What Happened to Spring?

Yep. Friday it was 79 degrees. Today it is 42. Go figure. It's been raining and raining and raining. Should be good for us, but the rain is light enough to not be doing a whole lot of good, and dreary enough to not be fun to play outdoors.

My plants are coming up fast and greening up really well. Here are my lavendar and rosemary bushes, which stays green year-round, but is really taking off now. The rosemary bush literally creeps around the backyard, sending new runners and moving into them. Click on the photo to see a larger version. You can see my praying mantis on the right that Steve gave me for Valentine's Day. It's pretty cool for garden art.

FIRE

The rain is not even doing much for the 400 acre fire on Sauratown Mountain. The cloud cover is preventing the plane from flying and seeing where the hot spots are and from letting the helicopter drop water over it. It's not raining hard enough to penetrate the tree canopy and soak the fire. It's raining hard enough to make it messy for the tractors to dig the lines around the fire and for the vehicles to get to the area - muddy outside the fire. Steve spent 14-17 hrs/day Thurs., Fri. & Sat. On Sun. he came home in the morning with "camp crud" - head full of congestion from the weather and smoke. It will likely be the end of the week or longer before the fire is completely out.



My good friend, Zoe Nelson, is a wonderful jewelry artist near Boone, N.C. I hope you will check out her website: http://www.zoemanybeadz.com/

"This heirloom jewelry will give joy to the wearer for years to come and is easy to care for. They can be immersed in liquid jewelry cleaner or wiped clean with a polishing cloth. "This is "statement" jewelry. It will get noticed," says one of her customers. "It's ornamentation that's unusual and distinctive."

And here are some examples of her work:

On Sunday I will be going to Durham, NC to take Hollis Chatelain's drawing class. The class is three days long, once a year, for five years. I am so excited! I'll post some of what I do if it's not too embarrassing. Hollis says that if you can hold a pencil, she can teach you to draw. I sure hope so!

Easter Bunnies and Springtime

Well, Easter weekend was so much fun! Sarah was great about riding home with Grammy on Friday. We visited my friend Lynne at the shop and Sarah picked out a Strawberry Cheesecake panel for a quilt. We went shopping and she told Grammy she needed a table and a chair, so of course Grammy got both. We dug in the dirt and played in the sun. It was a beautiful day.

On Saturday morning we all helped Grampa wash the windows, inside and out. Sarah put on her "work clothes" and helped rinse the soap off. She was a very big help and quite proud of herself. We dyed eggs using the silk ties I bought at Good Will. Three came really cool and three came out reall dull. Sarah took one on the run to the living room to show Grampa and on the way back, tripped. The egg went scurplatt! But it was okay. We had enough fun making them. When she got a little too wound up, Sarah went to see Grampa. She came back and told me that Grampa told her what to do - a LOT- and he was a good boy for telling her that. Then she took my face in her sweet little hands and said "when he look at me, I in trouble." Melts your heart, even if she's right.
We were so busy Saturday that we forgot all about telling Sarah about the Easter Bunny! We all went to bed early and Grammy made the basket and put it on the kitchen table. There was a Good Night Peter Rabbit book with a nightlight in the cover, a tin pink and green tea set, a head band with bunny ears, a Precious Moments doll that, when you squeeze his stomach, says his prayers, and just a couple pieces of candy. When Sarah got up Easter morning, she asked "what's that?" She didn't get it at all, but she was definitely thrilled with all the fun stuff. Next year we'll plan better!

Spring appears to be here for a day or two, and then it turns cold and we have snow flurries. We have been fooled enough times before that we don't bother planting our vegetables until late April. Last year it was gorgeous and we planted a week early. We had two weeks of really cold weather that really put a damper on the early growth. I don't have any daffodils or crocuses, but my other flowers are coming up nicely.

These are my hyacinths, which smell so cloyingly sweet that I can't have them in the house. I am allergic to them. It's nice to catch a slight whiff on the breeze outdoors, though.

These are the dozens of Solomon's Seal buds just peeking through the mulch. I'm not sure how well they show up here, but every year they double or triple in number. The blooms stay on for a long time and then when they fall off (and reseed), the green plant stays beautiful for months.

Now that all of the company is gone and Grammy has had a chance to rest, perhaps I can get my friend's baby quilt finished this weekend and get started on my new project. I'm really raring to get into this one. Butterflies!

As I'd hoped, I was able to play around in my studio last night. No painting, but I did manage to lay out something I'm really excited about. It involves butterflies and leaves, which is very odd, considering I'm not a big butterfly fan. But someone posted in one of the fiber art digests I'm on about making petals and leaves and described how to make them 3-D. I got the vision and now I have to make it. Or at least play with it enough to figure out how to do it. I'm really psyched about this after reading the story of Annemeke Mein and seeing her incredible work.

I get this daily email from The Story People. They sell a line of cards and little books and have the most wonderful little greetings that you can also receive daily via email. They are kind of like eavesdropping in the middle of someone else's conversation. Keri also subscribes to it and said today's described Sarah: "she's a self-playing accordian & even when she's asleep, her quiet breathing goes a-one & a-two." I have one taped on the wall to remind me that there are no rules in art quilts: "this is the exact center of the universe, which explains why none of the usual rules apply here." I have to have my Story "fix" everyday, so if you'd like to get hooked, here is the link www.storypeople.com .

