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!)

The Possum Trot Orchestra

The Possum Trot Orchestra ... isn't that a great name for a folk/country/bluegrass/blues band? My stepson John Minton is a founding member, along with Susie and Rob Suraci, and they have released their latest CD, called "Harbor Road" (for which John wrote many of the lyrics and sings lead vocals). John plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion, keyboards & lap steel in this band, plus who knows how many other instruments ... the boy is a musical wizard!

(OK, disclaimer here ... I may be a little bit prejudiced ... plus I guess I must admit that he can no longer be considered a "boy", being a tenured professor at Indiana University-Purdue University, Ft. Wayne, and having a wife and grown daughter!)

I received my copy of the CD yesterday, and have been playing it non-stop since then. The music is sometimes sweet, sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking ... Americana all the way. If you want to hear it (shameless family-promotion follows!) go to www.possumtrotorchestra.com and click on the "Sample/Buy the Music" link to cdbaby.com. I really love this CD!

What planet are you from?

This is what you put on your blog when you don't have time to upload pictures of any new work!

I Am From Jupiter

You are exuberantly curious - and you love to explore newness. Enthusiastic and optimistic, you get a kick out of stimulating intellectual discussions. Foreign cultures and languages fascinate you. You love the outdoors, animals, and freedom. Chances are you tend to exaggerate, so try to keep a lid on that. If you do, you'll continue to be known for your confidence, generosity, and sense of justice.

What Planet Are You From?

Inge's beautiful fiberart postcard

Hiding amongst all the unpaid bills and unsolicited advertisements was this wonderful piece of fiber art from my friend Inge in Denmark ... it is just gorgeous! Thank you so much, Inge!

Update: OOPS! Inge very sweetly asked me to turn the card around ... I had it upside down! Turns out, it wasn't an abstract Christmas tree as I had thought, but a Danish-style heart! So here it is in its correct orientation. Even better this way!

A fun surprise in the mail

A mystery box arrived on my doorstep today ... all the way from Hawaii! A gift-box of macadamia nuts from my long-distance friend Diedra, for whom I did a little FFAC shopping during Quilt Festival. Here's a picture of her funny address label and, even better, the Happy New Year card. Thanks, Diedra! The nuts arrived just in time to rescue me from the Dreaded Post-Holiday Letdown.

The Street Rod

Michelle Verbeeck http://www.michelleverbeeck.com/ created this fabulous art quilt and I just had to have it for my 6'4" car-lovin' baby brother for Christmas. Here's a picture of the quilt, followed by a couple of shots of my brother as he opened it (you'll see both the front and back). He was stunned! I had to preface his opening of the package by saying, "Don't say it's the best quilt I've ever done, because I didn't make it, and you'll hurt my feelings!" ;^)






Thank you, thank you, Michelle, for letting me have it in time for Christmas!

(Oh, that little square piece of fabric on the back of the quilt was just the little "cover-up" of Michelle's signature label that she had left on there from when it was in a show ... I took it off once Craig opened the gift ... I hadn't realized it was still on there!)

Colorhue Dyes

Colorhue dyes http://www.silkthings.com/understanding_silk_dyes_and_paints.htm are being discussed on the Quiltart List, and several people wanted to see a successful piece that had been painted with them. Here's an art quilt I did several years ago for my father (who is an Erte' fan) ... "After Erte", 44"x66". The colors were quite vivid, and remain so. If I recall, I used them almost straight from the bottle, not diluting them much at all. Expensive, but worth it, I thought.

Big Frog

An Open Letter to Annie Copeland, a wonderful lady who works very hard to make a lot of people happy.
Hi Annie, I've been thinking about you for the last couple of weeks, and just wanted to post a snapshot of something makes me smile every single morning when I come in to sit down at my computer ... your Big Frog, who hangs on the wall just behind my monitor. Here he is ... isn't he the sweetest thing? His big buggy eyes and goofy smile make me laugh every time I look at him! Not even counting all the other things you do, I just wanted to thank you for making such a wonderful, whimsical piece of art that simply makes me happy.

Your friend,
Linda

A Confusion of Weasels

"A Confusion of Weasels". No, that's not really what this is about ... but I took a picture of the glorious bundle of goodies that my friend Shoshana sent me as a surprise, and the fuzzy brown-and-grey stuff at the top of the picture (which is actually some gorgeous Alpaca roving) did remind me of a Confusion of Weasels! There's also some yummy red wool roving for needle-felting.

