QUILTCON THURSDAY

 First day of Quiltcon in Raleigh.  There were so many people!  I was volunteering at the Merchandise Booth from 8am to 10am.  It was non-stop.  I heard they ran out of tote bags before the show opened at 10am.

The big award winners - Ethylene's is right there!

Here is the Best of Show quilt.

"What We Will Use As Weapons:  School Supplies" 
made by Ginny Robinson of Chapel Hill, NC

The back of the quilt

It was so wonderful meeting up with my BravePatch Friends.  We mostly just meet on zoom every week.  Some of them I had never met in real life.  I met Claudia for the first time.

Some of us went out to dinner at a great Lebonese restaurant, Sitti.  The waiter had better things to do, but the food was excellent.  They gave us a postcard with the history of the restaurant and I included it into my sketch.

Dinner with Ethylene, Kim, Robin and Maggie.

POSTCARD CLASS

 I took a zoom workshop with Sarah Ruiz today on how to make quilted postcards.

It was a great three hours spent.

I made two today.  I can make more now.

Made from leftovers on my table from the strip sets.

Made from more leftovers and a few pieces from scrap bucket.

WAITING SKETCH

 I took Darrell to a clinic for an appointment where they would be knocking him out for a short time.  They said he'd be with them for about two hours.  So, I ran down to Renton to pay for my new longarm frame.  I wrote a check this time, because it was such a hassle with the debit card last time.  (over the daily limit issues).

After that was done, I swung through Renton - oh my, it has really changed since I've lived there.  I stopped at the little quilt store on 3rd, Wyldwood Creative.  I figured I could spend a little money to help her out.  I know, I know, I don't need any fabric, but you gotta keep these little local stores open!  I did find a few things, mostly Ruby Star Society stuff, so everyone was happy.  I was also delighted to see a little cabinet out in front of the store that said 'Little Free Craft Cabinet' on it.  I went back to the car and grabbed some of Sue's 'coloring books' that I've been carrying around.  I put them in the cabinet.  Hopefully, someone will give them a good home.  I still have more to distribute around, too.

I headed back to the clinic to wait.  I brought my sketching bag so I could sketch while I waited.  I stayed in my car and sketched the car across from me.  It got my attention immediately because it was parked on the line - I hate that!

I just realized I love sketching on these little postcards.  There's no pressure to make a masterpiece, like I feel when sketching in a sketchbook.  Fun!

P.S. Darrell is fine.

STAMPEDE of the OX

They are on their way....finally!

I took a big pile of envelopes to the Post Office today (54 I think), I had to go to the counter to get overseas stamps. Luckily, I went early and beat the crowd.

Here is this year's Year of the Ox postcard exchange for Barenforum. It's from a doodle-type drawing I did while thinking about this year's exchange and decided what the heck, why not?

It's an etching I did on copperplates. The first time I've used copper. I made three plates, but ended up using only two, I didn't like the one that was for the background. So instead, I went with heavy plate tone. I've always liked a good plate tone!

I tried coloring the horns a la poupee', with varying bad results, so I switched to chine colle.

I used some colored papers I already had for the horns on the rest of them. I also tried several different color combinations.

I'm not a very good printer - I'm always experimenting and have a hard time making an 'edition'.

I hope you enjoy them, and Happy New Year!

Year of the Ox, a year of Prosperity through Fortitude and Hard Work.