Carol Larson nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thanks, Carol, I haven't won many things lately, having received at least 2 or maybe 3 rejections since my Quilt National acceptance. I'm happy that somebody likes what I'm doing. Carol and I share opinions on many things and are of about the same age. We live on opposite coasts and see the world from different heights. If I were to follow her blog naming convention, this would be Short Girl Tales.

For the rest of this reward, here's what I'm to do:
1. Put the logo on my blog.
2. Link to the person who nominated me.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs here.
5. Leave a message for my nominees.

I've done the first two but will have to work on the other 3. That post will come soon.

This past weekend my husband and I drove up to Syracuse for a weekend with my sister and a visit to the Schweinfurth to see Quilts=Art=Quilts. They don't allow pictures but you can download a pdf file of the show.

My piece was in the last room we came to (by that time my sister was asking if I was sure I was in the show.) Standing right in front of my quilt were two couples and they were discussing what they saw in the piece. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I introduced myself and offered to answer any questions. We talked about my piece for a minute and then they were interested in hearing what I thought about other pieces in the show. I talked about surface design, explaining to them what that was by pointing out Helene's Davis' works. In addition to winning the Surface Design Award at this show, one of Helene's entries had been sold.

I was fascinated by the work of Marianne Burr. I don't remember ever hearing of her before, but her work uses circles, hundreds of circles, which have always attracted me. Doing a little googling on her name, it appears that my head has been in the sand because Marianne is an award winner. She is in the current Visions show, and is also in Quilt National, so I hope I can meet her at the opening.

Another artist whose work captures me is Terry Jarrad-Dimond I first saw her work at ArtQuilts Elements last spring. She has two pieces in Q=A=Q. They are very simple, large color blocks of her hand dyed fabrics. It is her use of thread that makes the work so special. She quilts the piece heavily in closely spaced parallel lines, but uses the thread to change the underlying color of the fabric. So a piece of red fabric might be quilted with an area of red, another area in white, and a third area in purple. Each thread change subtly changes the fabric color. It's the kind of work that merits close inspection to see the threadwork, but also merits viewing from a distance to see the subtle changes.

SAQA Auction

In a few weeks the Studio Art Quilt Association's Online Benefit Auction will begin. There are 244 12" square quilts made and donated by members of SAQA. This is a reverse auction which means on the first day the artwork is shown, it will have its highest price of $750. Each day thereafter the price decreases by $100 until the piece is sold. The auction begins on November 10th at 2PM Eastern time; no bids will be accepted before that time. There will be 3 stages to this auction, and approximately 80 quilts will be auctioned in each stage. You can find my donation on this page, second row from the bottom, right side.

This is SAQA's major fundraiser. Money raised from the auction will go to support all of SAQA's exhibits, catalogs, and outreach programs during 2009. So bookmark your favorites and bid early - many people were disappointed last year when they waited an extra day and were beat to the click on the pieces that they really wanted. I hope that you find something that appeals to you!

And I've been tagged, so here's the info. Teri Springer tagged me.

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you. That's Teri.
2. Post the rules on your blog. Here they are.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
1. I can't resist Edy's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and it has to have chocolate sauce on it.
2. I hate going to the gym but I go 3 times per week or else I will turn into a blimp.
3. I have all seven of the Harry Potter series on either tape or CD. I also have all 5 movies. I only have books 5,6, and 7. I would much rather listen to Jim Dale do the books than read them myself. Actually when I read them I hear his voice in my head.
4. I hate shopping for clothes, nothing ever looks good on me. I hate trying things on because those dressing room mirrors are dreadful. They would sell alot more clothes if they had skinny mirrors.
5. I don't drink coffee but I have a huge selection of teas. My favorites are the Tazo teas, especially Green Ginger. No Lipton Tea is allowed in my house.
6. I'm perfectly content to stay home all day long and work in my studio.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
I'm going to select 6 people who are on the SAQA Artists Web Ring who (whom?) I don't know, or at least not very well. In the process I will need to read some of their postings. I hope you take the time also.
Cynthia St. Charles
Rachel Cochran
Liz Berg
Jill Werner
Sandra Hankins
Kim Hambric

5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Done

6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.
And done.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Andrea, someone who found me by searching for 'textile artist'. I need to list 7 things about me. I sort of feel that I've written about everything I want people to know and what I haven't written about is stuff I'm not about to share. But here goes:

1. I love crossword puzzles. I also like Sudoku and Kakuro (but Kakuro books are difficult to find.)

2. I hate trying to make small talk with the person sitting next to me on an airplane. I much prefer reading or working puzzles.

3. I love the palette of colors shown by trees in the Autumn as they turn to red, orange, yellow, tan, with some green still mixed in.

4. I wish I had more space for a bigger studio. I practically have to back out to turn around.

5. I wish all motels and hotels would use fitted sheets. I hate how the bottom sheet gets all scrunched up and pulled out when it's just tucked in.

6. I hate the fact that on my next birthday I will be 60 years old. It sounds so old..."60 year old grandmother". Doesn't that just bring to mind a little old gray haired bent over crone?

7. I'm not much into politics, but I think the Current Resident (in the White House) has done irrepairable damage to this country and to the world at large. I cannot think of even one redeeming leadership decision that he has made.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, but we won't be celebrating until Saturday due to schedule conflicts. So instead we will be removing wallpaper from the hallway and maybe the dining room. I have an 18 pound turkey defrosting in the refrigerator. Usually I wait until right before T-day to buy my turkey but several times the stores have already run out by then. So I bought it last Saturday. We will probably be eating it all the way until Christmas.