Hershey and Long Beach

On Sunday I attended Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA, where a white glove volunteer was kind enough to take my picture next to my Sycamore. She asked me if I lived in a forest, because that's what my quilt reminded her of, which pleased me enormously! For the record, I live in suburbia, but spend as much time as possible in the woods, and I'm glad that's coming across in my work. It's a difficult quilt to photograph; the contrast of the pink and green seems to confuse point-and-shoot cameras. Below is a better picture, and there are detail shots on my website where you can see the beadwork.

My friend Pat Dolan was at the show a few days earlier, and posted extensively about it on her blog. She concurs with my opinion that this is real gem of a show, not vast in terms of quantity, but excelling in terms of quality. I love Pat's work, in all media, for the keenness of her vision and delicacy of expression--do check it out! She is a very astute observer and interpreter of the wonders of the natural world. I was also delighted to see that Kathy Nida included my Prickly Sow Thistle in her blog post about the International Quilt Festival at Long Beach, CA Kathy's blog is one of my regular reads; her work is so unique and so emotionally honest. I admire the way there's no pretense or attempted manipulation of the viewer's response, it's just her straight-up expression. I got to see one of her pieces at a exhibit in Lancaster a few years ago, and was so impressed.

Prickly Sow Thistle was part of the Celebrate Spring Exhibit at the IQF festival in Chicago, and is now traveling; after Long Beach, it will be going on to Houston.