Thanksgiving

Happy day!
Isn't that just the funniest thing? Benjamin and I discovered it while on a walk in my parents' neighborhood. We visited them in NY for Thanksgiving.

We kicked off the visit with pumpkin cupcakes. Yum!
With maple cream cheese frosting and crushed Heath bar on top. Yes, please!

We also had some fun with Play Doh. Claire made a lion/kitty.
Benjamin made the Statue of Liberty.

Jeff is the pie guy in our family. Look at this funny recommendation from the old cook book he was using. You must zoom in to read this!He made beautiful scalloped edges and lots of extra crust to bake with cinnamon sugar for nibbling. These extras were cut with Grandma's wavy edge rotary cutter. (???!!!)


My dad carved the turkey, which was delicious. Lincoln's begging did not go unrewarded. He got some scraps.
We love the basics: turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing.

That placemat was made by my great grandmother, Mabel. My parents have a set in white and I have a set in cream. Treasures, to be sure.

On Thanksgiving night we watched Punkin Chunkin' on the Discovery Channel. Apparently there is a huge competition in Delaware where people build elaborate machines to throw pumpkins into a field.

So the next day, Claire and Benjamin did a little backyard engineering.

By the way, see that field in the background? Claire and I hiked around a bit back there. In the past apple trees, corn and soy beans have been planted there. We found some golf balls and Lincoln loved racing around.

When we were getting ready to drive home on Saturday morning, I could not find my camera. These punkin chunkin pictures were the last I recalled taking, so I knew I had to go look in the field. After walking around for about 10 minutes scanning the ground, I found it! Now, that's something to be thankful for!

Around DC with Grandma and Grandpa

We enjoyed wonderful visits with both sets of grandparents over the past week or so. Jeff's parents came to visit the week before Thanksgiving. This was their first trip to our new home. They visited Annapolis many times when Jeff was a Midshipman, so it's pretty cool to be back 20 years later and visit his office now that he is on the faculty.

Here is Claire studying one of the many many amazing doors at the National Cathedral.
Here's Benjamin running through the hall to the bookstore/gift shop.
We stopped by one of our favorite monuments. Here's Albert Einstein in front of the National Science Foundation.

Claire and Benjamin enjoyed studying the star map on the floor at the base of the statue. It marks the stars as they were on the day of Albert's birth. Very cool.
We had a lovely brunch just down the street from the cathedral.
There were crayons on the table, so I did my lines for the day.
We also enjoyed a great day watching Navy football!
Pictures from the visit with the other grandparents coming soon!

Such an Honor

I am thrilled to announce that my quilt, Orion Odyssey, was awarded an Honorable Mention in Thread Tails and Vapor Trails, the Navy quilting challenge to celebrate 100 years of Naval Aviation.
As you know, this quilt went through many changes and challenges as I put it together. There were moments of frustration and moments of celebration. Receiving this award makes me feel like it was worth every moment. Of course, life is like that too... changes, challenges, frustrations and celebrations and still worth every moment.

The winners in applique, mixed technique and embellished quilts are all listed on the Navy Quilts website. It is an impressive collection. David Taylor won the applique category. How fun to see my name along with his!

The quilts are traveling to air shows, military museums and other events around the country throughout 2011. Check out this map to see if they are coming near your home. (You must let me know you if go see them!)

It is quite moving to look at all the quilts and read the stories behind them. I'm quite thankful for the military people and the quilters who have touched my life.

Houston Randoms -- and some lines

Continuing with Melly's line challenge. Circles and crosses. It looks somewhat planetary, doesn't it? That wasn't intentional.More circles. I like the effect of the ink skipping. This wouldn't always be desirable, but it's kind of cool. Oh, hello, Lincoln!

A few more snapshots from my Houston trip.

Purchases! Clockwise starting at the scissors: applique scissors from Famore. Lovely weight and blades. Perfect for cutting away layers of tulle or other sheer fabrics in my newest pieces. In the box: stack of 2x2 hand-dyed fabrics. Lots of Janome bobbins. Two sets of fat quarters from Marcia Derse's new fabric lines. I'm completely in love with these fabrics. Old keys. A small hand carved hedgehog and dragon for Claire and Benjamin.

Sarah and I had a delicious dinner at Ninfa's!
The Beneath the Surface artists enjoyed this dessert-apoolza! Yum!
I had salmon before the dessert. We all brought our Beneath the Surface books and passed them around the table for signatures.
Here is the fabulous Marcia Derse. Seriously. I'm gobsmacked!

More Lines

Continuing with Melly's challenge...

Here are the last two days. Actually the one on the right was Sunday and the one of the left was Monday.

I really am entranced by handwriting. Not the words. Just the writing. The muscle memory of years of writing is full of beautiful loops, humps, crosses and dots. Sometimes I think I can't create a graceful curve, then I think about it as the loop on a letter and it comes through just fine.

