I remember years ago being in a crit group that had a challenge, and the phrase was "random access."  Just now I looked up the meaning of the phrase and it was so confusing that I gave up trying to get it.  Back in the day, it had to do with computer memory (RAM= random access memory, which means it could find things that were not sequential). I think.  Seems to me that this was the piece I made for this challenge. The piece was called "Seeking a Reading" and it had to do with Madame somebody-or-other, who was a palm-reader and whose card was found in the walls of what became the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in Manhattan.  I already forget what made the connection for me - but maybe it was having random access to memories or who knows what.
In any case, I am not sure how I got started on this tangent -- but if I trace it back to my day, I will no doubt find a link.  I am attempting to clean out my mother's apartment and the saga continues.  I have finally hired someone to help me make decisions of what to do with all these books, gorgeous antique cut glass, and everything else.  It all has memories for me.  My Nanny (pictured above when she was young) collected this stuff and so did my mother.  Now it all has to go.

On a brighter note - I got an email from Judy Carpenter this morning with a photo of her latest quilt,
Maggieville.  Here is a peek at a bit of this whimsical piece, which you can see and read about on her blog.

Getting an early start tomorrow - will try to post over the weekend from the Mt. Holyoke Campus.

Not much question where this day went! I turned my kitchen island into a workstation because my sewing room workspace was/is slightly indisposed. Ahem. Of course, this may look familiar, but it is worse than usual, I think.

Even though these scarves had to be yellow, they are not all the same yellow. And even though they had to have certain common elements, everything else I added was up for grabs, depending on my mood, which screens and dyes were at hand, etc. etc.  Here are two of them, for example.

I have been paid for my work and now the Class of 19XX is going to sell them to raise money for the alumni fund.  I decided that instead of having people rifle through a pile of 50 slightly different items, hemming and hawing over which one they liked better, I would order from ClearBags and fold/insert each into one of those little bags.  They will pay their money and take their chances - they get what they get. The people taking turns selling them will have an easier time. 

What I didn't bargain for is how long it would take me to number, tag, fold, and insert the little beauties so they look NEAT.  Half the day and I am still not done.  But I have about 3/4 of them packaged, so that's not bad. I can take the rest with me to my crit group tomorrow and these can be my "what I have been doing for the last three months" contribution.
I will confess that I would rather teach for several days than to ever do another commission this large. However, it's almost done and I can move on. To what?

 It is not as blue as these bad photos make it look: it's really gray.  This (below) is what it was previously (actually, this is the other half I haven't done anything with yet). A contribution from my friend Rachel. 
Or, maybe I should start something completely new. It might be time for some therapy strips.  Well, it will all have to wait. The rest of the week is scheduled up the wazoo.  Time to rest up for it.

Vanished in a cloud of answering emails, sending out supply lists, and a little bit of website tweaking.  

 
For those of you who can get to my my exhibit in North Carolina, here is where it is.  

These next two pieces were on the front wall, hanging together.  It was the first time I had seen them displayed in many years.  The first time they hung together it was 1998 and I put them into the guild show.  They shared first prize -- not because they were perfect, but because they had impact.  The judges were artists, not quilt police.

Last Stop

Prozna St., Warsaw

Below, Marni and one of her assistants are adjusting the work on this Walker hanging system.  I had to cut holes in the sleeves of several of my pieces to accomodate the hanging fixtures.sigh...

 Have you stayed tuned?  The rest of the time in Durham-Chapel Hill was so busy and I found it so hard to post from my iPad that I gave up till I got home.  Here I am - knee-deep in contracts and paperwork and emails that waited for me while I was away.

Earlier, I neglected to mention that we went to the North Carolina Museum of Art while we were there. The new part of the museum looks from the outside like warehouses, but inside it is light and airy and is simply one of the best-designed art spaces I have ever seen. Here are two of my favorite pieces of the contemporary art that was there. The figure was covered in buttons and made us smile.

No two people would hang a show precisely the same way in most cases, but in this case it became clear almost immediately how the 20-something pieces I brought would speak to each other and the process went pretty easily.  We were helped by the art committee volunteers who straightened, aligned, and labeled the pieces and I am very pleased with the way everything flows.  I think there were only 2 pieces I did not hang.

  Later, I will post whatever pictures I took that actually came out:-).

After a rather long day on the road,we arrived last night in Durham. To say that route 95 was a parking lot from D.C till way past Richmond,VA into understate the traffic conditions. But we made it and went out to a fabulous dinner with our friends Marni and Fred.

Today, we had a tour of the Chapel at Duke University-- a beautiful and imposing neo gothic structure.

More later.