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.

A fiber art postcard by Claire Fenton

Talk about serendipity! I had just reached the page in the new Journal Quilt book with Claire Fenton's "Window of Opportunity", and had been admiring both her artwork and her vision of "diving into a new world", when this postcard arrived in my mailbox! I'm telling you, there have been too many similar coincidences tied in with the fiber art postcards and the journal quilts for them to be ... well ... coincidental! Is it happenstance, serendipity, fate? Or is it really just a matter of "coincidental synchronicity"?

Whatever it is ... it makes me happy! Thank you so much, Claire, for my wonderful new fiber art postcard! (I had bought one of your postcards from the FFAC drive last year, so now I have a mini-Claire-Fenton collection!)

Here's a link to Claire's website if you want to see more of her work ... http://www.clairefenton.com/about.asp

Fiber Arts for a Cause Postcards

As promised, here are the 4 fiber art postcards that I came home with from the Houston Quilt Festival. Virginia Spiegel has been spending the last 18 months of her life raising money for the American Cancer Society ... a "little project" that she and her sister Nancy started out in honor of their father. Here's Virginia's FFAC website, for more information:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html


And now for the wonderful little 4" x 6" fiber art postcards ... as you can see, they each speak for themselves. My only problem was coming home with only 4!


Sandy B. Uman's "Breast Cancer Stamp":




Giny Dixon's "Untitled":




Jan Rowan Miller's "Mrs. O'Rourke's Mother":





Anne Copeland's "Bear Totem - Strength":




Must ... have ... more ... fiber art ... postcards! (They're addictive.)

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". ;^)

Fiber Art Postcards from Remote Friends

In the process of "remote shopping" for those who couldn't attend Houston's International Quilt Festival last week, I received some beautiful fiber art postcards from some "remote" friends ...


"Moonlight Mist" by Beverly Hart has curved piecing and applique, with a judicious use of Angelina fibers and metallic threads ... just breathtaking in person ... I'm afraid you can't appreciate its shimmering beauty in the photo:






"Columbia River Gorge, Oregon" by Peggy Schroder is an intricately threadpainted landscape that almost takes me there. Even the clouds have dimension because of Peggy's delicate quilting stitches:




Beverly and Peggy, I can't thank you enough. These are wonderful gifts from the heart that I will treasure and add to my tiny-but-growing fiber art collection. Some day we will meet in person ... it "must" be!