guild commission

This is the quilt I'm working on right now for the Craftsmen's guild. It will hang on the back of the piano to hide the "guts" of it when it's in use. Morrison Brothers Music donated the piano and I used colors to pick up the stained concrete floors in the guild hall. The background is fabric that was rust stained on the piano sound board in my front yard, so the striped effect of the rust is from the actual strings in a piano. The walking people are an adaptation of the Craftsmen's Guild of MS logo, but the crafts they are usually carrying have been replaced with musical instruments. The outlines are couched pearle cotton and each one took about 2 hours! That much handwork from someone who doesn't even sew buttons on by hand is pretty strange, but it seemed to be the best technique for the effect I wanted. The piece is about 54"x36" and will be bound in black. Some quilting with gold metallic along the rusted string lines is next. The walking people are a little more apparent in the real thing than they are in the picture.

Satchmo Art Show

Whooo hooo! Second place in the Satchmo show in New Orleans the other day! The show will be up through the end of August so maybe it will sell too. It was a real thrill to win, not only because it was a New Orleans show, in New Orleans, honoring a New Orleans icon, competing against New Orleans artists, but also because I won with a quilt! It's sometimes a struggle to get fiber and textiles accepted to art shows, although the biggest hurdle seems to be having a category to enter them in. I've never been rejected for an art show, (rejected for several quilt shows though) but there have been art shows I never entered because the work didn't fit into any of the categories.

The reception and show were at Crescent City Brewhouse on Decatur in the French Quarter and they did a nice job with the food and drink. Half a dozen of my local friends in NOLA showed up and we had a crowd at the table. Of course, I was off at the bar when they announced my name as a winner! My cousin went up and got the certificate and prize for me and I sort of hated missing out on hearing my name, but I'd have probably passed out from the excitement anyway and I had on a dress (YES! Me in a dress!) so that could have been embarrassing. When I got back to the table and they told me I'd won, I blew it off assuming they were referring to the fancy participation certificate. It took a minute to sink in that it was an actual prize with a ribbon and everything. I floated on air the rest of the night. Well, maybe longer than just the night, even though it was a long night.

My studio mate Anne had one of her shrines accepted also, and we were both down for the reception. It meant a lot to me that she was there to share the win with me. It has been a terrific learning experience for me to be working with another artist to bounce ideas off of and get good (honest!) feedback from, and I've grown as a result of working with her. Not only from her specific input, but just being exposed to the way she works and watching her decision-making as she creates her own art. The whole studio thing has worked out beautifully for all 3 of us I think. I'm producing more, and getting better exposure, and refining my work. I've accomplished as much in 6 months at the studio as I would have in 3 years still working for home, both in volume and quality of work. Even hanging the joint show at the Craft Center last month was a lot of fun once I decided on WTH I was going to do for it. Apparently, I picked the right thing though, since I sold 2 pieces right off the bat.

Without further ado, here is the piece. It now has a red ribbon hanging on it too!