Carolyn Meets Andrea

Hi Material Mavens!

I've just returned from the Boston area where I had the exciting opportunity of meeting fellow maven, Andrea. That's Andrea on the left, and me on the right. We had so much fun sharing information about one another and talking, talking, talking quilts. Linda was suppose to join us, but was ill that day, so I will have to wait until another day to meet her. We enjoyed a delightful lunch and strolled the streets of Newburyport, Mass. looking at all the artsy shops we could find. Andrea brought along some "show and tell" that included examples of her silk screening AND hand painted fabrics using melting SNOW, of all things. They are stunning! I'm thinking about becoming brave enough to try dyeing, but since I'm in Texas, it will have to be minus the snow.

Cheers!

Carolyn

Studio Under Construction !

Good morning from the Great State of Texas ! Some of you may know that my husband, Greg, and I relocated from Anchorage, Alaska last June (2011) and now live in the teeny-tiny town of Gatesville, TX. During this summer, Central Texas has endured almost 90 days straight of triple digit heat, and almost all the records for the highest heat and longest number of days in triple digits have been broken. Equally difficult is the significantly long period of drought. Our land is parched, our livestock are struggling, and humans are getting just a bit testy. We've heard there's a possibility of rain this weekend and temperatures returning to "normal" (in the 90's!) Collectively, Central Texas is praying for that rain and the lower temps.

On a personal note, my great news is that having been without my studio for over 2 years and thus very limited in the amount of work I've been able to produce, the cabinetmakers, carpenters, and painters are now hard at work putting my studio together ! What started as 4 white walls and a beautifully painted concrete floor (turquoise, of course!), the studio now has 85+ linear feet of upper shelving, and the 16" wide shelves will allow ample room to store all the rolls of batting! Next to be done - installation of cabinets, peg boards, an over-sized magnetic 'bulletin board,' and cabinetry under my Handi-Quilter to accommodate all the other 'stuff' that hasn't yet found a place to reside. I'm ecstatic about the progress that's been made in the last few days, and can hardly wait to get everything moved in !

Our "Letters" are due no later than Sept. 10, and our "Harmony" reveal is set for Sept. 15. I seem to do well under pressure, and it's probably time for me to get the ideas that have been floating around in my head for a few weeks out of my head, on to paper, and then into fabric. That is... if I can find all my quilting / art supplies that have been boxed up since we moved down here :-) I'm up for the challenge and excited about working on those 2 projects. I'm still very new at blogging, and as soon as I can figure out [again!] how to post pictures to this blog, I'll let y'all be the first to see the brand new "From the Harte Design Studio."

Peace & blessings to all, Kathy