not unlike 99% of all the mornings I've been blessed to see. My gratitude takes in things both grand and small. Grand, like I have a new desk top computer and 24" monitor, thanks to my daughter Lyn and her got a jump on Black Friday bargains shopping skills. While most of the world is going smaller and smaller with their computing devises I have cheerfully moved in the other direction . I love sitting comfortably at a desk instead of crooked over my lap top. As for being thankful for the samll stuff; the sun is shining, yea111 And a not so small thing is I am not in the kitchen cooking a turkey. Rather today thankfully I will be eating out with my girls (daughters) Lyn and Rene' and my niece Besa who will drive over from the Tampa area to join us at a place they choose.
So this morning when my eyes opened I said, "Thank you dear Lord for this day and all of my gifts and blessing for they are many; for each one of them I am truly grateful".
Once I was up and about, while having my first cup of tea for the day I read the blog entry of my friend Kathy Loomis and I smiled in agreement. So true was all she said about quilt making as it is today. I thought of the difference paths our work has taken over the years since I first met her and yet as different as our work is I appreciate our differences and realize that without all the different paths quilt makers can travel in their lives I give thanks for those differences knowing how boring the quilt world would be if we were all on the jammed on the same road heading to the same destination.
Speaking of paths and destinations; I think I am at another cross road in my journey. I had a long talk with an artist friend last Sunday over breakfast at Cracker Barrels and another cup of tea at my place about my lack of focus and lack of clarity about where my quilter/artist life is heading.
The indecisiveness I am feeling is nothing new. I tend to get reflective every couple to three years or so. And this contemplative mood didn't come on suddenly either. But since I returned from Houston I have felt the weight of it more and have decided rather than riding it out hoping it will pass, I will face it head on. Get focused. Get back to doing my morning pages. I've slacked off doing them of late even though I know doing them faithfully helps and I do so need some clarity about where I want to go and what I want to do with my quilt life in the coming year(s).
So if you stopped by to read my musing. I thank you for that.
I hope you the best day filled with the joys and what ever blessing grand and small that you think will make the day special for you.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Friday, November 09, 2012
Snap shots from the road and show floor
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| Images from Mobile and lunch at the Cafe' Royale |
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A tale of two cities, New Orleans upper left and Houston upper right, a wonderful sunset as we were entering Mississippi. My two pieces in the New Legacy exhibit and a snap shot of Lyric Kincaid and one of her quilts before the lecture by her that I listened to. 
Color Play, Mi Ra Kim, NC
Tutti Fruitti Village, Susan Bleiweiss, MA
 Surprised you didn't I... No flowers! |
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Thursday, November 08, 2012
Here I am again in the land of the upright and functioning
It took me two days to get there but here I am again, back to what's normal for me.
I got home from Houston at 3:30 am on Monday. As I was making my way along the hallway to my apartment with my wheeled bag and 2 totes, I didn't know how many days I would be down and out and in bed with Tylenol, soup and tea. Boy was I beat and beat-up from the miles of walking the four foot ball field show floor in Houston and two days of 20 hours traveling by bus it took to get to Houston and the 20 hours it too to get back.
I'm glad I went. I enjoyed the show. It was an experience I do not plan to never ever do again.
Of course it all looked good and easy on paper. The planning seamless. But as you and I know all does not go as planned and there was a lot of stepping back and punting required to keep it all from falling apart once the bus began to roll westward. As I made the trip, every 2-1/2 hours or so, I repeated the words of a very good and dear friend; Marti, who says 'You must be fluid, flexible is too rigid". How true those words were. How I wished 50% of those on board the bus were saying them to themselves as well.
I spent most of Monday abed. I am so glad I early voted because voting on Tuesday would not have been an easy thing to do, but I did get up long enough to make a trip to the Market. I was out of essential stuff like fruit, milk and yogurt. Although I returned home and to bed I was awake late into the wee hours waiting the results of the election which meant that my Wednesday was shot, because I napped all day.
Today I bounced out of bed as if the trip never happened and took myself to the movies. I saw "Flight" and "Skyfall"
both were worth seeing, but are not on my list of must see again which "Cloud Atlas" is. I saw "Cloud Atlas" before I went to Houston along with "Argo" which was very good too.
As promised I did take my camera to Houston with me but opted to purchase the DVD with all the top winners. It is so hard to get a nice clear shot of any quilt let alone the big winners.
