I've been a b-a-a-a-d blogger this past year. (A whole year since my last post! Yikes!) But I'm determined to do better in the coming year, so here goes --
Here's a photo of my studio, all spiffed up and serving as my gallery, at last month's Swift Mill Lofts Open Studio and Art Sale.
Well, this is one wall of my studio. This is about half of the quilts that I offered. Sales were good, I am happy to say! Many thanks to everybody who visited, and very special thanks to those who purchased. I hope you enjoy your quilt!
Last month’s sale was the first time I’ve ever really truly offered quilts for sale, but it won’t be the last. In fact, I’ve added a sales component here on my blog. Check out the “SHOP” tab at the top of this page.
But back to 2015. Here are some my quilt accomplishments –
· I completed 25 pieces and made significant progress on 3 more;
· I taught two workshops – one here in my own studio and one at daughter Coulter’s YaloRun Studio out in Mississippi. I also gave two lectures – one here and one there.
· I had four quilts accepted into juried shows --
1. “William Faulkner’s AS I LAY DYING Graphic Novel Version” into Studio Art Quilt Association’s SOUTHERN ACCENTS exhibit at Ruth Fun Center for Textile Arts in Melbourne, Florida.
2. “Abby’s Quilt” and “Livi’s Quilt” into Bulloch Hall Quilt Show, Roswell, Georgia.
3. “Hillsides of North Alabama” into Quiltcon 2015 in Portland, Oregon, where it won second place in hand-quilting.
4. “Satsuma” has been accepted into Quilting 2016 in Pasadena, California, where it will be exhibited in February.
· I received a “celebrity commission” which I cannot write about yet. More to come later this year. (Apologies for being so secretive, but …)
· I joined Studio Art Quilt Association and attended my first SAQA conference – in Melbourne, Florida. It won’t be the last. Many thanks to my quilting friend JoAnn Camp for encouraging me to join SAQA!
· My quilting and I were the cover story for the December issue of ART CURRENTS magazine.
· I committed to making a Carson McCullers quilt for an international literary conference, celebrating Carson McCullers’ 100th birthday, to be held in Rome, Italy, in the summer of 2017. (Can’t wait to get started! Can’t wait to go back to Rome!)
· I continued to work on my studio and now have it near-perfect.
· I ordered floor frames for hand-quilting and look forward to their arrival within the next few days.
· I created this website.
Maybe it’s time for some resolutions:
I hereby resolve –
· To continue to hone my skills and to explore new means of artistic expression in fiber.
· To maintain this website.
· To work toward settling the lighting issues in my studio.
· To teach a few more classes and reach a conclusion regarding balance of time between teaching and quilting.
· To continue to keep my detailed quilt journal.
· To travel to at least one major art quilt exhibit.
· To give more consideration to the creation of a quilt series. (My work is all over the place; some would say I need to focus my work by creating a series.)
· And, of course, I have a number of quilt-specific goals already – for instance, “to make a xxxxx quilt,” “to make a yyyyy quilt,” “to make a zzzzz quilt” … but I won’t get into all those details here. You’d better believe they’re in my journal, though!