We headed out the door with no particular plans in mind except maybe to visit a new-to-us antique mall, Planter’s Walk in Locust Grove.  Before we even went inside, I saw a garden sculpture that sparked the day of reminiscing.  And as we walked through the vendors’ booths, more and more memories surfaced.

The phrase “seeing your life flash by” is usually reserved for one’s final moments. But walking through this antique mall brought that phrase to mind. I’ll share the specifics with photos.

I usually see an item or two in an antique store that prompts memories, but I don’t recall ever seeing as many as on this day!

And, then, if that wasn’t enough nostalgia for a day, we went to the grounds where I attended camp as a child and as a teen. Now known as the Georgia FFA/FCCLA Center, I visited for several days several times in the years between 1960 and 2000.  First as a camper (4-H in elementary school, FHA in high school) then attending state meetings of GALA (Georgia Association of Library Assistants) in high school, and finally with a group of educators working on curriculum in the 1990’s.  Another trip there could be in my future.  Quilters sometimes have retreats there….

There are changes that have taken place over the years, but a lot of the buildings and grounds are still familiar to me.  Especially the dining hall.  Wow.  As I walked inside, I could hear the shuffling of feet as hungry kids lined up for delicious food.  I could also remember the hush as a leader offered a blessing before the meal.  A new larger dining room exists now, but this one has been kept as it was, furniture and all.  It’s now sometimes used as a meeting space, but I bet others with memories as long as mine recognized how important it might be to revisit.

The campground has grown and changed over the years, as have I.  It can now house up to 1200 people with abundant opportunities for attendees to grow and change, too.  To revisit a place that was such an impactful part of my growing up was powerful!

The antique mall we visited was Planters Walk in Locust Grove.  More information is here: http://www.planterswalkantiquemall.com/

The website for the Georgia FFA/FCCLA Center is here: http://www.georgiaffacamp.org/

One of our favorite haunts is Monroe, GA.  It’s the birthplace of my partner in crime, so the route there and back is filled with stories of his childhood travels in that part of the state.  So as we travel to find treasures, we travel through time, too.

On our most recent visit, we took along a quilt.  It’s made with brightly colored fabrics using a pattern by Tula Pink called Birdseed.  I followed her suggestions for background fabrics in shades of gray, and pulled bright prints from my stash for the orange peel and flying geese blocks.  

I love quilts that combine applique and piecing, and this simple design gave me some handwork to do in front of the tv at night with minimal preparation.  In fact, to decrease that prep time even more, I used my Accuquilt cutting device to cut the melons.  The size die I had did not match Tula’s template size, so I resized the whole quilt.  I don’t know how many units her pattern specified; I just made them until I thought I had enough; put them on the design wall and moved them around until I was happy.  Then I sewed them together.

I pieced brightly colored fabrics for the backing, layered and pin-based the whole thing, then put it aside until this spring.  Quilting it was fun.  I played with different free-motion designs in each area enclosed by the melons.  As I finished this project, the daily high temperatures were three digits.  The vibrant colors in the quilt said, it’s Hot Hot Summertime, so that’s the title.

Several of the antique malls we visit in Monroe, Ga (throughout the state, actually) are housed in old textile mills. In front of Hodge Podge are some old techology relics.  We posed Hot Hot Summertime in several spots on that property.  Her vibrant colors are a nice contrast with the dull rust machinery; her soft texture pleasing against the hard surfaces of brick and stone.  

I went shopping and brought home some linen treasures.  They are all glorious to look at.  I can’t wait to stitch on them, piece with them, and maybe dip one in the dye pot.  The textures, the colors, the glorious weaves inspire me.  

I can’t know all their stories.  But I can imagine…

Some have memories of India in those huge indigo vats where they dip linen to get this rich vibrant color.  These textiles are new.  Woven and dyed to sell to someone.  How many middle men shared in my money before I got them home? I don’t know, but I know I love all the hands that brought them to me.  And I can’t wait to stitch on them.

One has memories of France.  In whose kitchen did this towel do its work?  I can imagine it hanging on a wire hook against a stone wall in a kitchen with a brick floor and copper pots all about.  This is the kind of textile that inspires the French General collection of fabrics from Moda.  I’ve loved making things with those reproduction fabrics, but there’s nothing like the real thing to stir my soul.

And a woven textile of white on white – I’m not sure of its origin.  It has stains to show it’s been a worker, but the beauty of the weave caught my eye.  I might have been hesitant at the price until I saw the “S” monogram.  Yep, it came home with me.  This one might get a bath in a dye pot.  The stains would disappear, and the weave would become more pronounced.