As always the number of quilts in Houston is staggering and it takes all of one day just to see almost all of them and that's with not giving any one quilt more than a 10 second look, so it required that I revisit the quilts on day two. Day one I spent in the vendor section and day three was split between the two. There was very little that I purchased that was quilt related in the sense that I brought no fabric or thread or rulers etc, but I did want to see if there was anything new and great that had to go home with me and there wasn't. I did buy some stencils that I will use sections of for surface design and I brought a pair of shoes. Yes shoes. Shoes that were not all that attractive but ones that made walking the floor ever soooooo much more comfortable.
I don't regret spending the money either, even thought I went with shoes that under normal walking conditions are very comfortable. But at the show with the crowds jamming every aisle there is no such thing as striding and a normal gait. Its take a few short steps and stop, a few more steps and stop again. These shoes worked great for the stopping and standing part of seeing this show and less than a normal walking gait. That said...
Now to what caught my eye in Houston and if you know me at all it was the ones that depicted flowers and were colorful as in a Summer palette. But before I show you some of them in my next post ; a word to two friends, Valerie White, Denver, CO I saw your piece "Serenity" in the New Legacy Exhibit. Loved how it turned out. Hope my photography does it justice.
And Kathy Loomis, Louisville, KY. I love your piece in the SAQA Seasonal Palette exhibit of which no photos were allowed but I took a good long look at it and your work still amazes me and I worked 2 hours in the SAQA booth on Saturday and the Seasonal Palette Book was selling like hot cakes. Great piece!!!!
In my next post I will show you a few of the flowers and what else I took images of.
I got home from Houston at 3:30 am on Monday. As I was making my way along the hallway to my apartment with my wheeled bag and 2 totes, I didn't know how many days I would be down and out and in bed with Tylenol, soup and tea. Boy was I beat and beat-up from the miles of walking the four foot ball field show floor in Houston and two days of 20 hours traveling by bus it took to get to Houston and the 20 hours it too to get back.
I'm glad I went. I enjoyed the show. It was an experience I do not plan to never ever do again.
Of course it all looked good and easy on paper. The planning seamless. But as you and I know all does not go as planned and there was a lot of stepping back and punting required to keep it all from falling apart once the bus began to roll westward. As I made the trip, every 2-1/2 hours or so, I repeated the words of a very good and dear friend; Marti, who says 'You must be fluid, flexible is too rigid". How true those words were. How I wished 50% of those on board the bus were saying them to themselves as well.
I spent most of Monday abed. I am so glad I early voted because voting on Tuesday would not have been an easy thing to do, but I did get up long enough to make a trip to the Market. I was out of essential stuff like fruit, milk and yogurt. Although I returned home and to bed I was awake late into the wee hours waiting the results of the election which meant that my Wednesday was shot, because I napped all day.
Today I bounced out of bed as if the trip never happened and took myself to the movies. I saw "Flight" and "Skyfall"
both were worth seeing, but are not on my list of must see again which "Cloud Atlas" is. I saw "Cloud Atlas" before I went to Houston along with "Argo" which was very good too.
As promised I did take my camera to Houston with me but opted to purchase the DVD with all the top winners. It is so hard to get a nice clear shot of any quilt let alone the big winners.
As always the number of quilts in Houston is staggering and it takes all of one day just to see almost all of them and that's with not giving any one quilt more than a 10 second look, so it required that I revisit the quilts on day two. Day one I spent in the vendor section and day three was split between the two. There was very little that I purchased that was quilt related in the sense that I brought no fabric or thread or rulers etc, but I did want to see if there was anything new and great that had to go home with me and there wasn't. I did buy some stencils that I will use sections of for surface design and I brought a pair of shoes. Yes shoes. Shoes that were not all that attractive but ones that made walking the floor ever soooooo much more comfortable.
I don't regret spending the money either, even thought I went with shoes that under normal walking conditions are very comfortable. But at the show with the crowds jamming every aisle there is no such thing as striding and a normal gait. Its take a few short steps and stop, a few more steps and stop again. These shoes worked great for the stopping and standing part of seeing this show and less than a normal walking gait. That said...
Now to what caught my eye in Houston and if you know me at all it was the ones that depicted flowers and were colorful as in a Summer palette. But before I show you some of them in my next post ; a word to two friends, Valerie White, Denver, CO I saw your piece "Serenity" in the New Legacy Exhibit. Loved how it turned out. Hope my photography does it justice.
In my next post I will show you a few of the flowers and what else I took images of.
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