Best laid plans ...

Back in July the Uncommon Threads group planned a workshop day in which to do "sky dyes" and gel prints and other forms of fabric enhancement. But as the day approached it was clear the weather was going to be nasty. So we postponed it until one of the beautiful autumn days that we have here on the Cape, i.e., yesterday.

But all plans are subject to weather. Yesterday was sprinkly, very windy and chilly and the lovely day on the lawn and porch of Kathleen's "Cranacres" home (which is for sale and which has relatively empty spaces, was moved indoors to the utility room. Not to be daunted--fabric was painted and printed, the group had a good business meeting and a nice lunch with an IPad slide show of the American Quilter's Society show in Padukah, KY a week ago that Kathleen attended. Work got gone, we got inspired and we carry on ... never mind what Mother Nature throws our way. The photo above, poor as it is, suggests the work that was done, here by Robin and Kathleen. We are planning a group show at the Cape's premier fabric store, Tumbleweed, for the month of October and we had time for show and tells about what we have been doing since July.

Mini quilt show

The  lobby of the Academy for Lifelong Learning has wall space and so puts up art shows by members for each six-week segment of classes. At the moment five of  my quilts are on display.

These have mostly been made in the  Uncommon Threads group. From left to right: the "flag" was for a challenge to do something with labels. If you click to enlarge the photo you'll see the "stars" are labels from fresh fruit, and the flag is surrounded by tags from many kinds of products from Chiquita Banana to L.L. Bean and the white strips contain selvages from fabrics. The tree has actual small shells all over it. The challenge was "the sea" and this is based on an actual dead tree on the beach where people put seashells. I call it the "shell tree". The snowy scene is everyones's favorite. It is inspired by a New Yorker cover of people walking their dogs in Central Park after a snow storm. The fourth is one of my favorites. The background was woven of strips of colors that mean autumn leaves to me. The leaves are prints of real maple and oak leaves. There's a small head shot of me. I call it "portrait of myself in the colorful autumn of my life. The summer on the beach photo is a fine way to spend a Sunday morning with the NYTimes crossword puzzle. These are among my favorite smallish art quilts.  And they are getting a good bit of attention.