It's Not a Quilt ... Or Is It?

February 6 marks the opening of Gerald and Debbie Tobola's "It's Not A Quilt ... Or Is It?" show at their Copper Shade Tree Gallery in beautiful little Round Top, Texas. (You can see tantalizing bits of one of my pieces in the postcard above.)

Please come to the Opening Reception on Friday night, February 6, 2009 from 6 to 9 p.m., or any time until the end of February. Gallery hours are Wednesday from 12-4, and Thursday through Sunday, from 11-5.

There will be fiber-art works from 18 Texas quilt artists, including 5 of the original Beyond the Borders art-quilt group. All works will be for sale. Hope to see you there!

Unifying Threads

(Click on the picture to see it better ...)

We have our new postcard flyers for the Unifying Threads show that will be running at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft from October 26-December 21 (opening night will be 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., October 24).

Mary Ann Littlejohn and Susan King collaborated on the art direction for this card, which incorporates a piece of art from each of the participating artists. I think they did a beautiful job. Each of these artists is a member of the Beyond the Borders art-quilt group in Houston.

You are invited to come to the HCCC and view our work, along with the work of the other artists who will be showing there as well. We are thrilled to be showing during the same time that the Houston International Quilt Festival is in town, so we hope to see you there.

more pics from the Opening

We had such fun at the Opening Reception of the Copper Shade Tree Gallery's month-long show for our Beyond the Borders fiber-art group that I have neglected to post pictures ... here they are, most of them courtesy of Cathy Winter and her trusty camera:


Barbara Jensen


Barbara Jensen, Liz Broussard, Nancy VerWest


Taking a group shot is like herding cats!


Me with two of my pieces ... "She Waits", the beaded icon behind my shoulder, and "Eve II", over my head.


Nancy Dickey


Connie Fahrion and her Guitar Festival fiber-art poster


Another effort at a group shot ...


Liz Broussard and her guacamole coffee filter piece, "Emergence of Spring"


Mary Ann Littlejohn and her Crazy About Round Top piece

Copper Shade Tree Gallery goes live on the Web!

Connie Fahrion, Debbie Tobola, Barbara Jensen, Susan King, Liz Broussard, and Nancy Dickey on the back row, and Gerald Tobola, Linda Minton, and Cathy Winter in the front.

Mary Ann Littlejohn must have been taking the picture!

Ready just in time for Opening Reception of the Beyond the Borders month-long show and sale at our beloved Copper Shade Tree Gallery, our friend Dave Hardin finished the new-and-improved website for the Copper Shade Tree, and went "live" with it on the web, including a very easy navigation system and a shopping cart! You can search by Artist, Category, Collection, etc. It's still a work-in-progress, but it is really beautifully done and easy to roam around. ("Try it, you'll like it!")

I'm very remiss in reporting this wonderful development, but have been recuperating from the rush of getting ready for the show, including a lovely beach-retreat with my traditional quilting friends. Now I'm back "in the groove" and hope to post a bit more regularly.

Thank you Dave and Denna Hardin, for the website and all the help at the Opening Reception, and thank you Gerald and Debbie Tobola, owners of The Copper Shade Tree Gallery, for the wonderful venue for our artwork.

Copper Shade Tree Gallery Opening

Our Beyond the Borders art-quilt group had the opening of our month-long show at the Copper Shade Tree Gallery (http://www.coppershadetree.com/) in Round Top, Texas this weekend, and it was an unqualified success. Here are a few of the pictures from the Opening Reception, more to follow when I get jpgs from friends' cameras.

Of course this is my favorite picture ... Karey Bresenhan attended the opening and I got this picture of the two of us together. Karey was beautiful and charming as always, and I was glad to meet her assistant Pam at last (although I don't seem to have a picture of her!)


Nancy Dickey


Sara Sissenwein and some of her fellow Retreat-ers came to the opening


Rex Watson and Nancy Dickey


Susan King


Admirers of Jo Sweet's delicate thread-paintings.


Rex Watson


Ann Schaefer and Connie Fahrion


Ann talking with Mike & Connie Fahrion


Kay Tobola, a fun and funny lady (Gerald's sister-in-law) who helped out during the opening weekend.

Beyond the Borders - Art Quilt Exhibition, 2008

Last night I received the postcards for our upcoming gallery show. Tim Tobola did another beautiful job on them.

The reputation of Gerald and Debbie Tobola's Copper Shade Tree Gallery has been growing in leaps and bounds, in the two brief years since its opening. We're very excited and honored to be associated with them. http://geraldtobola.com/coppershadetree.htm

Here's a look at both the front and back of the postcard:





You are invited to the opening! But if you can't make it that night, I hope if you are in "the neighborhood" ... the quaint little town of Round Top, Texas, halfway between Houston and Austin (which is evolving into something of an artist's colony) ... anytime during the month of February, you will stop by and see our art quilt exhibition.

