I Madonnari Festival

Every year at the end of May, artists converge on the Old Mission in Santa Barbara to decorate the grounds with colorful chalk drawings. The I Madonnari Festival began in 1987 and has grown into a very successful fundraiser for the Children's Creative Project. Approximately 25,000 people attend the festival. Here are a couple of my favorite drawings this year.

The foreshortening on this hand is fantastic.
I love this composition; it draws you right in.
The weather has been so strange here, I can't tell if it's winter, spring, or summer. We'll have one day with record breaking temperatures in the 90's, and the next day, it's 65 degrees! The honey bees know it's spring though because my Hebe bushes are blooming.

My beloved camera (Canon Rebel) went to Greece without me! My husband went to Athens on a business trip and brought back some great photos. I'm the one that's always taking the photos, so I was really impressed at how well he did. I told him that I liked doors, color and texture and he came back with these fantastic photos. I LOVE THEM.

What a guy! How many people have photos of Greek Graffiti?

I'm Back . . .

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I have lots of excuses, however, none of them are very good. I've been busy and have a lot to show and tell, so lets get on with it.
Shopping: now that's a good place to start. I'm afraid a lot more came in this month than went out! I went to two quilt shows, one in San Luis Obispo and one in Camarillo, Quilt Visions in San Diego, F&S Fabrics and Pavilion Fabrics in Los Angeles. Another worthwhile stop was at La Jolla Fiber Arts. There was a wonderful selection of hand-crafted fiber items. Here's a small sampling of what I bought. Bought these beauties at the Seven Sisters quilt show in SLO.

This is yummy micro suede. Jeanne and I found this fabulous store in LA, Pavilion Fabrics, that is going out of business. Everything is 50% off!!! GOTTA LOVE THAT. There were around 40 colors and I bought 16 of them. We also scored some polyester thread and trim. F & S Fabrics has a huge assortment of everything you could possibly want. Didn't get out of there empty handed either.In case you didn't know, I'm a book-a-holic. All three of these are great and I'm really happy to add them to my collection. I bought both of the Jane Dunnewold books at the Quilt Visions Museum, but you can buy them here.

Speaking of great books, Rayna Gillman's "Create Your Own Handpainted Cloth" will be available in June. Yours truly has a piece in her book as does my friend Jeanne Surber. You can pre-order your very own copy here.

Here's a few painted pieces that I made with my Fibervision group on Saturday. Lora did a great job organizing this workshop and everyone enjoyed it. The top two are fat half yard pieces and the bottom one is about 24 inches square.

I've been working on the costumes for the musical Pazzazz. The deadline is looming, and things are getting a bit frantic, dress rehearsals begin June 6th. This has been a fun project, totally over the top and colorful.

I've organized an Art Quilting lecture that will be given to the Fiber Arts Guild in July and have begun to compile images of Fibervision's fantastic art quilts for a CD. I've also signed up for a Fabric Challenge at Art from Scrap. I hope I get inspired in the next two days!

Other Activities: I went to the Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire Tour at the Granada Theater with my friend Kathy. If you get the chance, go see them, it was a great show. I also went to see CATS at the Arlington Theater. This is the best show I've seen in a while. Next on the list is LOVE in Las Vegas!!

So, as I said, I've been busy and I'm glad to be back!