Exciting Studio News

Only recently I learned my quilt PaMdora's Box will be at the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum as part of Quilt National 2005. Yesterday I received this postcard in the mail -- PaMdora is a cover girl! It's very cool to be in this museum because I have lots of family out in that area who have never seen my work (except on my website.) So I'm excited to hear what they think of the show.

This has been a good season for my quilts. "It's Only a Leaf" was accepted into Quilt National 2007 and "The Vintage Purse" was accepted into FiberArts International 2007. I almost didn't enter QN this year because my own slides for the entry turned out pinky and stinky, but Russ re-took them and then they were beautiful (he's so great!).

I had my doubts about FiberArts International also, especially after ordering the last two published catalogs. I wanted to see previous years, to see whether my work might fit in. I tried counted up the quilts in the shows because this exhibition features much more than quilts. I thought I spotted about 8-10 out of approximately 90 pieces per show, but it's hard to tell because many fiber arts disquise their quilts with descriptions like "fabric construction" and "layered, stitched medium." There are even some artists who simply use the term "own process" -- what's that??

Lisa Call has already posted a lot of information about the FiberArts show. She got in both shows also -- yay, Lisa! Her work will probably end up on the cover or the book liner again...

Other excitment of a different sort...
Last week a Mexican bakery down the street from our studio blew up because of a gas leak in the kitchen. This building used to be the Catfish house -- full of knotted pine paneling, big rope decor, and all you can eat catfish buffets. Then someone remodeled it, and leased it out to four separate businesses.

Some students at the university across the street said that the explosion happend around midnight, and it shook the ground across the street, rattled windows, and blew open doors. Luckily no one was hurt, and there was no damage to our studio other than burnt books falling all over our studio lawn, because there used to be a bookstore right next to the bakery. No more! The back of the building looks even worse than the front. They've also taken down the Sprint and Subway signs. I haven't tried drawing flying Mexican pastries and burning books, but imagine someday this too may find its way into some kind of art.