Birds of a Feather show

I have some wall art at the 10th Anniversary Show at the Northeast Kingdom Artisan's Guild (NEKAG) in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Look for the purple awning on Railroad Street. (HotHolders and pillows by Mountain Ash Design are also for sale there.)
The show is up only until October 3rd, which suddenly seems not very far away, especially since we had a good frost last night. As my daughter said when I woke her up for school this morning, "Time to eat some Brussels sprouts." Richard already harvested some a couple of weeks ago, but our friend Carl Demro said he was waiting until after a frost to harvest his. "They just don't taste right to me until after a frost." Tradition? Special frosty sweetness? We shall see.

Anyhow, the creature on the sidewalk above with the lovely blond hair is my 12 year old son. Entire hair coloring industries were developed so women could chemically achieve what he has naturally, and he doesn't even care. (of course) And he has those long boy eye lashes, too. He does care that it's long, only because he doesn't like haircuts, I think. He's totally oblivious about trends, Z-Boys, etc., but definitely knows he's out of the mainstream after the daily feedback he got at school last year. This year my kids go the the Wellspring School in Chelsea, VT and whattya know, there are several boys with long hair there. It's one of the norms. http://www.wellspringwaldorfschool.org/

But this blog is supposed to be about my art. Okay, got a little sidetracked there. So I make a little wall art every now and then. These two pieces are currently at NEKAG in the Birds of a Feather member show celebrating the Guild's tenth anniversary. The top one is called "Plains Riders" and is about 18 inches square and features a piece of this wonderful western vintage barkcloth that I've had for almost 20 years. I used some of it for HotHolders last year and they immediately sold out. The colors are so rich, as is the texture and the images are great. I only have smaller pieces left, so I'm going to have to do more of these fabric collages to get it out in the world for others to enjoy. I made this in August while on vacation in Maine. (sound insane, bringing my sewing machine on vacation? Well, I had a lot of sewing to do. Don't worry, I had plenty of relaxing and came back looking "well vacated," as my sister-in-law, Gail, remarked.)
The piece on the bottom here is titled "In houses." It's 44" x 55". It also includes some of the vintage western barkcloth, and some other choice vintage and more recently recycled jems of fabric. I actually pieced it about 10 years ago and had it machine quilted by Barnyard Quilting in West Fairlee, VT. http://www.barnyardquilting.com/ Sharon does a wonderful job, outlining the picture elements at times. She just hiked the Appalachian trail solo, too, and I think she might be over 50. I'm impressed.