You'd Think All We Did Was Eat

We did enjoy several fabulous meals, made most-fabulous by the company. When I arrived at Kate's house I found Kathy and Sarah enjoying a glass of wine of the deck. I joined in and eventually we enjoyed...a yummy chicken broccoli casserole (recipe please Kathy?), fresh salad and cinnamon muffins. Kate's deck was just lovely. I can't believe the fresh-cut lilacs didn't make this picture. They were tipping over in the breeze, so we had to put them on the floor. (I think the laundry on the line is also quite scenic.)

The next morning Sarah made us blueberry pancakes -- wild, organic Maine berries from the farmers' co-op -- and bacon with REAL maple syrup and some grapes and watermelon and of course, coffee. You can see me drinking my first cup here. This was probably the third cup.Every delicious bite devoured. Isn't that table cloth amazing?The next day when Kate returned, she came carrying fresh lobster. Decadent and divine.Kate had been away for the weekend, so the first evening was just Sarah, Kathy and me. The next night was Kate and Hannah and me. Such a wonderful friend to host us in her home when she wasn't even there! Also a bit of sushi appetizer and more salad with all kinds of tasties like sunflower seeds, oranges and edamame.Kate is an experienced lobster eater. Hannah and I just followed along and loved every sweet buttery morsel.

We had our official Frayed Edges meeting at Kathy's home which is nestled in the beautiful Maine woodlands and every corner is warm, welcoming and so full of art -- the kind you hang on the wall and the kind you just live.

How is this for an artful table setting?

Lilies of the valley from the back yard, found sea glass bottle, beautiful dishes.A Frayed Edges favorite: English muffins, ranch, fresh avocado and tomatoes.Salad:take three. Still scrumptious!We look happy, I think. We were.It really made me feel so special to have all these meals so wonderfully and lovingly prepared for us all to share. Thank you Kathy, Sarah, Kate and Hannah.

On Tuesday, Kate and I lunched at FlatBread in Portland. The night before I asked her what her favorite lunch spot was. Imagine my delight in hearing her favorite spot is also my favorite spot.

I didn't actually take this photo -- but it is a real photo from the FlatBread folks. And it was delicious!

I'm inspired to share more meals together with friends and to set an artful table and to appreciate all of our times together.

Home

I am home from Maine. It was so wonderful. Really really wonderful. I'll post pictures soon and lots of thoughts about friendship, collaboration, moving forward and inspiration. You can see and read about a few bits of my trip here and here.

On My Way

I'm gathering all my stuff for my trip to Maine. Phone, phone charger, GPS, GPS charger, camera, camera charger, mp3 player, mp3 charger... oh and clothes. And some art to share too.

I am really looking forward to my trip. The Frayed Edges are wonderful friends and such supportive artists. I need a shot of encouragement of a few projects. I just got my first gig doing the program for a local quilt guild. Luckily, it's not until next May. Whew. I love the idea of sharing my creative ideas with people, but organizing a lecture seems like a big task. I think I'm ready to move forward. (I'm confident I'll be able to pull it together before next May and maybe get a couple of other opportunities to share my work between now and then.)

I've also submitted work to some local shows. I took new pictures of these two works. Have you seen them before? They are nearly two years old... before blogging maybe. But, they are some of my favorites.

Shore Lines, 32ish by 19ish

Shore Lines detail Mossy Shadows, 35ish x 20ish
Mossy Shadows detail

One of the lectures ideas I've been exploring is "Unusual Embellishments." Like rocks! Maybe I'll gather some more rocks while I'm in Maine.

More Green.

I knew there was something else I wanted to say about "green." Check out my Mother's Day gift.
It's a GREEN mp3 player. Lime green to be exact, the kind I'm sure Gerrie will love. With speakers! I adore it. I never thought I would, but I do. I'm obsessed with podcasts. I download tons and tons from NPR all organized by subject matter so I can hear about art, movies, books, pop culture and food and avoid all foreign policy. Plus, I listen religiously to Jay and Jack's LOST podcast. And I'm a gigantic fan of the new NPR show "Fair Game." It's like The Daily Show on radio and hosted by a smart funny woman. Need I say more? So, now I can listen to podcasts in my studio. Before I'd get lost if there was nothing good on the radio and now I have complete control.

