of my hands.

Next project? I need to get a better photograph of the Poppy quilt to send off for the cover and write the pattern and get that off to the printer. Fall Market will be here before we know it!

Even though it is August still, (barely), fall is in the air. Hot afternoons turn chilly as soon as the sun gets low.  I have enjoyed a few late afternoons in the hammock in the shade garden where it is always breezy and cool with Stephen King’s latest book. “Duma Key” is the kind that I like, that he writes. Of course I am only half way through, so it may be too soon to say that it is about real people, not monsters as he sometimes features.

It’s sort of distracting to try and read out there because of all the birds to watch, especially the hummingbirds! One actually came and hovered about a foot from my face and checked me out. Mostly they zip and zoom like mini fighter jets being very territorial and stingy with the feeders.

Yesterday I taught a Machine Quilting workshop at a local shop – it’s always fun and gratifying to see the progress attained in such a short time, I know if they practice they’ll do great!  AND, what a great opportunity to buy more fabric!!!  I found four new batiks that may make their way into my next project.