March Ups and Downs

 Life is so complicated, full of surprises and ups and downs.

Speaking of downs, there were two falls, one on my booty and one on my face. I take the blame for poor decisions and resolve to be even more cautious. I lost the small wallet where I keep some cash and my most-used credit card and a bank debit card for withdrawing cash. I tapped the credit card in CVS, loaded my car, and drove home. Later that day I was texted asking about charges on both cards; when I looked in my purse the small wallet was gone and I figured I had dropped it leaving the store. I'll get all the money back, but the little wallet was a handmade leather zipper purse--a treasured gift. 

Among the ups, Granddaughter Kelsey Boone in Waxahachie, Texas had her third-grade students send me Valentines and then later I got to read (by Zoom) The Llama's Pajamas by my late dear friend Carol Vickers. Here are the front and back covers. 

 

I made a Fidget Quilt to be given to the Alzheimer's unit at Forrest General Hospital and quilted a top that Bonnie Bolt had planned and Linda Ginn had pieced. 

It's not for pretty, but to give a patient something to hold and handle

Elizabeth thought it was for her

I'm eagerly looking for the arrival in April of Quiltfolk Issue 26, which features Mississippi. My good friends Charlotte Timmons, Julia Graber, and several MQA officers are also pictured. In addition to a subscription and a couple of back issues, I ordered the Dogs issue, where Charlotte Timmons and my SAQA friend Holly Cole are featured. You can read about the photo shoot here.

Issue 26, Mississippi

Martha with Elizabeth, Mississippi Orange Peel on couch

I had a delightful surprise last weekend when some youth from Crosspoint Community Church visited me and demonstrated living out the gospel message of helping where they saw a need. My yard looks so clean and neat after this eager crew picked up limbs, bagged up pine straw from the roof, and many other tasks. I baked a pound cake and enjoyed their cheerful and helpful work ethic. They had so much fun pruning with my cordless clippers we had to direct where to stop. I don't get to see my great-grands in Texas very often, and just being around these lively teens was a special pleasure.

Grayson Hinnant entertaining with a little Scott Joplin on my piano
L to R, Joey Hutchinson, Kaden Leslie, Archie McGee, Todd Jackson, Mason Shivers

The pine straw was thick on the roof

Scraping moss off the paving stones

A mountain of limbs and pine straw

The City truck picked it all up two days later

Grayson planting elephant ears

AQS Show in Des Moines

Linda and I had a great time on our quick trip to the AQS quilt show in Des Moines last week. This was her first entry and attendance at a national show and was so easy to navigate with smaller crowds (than Houston or Paducah). We spent two nights and had delightful weather, smooth flights, excellent rooms and food. 

Linda Ginn with her quilt "One Day at a Time: 2021 Temperatures
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi"

Here are a few of my favorites. Enlarge to read titles and makers' names. 

"The Long Goodbye" by Lea McComas

Enlarge to see--quilting stitches say One For Me on black/red,
One For You on black/white

I recently reconnected (in a SAQA webinar) with my first quilting teacher, Maureen Grigsby, who had moved away from Hattiesburg about 37 years ago. When she learned we were going to be in Des Moines, she drove up from Missouri to visit with us. What a wonderful time we had! My blue/purple hair attracted quite a few "I like your hair" comments, and we ran into some more adventuresome people and had fun getting pictures together. 

Maureen Grigsby and me

I wish I knew their names!

One more 

The SAQA Wide Horizons global exhibit was there also. It is so rewarding to get to see some of these amazing works in person that I have seen online and in the SAQA journal. 

AQS Quilt Show and SAQA Exhibit

     It's been several years since I attended a large national quilt show. Daughter Linda Ginn has a quilt juried into the AQS show in DesMoines this week and we are going! We are looking forward to her first big show--to enter/be accepted and also to attend. Linda's quilt is a unique interpretation of a temperature quilt with the detailed description and method she used to create it printed on a large label on the back. I'm pretty proud of her! 

      Another exciting reason for going is that my very first quilting teacher from back in about 1983, Maureen Grigsby, is meeting us there. We reconnected through a SAQA event recently, and she is traveling from the St. Louis area to see us. 

The story on the back of the quilt

Linda with One Day at a Time: 2021 Temperatures
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

     Last week I had the unique opportunity to see the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) 3D Expression exhibit when it traveled to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, just 30 miles from my home. Susan Lenz gave an artist talk and charmed and enlightened the audience with her description of SAQA's definition of an art quilt: "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure." This helped explain some of the unusual and interesting pieces in the exhibit. I make it a practice to identify the artists when I post pictures; I apologize that I do not have all of these identified.

With Susan Lenz and Kristen Zohn, curator

Susan Lenz's quilt Saint Anastasia

Ginger Jar by Betty Busby

Detail of large piece in next picture

Groupers

Coat by Marijke van Welzen

Speaking of SAQA, what a neat surprise I got when I opened my latest journal--to see a picture of my cat quilt The Conversation pictured along with two pages of cat quilts.

The Conversation (top left)
Tarbaby, Rahrah, Elizabeth

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.