What Happened to July?

Where did the month of July go? It’s been a whole month since I posted about my Rise

and Shine, Inner Quilt coming home. It’s been fun seeing it on the guest bed. Rah-Rah wanted to sleep on it, so I added a fleecy to take care of cat hair. Of course, it lost its charm and she moved on. 

I 'm taking care of two little foster kittens from Southern Pines Animal Shelter--solid black,  just like Tarbaby when he was a kitten. They live in the garage and quickly learned to escape the fence, meaning they have a large place to run since my car stays on the driveway. They were frightened and hissing when I got them. It's amazing what a soft voice and canned cat food can do. Now they run to be picked up and loved, purring before I get them up.

 

I submitted my Round Robin Pathways quilt to the Smoky Mountain Quilters 2016 show and received a 2nd place and an impressive red rosette ribbon. It is being entered in the Old Man River Quiltfest in Vicksburg next month as well as our PBQ October show. This quilt won “Best Quilt by an Individual” last September in Jackson.

Our Pine Belt Quilters show is fast approaching--October 7-8-9 will be here soon. I have my entries ready and am busy contacting possible sponsors for our awards as well as businesses who will advertise in our show catalog.

I have grieved over the tragic loss of lives I see and hear on the news. Some days I prefer not to turn on the TV for fear there will be another senseless act of violence. It troubles me to wonder, “Am I doing anything to change things? If I am not helping with a solution, I am part of the problem.” These thoughts encourage me to be patient, seek the good in others, and treat others as I want to be treated. Sounds so simple. And it’s not a new message.

As much as I love making art quilts, recently I have been enjoying stitching some colorful Log Cabin blocks.

Rise and Shine, Inner City has come home!

Rise and Shine, Inner City has come home! I shipped the quilt to SouthArts in November 2012 for its trip to six venues in China with the exhibit "The Sum of Many Parts--25 Quiltmakers in 21st Century America." It was my privilege to attend the opening of the exhibit in Dalian, China in 2013. At the end of this two-year odyssey, Mid-America Arts Alliance picked up a dozen of the pieces for a US tour entitled "The Sum of Many Parts--Quiltmakers in Contemporary America," which traveled to Oregon, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, Missouri, and Florida. Now after almost four years, the quilt arrived back in Hattiesburg. 

I love that so many people got to enjoy this quilt and think about its story. There have been many inner city quilts made with a variety of color plans and arrangements--my favorite, and the one which first inspired me--is by Jinny Beyer. She cleverly caused the viewer to see hexagons in a beehive pattern. 

by Jinny Beyer

After taking a scrap quilting class from Jinny in the early 90s, I began my quilt, using colors grouped as "neighborhoods" meeting and touching one another with the sun coming in to wake up the city. It is vital that neighborhoods work together to make up a successful and healthy city, just as it is for countries to work together to make a peaceful world. I hope my Rise and Shine, Inner City has helped to spread this message to the people who viewed it on its travels.

Large poster advertising exhibit at Dalian Modern Museum

In Dalian

At Crealdé School of Art, Winter Park, FL

Now the quilt is back at home in Mississippi; I will enjoy seeing it on my guest bed as it rests from its exciting adventures. Lucy Fazely helped me write a pattern for my version of this traditional Inner City block.