April Ends With Blessings

The arrival of the Quiltfolk #26 Mississippi and the announcing of my quilt Prelude as the art for FestivalSouth 2023 has been exciting. Mike Lopinto, artistic director, makes me sound better than I am, but the kind words are music to my ears. Pun intended. The Hattiesburg Concert Association does an incredible job of planning this annual celebration, making June my favorite month of the year. 

The posters and program brochures carry images of the quilt, and the quilt will be auctioned online through the end of the festival on June 24.

Poster

Front cover of program brochure

Inside program brochure

Getting to hear my dear friends in their senior recitals was a special privilege, and I wish much success for them. My church also hosted the string honors competition--always a treat. 

Ameni Zouehid

Franco Galetto and collaborative pianist Alison Post

After all the attention and excitement, it seemed a good idea to do some very ordinary activities, so I got busy making a simple quilt for our guild's community projects. Then there was some walking about the yard to enjoy a few growing things, and a trip with OLLI friends to New Orleans for the VanGogh Immersive Exhibit.

Elizabeth supervising

Rahrah giving approval

Two blooms on my amaryllis this year

Hostas coming up

At the VanGogh Immersive Experience

At the VanGogh Immersive Experience

June Events

I enjoy June in Hattiesburg for many reasons, and probably the main one is because of Festival South. These music events are of a quality that most folks would have to travel to the Big Apple to hear. So I'm already looking forward to Festival South 2023.

My Southern Fiber Artists group hung our Intense Color Exhibit at the Phyllis Downey Gallery at University Baptist Church for the month of July. Eleven of us selected color cards from Joen Wolfrom's 3-in-1 Color Tool and created quilts using the limited color palette found on each of the 24 cards. I had participated in a similar call for entry in the Northern California/Nevada SAQA region and enjoyed the challenge of working in a monochromatic fashion so much that I invited my Southern Fiber Artists to create pieces in the hope that we could mount an exhibit at some future date. These 35 pieces really wrap the room in color--intense color!

Color Tool

Invitation

My hydrangeas rewarded me with a beautiful show of blue this spring/summer. They are struggling in the high 90-degree heat, but afternoon watering revives the floppy stems. 

From underneath

From underneath

June is Bustin' Out All Over

 So much is going on that I can't keep up with posting on my blog. I'll try to hit the high spots.

The SAQA Prism Play exhibit (containing two of my quilts) opened in California May 21, 2022. I received the beautiful catalog showing all 62 quilts in the exhibit, which will travel through 2026. 

The exhibit catalog (my Violet quilt is in the R corner)

Cara Gulati, curator, at opening at Peninsula Museum of Art, San Bruno, CA
(my Chartreuse quilt on far Left)

Hattiesburg is treated with Festival South every June, a three-week celebration of music for all ages. Singing the Brahms' Requiem with The Meistersingers was a moving experience (after months of pleasurable rehearsals). It was an honor to have three of my quilts used as backdrop during an afternoon of chamber music by women composers. There are more concerts this week to enjoy. Thanks to the Hattiesburg Concert Association, the parent organization for Festival South. I LOVE Hattiesburg.

Rachel Ciraldo

My local quilt guild, Pine Belt Quilters, held a very successful Pine Belt Quilters 2022 Exhibit: Living and Giving, co-hosted by the Hattiesburg Arts Council at the Hattiesburg Cultural Center on June 14. We displayed member quilts, presented exhibits showing who we are and what we do, gave away beautiful door prizes donated by Martha Williams, and drew for our Home Tweet Home quilt, surprising Rosalie Schoell as the winner. The quilt was originally made for our 2020 judged quilt show, which had been postponed because of the pandemic. 

Home Tweet Home, 84" x 84"

Alehandro Wooten, executive director Hattiesburg Arts Council

Quilts by Missy Lee, Martha Ginn, Jackie Watkins

Quilts to be given to children on upper rail

Ashley from Forrest General Hospital NICU receiving isolette covers

Councilman Jeffrey George with Linda Ginn and door prize
stitched by Martha Williams

And June still has another week for picking blueberries and enjoying music by Festival South.

I might finish this puzzle if I can get Elizabeth to sleep elsewhere.

Finishing Up February

What a busy month! I needed an extra day (29th). We had cold, we had rain, we had temps in the 30s, and temps in the high 60s. My yard is still soggy and has lots of dead limbs and twigs from some winds. These huge old trees constantly self-prune and drop dead branches. The azaleas have had enough warm weather to make them start to bloom, so we're hoping they don't get nipped by a late freeze.

     I've enjoyed some OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) classes, like an art class with my favorite watercolor artist Dana Stratton, a class about the trends and what is happening in Christian churches today with Brett Harris (my co-pastor), a talk by Carol Durham about working in an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. Then we are beginning work on some new church liturgical banners.
     Our second Meistersingers concert was last Sunday afternoon--Winter in Blue--some beautiful music by a Norwegian composer and pianist, Ola Gjeilo. The first concert was last October, called Spirituals in Blue. The third one this season will be Mass in Blue--a requiem mass with a jazz flavor--as part of Festival South in June. The words of the traditional mass are there, but the music is exciting and surprisingly fun to sing. Rehearsals will be challenging but rewarding.

     In our Southern Fiber Arts group we exchange small (8" x 10") art quilts. Jackie Watkins made one for me inspired by the cover of the Spirituals in Blue concert. I made her piece using real leaves under organza, embellished with silk embroidery stitches.

I am holding the quilt Jackie made for me; she is holding the one I made for her

Cover for concert

My art quilt for Julia Graber

Art Quilt Karen Arzamendi made for me

  In bits of spare time I like to work on a jigsaw puzzle on the dining table. The table is long enough that there is plenty of room for meals on one end with the puzzle on the other end. The current puzzle may be far beyond my ability to finish. It's a beautiful scene of Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms. The colors are strong and clear, but more than one piece will fit and look right but I often have to undo sections when I find an error. This is somewhat like picking out stitches or doing what I call the frog stitch (rip it rip it rip it).

Elizabeth modeling the ruffle collar I made for Christy's Stella

Rahrah watching out window

Tarbaby wanting my attention

Music, Tomatoes, Chameleons, Quilting

I have attended a Festival South concert every day (or night) this week until today, and look forward to the Meistersingers concert tomorrow. There was a spectacular and very loud piano, a baroque trumpet with interesting history, the Impromptu Piano Trio (piano, violin, cello), Beethoven's Fifth and Mendelssohn violin concerto with an amazing 18-year-old soloist, Irish jigs at T-Bones Coffee Shop. I told the Piano Trio that their performance each year at Festival South was my favorite event.
    My caladiums have come up and are beautiful. I have several hostas--one with huge leaves. Cherry tomatoes are still coming on my two little plants. They are so pretty on the vine that I enjoy seeing them for a few days before picking them.

I have been quilting on the Black/White/Red Fractured piece I began in a Marilyn Rose class several years ago. It is good to finish some projects.

The chameleon puzzle is challenging but I am making a little headway--have another chameleon almost done all but his head.

The painters are scheduled to begin the painting of the tongue in groove wood paneling in my living room and dining room next week. This was a big decision but I needed to lighten up these rooms and finally decided to get it done. It gave me a chuckle that the paint I chose was called "muslin." All the furniture will be moved away from the walls, and it seemed best for me to take care of moving the Boehm porcelain. Linda helped me move the pieces from the china cabinet into some kitchen cabinets for safety. The painter was relieved when I told him I would do this.