Apparently, it also plays video. I wonder if I can download episodes of Brothers and Sisters. I think I'd like that show. I watched about 30 minutes of the finale last week. If someone had told me it was full of actors from all my old favorite shows I would have tuned in for sure: Ally McBeal, Alias, West Wing, Everwood?! Plus, throw in a gay member of the clergy, I'm hooked.

Green

We decided to change over to more energy efficient light bulbs -- the whole house all at once! It will be interesting to see if it affects our bill, but it feels more responsible anyway.I'm getting accostomed to the fact that the bulbs take a few minutes to warm up to full strength. And I'm turning on lights less frequently anyway. I mean really, do I need to turn the light on in the bathroom? I know where everything is and I don't intend to be there long.

I got the skirt itch again. Every spring I think I need to make myself a skirt. I was in love with a skirt in Threads magazine about three years ago. This year I actually bought fabric. I'm going to whip up a little reversible wrap number. We'll see how it turns out.

Maybe if it's warm enough, I'll wear bring it on my trip to Maine. Yes, I'm going to visit the Frayed Edges (here and here) this weekend. So fun! I can hardly wait. I'm also going to get a chance to have lunch with Joanne.

I started the hand embroidery on the large landscape. I'm also planning to do some free motion quilting and I think it can be challenging to combine the two. So I'm working carefully and referring to Kristin and Melly's work -- they have most excellent examples of handwork combined with machine work.

Amon Carter

Back in April we took a trip to Fort Worth to go to the Amon Carter Museum. I've been thinking about writing a thoughtful post about what an impressive museum it is and some of the thoughts I had about the exhibit...



But I have been working madly to finish the projects for the Lark book. They must be mail tomorrow and then I'll still have the writing portion of the work to do -- but it can be emailed, so I have a bit of time on that.

So, instead, I'll just post a few quick pictures and a few quick thoughts.

We went to see the William H. Johnson exhibit titled World on Paper. Have you ever heard of William H. Johnson? I hadn't until I had a conversation with Sonji about African American visual artists. I couldn't name a single one. Poets, dancers, musicians, playwrights, novelists, etc ... sure sure sure, but a painter? Sculpter? Nope. So I studied a bit and William H. Johnson's name kept coming up. And then the exhibit came to town. I really wanted to go see it and I wanted my kids to see it. It was excellent.

Three Friends by William H. Johnson, 1944-45

This reminds me a bit of Pamela Allen's work. (Scroll down to "Two Sisters." The hair shapes, the eyes, the color, the composition...)

The grounds were lovely too.

There were several sitting rooms in the lobby with interesting quotes on the walls.
And interesting people in the chairs.

Can you read the quotes? (I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say in any other way -- things that I had no words for. Georgia O'Keefe)

Big art is the process of elimination... Cut down and out -- do your hardest work outside the picture, and let your audience take away something to think about -- to imagine. Frederic Remington

Good stuff to think about. Back to the studio.

Birthday Pictures

I'm sure the grammas and the grandpas have been waiting for birthday pictures...

We took four other girls to a great place called KidMuze. The climbing wall was a big hit. (I climbed all the way to the top too!)

Then we came home and and the kids played in the back yard while Jeff picked up poop. (Can you even believe I posted this picture? I just think it's funny.)Hooray for bubbles!
And then cake! Designed by Claire. She loves animals and thought some plastic animal figures would be perfect cake toppers. And the big 8 candle, of course. And six regular candles. Why six? No idea. Yes, those are finger prints in the frosting. The girls couldn't resist and, really, why should they?

What is your wish, big girl?

I have mastered the Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill pan with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream filling.
It was a fun day. I tried to suggest games, projects, crafts, themes, etc. Claire was not interested in the least. She just wanted regular stuff that she enjoys and PLAYING. Indeed. Simple pleasures.

