much to be grateful for

I was reminded last night that it has been over two weeks since I have posted out here when my sister called at my mother's request to check up on me

yes, I'm okay --

in fact, it could be said that I am afflicted by an embarrassment of riches!

that said, here's a bit of what has been going on since November 7 when I last posted

Shortly after the opening reception for the Contemporary Fiber show, I was notified that this piece (which is actually two separate pieces designed to hang together) was accepted in a show titled Evolutions which will be held in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum beginning in January.

This show will include pieces from all over the world, and I feel privileged to have been chosen to be one of them.

One of the nice things about living so close to my daughter's family is that we can help each other.

While my son in law was away on a business trip, she asked me if I could pick up Mr Cute because she was in a late meeting at work.

I was happy to do it, and as I was driving him to our house, he and I were having a conversation about how pretty the sunset was.

As I turned off of the highway, he said "Gramma, you should pull over and take some pictures"

So we did -- the child already has an artist's eye -- and I think this photo has potential to become part of an art quilt in the future!

When I posted the last time, I thought this piece was just hours away from being complete

But something has happened this year in my work -- when I'm not happy with how something looks, I don't just press onward -- I go back and change whatever it is that is bothering me

These corners for example

My original plan for this piece was to face it, not bind it, but the corners were so thick (some areas about 8 or 9 layers of fabric/batting/stitching) that no amount of aggressive pressing or spritzing and pounding produced an acceptable result.

So I re-trimmed it and put on a very narrow black binding

NOW it's done

And after more than a year of working on this piece, it is finished too, and in this case I was able to face it which gives it that clean edge I wanted

The quilting on this piece has begun

This one is as big as the truck piece, just runs vertical instead of horizontal, so it will be as labor intensive to quilt

And I want to have it quilted, faced and photographed in the next week so I can enter it in a specific call for a show

So the race is on -- can I do it without an all nighter?  We'll see

Progress continues on the next piece in the Parched Earth series

The sky is all finished, and I'm working on the silo that will be on the far left of the piece

Work continues on the commission piece -- it is really coming right along even though the photos at this point don't look like much!

Tomorrow we will celebrate Thanksgiving -- we are looking forward to a fun day where we can enjoy each other and some good food

After that -- it's back to work!!

a very good week -- and returning to "reality"

Every year this time there is a big quilt show in Houston

It's sort of the grand daddy of quilt shows, having been around for quite a while and it has a reputation of being about as big as it gets -- at least in terms of real estate!

and it is a kind of "holy grail" for quilt makers -- it's a big deal to have one of your quilts be part of the show

I was fortunate this year to have my piece Tsa-la-gi: Cherokee Trail of Tears be on display as part of the Hands All Around show

Fortunate too that a friend of mine was going to the show, and she took a picture for me!

Very cool!!

on Thursday evening the Contemporary Fiber 2016 show opened at the Knoll Gallery in Denver

the DH and I made the journey so that I could actually be there for the opening reception

Parched Earth: Wilted Corn is on display there, and over the week end I got an email that the gallery owner has asked for the show to stay up an additional week, so instead of coming down on Dec 3, it will be up until Dec 12

that was an amazing experience

keeping my feet firmly on the ground is a good idea after all that last week

so I went right back into the studio and back to work

the quilting on this piece is now done -- I will be trimming it and putting on the facing this week

the stormy sky behind the silos is coming together nicely too

and I took a commission a couple of weeks ago for a piece that will be a Christmas gift for someone, so you only get little "snippet" pictures of that until after Christmas

on Friday the DH and I made a trip to the fabric store in the next town over (our only option for things like flannel now that the store in our town is closed) and came home with a bag full of flannel destined to become pjs for the clan this Christmas

lots of stitching to get done!!