Today was lovely - sunny and warm-ish. I ate my lunch sitting by the dock on Lake Elkhorn, listening to the birds sing spring songs. :) If you look really carefully up the right bank of Elkhorn Creek above you can see three clumps of snowdrops flowering.
This is the second time in the 30+ years we have lived in this house that my daffodils have budded so early in the spring. They will explode into bloom sometime in the next couple of days.
The snowdrops are blooming in my front yard, too. I think these might have been planted by the birds or maybe the squirrels - I know I did not root them there. :)
It has been a busy few days since I last posted here. I took a short vacation down to Raleigh NC to attend QuiltCon2024 and will share more about that in a few lines. I have been daily sewing right along until my trip southward derailed my sewing 'train' - am trying to get back on board, slowly.
Before I left, I was still working on piecing my Apple Core units:
I'm pretty excited about this project right now. I've managed a decent pile of units (20+) and I still have some of my original 10" squares to piece with ... I am getting a bit tired of inventing new ways to put the prints together. :) Coupled with the declining variety, I suspect the last few I make will be somewhat simpler in design.
The Baltimore modern guild is going to try a block 'lottery' again this year. The first block the program chair has chosen (thanks, Valerie!) is from the archive of the national Modern Guild group. I made three blocks for the drawing which I _think_ are to be drawn for at the April? meeting.
The pattern is called Puzzle Block and we were instructed to make them monochromatic - so I chose 'green' since I could find enough solid fabrics in generally-green colors to work together. :)
Now, for QuiltCon2024 ... I traveled alone in my trusty Jeep from Columbia down to Raleigh. I had never been there before but I faithfully followed the GPS instructions in my iPhone and managed the trip pretty easily, driving down on Thursday the 22nd in about 7 hours. A group of us from the BMQG rented a house (Airbnb) together not too far from the Convention Center where the show was held. The admin was pretty nice to me (I think:) and gave me a single bedroom with my own attached bathroom in the house - more luxury than I usually have with group housing. :)
I spent Thursday afternoon and Friday all day at the show. The floors were hard concrete and I was physically really tired by the time I got back 'home' ... so Saturday I rented a motor scooter to ride the show. Much easier on my body!
The quilts on exhibit were very high quality! Many of them had political or social messages that made me think ... and others were mesmerizing designs that captured my attention and made me look carefully. For a change I remembered to take photos of the accompanying statement cards for each quilt I photographed ... so I can go back and enjoy the ideas behind each quilt. I love seeing how other makers' brains work! :)
Friday was a really hard day for me. I lost my Apple card plate after buying and eating my breakfast at a local Burger King - I thought (at the time) that I had dropped my plate in the car ... but have not found it since, either (will have to get a new plate). I have been watching my account and no questionable charges have been made so I expect the plate is just plain lost. Of course, I did not realize it was missing until I stopped to buy lunch.
The convention center concessions were actually pretty good - not unreasonably priced and a decent selection. When I opened my wallet to pay for my lunch (pulled pork a la Raleigh, cole slaw and collard greens with a bottle of water), I discovered my missing plate. So I pulled out the debit card plate that is attached directly to my personal checking account to pay. Did you see this coming?
Yes, indeed. I put my plate in my pocket to carry my food to a sitting place (a number of yards away in the demo area as there was NO seating of any kind in the roped off concession area the first two days - by Saturday, there were a few tables and chairs) ... when I sat down and finished eating, I reached into my pocket to retrieve my plate to put it away in my wallet and it was not there. :( Major bummer - either someone picked my pocket (unlikely) or I dropped my plate somewhere along the way between cashier and chair. I was completely ticked off after also losing my other plate - good thing I brought plenty of cash with me!
I was so aggravated with myself, I left the show early on Friday and went back to the house - missing the guild photo op and dinner. It was a good thing, for my mental health and group dynamics that I did, though. Took me a couple of hours to calm myself down and relax. OH, to compound my disgust, I wandered around in the rain after leaving the Convention Center trying to find my car - I tried to follow walking directions with my GPS app and failed miserably. I walked about 1.5 miles before I went full circle and found the car (which was two blocks away in the opposite direction I followed). Bummed out, wet AND physically exhausted ... bad combo.
Here are a few of the many, many pics I took - these are the ones that really stand out in my personal memory.
The backdrop quilt is the Baltimore guild's community service quilt, designed by a member and made by members (including myself). I should have been in this photo but my pique distracted me completely.
This is a group photo of the BMQG members who attended QuiltCon (minus me). I think there were 47 people there from our guild (membership around 100).
Typepad won't let me post the 'about' photo in correct orientation (who knows why?). This quilt, made by Erica Mulvena of Chicago for her mother using her recently-deceased father's clothing really spoke to me. The colors, layout and story all resonated - possibly because of my own loss of parents.
'Lahaina' by Patty Simmons of Lee's Summit MO won 2nd place in the Improv division. I like the explosion of color/energy and the interconnection of the lines.
'Night Lights' by Paola Machetta of Triest Italy caught my eye for it's beautiful color contrasts and lively energy.
'Ode to Yellow' by Carolina Oneto of Sao Paulo, Brazil wowed me with the color palette (I very, very rarely work in yellow though I do like the color) and the text-like lines (artists call this 'asemic writing' meaning looks like writing but isn't).
'Where She Stops Nobody Knows' by Patti Coppock of Tulsa OK. I went back to look at this quilt several times! I just plain loved it. All the circular, explosive energy and colors. The multi-linear quilting patterns. A closeup:
Just luscious!
'Fish' by Marianne Knops of the Netherlands. From her statement: "As a 15 year old boy you made a beautiful drawing. 52 years later, your drawing is the inspiration for my quilt. You're gone but I've been working on this quilt with you in my mind. Your fish, my FISH, your love, my love." Heart wrenching AND a great image.
'Solar Eclipse' by Michele Trimble of San Francisco. This one was another that I went back to more than once. The colors, the piecing, the explosion of energy, the background bas-relief quilting. Satisfying. :)
"Cosmic Blossom" by Jean Eileen Garcia of Aurora, CO. I love the color palette, the uneven outer perimeter, the overlapping circle, the sycopated white dots.
'New Moon Rising' by Hannah Haberkern of Germany. Another soul-satisfying image for me. :) The circles, the extravagant quilting designs, the colors. Yum!
No statement card photo for this one. :( Loved the colors, the quilting waves, the energy.
I could go on for a while with these photos ... maybe I'll do another post later with more lovely quilts?
:) Linda
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