Also included were some wonderful pieces of hand-dyes, and some beautiful hand-marbled fabrics from Marjorie Bevis ( http://beta.blogger.com/www.marbledfabrics.com ), a piece of Shoshana's favorite burgundy silk, some wide goldy-greeny-bronzy trim from a sari, some fantastically fun fuzzy yarn, something weird and black that I-don't-know-WHAT-it-is-but-it-looks-really-NEAT (note: Shoshana later informed me that this is Black Misty Fuse!), a package of beee-yu-tee-ful Swarovski crystal beads, and to top it all off, some dark Dove chocolate! (Inside the chocolate wrapper is printed something really sweet ... never having had Dove chocolate before, I'd never seen this ... "Happiness is sharing chocolate with a friend." (And she also tells me a secret about chocolate: If it comes from a friend, it's not fattening!) Can you tell that there is already a bite taken out of one of the chocolate pieces?

Thank you Shoshana, you are so Chocolatey-Sweet!

Sunflowers - Sold

I haven't posted pictures of this quilt before, because it was going into some shows, but now it has been sold, so I can post some images of it ...

"Sunflowers in the Mist" was started in a Phil Beaver class in 2005, so the shapes of the sunflower petals are his. He taught different techniques for fabric painting, to get the flowing, pebbled look for the sunflower colors, as well as the raw-edge applique/quilting method. The fabrics, layout, and quilting designs are mine.

Above is the full quilt, 38-1/2" x 65". For some reason I don't have a larger image of it.

A detail to show some of the raw-edge applique/quilting.

It took me over a year to be ready to let go of this quilt. I'm discovering that I need to hold on to favorites for a while, until I'm ready to let them go out into the world. I know that this particular quilt will have a good home with someone who loves it as much as I do.

These last two pictures are of the back, to show the freehand quilting.

An amazing gift

My friend Maggie Hunt (whom I've never actually met in person), decided to make my day, my month, my YEAR, by sending me 19 - count 'em, NINETEEN - fiberart postcards from her own collection! My mostest favorite one of all is this one ... by Maggie Her Ownself ... entitled "Forever" ...



Thank you, my sweet friend Maggie ... what a wonderful, unexpected gift! (Here's her blog, which I've added to my links, because she always has something interesting added ... http://scquiltaddict.blogspot.com/ )

An unexpected gift!

I just had to post a picture of the gorgeous fiber postcard I received from Frances Holliday Alford in tonight's mail. I hope the picture comes close to doing it justice. Thank you Frances!


(You really must click on the picture for the enlargement, in order to see the detail ... you really must!)

The Last of the Quilt Festival Pictures - I Promise!

Maggie Winfield from Colorado ... a really funny and fun lady, I wish we lived closer so we could be buddies! "Never give up! Never surrender!"


Maggie's fabulous shoes ... I wanted to take them off her feet and wear them home!


Isn't this a great shot of Maggie? She made the headband (she makes lots of them to wear all the time), and this one did double-duty as a tiara.


My first autograph signing! The Journal Quilt Book.

Still More Festival Pics

Jeri Riggs and I were giggling over our JQ pictures in the Journal Quilt Book


Here I am with Carol Moore and Ruth Moore ... two very classy ladies.


Me, Patti Gamburg, and Jeri Riggs, on our way into the QuiltArt Reception.


Lynn Douglass at the A-1 Quilting Machine booth.


Lynn didn't like the original photo, so I fixed it for her!

More Festival Pics

Here I am with Virginia Spiegel, in front of the Fiberarts For A Cause Exhibit. See her website http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html for all the exciting information on the fabulous work she accomplished. I was proud to be even peripherally associated with her effort.



My friend Leslie Jenison from San Antonio ... we get to see each other every year at Festival, but never for long enough!


Franki Kohler was kind enough to come and introduce herself at the Reception ... what a sweet and fun lady!


My buddy Larkin Van Horn ... whattagal! (Gee -- in this picture, we sort of look alike!)


Larkin's fabulous beaded neckpiece ... there are no words!

More Quilt Festival Photos

That's Sylvia Weir, making the little devil horns behind her friend's head! Sylvia introduced me to these two gals ... sisters! ... on my first day at Festival, and I really liked them ... Linda Jackson and Jackie Mauer. Wish we all lived closer together so we could party!


My very dear friends Sharon Dixon, Lynn Douglass, and Jamie Wallen (I'm squeezing in there on the right.) This was the last night after Festival, and we were all VERY tired!


Ann Meyer, Martha Harrell, Mary Ellen Hahn, Patricia Daugherty, and Gloria Kohnen ... my Art Girls! We had a wine-and-cheese party the same night as the QuiltArt Reception, so there was much hilarity!


This is what happens when you are the only one awake at 7:00 in the morning, with nothing else to do but play quietly with your new camera.

Quilt Festival Pics

At long last ... some pics from the 2006 International Quilt Festival in Houston ...


Leslie Riley teaching her mixed media quilt class


Jamie Wallen's DVD Workshop ... fantastic!



Bonnie McCaffrey teaching her portrait painting class.


that's me with Bonnie McCaffrey.