The trouble with handwriting is that the viewer wants to read it as a word. The lines on the left could be "mej" or "wey" -- but I just want them to be curves and shapes. I could continue this concept and try to explore ways to further deconstruct the handwriting, but keep the lovely lines.

I do like the lines hugging the edges of the curves. I'll return to that, I'm sure.

Line-apalooza!

Melanie Testa is one of my favorite artists -- and one of my favorite people. We first met in Houston in 2008 and it was wonderful to see her again last week. Upon her return from the International Quilt Festival this week, she embarked on a personal challenge and invited others to join in. She is making small line drawings on fabric for 30 days.

Here's what Melly says about the project:

I think Line is underrated but beautiful. Line is choppy, straight, broken, dotted, strong, vague, inconsistent, consistent, connected. I would like to see what I come up with, how the project itself affects me.

This sounds like a great challenge. I'm in! I'm not sure where this will take me, but I am particularly interested in developing a new vocabulary of stitches for hand embroidery. Of course, the line can also be a stitch.

Melly is using a ruling pen, acrylic paint and pre-treated fabric and her iPhone as a timer. She plans to spend no more than 15 minutes on each drawing. I am using a stack of Post-It notes, a Sharpie and my iPhone. But, I'll just be listening to podcasts on my iPhone.

My materials are much more pedestrian than Melly's, but the concept is the same. Sometimes when artists challenge each other to try something new, people clam up about rules, supplies, expectations, specifications, etc etc etc. Ug. I'm moving past all that and just thinking about the line.

Here are my lines from day 1. I used a fat sharpie. It was too fat.

I stuck it up on my dry-erase board and I'll continue to think about it. Can you see it?
Here is day 2. I switched to a thin sharpie. I was thinking a bit about Sue Dennis' anthills.

Kristin is making lines too!

That's Me

I was thrilled to participate in lots of wonderful activities at the International Quilt show. Two of my quilts were there too!

Here is a long shot of the Beneath the Surface special exhibit. It was quite exciting to look across the long exhibit hall and see my piece, Spontaneity and Stability, in the distance. (It's the blue, purple and green piece.)
Here is Framing Flourish in the Tactile Architecture exhibit. (You can see some of the exhibit here.)
I was also thrilled to participate in "open studios." Look! There's my name on Saturday at noon. What an honor to see my name alongside so many other artists who I know and LOVE!
And here I am talking about fabric, stitching and art. So fun!
More talk talk talking. And gesturing.
(This picture was taken by Ricë Freeman Zachary's husband, Earl. It was superfantastic to see them.)

I also taught a mini-workshop in the Make It University zone. There is really great energy and enthusiasm at MIU and I was honored to be a part of it.
For the "painted paint chip mini-journal," I started by setting up the kits at each table.
I had 25 great students who went right to work cutting, painting, stenciling, doodling and soaking up all the good creative energy. Here's Jane LaFazio and Paula Elliot.
Here's a student with excellent taste. She choose green and purple paint. Genius.
I'm still processing all my thoughts and experiences in Houston. I'm in the re-entry phase. It's a bit rough -- but in a good way.

Friends in Houston

I had such a wonderful time at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. One of the very best parts of the show is connecting with friends.

Kristin (fellow 12x12 artist) and I had a fantastic time looking at quilts and talking about all kinds of things going on in our creative and personal lives.
Melly gave an excellent lecture on journaling and art quilting. Here's me with Judy Perez, Melly Testa and Sue Dennis.
It was fantastic to see Kathy Mayhew. She joined the Dallas Area Fiber Artists shortly before we moved, so I was sad not to get to know her better. It was great to re-connect.
Here is Sarah Smith doing her thing at the Make It University Open Studios! She is so full of great ideas and inspiration.
Here's Sarah again! Sarah and I met in a church parking lot after a quilt guild meeting in 2004 and we have been wonderful friends ever since.
The artists in the Beneath the Surface exhibit shared a great dinner on Friday night. I love this picture. We were really have a great time! That's Rachel Parris, Jamie Fingal, Jane La Fazio and Paula Elliot.
Barb Forrister and I shared an Open Studio time slot. Can you believe that amazing 3D tree she created?!
Carol Morrissey stopped by during my Open Studio time. It was great to see some of my Dallas arty friends. I miss them!
Here is Kristin again... this time with the amazing Tracie Huskamp. Tracie and I met by happenstance in Houston in 2008 and we've shared a special connection since then.
I volunteered at the SAQA booth with Fannie Narte on Saturday evening. This was her first trip to Festival and she was totally making the most of it.
Here's Kathy York! Kathy has great energy and I always learn something new when see each other.
There were so many more. I always wish I had taken more pictures.

After sharing many special moments with these artist/friends this weekend, I am feeling a new sense of support, encouragement, enthusiasm and support. I think it could really take me and my art to some exciting new places. For that, I am so very thankful.