Catching up and getting ready

Doesn't it feel like the holiday onslaught is just around the corner. I guess that's because it is. November has been really busy. That's part of the reason for the light activity on the blog. That, and I just don't force myself to write. Sometimes I need to write and sometimes I don't.

So, let's see. The second open studio was great. I had lots of visitors and got good feedback on my recent silk scarves and on my experimental wool scarves. A couple of them have come home for re-engineering. I like them now, but I 'm going to keep fiddling with them until I'm absolutely in love or they're destroyed, whichever comes first.

I gave my first art lecture last Friday. It was part of the Explorations Unlimited speakers series at the Community Center where I have my studio. It's primarily a seniors event. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I got a nice turnout of very supportive folks who asked insightful questions. My follow-up surveys were also very positive, so I think it was a general success. Now that I've got this 1-hour presentation in the bag I wondering about looking for additional venues. Perhaps I can do a little art cloth evangelism.

What else...Oh, yes the little dinner for 80. That was fun. Dan volunteered us to coordinate and prepare a parish dinner for about 100 people at our church. It was great fun but it took days for us to recover. We expected 100; I planned for 120 (I couldn't stand the thought of running short; 80 showed up; lots of left overs in the freezer. Of course we had help. In the kitchen someone else baked the bread, saw to the appetizer course, and baked apple crisp for dessert. I and 2 others did the main dish and salad. I decided I'd like to try my over-the-top lasagna recipe for a large crowd. I figured that I could feed a dozen people from one tray so I just needed 10 times everything. I spend all day Friday (with help) making sauces and doing prep. In case you're interested. It took 10 lbs of grilled sausage, 3 gallons of bechamel, about 5 gallons of red sauce, 15 boxes of frozen chopped spinach, 10 lbs grated carrots...you get the idea. It was all done by hand, from scratch, in huge quantities. It was a big hit and lots of fun, but I won't be signing up for another one of these events in the near future and I'm sure not cut out to be caterer.

I've got lots of stuff brewing in the studio. I'm working on possible submissions for two shows: "My Island" and "Quake". Here's a photo of something that might be a Quake candidate. I've posted photos of earlier states of this piece. I think it might be done. My only concern is that it's a little big smaller than the required 2 yard length for the Quake show, which is for art cloth. I didn't count on the amount of shrinkage I'd get in the cloth...and I think that I eyeballed the measurement. So is that a new rule: measure twice dye once?