Beyond the Borders - Gallery Show

If you've been wondering where I've been, I do have an excuse ... the dog ate my homework! (No wait, that was my 5th grade excuse ... oh, I've got it now ...)

My contemporary art-quilt group, Beyond the Borders, was asked to put together a group show for the new Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas. http://geraldtobola.com/coppershadetree.htm The Opening Reception was held on Friday, February 2, 2007, hosted by the inimitable Gerald Tobola and his charming wife Debbie, owners of the gallery.

Since this was our first gallery show as a group, there was a rather steep learning curve for most of us (although a few had shown work publicly before). Nevertheless, we did make the deadline (whew!) and were very happy with the turnout and the warmth with which we and our work were received. Here are some pics from the opening, and a couple from the following day.

In the first picture is Liz Broussard's "Java Jeans", constructed of recycled coffee filters and bluejeans. In the second pic is her "Obliquity", flanked on all sides by smaller works by others in our group, as well as some amazing wood-working artists represented by Gerald and Debbie.

First is Mary Ann Littlejohn's "Coastlines", which hangs behind the counter, and second is my "Dragons Need Love Too", which Gerald generously highlighted in a special display, along with the book, "Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project", in which it is pictured.

And here's the view behind the counter, with Mary Ann Littlejohn's "Coastline" and Susan King's astonishingly life-like butterflies and moths.

Here is Susan King with her "huntin' buddy", followed by Virginia Spiegel visiting with Nancy Dickey. Virginia drove over with Liz Berg from their temporary digs as Artists in Residence at Karey Bresenhan's Creativity Center nearby, to see our show and have dinner at the famous Royers' Cafe.

Susan King, Mary Ann Littlejohn, and Liz Broussard, dishin' the dirt. Then there are Connie Fahrion, Virginia Spiegel, Liz Berg with our beloved host Gerald Tobola, owner of the Copper Shade Tree Gallery.

What's wrong with this picture? Debbie is working the cash register while Gerald is having fun with the artists and visitors! Debbie is a doll, and tends to work tirelessly "behind the scenes". In the next picture, Liz Berg checks out the artwork.

Neighboring gallery owner Marilyn Barbour arrived in her adorable glove-covered vest and "fascinator" hat, which made her the belle of the ball. She's visiting here with Mary Ann Littlejohn and Nancy Dickey. The next pic just shows some of the art-appreciators cruising the gallery.

Above are most of us ... Beyond the Borders ... from left to right:

Susan King, Nancy Dickey, Cathy Winter, Elaine Connelly, Connie Fahrion, Linda Minton, Mary Ann Littlejohn, Liz Broussard, and Nivea Chislet.

The next day, some of us had lunch at ... what was the name of that little place? on the other side of the even tinier town of Warrenton. (Ah yes ... The Oaks ... thanks Cathy!) Here, we are taking our cue from Karey's luncheon, where they all decided to take the elegant "hide the double-chin" pose for the camera. Liz Broussard, Cathy Winter, Linda Sura, Zee-I'm-Sorry-I-Don't-Know-Her-Last-Name, followed by Connie Fahrion, Susan King, and Nancy Dickey.

Nancy Dickey, me (Linda Minton), Liz Broussard, and Cathy Winter. Still hiding our double chins! (Well, some of us have more chins than others!)

What a wonderful opening we had ... and the show continues during the month of February, so if you get a chance, go by the gallery ... Copper Shade Tree, 206 E. Mill St., Round Top, Texas. Phone 979-249-4127 (closed Mondays). (shameless self-promotion, but hey, it's my blog!)

Postcards from my Local Friends!

Here are some belated (or are they just really, really early?) birthday cards from my friends in my Beyond the Borders art quilt group here in Houston. This is so much fun ... receiving ART for your birthday! What could be better?

Liz (aka "Destructo the Magnificent") sent me this cool postcard called "Rust, Mold, & Spores, Oh My!", and it is overlaid with a very irridescent sheer fabric that is hard to see in the photo. It's yummy!

Sara actually gave me this Fabulous Fish while at our last Retreat, and I got to see her making it. Looooove the offset fish and the threadwork, also the hand-dyed fabric.

Nancy started this postcard at the Retreat too, but wouldn't let me have it until it was finished, and I received it at our BTB meeting today. Ohmigosh, "Caribbean Beauty" is truly named! Exquisite applique, threadwork, and painting. (Nancy, you disappeared before I could thank you properly!)

Now, I need to get busy and finish some postcards that are overdue for my friends ... tough to live up to these gals, but it's good to be "pushed". ;^)