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

May is a Beautiful Month

May has been a whirlwind of activity with more meetings taking place in person rather than on Zoom. Flowers are blooming and the perfect weather has been replaced by some 90 degree afternoons. I managed to get my flowerbeds planted before the heat so I can enjoy the show every day. 

Amaryllis at University Baptist Church

It has been a treat to get to hear recitals and programs by my talented orchestra friends at my church and at USM. Thursday evenings are the highlight of my week, for rehearsals for the Brahms Requiem with the Meistersingers.

Cecilia Araujo

Alejandro Junco, Marlene Gentile, Cecilia Araujo, Franco Galetto

I'm so proud of my daughter, Linda Ginn. She designed and created a "temperature quilt" tracking the high/low temperatures each day of 2021. She chose favorite colors (rather than hot/cool) and assigned them to five-degree ranges. The large label on the back shows her method and source information.

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

The back describes the method

An awesome project!

March Catching Up

My first springtime in Mississippi (1972) I thought, "Everyone should see Mississippi in the spring," and this is still true. The azaleas are so spectacular that we begin to take them for granted--huge blobs of magenta, pink, and fuchsia and an occasional snow-white bush for contrast.

My amaryllis have started blooming, along with some iris, but the azaleas are still the main event. The Bradford Pear trees put on a show when they are covered in white flowers for about a week. These are not native trees and we are advised not to plant them, but they make such a beautiful scene! 

I finished the fourth quilted zinnia pictures; these finish at 19" and are stretched over foam core ready to drop in a frame. It's hard to pick a favorite from the lavender, rosy pink, yellow, and orange.

I made the first of this year's shared fiber art in our Southern Fiber Artists exchange for Michele Martin. This cardinal is shown against a wintery gray sky in aspen trees.

My exciting news is that two of my three pieces I submitted to SAQA's Prism Play Call for Entry were accepted and will be part of Prism Play: A Full Spectrum of Art Quilts, which will be touring from Spring 2022 through 2026. 

Chartreuse and Violet quilts juried into Prism Play

Elizabeth has claimed this large plastic bag as her sleeping spot lately and Rahrah especially likes to be with me on the front porch.

Easter and Past

Celebrating Easter online is better than nothing. My church leaders made the sunrise service and regular one available on Facebook. The glorious music was there, too. The Flowering of the Cross is a tradition that I feared we would have to forego this year, but even that was made available. It is a wooden cross covered in chicken wire. We are invited to bring flowers from our yards to cover the cross. Several people came by to cover the cross in flowers.

Pastors Kat Kimmel and Brett Harris

Flowering of the Cross

Our amazing pianist, Zhaolei Xie, and four USM orchestra students, Alejandro Junco, Marlene Gentile, Cecilia Araujo, and Patricia Venucci lifted my soul. These are not only great musicians, but dear and treasured friends! 
Late in the afternoon two tornadoes ripped through South Mississippi only about 30 miles from me, leaving 11 dead in the state. This tragedy seemed another insult to already suffering residents. 
In spite of the rising death toll and weather damage, the temperature has been pleasant, and being outdoors can be beneficial to us physically as well as mentally.

 My amaryllis has opened all its blooms--seven total. When the storm was predicted, I covered it with a garbage can. The can was barely high enough, but it did its job. Here are pictures over several days as the blooms opened.

I thought all my irises I got from Ella Lucas were purple, so this soft yellow one was a surprise.

Along with making face masks for local hospitals and friends, I was involved in making straps for a newly developed mask, called The Hub Mask, by Dr Anna Wan and USM. Her team has made at least 1,600 masks in a few weeks (from initial concept to prototype to first product) that have been sent directly to health care workers on the front lines in Hattiesburg. The story of the creation of the Hub Mask can be found here. Several sewers from the community cut donated red t-shirt bottoms according to the specs needed.

I enjoy having a jigsaw puzzle on the table to work on for diversion. During this quarantine period, puzzles have become a mainstay for entertainment. But I am giving up on one--something I have never done before. It is a beautiful scene of Lake Kawaguchi and Mount Fuji, and I got a pretty good start but now have to admit defeat. Even in finished large sections, I can see a slight looseness and will swap two pieces and get a perfect fit. Finally, I cannot find anything that will fit--or find several pieces that will fit, only to have to remove later. I think it's time for me to yell out "calf rope," a term I grew up hearing in Texas.

May Already Here

I'm still smiling at the joy of creating the lab coat for White Linen Nights (described in the previous two posts). Lici Beveridge with the Hattiesburg American made a short video showing the runway presentation, which can be seen in this link:  https://www.facebook.com/licibeveridge/videos/10216482155631074/

A group of artists called Southern Fiber Artists meets quarterly in Ridgeland, MS (about 90 miles north of me). Even on a day I think I'm too tired to travel, meeting with these talented friends is an inspiration! That was my day yesterday. We have an optional challenge each meeting--making an 8" x 11" art quilt depicting the object and color drawn at the previous meeting. Yesterday's theme was House & Blue. Interesting outcome! An added feature was "getting to know you" by two of our members. Then sack lunch, show and tell, and a fun activity (using permanent markers with alcohol). It will be interesting to see how these will show up in art quilts.

Today daughter Linda helped me put the hanging sleeve on our Pine Belt Quilters guild raffle quilt. Mississippi Kaleidoscope is 108" square and is a real beauty. We will be selling tickets for the drawing at our show October 5-6. 

Here is one more picture of my Amaryllis. Two scapes have eight blossoms, and they have been blooming for almost two weeks before the earliest one will begin to wilt.I can see this from my kitchen window--what a treat!