Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational Grand Opening

This evening Sophie, Lisa, Linda and I went to Flint to the Greater Flint Arts Council for the opening reception of Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational featuring our latest works in the exhibit, "Ciao, Italy". The exhibit is organized by Marti and Mary and they do a fantastic job and come up with interesting themes each year. This year we arrived early enough to partake of the nibbles and beverages. There was a really fantastic jazz band playing and the whole facility was packed with quilt artist's, quilters, family, friends and art lovers. How wonderful!!

Linda and I each have quilts in the exhibit along with 69 other artists. This is the largest number of quilts so far for this group. We all made art quilts along the theme of Italy and each quilt must be 20" X 24" for uniformity. The artists depicted Tuscany, Wine, Grapes, Olives, Pizza, Italian Architecture, Italian Cities, Da Vinci, and many other Italian things including Eggplant Parmesan. The quilts were all unique but some had similar ideas. Many different techniques were used but fusible applique seemed to be in a large number of the quilts including mine. There were a few that looked like mosaic tile work. I wish I could show you all of the quilts but I will have to wait until the exhibit comes to Okemos Library in May 2009. The exhibit is so new, we were only allowed to photo our own quilts.

Here is a sneak peak:

Linda and her quilt titled, Olive Garden. Very Whimsical!
Me and my quilt, Tuscan Sunrise.

There were several other quilts depicting the Tuscan countryside, the fields, hills and trees.

I see the hi-lights in my hair are looking rather dark, hmmmm :(

One of the best things about the exhibit was seeing my friend Chris. She joined the art group a few years ago but we go way back to the early 80's when she was dating one of my neighbors when I lived in an apartment and later she dated a coworker of mine. She told me that I am the reason she got into quilting. I taught her how to make cathedral window blocks. She just loves it and is very good at it. Chris, her husband Dan and her son and daughter drove up from Canton for the exhibit. She looks great and it was so wonderful to see her. She does PR for Ikea. Ironically, Lisa was heading to Ikea the next day so Chris gave her a card for a free meal. What luck!!

Chris and her quilt, Antonio's. Another look and I managed to sneak in another quilt of an Italian landscape too.

Chris made two quilts for the exhibit, here is number two.
Chris, we will have to stay in better touch in the future. I am so proud of your quilting!!

After seeing all the quilts and visiting with everyone we headed out for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I got the fillet again and it was delicious as expected. We all enjoyed great conversation and then it was time to head home.

When we first left Lansing, we ran in to lots of traffic because people were lined up on the streets trying to get gas for their cars. Hurricane Ike had sparked a rise in gas prices and people panicked. I should have stopped for gas in Flint because the price in Lansing had spiked to $4.25 by the time we returned to Lansing. Oh well, hopefully the spike in prices will be short lived once they access the damage to the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.