I'm back after eleven days Houston (where the temperatures were in the upper 70's and low 80's). There is SO MUCH construction going on there that I think Houston should be nicknamed "Construction Fence City". There are fences on just about every other corner downtown, and many many of them are lining the main drags near the residential areas. It's like a dream come true for me, seeing that I'm pretty much obsessed with using them in my art work. I've been creating stitched monoprints of construction fences for five years and counting.
I met two women in Houston who are using construction fences in unique and wonderful ways. (I apologize that in my tired state right now that I can not remember either of their names.) One used an actual strip of fence (which didn't look like a fence at all as used) and sewed it to a beautiful quilt she designed and stitched. The other woman printed a fence on a one yard wide piece of fabric, using potato dextrin (which I know nothing about) and procion dyes. I immediately fell in love with what she showed me. It looked like a piece of batik, with the pattern of a construction fence on it. Truly incredible!
At both the International Quilt Market, and Festival, I was selling and signing my book The Uncommon Quilter. There was an article, "Quilters sew meaning in fabric of life" in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, that mentions me, Karey Bresenhan, the Journal Quilt project, and some participants.
Thanks everyone from the Quilt Art email list, who stopped by to say hello. It was very nice to meet all of you.
The shows in Houston are very special. I have NEVER met so many nice people in my life. There were 50,000+ people in attendance, who came from all over the Untied States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Japan, and many other countries. It didn't matter whether I was on a shuttle bus, on an elevator, waiting in a line somewhere, or signing books, everyone was really friendly and eager to start up a conversation.
I want to thank Karey Bresenhan, Vicki, Amanda, and everyone else who works for Quilts Inc, for a very beautiful and smooth show. You are very good people to work with!
