Girl's Morning Out

Yesterday morning I met my friend Salem Stitcher at Reynolda Village for a fun girl's morning out. We started at Simply Yummy for some tea (which lived up to the shop's name...it was YUMMY!) while we awaited the opening of Karen Gray Design, a new fabric shop and working studio. It is a very elegant and inviting space with a unique offering of fabrics, patterns, accessories and gifts.

This little trio caught my eye so of course I had to adopt them. I'm not sure yet what I will use them for...I think I'm leaning towards a summer purse...

Next we went to Simply Needlepoint. They have an amazing array of delicious floss, yarn, metallic threads, and needlepoint designs. Now mind you, I don't do needlepoint, but I could have stared at their fibers all day. Beautifully displayed in every hue you could imagine. I came home with some spring green fuzzy stuff (that's the name of it..it's fuzzy with a little bit of sparkle) same color velvet floss, taupe bamboo floss and silver tubular ribbon. Embellishment heaven!

I didn't have time to walk through the gardens but I did snap a picture of this tree. I love the shape and texture of it...it seems ancient, like a formidable guardian of the greenhouses.

The morning was simply divine. Then it was off to a day full of meetings!

Dimensions

Today I packed up 'Eventually You Must Choose' and shipped it off to the Durham Arts Council for the PAQA-South exhibit ArtQuilts:transitions. I always feel a little pang of angst...though fortunately, so far, I've never had problems with the shipping companies. So I trust it will get where it's supposed to and I can't wait to see all the other pieces that will be in that show! The opening reception will be held April 17 in conjunction with PAQA-South's Spring Conference. It will be fun to see everyone and to meet new friends as well.

The next piece that will be heading out into the world is 'She Stands by the River and Weeps No More', which has been juried into Dimensions, a national juried art exhibit at Associated Artists' gallery in Winston-Salem, opening April 2 and running through May 22. This piece first showed in Martinsville, VA at the Piedmont Arts Association invitational Art of the Quilt, and I'm super excited to have it also accepted into a national level art exhibit!! I had a lot of fun with the various techniques I used on this one.

There is bonded tissue paper accented with Lumiere paint, painted batting, double fused fabrics, commercial fabrics, couched yarn, and LOTS of thread painting with a bunch of different threads. The leaves are all dimensional...sewn on by hand at the top tip of each one (I thought I had lost my mind at the time but I love how it turned out!) Have a closer look and let me know if you see her...

Sacred Threads

The good news just keeps pouring in...in my mailbox yesterday was an acceptance from Sacred Threads for my piece "Temptation"......this exhibit will be in Reynoldsburg, Ohio June 17 - 28.

Road trip anyone?

How Cool Is THIS!?

While reading one of my most favorite blogs today I discovered this. What a nice surprise!

Golden Apple Gala

This past weekend was the Golden Apple Gala in Raleigh, NC....a black tie fundraising event for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT). You may recall from this post that I was the interior designer for their Ocracoke facility, and I have done some work for them at their Cullowhee Campus as well. They are great people and the mission of NCCAT is as great as the people who carry it out, so of course I wanted to be part of this event!

It was an elegant evening...beautiful gowns and tuxedos, ice sculptures, great food, live music, dancing, and a wonderful offering of silent and live auction items. I donated my art quilt "Linear Time", which was won by Ocracoke resident Kenny B- one of the most entertaining people I've ever known. Well, next to my pirate friend that is! Arrrrr!

Jim & I

Kenny B

"Blackbeard"

And after our beautiful weekend, we awoke Monday morning to this rare Piedmont treat:

...and NO POWER!! Ugh!!! Thanks goodness for gas logs....

Opening Night - Exposures

I was so pleased to meet Judy Perez at the opening reception for Exposures last night! She is visiting North Carolina and just happened to be in the neighborhood. Her work is among my most favorite out there....simply amazing. What an honor to have her come see mine!

We "met" through the QuiltArt list and through blogging, and it's fun to get to meet in person. It's great how the internet can bring quilters together from all over.

Small world, isn't it?

Happy Dancing

Two days of great news! Yesterday I found out that my piece "Eventually You Must Choose" was accepted into PAQA-South's ARTQUILTStransitions exhibit, juried by Susan Brandeis and Jan-Ru Wan. This exhibit will be at the Durham Arts Council from April 17 - June 7 and then move to the Page-Walker Arts & History Center in Cary, NC from June 25 - August 22. I can't wait to see all of the pieces in this exhibit...it will be fantastic!

So, here's a little sneak preview... "Eventually You Must Choose"

This piece was created using my hand-dyed fabric with some from Gone Away Quilting, and some commercial fabrics...plus what seemed like a million different threads. It's a fairly simple piece, but as my friend Jenny put it, misleadingly so. It's all about the place on your journey where you know the road you're on is going to end and you have to make a choice. If you've ever been there you know there's usually nothing simple about that.

And the other good news? Well, today I found out that BOTH pieces I submitted to Associated Artists show "Exposures" were accepted! This show was judged by Cameron Dennis and Terri Dowell-Dennis and works must incorporate at least one photograph or photographic image. It opens this Thursday and runs through March 27. The two pieces I submitted are "Guest In My Garden"...a tribute to the Monarch caterpillars I raise, and "Lessons Learned"...a tribute to my grandparents who taught me two of the most important lessons in life - 'when one door closes, another one opens', and 'get back on the horse again'.

"Guest In My Garden"

"Lessons Learned"

Both pieces are mounted on painted canvases. (Lessons Learned got cropped a bit too much...luckily these two were juried from actual pieces, not photographs!)

Now if y'all will excuse me, I'm going to go turn some cartwheels...

:-)