This is for Marti

I saw this painting posted on social media by Kate Dardine

and the dancing figures (or so they seemed to me) made me think of Marti.

I remember the early days of my entering the community of kindred spirits gathered around Jude Hill, that there was one person who didn’t have a blog herself, but who left the most wonderful comments.

The day came when Marti left a comment on my blog … I’m guessing it was sometime in 2015. And since then, more than once, I’ve thought it would be grand to collect the wit and wisdom that Marti has contributed to so many of our blogs.

As I stitched this latest patchplay, based on our own Kate Dardine painting, I smiled at the notion that Marti would likely approve of the greens …

It’s rather an unorthodox log cabin, but it made me smile as I added each strip.

Then it occurred to me that I could also stitch an homage to the first image in this post …

so I did.

Today (now yesterday)

Before Covid, we had a habit of daytripping through the Hill Country and around Austin. But somehow, after the worst of the pandemic had passed, we never got back in the habit.

Yesterday we finally got ourselves in gear and headed to the Anni Albers exhibit at the Blanton Museum. Par for the course, my pictures don’t do the pieces justice, but here’s some of what made it onto my camera …

The exhibit was far more about Anni Albers’ works on paper, but just seeing her loom was worth the price of admission.

We also indulged by eating out at Jack Allen’s Kitchen, where I had grilled ruby trout filet on a bed of rice, corn, and spinach leaves, topped with salsa and apple walnut slaw. Incredible. And since we always share by passing each other small plates, I also got to sample JAK’s inimitable enchiladas.

Today I’m starting to read about color in Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color, which reads like a series of lesson plans …

and getting ready to add the next strip of patches to the table cloth …

all while contemplating where we might go next week … maybe this?

Seamingly

I started here, with the cabinet Don and I bought for our 25th wedding anniversary in 2002 …

I couldn’t recall the maker, so I emailed Paul Pittman, owner of the first gallery I ever considered my favorite: A Touch of Earth in Williamsburg …

As I read his email to Don, my voice cracked and my eyes filled up at the very end. Lianne may have departed this world in 2018, but her spirit is still present in the shop I wandered so many times that I can still envision all its nooks and crannies. And in a wondrous bit of serendip, I realized, perhaps for the first time, that the gallery opened the same year as Don and I married.

My heart full, I began to play around with strips of cloth …

which of course I rearranged, ending up with this …

And having spotted an interesting reel whilst scrolling through Instagram …

I was especially mindful about the colors I chose for the visible seams (thank you for your teaching, Jude … and thanks too for wonderful cloth from Connie Akers, Deb Lacativa, and Malka Dubrawsky) …

Last for now … if the visible stitch colors are less than visible here, I do hope they’ll be most apparent to whoever is sitting at the table enjoying a meal.

And oh … wait … what if I make napkins, too? How cool would that be?!