Some Quilty Things in the Mountains

We have been at our place in the North Carolina mountains this week, enjoying the cooler weather, a visit with good friends, and also getting together with my brother Jeff's family who are vacationing in Todd this week.  We have been driving around looking at homes with our friends Marcia and Gerry, and stopped in at the Todd Mercantile and Bakery.  I did not know it, but the upstairs is an Arts Center with quilts, paintings, and crafts for sale.

We have had dinner at Jeff's cabin a couple times.  It offers spectacular views and sunsets.

Here are a couple of new Bible Art journaling pages I have done in the Book of Esther.

I have a little quilt on the Gammill downstairs, and may actually go down and try to finish it today.  Our company has gone home and it is a rainy day.  Hope to show pictures soon!

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Chihuly Venetians in North Carolina

Today was Road Trip day with my Art Quilt bee...this time about an hour away to Graham, North Carolina, the unlikely setting for a free exhibit of Dale Chihuly blown glass.

The exhibit is in the home of Alamance Arts, a lovely building with gardens and outdoor seating.  The front rooms have large displays of the Murano Laguna collection.

There are many smaller-size vases and vessels with fantastic, organic shapes and colors.

There are also twelve large Chihuly paintings which make great backdrops for the collection on display.

 This one reminded me of the "cupping" trend seen on recent Olympic coverage!

Here is the Alamance Arts building.  It is not far off from Interstate 40.  We enjoyed the gardens and outdoor sculptures as well.

I recommend seeing this exhibit before it closes on October 15!

Sun Prints

Have you ever tried sun-printing fabric?  It's one of my favorite things to do on a sunny summer day. I use Setacolor paint.  Just wet some white cotton fabric, apply some diluted Setacolor paints with a sponge brush, and let them dry in the sun with some botanicals on top.

When the fabric and paint are dry, the areas covered by the leaves and petals will look like a shadowy white print.

Speaking of botanicals, we met our son Dave's family at the Raleigh Rose Garden on Sunday evening for a pre-new-baby-Layla family photo shoot.  I got lots of inspiration for future paintings or artwork.

Here are Dave, Emily, and granddaughter Charlotte.

Charlotte is looking forward to becoming a big sister next month!