Lorna Shapiro at Quilters Dream Fabrics has a fun fall challenge. She put together packages of fabrics in attractive color palettes to be used in a quilting project. All of us (15 in total) who bought the packages will meet and  display our finished projects at the end of October at Lorna's shop. Our only criteria to follow were to use some of each fabric, declare a shape of which we were to use in our design only 3 times, and to make a people quilt or wall hanging-type quilt. My personal challenge is to use  the same design as Surfacing, modified a little, and to fuse the pieces to a whole cloth and embellish using the decorative stitches on my machine.

Didn't get accepted into the fall exhibit at Visions. I was a little disappointed but not totally surprised. I know there were many submissions. This will spur me on to improve the photography of my pieces as this is the only way that the jury can evaluate an entry. My collection of work is growing so I also need to explore how and where to show my work closer to home. Here is a detail shot with some daisies added!

I have been focusing my energy on a silk piece to submit to Visions Art Museum for their fall exhibition. It is a juried show so won't know till Sept. 1 if it is accepted. The registration is in, the piece is finished and I am happy with how it turned out. It was a lot of work as I decided to do mostly handwork on it. I will figure out how to get it to California if and when I need to! It is bigger than my usual pieces, 18 by 47 inches. As usual I learn something from every project I do. I am enjoying the silk batting for its' lightness of loft and ease of stitching. I also purchased a leather thimble which saved my fingertips!

Watched a documentary yesterday, The True Cost. It exposed some of the exploitation of garment industry workers in developing countries, and the pollution caused by the production of textiles. I knew that this was an issue but somehow having it in your face is shocking. Closer to home was a farmer in Texas who has switched to growing organic cotton. Her husband died young from a brain tumor most surely caused by the chemicals used on their large cotton plantation (her husband's doctor said he sees this type of tumor in men 40 to 55 who work in agriculture). I will be looking for organic cotton and checking my textile labels. Who knows, I might even start sewing clothes again......not likely, but I will keep shopping in consignment stores. Recycle!

I was so happy to find out that An Invitation to Serenity, my beach piece, was purchased. It feels very satisfying to know that it spoke to someone and that they appreciated the work.

Yesterday I finished and mailed an entry into the Beach Challenge at Visions Art Museum. I had taken a photo at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego of a lookout bench that I love. I used that as my inspiration. The greens in the textile piece are more vivid, either the camera or the computer has deadened them a bit. At spring break when I used to visit there, the  sun, warmth and serenity were just what I needed. I could see surfers to the left, Ocean Beach to the right, and rocky cliffs with white surf below.