I love imagining the places these fibers have been.  And I love imagining the possibilities of what they may become in my hands.  I’m not certain of those outcomes yet, but I do know that when I see them, or parts of them, I will remember a glorious day of strolling, shopping, browsing, antiquing, lunching, languishing over coffee with my soulmate.  There’s nothing more beautiful than that.

Is it a coincidence that the fabrics I bought yesterday are red, white, and blue?  I think so…but it’s certainly a good time to share them.  Another red/white/blue story is here…and some of the Moda French General fabrics are in the quilt here.  The blue and tan quilt in the background of some photos is described in more detail here.

I own quite a few Japanese publications, and some Japanese fabric as well.  Part of my appreciation for some of the work I see comes from sewing with that woven Japanese fabric they use.  It is a delightful texture, but when it comes time to turn under a tiny edge for applique, it is sometimes tricky.   The success I see in the quilts with this fabric is all the more amazing considering the tiny scale of some pieces. 

I recently went to see an exhibit of some quilts from the Quilt Japan show of 2019 that’s on tour in the U. S.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum in Carrollton, Ga, has fifty quilts from this show on display.  I studied them all!  

I was expecting to see beautiful hand quilting using traditional American patchwork and applique patterns.  The Baltimore Album style of quilts is a favorite among Japanese prizewinners.  I did see this.  But, oh, so much more.  Details are in the captions of each photo.

The show is on display through June 22.  If you are a quilter, it’s worth your time to go see these beauties.  And there are some interesting restaurants and shops in Carrollton, too.

Here’s a quilt I made using the Japanese woven fabrics.  The story of this quilt is here.

My friend Toshi gave me some delicious fabrics a few years ago…I shared them here.

And if you type “japanese” in the search bar, you’ll find more evidence of my fascination with this culture and its quilting.

I have many more photos of these beauties…but if you are going to read this in time to visit the exhibit, I have to stop editing for now…Go! I’ll share more later.

Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum…open Tuesdays – Saturdays. This exhibit ends June 22. Their website: https://www.sqtmuseum.org.

Inspiration comes from everywhere…sometimes in small doses, other times in overwhelming waves of glory.  The latter came in a funeral home.  Well, what once was a funeral home – now it’s the Gallery on Newcastle.

We were on our way home from a glorious few days on the Georgia coast and my mental sketchbook was full of images: of skies, driftwood, fences, moss-draped trees, architectural elements, and more.  A stopover in Brunswick, Ga led us through neighborhoods of beautifully restored homes, shopping areas broken by delightful parks, and some interesting shops.

I loved all the shops, bought things in a few, but when we entered The Gallery, I knew I was somewhere special.

The entry was intriguing with a display including a beautiful book of portraits of marshes.  I knew immediately that would be a purchase.  Jimmy G and I had just been talking about the serenity that comes with a view of the marshes while the marshes themselves are constantly changing.  

A greeting, an exclamation of wonder at all this building held, and then the realization that we were talking to the artist.  The ARTIST in this place.  Janet Powers had not only painted the oils inside that book, but she had made the assemblages and the sculptures and the mixed media paintings that filled the space.  There were pieces by another artist or two; but by and large, the work was hers.  

The most intriguing pieces of Janet’s work that drew me in closer were her houses…well, that’s how I saw them.  I’m not sure she calls them houses, but they are magical boxes with doors and drawers and curtains and filled with fascinating things.  Some found objects, some past sketches, some reworked pieces of art exploration.  And each one tells a story.  And each viewer sees her own story in them.  At least this viewer did.  

As we toured the massive space, Janet answered my zillion questions and quickly saw what intrigued me and filled in details.  She allowed photos and gave me permission to share the visit with you.  My words and photos will just give you a taste of her fabulous work.  You must plan a trip for yourself!  

In her studio (formerly the room where bodies were prepared for burial), I saw the usual fascinating array of easel, paints, and brushes.  And on the wall, I saw Italy.  Those paintings were done when she was teaching there in the 90’s. 

I asked about her beginnings as an artist and learned that she trained to be a nurse, then explored drawing and painting.  Some of her first work as an artist was designing cross-stitch patterns.  She had some of her leaflets and worked samples on display.  I’ve done my share of counted cross-stitch, and let me say these are stunning!  It’s easy to see that Janet had an understanding of color from the beginning.

I couldn’t absorb all the inspiration that the gallery held, but I did love soaking in what I could.  