Tagged

Lisa and Sarah and Geri tagged me for a meme that is making it's way around blogville. So, I guess I must oblige. I mean, getting triple tagged and all. So: Seven random things about me.

1. I've got a pinch in my wrist/arm/shoulder/neck. It's is annoyed by the position of my wrist on my mouse pad. Clearly I need to reevaluate the ergonomics of the desk set up.
2. I like to eat chili with peanut butter. I spread some peanut butter on a cracker and then dip the whole thing in chili. Yum.
3. I only eat chili in the fall and winter -- which is short lived in Texas.
4. I've lived in Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Florida, Mississippi, California, Texas and Maine.
5. I was editor of my high school newspaper. That was when "cut and paste" literally meant cut and paste.
6. I'm a Tridelta.
7. My favorite dessert is the Chocolate Dream from Carrabbas. (The Molten Lava Cake at Chili's is quite marvelous also. But I only get a couple of bites with four spoons flying!)

And seven others from whom I'd like to read random facts:

1. Joanne
2. Robin
3. Judy
4. Dee
5. Pam
6. DJ
7. and You!

So exciting!

Hmmm. Fancy! Why am I so dressed up? Well, thanks for asking...

I was going to the opening of the Dallas Area Fiber Artists show at the Thompson Gallery sponsored by the Visual Arts Coalition of Dallas. (The show will be up through the end of the month, stop by if you're in the area.)

I have three pieces in the show --- hung between these lovely arches.

That's Encrusted Cobblestones on the left. Encrusted Cairn in the middle and Blessings Shrine on the blue canvas in the back. (Lu Peters' ginko inspired square-in-a-square quilt hangs on the back wall.)

It was fun and I am so thankful to be getting to know other artists a little better. These kind of social events are great for making those connections.

The food was also excellent -- beef and tuna empanadas with a variety of delish sauces, coconut shrimp, chicken flauntas, fresh guacamole and rich chocolate truffles. Oh and wine. And a delightful caterer named Eduardo.

And that's not all...

Encrusted Cairn was awarded the Barbara Ryan Award, one of the three prizes given by the juror. I was thrilled and honored to be recognized among such excellent work.

Not so little...

Happy Birthday to sweet baby Claire!

This picture is from December 2000 --- --- and this is from last week when she was building crayon towers.
Today we're taking four other 8-year-old girls (plus me and Jeff and Benjamin ) to KidMuze then pizza, cake, ice cream, presents, noisemakers and other girly mayhem! The best kind of fun.

So much better.

I felt so much better after I gave myself permission to start over on the triptych. I changed lots of things and I think this is a huge improvement.

Each panel has one bit of handwriting but in a different place in each panel. Each panel has one main fused composition element -- the houses, the small trees, and the large tree. Each panel will get one beaded element (since the project is for a book about quilting with beads). And I think there will be one spot of free embroidery in each panel. The contrast is also much improved on this version. Don't you think?

Lists

Things I Did Today While Benjamin Was in School

Picked up summer camp info for a friend.
Arranged details for Teacher Appreciation week for both kids.
Mailed out a bulk order of Small Art Quilts: Designing a Series.
Made a grocery list for Claire's birthday party.
Finished a little something for my sister's birthday.
Put a label on Encrusted Cobblestones II.
Sewed rings for hanging on Encrusted Cobblestones II.
Hung Encrusted Cobblestones II>
Fused batting to the three pieces in the new triptych.
Began the embroidery on the new triptych.
Finished the "fresh" piece I mentioned earlier.
Almost finished the NYT crossword puzzle.
Had a quesadilla for lunch.
Watched a bit of The View and a bit of Martha.
Chatted briefly with my mom and briefly with Lucy.
Posted two silly lists on my blog.

Things I Did Not Do Today While Benjamin was in School
Empty the dishwasher.
Fold laundry.
Figure out what to make for dinner.
Take Lincoln for a walk.
Clean the studio.
Clean up breakfast dishes.
Clean up my stuff from the desk.
Post pictures on my blog.