It's nearly April of 2022 already and I have been a miserably absent blogger. But I have been very busy. Here's a quick recap of 2022 from January 1st through today:
New year, new body (106 pounds lost), new haircut. I'm liking it short!
In January, I went to Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, with my good friends
Maria Shell and
Kerri McQueen Green to do an independent study with
Nancy Crow. It is a fabulous place and was a fabulous experience.
It had been a long time since I had studied with Nancy. All other classes I've taken with her were at her Studio in Ohio. She was teaching at the
Madeline Island School of the Arts Western Campus, and it just sounded like a great place to go. I had been in a funk for the past year or more and needed a nudge. Nancy was wonderful -- she helped me feel creative. Thank you, Nancy! I'm excited about working again!
The ranch was beautiful. Maria, Kerri, and I did a little hiking. Love those saguaros! Tanque Verde Ranch is adjacent to Saguaro National Park. Next time we plan to hike the park.
We had some spectacular sunsets:
And working with Nancy, and seeing what everyone was working on, was just what I needed! This was my piece at the end of the two weeks:
A few weeks later, I headed to Phoenix for QuiltCon 2022. Once again meeting up with Maria. I love QuiltCon. The quilts are exciting and it was wonderful spending time with old friends. I also attended a number of really great lectures. And did a wee bit of shopping. Just a bit....
I had two quilts in the show. This is Sunset Over the Bay:
The lectures were well presented, engaging, and very informative. I especially enjoyed the presentations by
Teresa Duryea Wong and Maria Shell:
The best part of all was catching up with people I haven't seen in several years. It was so good to see
Cindy Grisdela!
And to spend more time with Maria. We're masked here (being safe) but this is me, Cindy, Maria:
Our last night in Phoenix, we visited the Desert Botanical Garden. And enjoyed the Chihuly installations around the garden:
Back home, I had wonderful news. My new Trek e-bike finally arrived! I'm pretty short, so I had to special order my frame and it took 7 months to get here. But now I am enjoying cycling around Fort Worth:
And, bonus, it's teal! I love teal! Brian also bought a new Trek bike. His is orange, also a favorite.
I received really good news about my entry for
Sacred Threads. "High Anxiety" was accepted, and was selected to be part of the traveling exhibit. I'm very excited to be part of this prestigious exhibit:
The Dallas Quilt Show took place in March. So. Much. Fun. For one thing, I was the featured artist and had a solo exhibit with 40 of my quilts. I hung it with a great deal of help from friends:
Thank you Rhonda, Kerri, Carol and Frances. I would not have been able to do it without you!
It looked great. I posted a few pictures in my last blog post, but here is one of the show from the mezzanine. My exhibit is most of the center of the photo:
The quilt show itself was great! I had four quilts in the judged show and won two ribbons. Here is Argy-Bargy:
And, of course, I keep saying it but it was so good to talk to real, live people. I have missed my friends! Here are a bunch of my favorites, left to right
Barbara Oliver Hartman,
Andrea Brokenshire, me, Kerri McQueen Green and
Karen Stone:
The following week I taught my first live class, and gave my first live lecture, since those distant pre-pandemic days, for the Trinity Valley Quilt Guild. I had forgotten how much I love to teach. And to lecture. It was a real kick! I taught "Color Me Happy", using the color wheel to discover classic color combinations and using them to make a small log cabin quilt. My students were FABULOUS!
The next day I gave a lecture about joining quilt challenges. A new lecture, and it went very well:
After the lecture, a few students showed off their class quilts:
I am so looking forward to my next live class and workshop in May at the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild! I also have a virtual lecture in April -- looking forward to that as well.
I have finished one new quilt so far this year, and I have just finished piecing two new tops. I see quilting in my very near future (a near as this afternoon)! Things are flowing again and I am a happy happy woman.
So, not so brief after all. 2022 is off to a really good start. I'll report again soon.
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