email Youtube

Home
Galleries
Blog
Workshops & Calendar
Store
Resources
About
Contact

Author Archive

My First National Level Ribbon!

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

WOOOHOOOO…..  in his final year of eligibility, I entered Bijagos Warrior into the NQA show after Lynn Kough invited me to submit an entry for the juried Contemporary Colorations Exhibit II after having seen Fields of Gold in the Chandler show in Arizon at the end of 2008.   Well, to my utter astonishment…while we were away on a trip to a WONDERFUL family reunion in Florida (more in a few days), someone on the Janome list said my quilt had won a prize.  Since I hadn’t seen my name on the list of winners I was confused…turns out NQA hadn’t posted THIS year’s winners, and I was looking at LAST year’s list!   Thanks to Marie K. on the Janome list, I have this picture of my quilt with an Honorable Mention ribbon (in the competitive pictorial category) at the show!

Bijagos Warrior with Honorable Mention Ribbon at the 40th (2009) NQA show in Ohio

Bijagos Warrior with Honorable Mention Ribbon at the 40th (2009) NQA show in Ohio

Thank you so much Marie for letting me know, taking the picture, and allowing me to share it.  The ribbon–my first ever in a truly national level show (had an Honorable last year at the large-regional, nearly-national show at Lowell Quilt Festival in Massachusetts)–is now hanging on the doorknob to my studio.  Now…to find time to make more truly competition worthy quilts.

In addition to Bijagos Warrior in the main show, I submitted several entries, for the contemporary colorations exhibit.   Fields of Gold was juried into along with works from Laura Cater-Woods Nancy G. Cook, Jane Davila, Karen G. Fisher, Marilyn Gillis, Terry Grant, Gloria Hansen, Leigh McDonald, Kathy McNeil, Pamela Mostek, Scott Murkin, Joanie Zeier Poole, Ruth Power, Jeri Riggs, Norma Schlager, Sarah Smith, Elizabeth Spannring, Cynthia St. Charles, Beth Wheeler, and Kathy York.  It is an incredible honor to be included among such talented artists.  Thank you Lynn!  Without your invitation, I probably wouldn’t have entered the main show and had this wonderful outcome!

Fields of Gold

Fields of Gold

Family history

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

200906blog006Wow!   A few weeks ago there was a discussion on the QuiltDesigners Group over on Yahoo, and  internet friend Diane Harman-Hoog of Quilters Keep Learning was prompted to do a quick search on me on the internet.  Diane, you see, is a maven of family genealogy (spelling?).  In just a few days, she had traced my dad’s family back to the Patrick who immigrated from Ireland in 1857, and my mother’s family back to Switzerland and Germany to 1590!!!!!!!!  She incredibly generously sent me a TON of information (and discovered that we have a common ancestor in Edward Plantagenet!) and did this extensive family tree:200906blog007

Dad’s family is the little cluster on the upper left portion.  All the rest of it is my mom’s family, which has been in the US since the late 1600s.  I had NO idea I had family ties to the Netherlands, Switzerland or Alsace-Lorraine (now France, previously Germany)!  Here’s that corner of the chart:

200906blog004

And here:

200906blog005

And then there were tons of records including my dad’s 1921 passport application.  I printed out over 100 pages of history into a binder (photo at top).

THANK YOU DIANE!

Collage Mania, revisited

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

200906blog001

In early May, Virginia Spiegel brough her multi-year campaign to raise funds for cancer research through her FiberArt for a Cause to a close with a final Collage Mania sale.  I was lucky to nab two of my favorite collages by North Carolina artist Grace Howes!   I selected them as gifts for my husband for his birthday.  One reads Faith, the other Trust…because I trust him implicity and completely, and because I have faith in him.   Happy Birthday Dear!

200906blog002

The collages themselves are 8 by 10 inches, and are mounted on stretcher bars covered with batting and batik (11 by 13 inches if I remember correctly).  Interestingly, despite the clear similarities in the two pieces, it was difficult to find a single fabric to use that played nicely with both collages.  In the end, I chose a black with wheat/rust/ochre from my stash. I sure hope Grace likes what I’ve done!  You can visit her web site at Red Barn Studios...

Thanks Grace for donating these wonderful collages! We’re so happy to have them in our home.

My first advertisement

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

In the recent issue of Quilting Arts,

200906blog009

I placed my first ad!  It is in the Artists’ Marketplace section.  If you look at the two-page spread below it is on the right hand side of the page, almost in the center: the peach one (using the same basic set-up as my rack card and business card that I purchased to promote my book).  It says Artist, Author, Teacher…. and has my website and blog address, with my book cover and “coming in Fall 2009.”  Now, will anyone see it?  Will anyone follow the links?  Will I get any possible jobs??? Who knows…. anyway, here it is:

200906blog008

Here is a closer look at the ad:

200906blog010

The Frayed Edges, June 2009

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

200906blogfrayed007We were a small group this time, what with Deborah in Texas and Hannah home with kids (end-of-school stuff), but we had a wonderful time!

One of the first things to greet us besides Kate (we were at her house this time), was this glorious bouquet of flowers, including a lupine which are now blooming with riotous abandon across the state:

200906blogfrayed006

As usual, I forgot to take a picture of lunch, but you know it was good when your friends have such wonderful smiles:

200906blogfrayed004

Kath and I had a good chuckle at first when we saw this:

200906blogfrayed005

It turns out it wasn’t (as I figured, like it would be at my house), a frazzled mom grabbing something that was knocked awry and putting it up wrong, but in fact Kate’s son’s deliberate take on art.

Kate shared with us her new chicken coop:

200906blogfrayed003

And we got to see her still-growing chickens…just think, your OWN fresh eggs!

200906blogfrayed002

Her house also happens to have an outdoor shower… wonderful for our summers.  Of course you know an artist lives here when there is  a lovely-colored drop cloth drying on the fence:

200906blogfrayed001

Given that it is summer and three of us here in Maine have kids, we’re likely (SOB) not to get together again until August, but finally THIS year we are going to have our dyeing fabric day in my back yard…I can’t wait!