Thanksgiving Without Turkey

     Who says you have to eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day? I have many years' worth of holiday memories of meals with large groups of family and friends. But this year Linda and I celebrated our blessings with King Ranch Chicken, refried beans, and tortilla strips. And Scottish Eggs. And peach slices for dessert.

      I had enjoyed Scottish Eggs at Arrowmont in October and was curious about how they got that egg inside the sausage ball. It was actually pretty simple--they boiled the eggs first. The egg is then covered with bulk sausage and rolled in seasoned bread crumbs and baked. Here is my successful first attempt. I found a Betty Crocker recipe called Baked Scotch Eggs here.

     The King Ranch Chicken recipe has been in my family since we lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, near the King Ranch. There are hundreds of variations and I'm sure they are all good, but I think corn tortillas rather than flour ones must be used.

     This overcast chilly day was perfect for staying inside and making Christmas stockings my quilt guild, Pine Belt Quilters, will give to children. Shirley Wiltshire had prepared kits with instructions, and the project was easy on my serger. Well, it would have been easy if I had not left the serger unattended a while, giving Elizabeth an opportunity to bite and swallow the thread. She is my almost perfect cat, with a fascination for taut thread being her only character flaw. Rethreading the serger was a several hour task even with the help of the manual, the diagrams on the machine, and multiple YouTube videos. 

Stocking layered and ready to sew

:Finished stockings

I finished an abstract stitched art quilt (The Apothecary Shop) that I started at Arrowmont and have made some more progress on The Conversation, featuring Tarbaby, Rahrah, and Elizabeth.

The Apothecary Shop, 18" x 18"

The Conversation (in progress)

Opening Reception

 After 20 months or so of shutdown, it is wonderful to be attending some live events again such as the opening reception for my exhibit at the Lucile Parker Gallery on William Carey University's campus. Dr. Ed Ford, curator of the gallery, took the pictures I am sharing here. I love people looking at quilts! Sorry I do not know all the names. The exhibit will run til December 16.

With Dr. Ed Ford

With Mo Conville, Jackie Watkins, Karen LeBeau, Sara Ann Owen, Bettye Kin

With Charlie and Sherri Marengo

Barbara Hamilton and Dr. Read Diket

Happy Martha

Hanging the Exhibit

I made sure I had slats and/or wire in all the quilts we intended to hang, and loaded the back end of my Honda Pilot. Dr. Ed Ford, curator of the Lucile Parker Gallery, is an expert at arranging and hanging a show. He also had some help from his daughter Emmy Ford. Pictures from the Opening Reception will be in the next blog post.

Car loaded with quilts and wooden slats

Dr. Ford and Emmy hanging the quilts

Hanging Round Robin Pathways

 

Interleave Red & Green, Interleave Symphony, Fractured Roses

Mariposa, Round Robin Pathways, Ghost-Quilted Leaves,
This Is My Story, This Is My Song, Ghost-Quilted Purple Flowers,
Travel Poster, Finding My Way

Circle Dance, Wellness Center Pool, Blue Ghost-Quilted Flowers

Finding My Way, Rise & Shine Inner City,
Mississippi Orange Peel, Circle Dance

Interleave Symphony, Fractured Roses, From Cross-Stitch to Quilting
Improv Music, Mariposa

Viva Orchid, Campfire, In the Jungle, Return of the Trees

Leaf Study-Crotons, Green Fish, Elizabeth, Yellow Fish

    

"Artful Log Cabin" pieces Mountain Snow Melt and Ireland Street
and Triangle Extension

Twisted Trees I and II, Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, 24" x 52"

Hibiscus Twins, Sunday Ties

Sycamore Leaf, Leaf Studies I and II, Leaf Study-Crotons,
 Elizabeth and Fish fabric collages 

Getting Ready for My Exhibit

 It's exciting to be preparing for my solo fiber art exhibit at the Lucile Parker Gallery on the William Carey University campus. There will be an opening reception at 4:30-6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, with the exhibit running until December 16. It is an honor to have my art shown in this beautiful space. Dr. Ed Ford is the curator and I appreciate his invitation to display my work.

The Invitation

I will have works from some early traditional quilts up to modern abstract pieces. One bed-size piece that hasn't been seen often tells the story of how I transitioned from counted cross-stitch to quilting. Daughter Linda and I found a book of quilt blocks in counted cross-stitch designs and began working on these. The squares, using six strands of floss over two squares of 14-count cloth, were so beautiful that I thought they needed to be made into a quilt by someone with experience, so I left the stitching with her and set out to learn to be a quilter. Several years later when she had finished the 20 squares I assembled them and we both hand quilted it. The quilt won blue ribbons in several shows and set me on a firm quilting path.

From Cross-Stitch to Quilting

Quilts are generally displayed on PVC pipe and drape, but in a gallery setting everything has to have a slat or wire to hang on the wall. Framed pieces already have wires for hanging, but all fabric pieces have to have a wooden or aluminum bar. Some are on gallery wrapped canvas and others framed.  I am hoping to show how textiles have transitioned from utilitarian bed coverings to art for the walls.

Ghost-quilted Palm Leaves, 12" x 12"

Poppy, an early ghost-quilted piece, 11" x 14"

Campfire, 22" x 23"

Sunday Ties, framed without glass, 10" x 24"

November Happenings

Cool fall weather is perfect for another Brown Bag Concert sponsored by the Hattiesburg Arts Council, featuring the Spectrum Trio playing cool jazz. It was necessary to sit in a sunny spot!

Oddfellows Gallery invites South Mississippi Art Association artists to display monthly. Here (back wall) are works by Carla Carlson, Hector Boldo, Cara, (right wall) me, Mike Box and two others. I always feel I'm in good company with these talented artists! 

SMAA section at Oddfellows Gallery

 I just picked up some work from the frame shop which I plan to use in an upcoming show.

12" Stitched pictures on gallery wrapped canvas set in frame

Sunday Ties, 12" x 26"

Paula Kovarik's fearless stitching class resulted in these two pieces. She shared some previously quilted pieces from a good friend which she invited us to cut up and use. I first created this Storm at Sea block, then sliced it up and reassembled to make The Foolish Man's House.

Storm at Sea block made from previously stitched quilts

The Foolish Man's House, 19" x 24"

Triangle Extension, 16" x 16"

A friend often shares her jigsaw puzzles with me with the edge pieces in a Ziploc bag. This one had all the borders assembled and taped in sections, giving quite a head start. This 1,000 piece scene will still take me a while.