I've got birthdays coming up and no cards made! I gave the few I had to my friend, Lynne, who just opened a quilt shop. She wants me to teach a postcard class so she put them in the shop window. Guess I'd better get busy next week. I also need to make a baby quilt in the next 2 weeks. Holy Cow! Better get busy.

New Work, New Shows, New Ideas

Okay, as promised - here is the full photo of Psychedelic Steve. I had an email from an old high school friend who said the photo of Steve really took her back to the moment. She said she was thinking how it felt like a lifetime ago - wait a minute - it WAS a lifetime ago! Whew. That's scary.

I-4 Corridor Exhibit

I entered a couple of pieces in the I-4 Corridor exhibit in Florida. They were not accepted, but the curator contacted me and said she loves my self-portrait ("it's a pip!") and she'd like to put it in the portrait gallery. Things certainly have a way of working out, don't they? This is my self-portrait. It was one of the most fun pieces I've ever made.

There are stars in my eyes and clouds in my eyebrows, but I am planted firmly on the ground while new ideas sprout like wildflowers out of my head. Mary also asked for Welcome Sarah, but she's back home with Keri.

I really need to go through my folders of upcoming shows to see whether I have anything that fits any of them. And I need to get cracking on some new work - but not sure yet what I want it to be. I have an inkling that it include painting the background, which is always fun. Wonder if I can get something started tonight - Steve is out of town tonight and that gives me extra time to play. Good plan!

PAQA-S Jurying Over

The PAQA-S "ARTQUILTScultures" jurying is over. I entered two pieces - first The Stories of Women Are Told in Their Hands and then Psychedelic Steve. At least the Hands got a maybe. Psychedelic Steve didn't get a second glance. I meant to post Steve - but I don't have a good photo at hand. Maybe later. Now I have to decide whether to enter either of them somewhere else, or wait to see if Ann has any luck with the Arts In Embassies wanting some that weren't chosen for the show.

For our SOST (Sisterhood of the Sagging Tits) group - Julaine is putting together a cd of all of the pieces finished. She hopes to get a venue or sponsor for Houston. If nothing else, maybe she can sell the cd's.

Do you remember these lacing cards?

I had some when I was little and found a beautiful set of fairy cards for Sarah through the Magic Cabin catalog. I love this catalog. A bit pricey on lots of things, but so much fun for children! I also got her a tin tea set and a Good Night Peter Rabbit book with a nightlight in the cover for Easter. Both from Magic Cabin. Sarah took to these cards and demonstrated her artistic license by stitching them the way she wanted. That's my girl!

I'll be going to Raleigh Friday morning to pick her up. Keri (mom) has to work Friday and the daycare is closed for Good Friday. So of course Grammy just jumped at the chance to get her. Keri will come down after work. We will color eggs on Saturday. I can't wait!

I didn't have a photo posted on my profile until today. That is Sarah helping me choose the binding for Psychedelic Steve - what you can see of it.

Here is the original photo of Steve from around 1967: Isn't he cute?

I played with it in Photoshop - desaturated it, made it into a line drawing, then reversed it to use as a pattern.

So now - you can look at my profile picture and see him psychedelic'd!

Now that I'm pretty much finished with my part of the PAQA-S show stuff, I can get back to Steve's family slides. I bought a slide converter and a DVD burner. Keri put the DVD burner in for me a couple of weeks ago, but we need two cables to connect it. It's going to take me awhile to do these slides, so it won't matter yet.

I also just received the 3 yards of 14 oz. cotton canvas I ordered to make new covers for our director's chairs. Abbie bought us a beautiful set of teak director's chairs 9 or 10 years ago. The covers have started splitting, so now I get to try to make new ones. The tricky part will be rolling the edges and getting the covers tight enough not to sag. I am not looking forward to this at all. I tried to tell Steve that - YES! I have a sewing machine - BUT I AM AN ARTIST, NOT A SEAMSTRESS! Didn't phase him at all.

Upcoming Artquilts:Cultures Jurying

Okay. I've decided I'm really going to try to keep this up. If I find I can for the rest of this month - at least weekly - I'll be good to go and will make this public.
So this Saturday is the jurying for Artquilts:Cultures, the PAQA-S Spring 2008 exhibit. Ann Flaherty, Jana Lankford and I are the committee members. Christine Hager-Braun, PAQA-S President, will also be joining us.
This is the second year I have been fortunate enough to be the receiver of all the entries. There's a lot to do, especially when they all come in at the last minute. But it's so interesting to see all of the entries and the different styles and techniques of work. We have received 108 entries for this exhibit, and will likely only have room for about 35 art quilts. The jurors definitely have their work cut out for them! I have entered 2 pieces and am hopeful - I think they meet the theme pretty well. We'll see!
Tonight is our guild meeting (the BBQ City Quilters!). I am really enjoying being a member and have already learned a lot. Somehow I was wrangled into becoming a co-Vice President and doing the newsletter, too. Considering most guild members are not that savvy with computers, I guess I can manage. I enjoy doing it, but I have to wait for other people to provide the newsletter information and it is time consuming.
Our guild President, Lynne Lanning, is opening her new quilt shop "Quilter's Quest" right around the corner from me this Saturday. I am thrilled! She has beautiful batiks and lots of other yummy fabrics.
Okay - so this is my first March post. I will post again after the jurying process this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Well, I know you would if you knew about this blog. So that's okay. No photos because I am at work and don't have any here. More later.