Panic sets in

I'm almost scared to publish it, but it looks like I'm lined up for a show for the entire month of February at ARTichoke. (http://artichokecottage.blogspot.com/) Of course, I don't have nearly enough finished work for the space they have so graciously allowed me to use, but that will be remedied in the next few weeks. Things just popped over a 24-hour period and I don't even know where to start. HUGE thanks to Gerard for taking me by the hand and making me follow though on pitching to them. Huge thanks to Anne and Carmen for not making me "pitch" a damn thing, since they pretty much started nodding shortly after I walked in the door. If things work as planned, they'll be borrowing the "Bird" Parker piece that Isaac Byrd bought at the Tougaloo auction too. That dovetails nicely since he also owns the 930 Blues Club and it will make a nice tie-in with the musical theme.

I've had more support and encouragement this year than I can even give credit for, starting with Dorinda and the local quilt guilds, the new shop and the owners of it, Gwen Magee, Sonji Hunt, my sweet hub who never complains about living in a 4 br/2 bath storage closet, and everyone else who has looked at (and bought) my work.

I'm also very excited to have met and gotten a chance to spend some time visiting with Dr. Marvin Haire, Assoc. Dir of the Delta Research and Cultural Institute and Chairman of the Mississippi Blues Commission. I was SO intimidated to find out who he was and that he's an absolute expert on Robert Johnson, and there I stood with 2 of my RJ quilts hanging. Maybe I'm doing something right though, since he liked them. He liked my other stuff too, but it really meant something to me to know I had "captured" RJ well enough to pass muster with Dr. Haire. It was also a treat to be able to discuss music, pretty much uninterrupted, with Gerard Howard, the other artist who was there. The seminar participants sort of came and went, so we had a lot of down time to just visit. He has a vast knowledge of music and it was great to be able to pick his brain. He's also an incredible photographer, and I want to buy one copy of everything he had on display!

Christmas is looking very good this year!

YIPPEEE!!!

The "fat envelope" arrived from the MS Craftsmen's Guild (http://www.mscraftsmensguild.org/main.cfm) Wednesday and I'm now officially an exhibiting member! My friend Dorinda applied at the same time (she's the one who forced me into applying too) but since she lives on the back end of nowhere, her fat letter didn't arrive until yesterday. We've already informed the spouses that we WILL be celebrating, and it will probably include some fermented fruit. I know it's a lot to ask, but I wish there had been some sort of comment sheet attached after the jurying process for those. I also realize that comment sheets are a "quilt" thing, and not an art thing. It's hard to stand with one foot in each arena sometimes. I am consoling myself with the fact that the jurying was done by professional artists and crafts people, and they had my quilts for 3 weeks to poke and prod at as much as they liked, and STILL said "due to the excellent quality of your work" anyway!

Today, we're off to hang the remaining quilts for the show to open tomorrow and then the reception is this evening at 5:30. The workshop tomorrow in Magnolia and then back to the show Sunday to actually see it all set up and then help with the live auction at 2:00. I have a jury summons for next week so I have no idea what my schedule will look like.

The craft guild is having a reception for the new members on Oct 12, and the letter says we can show some of our work at that time. No idea how much we can show, but I probably have a few pieces small enough to use. Next month, I'm scheduled to do a lecture for a local stitchery guild and then the big Fall gathering of MQA (http://www.mississippiquilt.org/) in Oxford, where the quilts from the Quart Bag Quilt challenge will be debuted. And unbelievably, I already have 3 presentations scheduled in November.

I'll try to get pictures posted tonight or maybe tomorrow night of some of the quilts at the show. We had some incredibly beautiful pieces submitted this year. I was also amazed at the total and complete cooperation of all the volunteers who got it from the good idea stage to the final show! The days I was there to help, not only did everyone immediately do what was asked of them, but when they finished that task they came back and asked for more! There wasn't a lot of standing around chatting unless we were waiting for something specific. I have gotten to know some of the women better, and met some I didn't know before but want to get to know better. A sea change from 6 years ago, that's for sure. I think there are a few who have decided that maybe I do make 'real' quilts now. I'm also looking forward to the comment sheets from the judges. That will give me a little better idea of what needs work and what looks good. What would really look good is colorful ribbons hanging on the quilts! Wish me luck on that. I have confidence in most of the 6 I submitted, but a couple of them are not what I would have liked them to be. Hopefully, that's just my perfectionist gene kicking in and not something that is a glaring error to everyone else. We'll see.