Leaking in from the past.

We had some water leakage in our basement over the weekend. Not that much, and the repair bill to the plumber was under a thousand, but some of the things that got wet were my few remaining paintings that I had done when that was my go to medium. Good sized canvasses, mostly oils. We moved them from the basement to the garage, spread out, leaning on every surface we could put them up against. Moved my car out and used the sawhorses. I think they are all ok enough to keep.

Now I was prolific in those days, so the ones I have kept all these years are only the most significant ones. As we moved them out of the water, I faced the possibility of losing the material proof that an important part of my life actually did happen. The person who painted those pieces doesn't exist anymore, I have changed much, but that artwork still stirred deep feelings. When the current set of crisis calm down I will have to photograph them - at least a few of them have never been officially done, and several others are only documented in slides, or 4 x 5 transparencies.

The saddest thing is that I am not sure that my art has actually progressed since then. That stupid leaky valve opened a floodgate of difficult thoughts. If anything cohesive surfaces I promise to post it.

thoughts about the show.

The Show this weekend was really a good one. An art quilt won the Best in Show ribbon, and as it turns out the maker is new to the art form and lives only one town away from here. I did get myself some lovely hand dyes from the booth next to me, and a few toys to play with that I will tell you more about after I have had the time to play with them.

This was the first time the Guild made a CD of all the quilt images, so of course I bought one. Now I will be able to really look. When you are vending, getting a fair look at all the quilts can be tricky. The ones that catch my eye are much more likely for me to see, and the few that I can see clearly from the booth, but there is always a bunch of great stuff I miss when I vend.

I am feeling inspired, but tired. A new floor was put down in my classroom on Thursday, so not only do I have to finish the accounting and unpacking from the show, I have to get the classroom set up for a class tonight. My hubby is supposed to be coming in to help move stuff, I hope he hurries up and gets here.

Oh yes, I did have two quilt entries, they got only positive comments but no ribbons. I didn't expect any, and my apron entry was popular too.

New Quilt to make its face known!!

This weekend at the Dutchess Heritage Quilt Show, in the Village Fabric Shoppe booth, see the exclusive designs for Beautiful Valley. This quilt will the be Block of the Month in 2012. It has 12 of my original drawings as the twelve block designs that center on flora and fauna that is significant to the Hudson Valley. You may embroider them, color them with Inktense pencils, tsukineko inks, or acrylic textile paints, photo transfer, use TAP transfers, or any combination of the above. I have not yet finished the embroidery, but I have gotten them all colored with the Inktense Pencils and the top is together. The monthly meetings will develop you skills with Inktense pencils and embroidery. The instructions for the string pieced alternate blocks and borders from your own stash will also be included as we progress through the year. We will work with color in a very hands on manner. If you want to use the same fabrics as I did the sample in graded blue and green, you can purchase a kit while supplies last. I love this quilt and the first place you will be able to see it is at the show this weekend.

I will be in the booth with demonstrations of embroidery and working with the pencils ongoing as time and manpower allows.