June 21, 2012

Summer Break

I have been on summer break for a little over a month now. It is the best. Everyone should get a summer break. I kind of wish that my whole life was summer break. Seriously. So far I have been to two amazing places:


Arrowmont, in Gatlinburg TN, is where I was an Artist in Residence in 2007/08. I spent a week there in May for a reunion for past Artists in Residence. There were about 60 of us in attendance and I was able to work in the beautiful and huge fiber studio all week, meet some amazing new people, and reconnect with two of my best friends who were residents the same time I was (Alex and Sarah, above).


I also spent a week in Utah with my mom.  We stayed in Moab and visited Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. We did a lot of hiking and took a raft trip down the Colorado River. The landscape there is really unusual but beautiful. We ate a lot of really good food and watched a lot of Iron Chef at night. And I brought her over to the dark side by making her watch The Bachelorette with me.


On my way to Utah I flew in a tiny plane over the Rocky Mountains. I was sneaky and used my phone to take pictures even though they repeatedly said to turn off all electronics. We didn't crash, so I guess the rules don't apply to me. 

In between those two trips I got to help Denyse Schmidt with her booth at Quilt Market. She is my quilt idol and I have repeatedly said to many people that I want to be Denyse Schmidt when I grow up. So you can probably imagine how amazing it was to spend two whole days with her. The best part was just talking to her and realizing she is a real person and getting to hear her thoughts on quilts, designing, and making a living in this business.


 Quilt Market in general was great, but overwhelming. Everyone I met was super nice. There was a lot of stuff that honestly doesn't' interest me at all, but also some things that were really exciting and refreshing. Like Carolyn Friedlander's booth in the picture above. I love that quilt. Love. That. Quilt. I wish I had made it. I bought the pattern and it will get added to the list of things to make someday when I'm not busy. Carolyn was lovely and smart and her work is so refreshing.