Some Bling-Bling to Start Your Weekend

Following my art quilt bee's trip to the Page-Walker house on Monday to see the Narrative Threads exhibit, we went to lunch nearby at Serendipity Gourmet Deli.  Then, it was a short walk around the corner to a fabulous bead shop called Beautimus Beads.  The store was well-named...everything in there was attractively and cleverly displayed. 

I was as happy as a Kindergarten child with a new box of crayons!

I loved these little clear bowls...with feet!

Even if you are not a beader or embellisher, you could find yourself a little something in this lovely shop.

How about a pendant/pin?

Or scarves, bags, or cuffs?

We might be having a future bee meeting at this shop for a personalized tutorial on beading.  Love that idea!

Then we visited the Purple Polka Dot gift shop next to Ashworth's Drugstore.  I would never have guessed that this block of Cary would be so artsy back when my little sister was making hot dogs and milk shakes at the lunch counter in Ashworth's!

 Lots of fun and quirky items for the home.  I like the fused glass items in frames.

  They would look good hanging in our cabin!

Here are some ideas for decorating a baby's room with simple fabric applique and rickrack on mounted gallery canvas.

Our final stop was at the Cary Gallery of Artists, on the same block. 

We were lucky that Ana Sumner was working there on this day.  She is a fiber artist who did the artwork for the Cary Lazy Daze publicity. (You can see this piece featuring well-known Cary landmarks on her website.)  We had a nice time talking with her and discussing all the lovely pieces in the gallery.  I invite you to visit their website to see some of the fine watercolors, oils, and other work produced by the artists in this group.

After visiting with my aunt in a rest home near Cary and doing a little shopping, I then met my daughter-in-law and her mother at Elegant Stitches in Cary.  There is a little girl arriving in December who needs to have a pretty nursery!  Somehow, we three opinionated women chose a selection of fabrics to make a quilt, dust ruffle, curtains, chair cover, and whatever else inspires us as we play with the ocean-themed fabrics.

I need to finish up the work on my house so I can get busy sewing again!

Narrative Threads, Part 2

Okay, trying again today to post about the Narrative Threads exhibit at the Page Walker house in Cary.  This time I have resized all the images to a lower resolution, and hope I won't have the frustration of the past attempt!

Here is another favorite of mine.  The quilt was made by my friend Margaret Jordan.  The tree is dimensional and features wrapped fabric.  The fused background of triangles diminishes in size from foreground to sky.

Winter Waiting, Quilt by Margaret Jordan, Text by Jenn Mercer

As I mentioned last time, some of the quilts had text incorporated in the piece, and some had it published on a separate display.  The next quilt has text right on the quilt.




With the heavy quilting, again, it was somewhat hard to read.

Here is a quilt in bright and happy colors with a delightful gathering of fibers.

Threads, Quilt by Jenny Williams, Text by Anora McGaha

The quilt in the next piece is by well-known art quilter Lyric Kinard, who lives in Cary, the site of the exhibit.  Her piece looks very organic, with soft earth tones and nature imagery.



Narrative Threads:  Call and Response, Quilt by Lyric Kinard, Text by Maura High

Here are detail shots of the two smaller fabric pieces.

Here is another piece with soft earth tones.  There is subtle quilting of nature images to enhance the theme.

One of the most compelling quilts in the exhibit is this one called Yet, it is all a dream.  It is a tribute to children in refugee camps.  The sheer ribbons have text of the poems, and contribute to the imagery of being trapped. The figures are heavily thread-painted.

Yet, it is all a dream, Quilt by Katy Gollahon, Text by Christine Wai.

I will share one more quilt from the exhibit.  This one is a very colorful piece called Life Force.



Life Force, Quilt by Jana Lankford, Text by Kerry Holjes

The poem was rendered in a very lovely calligraphy on a separate piece.



These are not all of the quilts, but I have chosen the ones I liked the best and which had decent pictures.  It is hard to photograph quilts  in a show without a tripod to avoid the crooked angles and keystone effects.  But, I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the Narrative Threads exhibit.

