Ag Museum Quilt Wins in Dallas

At the Quilters Guild of Dallas Show

Good news for the Ag Museum quilt this month! It won a blue ribbon in the Quilters Guild of Dallas show and also the Mississippi Cultural Crossroads Port Gibson show. Dallas is a 400-quilt show, with 30 entries in the Group category--stiff competition. Port Gibson ribbon winners will be displayed at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson from June-August, a definite honor.
My son and his wife live in Dallas and went to see the show (at mom's suggestion!). They have a neat little boutique--The Laughing Willow--in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas that I love to tell people about.

Mark and Melody Ginn at the Dallas show

Entries in the Group category are in one name, but I don't want to slight the other fabulous members of our Fab Five team. Here we are pictured with our sections before all were completed:

Marcus Weekley, Martha Ginn, Cathy Reininger, Julia Graber, Rita Warnock

Spring is officially here, though it has actually been here for about three months. I finally quit worrying about another frost and planted snapdragons, zinnias, vinca, and coleus. I'm not a very adventuresome gardener--old favorites are just fine. A friend shared her purple Iris last fall and I'm eager for these to bloom on the healthy growth they already have.

Linking up with Nina-Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2017/03/kathy-loomis-at-quilting-by-lake-off.html

SAQA Exhibit and Conference and Belly Dancing

Southern Voices: Regional Exhibition of Contemporary Art Quilts is in the Main Library Gallery of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in downtown Little Rock, in the River Market area. The Opening Reception was held March 14 in conjunction with Little Rock's Monthly artwalk, and the large windows were inviting to people enjoying the evening. The show runs through Sunday, May 25.
The show features 16 works by 12 regional artists (LA/MS/AR/AL), and was juried by Paula Kovarik, graphic designer and quilt artist from Memphis. She said: "These artists are exploring the edges. They use time-tested methods of construction and stitching to create abstracts, landscapes, portraits and collage. Manipulating line, shape, form, texture, value and color, they are expressing inner truths. These Southern Voices move the medium of quilting from useful comfort to dynamic communication."

Indecision--The Storm Within, by Julia Graber

A Sense of Place, by Judy Momenzadeh

Color Bars #2-Black, by Martha Ginn

Beauty in the Lotus Garden, by Judy Tipton Rush

 An unexpected treat for the attendees at the Opening was a belly dancer performance by a local group of five dancers, two drummers, and a flute player. Part of Little Rock's celebration of the arts!

Paint 3:  Anticipation, by Connie Carrington

Paula Kovarik, Belly Dancers, Door #1, by Jane Hartfield

 Paula Kovarik's work is a fascinating study in detail. Her piece in this exhibit is a maze of black stitching on white cloth, using a single line of stitching. In other words, if you could start where she starts, you could follow the line throughout the piece--truly a maze! Truly amazing!

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places, by Paula Kovarik

Ramona did not want me to go