I’m feeling overwhelmed, excited and very inspired! So many good things happened over the past week!

First (and most important), on Wednesday we celebrated my incredible son’s 26^th birthday! They keep coming fast and furious!

The Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) started on Thursday. I had one day to see it all! As I mentioned before, two of my quilts made it into the show. High Voltage Birds won an Honorable Mention in the Innovative category. So much fun! After walking every aisle (sometimes more than once), looking at every exhibit, at every quilt, and perusing almost every vendor, I made it home and put my feet up. A friend emailed me about an hour later asking, “Did you realize your Albuquerque Sky quilt was used as the backdrop for all the PIQF special exhibit signs!” I looked at all those signs and never noticed! How ridiculous!

Now for the part that has me still giddy! We drove down to San Diego to attend the Visions Quilt Museum opening reception, breakfast, walk through, and juror talk on Saturday and Sunday for Breakout: Quilt Visions 2016. I’m so honored to have been selected to be part of this show. Walking around and looking at the other pieces, I’m overwhelmed. I wanted every single piece being displayed. Oh, for unlimited funds and wall space! Add to all that eye candy the opportunity to talk to some of the most amazing artists and my weekend was almost complete! Other than being some truly lovely people, I learned quite a bit as well – lots of great information was shared!

I was pretty nervous the first evening not knowing anyone other than my lovely husband who doubles as a great security blanket! I managed to talk to a few people when I first got there and then spotted a friendly face – an amazing artist I’ve met at PIQF once a year for the past three years was at the opening! Marty Ornich is a fiber artist that has created some amazing wearable art some of you may be familiar with. This is one of her creations that was at PIQF in 2014. She is also having a special exhibit at the Houston show coming up in November. If you’re there, be sure to check it out! It was so lovely to see her again and spend some time catching up! Funny how just that little familiarity can give you the confidence to reach out to more people! She is such a generous, vibrant person!

I was one of the award winners as well and was thrilled to meet the artist that the award was given in honor of – Rita Zerull. She’s a funny, charming, spunky 80+ year old San Diego artist and very generous with her time and conversation! (How could I not love a woman who said she would send me some buttons!) The photo is Marty on the left, Rita in the middle with me on the right.

If you are in the area, it is really a beautiful museum and a beautiful show! There’s even a book! Many other galleries and museums are right in the same area and some pretty amazing restaurants! Go!!!