Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Exhibit Opens Tomorrow

Ooooo with a touch of la la! Got this in the mail! The exhibit opens tomorrow and will run until August 2, 2008. If any of you are in the Denver area, go check it out!

That is Carolyn Crump's lovely "Awakening" pictured here.

Oh Frak!

My sister did win the title of campus Homecoming Queen. I had no idea she could deliver a speech as well as she can sing!

Oh le sigh...I have procrastinated yet again. Well, at least it's only a matter of putting the backing on "Grandma Hopes She's Never As Old As I Am" for the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum exhibit.

I took the catalogs with me from the other two exhibits to one of my favorite shops, Paradise Fabrics, which specializes in African fabrics. I usually buy the bazin/cotton damask for my backings there, so I thought the owner might like to see the final use of them in my pieces. He said, "They are wonderful! You do realize that this is only the beginning for you, you know? How could it not be?" That made me feel good.

He went on to say "People here (he is Ethiopian) are so rushed and that is not good. Life should not have to be like that. You look like a person who does not like a rushed life."

Ain't that the truth?

Rebeading Fun & A Playlist to Bead By

My youngest sister is running for campus queen. She bought her dress at discount because it was missing beads...so guess who said she'd rebead them?I just fired up the iPod and set it to "shuffle", got out my supplies and got crackin'...
Here's what I listened to:
Prince: "Adore"
Jimi Hendrix: "Castles Made of Sand"
Isley Bros.: "My Lover's Eyes"
Wu-Tang Clan: "Triumph"
Peaches & Herb: "Reunited"
The Pharcyde: "Passin' Me By"
The Beatles: "Hey Jude"
Prince: "Sometimes It Snows in April"
Erykah Badu: "Certainly"
Tupac: "Temptations"
Kool & the Gang: "Cherish"
Gnarls Barkley: "Crazy"
Yes: "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
Freddie Hubbard: "First Light"
Alejandro Sanz: "Try to Save Your Soul"
Buju Banton: "Hey Bwoy"
J. Holiday: "Bed"
Outkast: "Slump"
Common: "Funky for You"
Frederic Chopin: "Nocturne"
INXS: "Need You Tonight"

Textural Rhythms Baltimore..FINALLY

Now that the exhibit is coming to a close tomorrow, I realized I never posted pictures from the Textural Rhythms in Baltimore! It was held in a glass fronted room that overlooked the main street. As we were pulling up, I saw this slide in the window and started screaming and pounding the steering wheel in excitement. The cop next to me looked over at me, not as thrilled...My family showed up for support! Here are my cousin, great-aunt, mom and grandmom. My husband was there as well as my siblings and family friends too...
Here's a group photo of all of the artists present. It was wonderful meeting everyone. Yes, I'm crouching there giggling with Sonji in the front row...
Here I am with the fabulous Jo. It had its own wall panel to itself, which was super-cool...
We all were in a book-signing frenzy afterwards. Here I am signing one now as its owner's li'l dude looks on. I feel like Elle the Rock Star. It took me an hour and a half to get through the exhibit. What great fun it all was!!! Thank you Dr Mazloomi!

Quilting African American Women's History

There's nothing more that I like than to go to the mailbox and have a nice little something waiting for me! It's even better when it is the catalog from your latest exhibit! This is the one that "Just Me Being Negative" is currently in up in Wilberforce, Ohio. Valerie White (who is so super-cool by the way) created the piece on the cover ("The Guardian")...And last month, Dr Mazloomi sent a cool photo of the PR announcement of the exhibit on the huge screens outside of the Reuters Building in NYC's Times Square! Yay!

Cutie Patootie

Awww, who's this little cutie? No, sorry, this one's not mine, but is my 1st cousin's new baby Justin...

On Personal Quilting Style

You all have heard me say many times before how much I shake my fist at the "quilt police". I'm not a perfect piecer. I sure as hell don't sew as straight as I "should" sometimes, and someone please shoot me if you ever hear me utter the words "stitches to an inch." That's just me though...

Today I was thinking about personal quilting style. How we all have one and it becomes obvious from quilt to quilt what it is. My husband looked at my latest piece and was like "I'd recognize your work." Me, knowing my own style, asked him "How?" and he hit it on the nose: I have kind of a freeform-anything goes-thing when I'm doing my backgrounds. Whether it's a portrait, a Starbirth piece, or any of them, that's what I do. If you were to see me quilting them, it's a rather full-bodied experience. Arms working, body moving. I'm sure you all have been there, so it's not just me.

It's like we're dancers...can you hear the music the quilt's making?