Artsy Excursion

Yesterday was a wonderful, inspiring day...and finally I have some quilty things to write about.  I know you are tired of hearing about me peeling off wallpaper and packing boxes!

My art quilt bee, Anything Art, traveled to the Page-Walker house in Cary to view the exhibit Narrative Threads.

  Narrative Threads is a members-only exhibit that offers creative collaborations between quilters and writers with each team of artists displaying unique works that relate to their selected theme. Exhibit closes August 26. For more, call (919) 460-4963.

Our own member, Antoinette Brown, was one of the exhibitors and coordinators of this event. We have been hearing about this project for almost a year, so it was wonderful for the whole group to visit the exhibit together. Toni had two projects herself in the exhibit, as did our former member Margaret Jordan.

One of my favorite pieces was this scene of an old woman knitting in a primitive log cabin, complete with baskets on the shelf and a cozy fire in the hearth.  The knitter's face is hidden behind an unruly mass of white hair, while her dog is curled up by the hearth.

I neglected to get the name of the quilt maker or the writer with whom she collaborated on this one.

Another one I loved was used on the postcard advertising the exhibit.



The Healing, Quilt by Eileen Williams, Text by Donna Carswell

   Each quilt was made to interpret or complement the writing of a collaborating partner.  I found it somewhat difficult to appreciate or even read the accompanying text on most pieces.  Sometimes the font was too small to read, sometimes the text was artistically presented but hard to read on the wall.  I concentrated instead on the quilts.

I loved this very colorful collage of images by Romare Bearden.  The fabric collage is by Nancy Lassiter, and the descriptive text surrounding the images is by Antoinette Brown.



Jammin' with Romare Bearden, Quilt by Nancy Lassiter, Text by Antoinette Brown

I think I will stop there for today.  I have written this post twice, completely losing the images the first time, and having huge computer delays this time.  Don't know if it's my computer or Blogger misbehaving.  More next time!







Mountain Fun, Then Back to Work

Last Thursday, we headed up to the North Carolina mountains for a long weekend with our son Bryson's family.  It was their last chance to come up on a Thursday before the kids start back to school.  For me it was a welcome respite from painting the upstairs of our house.
The weather was good, and we enjoyed lots of time on the Gator, four-wheeler, and by the creek.

Our new grandson, Caden, just had a birthday and had to have an N.C.State football jersey to truly belong to this family!

My sister's family was also up there.  Here is her newest grandbaby, Holly, also rocking the Wolfpack gear!

After Bryson's family left on Sunday, Charlie and I took a ride on the Gator to the top of the mountain.  It was sunny on our side, but look what was going on across the valley at 2:00 in the afternoon!

The skies were very ominous, so we did the skee-daddle out of there. 

Have you been enjoying the London Olympics?  We have been so impressed by all the dedicated athletes and their amazing feats.  So many highs and lows as they meet their goals or end in disappointment after years of practice.  Kudos to all of them who made it to the Games.

Once home, it was back to work, this time in our dining room.  I decided to get rid of the wallpaper border that was under the chair rail.  I still like it, but it could be a deterrent for a possible home buyer that did not like the flowers or the color scheme.

It is very hard work removing wallpaper.  I made it my personal Olympic quest to see how long a strip I could tear.  Not very long.  There was much shredding of paper.  But I got'er done!  Also got everything ready to paint the walls tomorrow.  Lots of spackling, sanding, yada yada yada.

This weekend we are heading to a different part of the mountains for a McBrayer family pool party at my brother-in-law Richard's house.  Next Monday I am going to visit the Page-Walker House in Cary for a quilt exhibit, and later will do some baby fabric shopping with my daughter-in-law Emily and her mother  They have chosen a mermaid theme for the nursery.  Wonder why?

That was Emily in her college days, with the quilt I made for her 21st birthday.  Can't wait for the little mermaid to arrive in December!