Catching up

I haven't had any good (or bad) photos to post lately so I've been neglecting my blog.

We spent Thanksgiving week with Jerry's sister, Annette, and family. They used to live in the SF Bay area but a year or so ago moved to the Ohio/West Virginia border. They have a beautiful home on wonderful grounds. They live in a really small town but do have access to a Big K-mart and a Wal-mart. I couldn't find any fabric stores near them so that area gets crossed off my list of potential home locations.

Annette & Allen have 2 daughters and also joining us was our other Ledbetter niece Niki (Jerry's brother's daughter) visiting from Southern California. Annette & Niki planned out a wonderful menu for Thanksgiving (I was the designated sous chef/dish washer!) They decided we'd graze the entire day. We started with appetizers before noon. An hour or so later was our soup & salad course.

Niki made a delicious butternut squash/roasted red pepper soup that she carefully plated for maximum impact.



We followed up with the traditional turkey a bit later and concluded the day with a late evening dessert session. All in all a wonderful day and pleasant week.

Monochromatic challenge

The art group I recently joined just had a monochromatic challenge. I came late to the group and didn't have much time to complete my piece. I had an idea but it didn't quite come out like I'd envisioned.




I used a quilt fuse type product to sew the 2" squares together as I couldn't see myself sewing all those squares in the traditional manner. I stitched the tree with a gray variegated thread and then used paint and inks to do the leaves etc.

All of the quilts were really cool. I neglected to ask permission to post photos of everyone else's quilts and deleted my earlier post that included those photos.

Art that Works

I recently joined a small art group called Art that Works (ATW) This group has been working together for several years and has had a number of really interesting challenges. They're at the tail end of a monochromatic challenge and I am working on a really small piece so I have something to reveal at the next meeting.

A year-long challenge has just started. We will make one or more pieces based on photos taken at the local historic site Charles Towne Landing; the original settlement location of Charleston, SC. As I understand it, the resulting quilts will be exhibited at Founder's Hall on the grounds.

A couple of weeks ago we all met up at the Landing to take photos. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed our walk though the park. It had been over 20 years since I was last at the park and I was amazed at how different it looked.

There is a new (to me) modern visitor's center (click photos for larger view)



One of the things I love about the south is the oak trees - especially the ones that grow in interesting configurations.



We all thought this view of the stream looked like a marbling project.




I found some of the fencing very interesting.





There are a few replica buildings on the grounds



There is even a small zoo/animal preserve.






I have a couple of ideas for the quilt I'll be making. Hopefully I'll be able to translate my idea in fabric.