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 The quilt was originally made for our 2020 judged quilt show, which had been postponed because of the pandemic.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.

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.

Searching for Good News

 After days of storm and hurricane tracking, worrying, preparing and then being bypassed without even a few drops of rain on our dry ground, I find myself trying to be thankful that my life and home were not damaged. Seeing news reports of 200,000 deaths, tragic fires in the West, and more uncivilized treatment of each other, topped off by the death of the champion of rights for all, the Notorious RBG, I am searching for positive thoughts. What a great loss to our country.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 1933-2020

Okay, something good to report--Mississippi's flag, the last state flag to bear the Confederate battle emblem, has been retired by act of the legislature and a new design has been chosen which will be up for vote in November. A nine-member commission settled on "The New Magnolia" flag from hundreds of submissions.

This weekend the Hattiesburg Arts Council celebrated its 50th anniversary by displaying all the works in its permanent collection along with historical scrapbooks showing activities through these years. Pine Belt Quilters had a beautiful crazy quilt in this display, with this interesting history: In about 1995 Jane Heidelberg and other members of the Pine Burr Sewing Club began making a velveteen crazy quilt. After making some squares and cutting patches for the other 12 squares, they saw this was more of an undertaking than they wanted to finish. The materials were offered to Ella Lucas and other members of Pine Belt Quilters. Over the next couple of years, quilters who loved embroidery and hand embellishment finished the blocks and assembled them into a quilt. The end result was an example of fine neddlework and  embroidery that was unique, as crazy quilts were rarely made after the turn of the century. We felt that it should be donated to a museum or organization for preservation as part of Hattiesburg's history. Patty Hall, executive director of the Hattiesburg Arts Council was happy to receive the quilt when it was finished in 1997, and it remains a part of HAC's permanent collection. 

November Happenings

Temperature was 35 degrees this morning! Sticks and limbs all over the yard from rainstorm, but it's good to have fall weather.
My Black Swallowtail Butterfly piece (started in KatiePM Artful Log Cabin class) is finished and ready for facing. The Improv Zebra piece is ready for quilting and facing.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly (top done)

Photo Inspiration

 My quilt guild, Pine Belt Quilters, enjoyed hosting the Mississippi Quilt Association Fall Gathering last weekend, in spite of two days of steady rain, wind, and street flooding. Our theme was Log Cabin Quilts, and we had a beautiful display of quilts, including some Quilts of Valor and Outstanding Quilters' works. It was neat to honor these quilters and see a representative sample of their work.

Joan Alliston Introducing Cynthia Bates (PBQ raffle quilt Home Tweet Home on stage)

Linda Ginn presenting "Why Did I Buy THAT Fabric?"

One of my favorite things about October is getting to attend Brown Bag Concerts Thursdays at noon, sponsored by the Hattiesburg Arts Council. The music is always good, lunch delicious, weather perfect. This year there was a precious little scene stealer at every concert. Here he is entertaining Rebekah Stark Johnson while moving to the music.

Brown Bag Concert

    I've had plumbing repairs going on and still need to get washer overflow damage taken care of. Amazing how a little water overflowing where it shouldn't can go undetected for weeks!

I couldn't resist taking this picture

Water damage to wall

    I had an exciting nature event when a baby squirrel appeared on my driveway with a bloody nose, apparently having fallen out of a tall pine tree. He seemed alert and okay until I noticed he was dragging his right back leg. After I let Elizabeth sniff him, I put him in a box, wrapped in an old tee-shirt where he slept all day. A phone call to Central Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation resulted in his being picked up and taken to Picayune where a rehabber is taking care of him. I didn't even know we had people like this. She bottle feeds him until he can be released if his leg is okay.

Elizabeth checks out Baby Squirrel

I enjoyed seeing a dear friend from Japan as she traveled on business to the United States. She visited USM friends and had lunch at Patio 44 with Linda and me.

Chie and me at Patio 44

July and an Empty Garage

After having 40 boxes of donated Pine Belt Quilters quilt supplies in my garage for six weeks, I am happy to say the garage is empty. The remainder was donated to the Hattiesburg Arts Council for Abigail Lenz to use in her activities with children's camps and art groups.

     I have been working on a Quilt of Valor as well as another guild project (table decorations for our hosting of the MQA Fall Gathering in Hattiesburg Oct. 25-26. The QOV is made of squares surrounded by strips--dark squares with light strips and vice-versa, in patriotic colors. Many of the pieces came from the 40 boxes of donated fabric.

     Then there were some postcards for special friends, and some improvisational piecing.

     I finished the chameleon puzzle and thought I'd give puzzling a rest, but this clown fish one looked so easy with its sharp, clean lines. It did prove fun and not a challenging as the chameleons. Tarbaby is an equal opportunity puzzler. When he wants my undivided attention, he just parks himself where I can't ignore him--on the puzzle, on the fabric, on the computer keyboard. He loves to hang his head off the edge of a table.

     But this is his favorite position of all. 
   

     It has taken almost daily watering to keep my flowerbed alive this month. I'm concentrating on hardy plants. The first New Yard Guy mowed down my mint plants. I bought four Mexican Heather plants and put two in an open area against the fence, only to have the Second New Yard Guy attack them with the weed-eater. He's no longer the Yard Guy. But this fuzzy purple plant has been here since last summer. It is up in the flowerbed, protected by the cement pavers.
   

     I participated in an exhibit this month called Sacred Threads in Virginia, in a section called Eye Contact. The pieces were 5" x 23" and featuring human eyes. It must have been a fascinating exhibit to see in person!