Janet has done several pieces using textiles, some are pictured here, yet others are in the gallery. Of course, you know I was drawn to those, but it was her mixed media pieces, the dimensional collages in glasses and boxes that raised my heart rate.

I found everything Janet has made to be rich with its own story. But talking with her and sharing our enthusiasm for communicating through art was really empowering. I know the visit will make a difference in what I create and how I think about making. You just never know what encounter will change you.

Janet’s website is https://janetpowers-artist.com. There you can learn more and be inspired yourself. But there’s nothing like a visit to see her work in all its detail!

We went to the Georgia coast for a few days last week.  As I try to do when heading out the door, I look for a quilt to drag along.  This time I grabbed SeaSquared.  An ocean scene seemed perfect for this trip, and this quilt had not been on a photo shoot before.

We love the marsh side of the island, but always stroll along the beach, no matter the time of year.  Last week the weather was perfect for that.  

We took the fishy quilt to Driftwood Beach and let her pose there a few times.  It was windy, but I didn’t lose her.

Every time we go to Jekyll and visit the Horton House, I always wish I had brought a quilt to pose against those tabby walls.  This time, success!

And our home away from home was the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.  As we sat on the veranda enjoying breakfast one morning, we were remembering that my colleagues and I had given a presentation in one of the meeting rooms there for a group of school administrators.  (Many years ago I was a high school math teacher, then a system level math curriculum person.  The Georgia Council of Supervisors of Mathematics held our annual conferences at this hotel.)  We called our program C², short for Curriculum Compacting in Mathematics.  I had that program in mind when I named this quilt Sea Squared.  It seemed appropriate to take some photos at the entry to the room where that presentation was given.

The details of the construction of this quilt, and how it came to be called SeaSquared, are in an earlier blog post, here.

I try to keep a travel sewing project ready at all times.  I like to have something on hand to do whether I have a few minutes to spend on the porch, or we are heading out for a day trip, or we are off on an adventure for days or weeks.

My latest hand piecing project has been these blue and brown spools.  When I don’t have another project for hand stitching, or for stitching on the go, I’ve been making spools.  I put them on the design wall yesterday to evaluate my progress. I arrange them to check color placement and balance before sewing more together, and to choose colors for the next batch to be prepared.  I had sewn twelve blocks together at first and liked them so well that I prepared more. And, now again, I need more.

These are all linen.  Linen lends itself to hand piecing very well.  It’s easy to slip the needle through the fabric between the threads.  And hand fatigue is lessened if you can do that rather than pierce a tightly woven fabric.  These finish at 3″ square.

All this linen is vintage.  A lot is from worn clothing of mine and Jim’s, some vintage table linens, and some remnants I’ve found in antique stores.  Often there are boxes of linens almost being given away.  A stain here, a tear there; not a problem for me.  I’m going to cut it up or dip it in the dye pot anyway.

This project rides in this darling little vintage train case.  I loved that someone else had taken the time to clean it up and decorate it for me.  The exterior appealed, but when I opened it up and saw that blue bow on the fabric lining, well, I guess I looked at the price tag…but maybe not.  It had to be mine! I wrote about it earlier here: https://sandygilreath.com/on-the-road-again/.

The case holds some spool pieces (trapezoids and squares) that I’ve already cut out and pinned together as a block, some more pieces stamped on more linen, a pair of scissors with serrated edges, and my sewing roll. 

These pieces are prepared using a set of stamps for this purpose.  Talk about portable projects – the stamps and fabric ink can be carried along for the ride, too!

I used an old cutter quilt that had been dipped in the indigo dye pot as the basis of my sewing roll.  It has a pocket for a spool of thread or two, a place for my needle threader, thimble, some pins and needles.  

Maybe this need for portability came from the times I got last minute calls to head somewhere to help out with an ill or elderly relative.  Those hours in waiting rooms can be very long with empty hands.  So I still try to have some ready-to-go sewing at hand.  

Maybe we should take a trip!

In recent years, since I’ve become interested in photography and have read about photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange who were contemporaries of my GrandDaddy I’ve been curious about what cameras he used.  Well, now I’ve seen some of them!

Jim and I visited the camera museum in McDonough, Ga.  You’d think that with Jim’s interest in photography, we would have been regulars.  Jim did know about the place and had planned to go, but the impetus that got us out the door and on the way was learning that my GrandDaddy Youngblood’s cameras were there!

Yes, there is a display with information about my grandfather and his son and their photography!  When we learned that some of GrandDaddy’s cameras had been donated, Jim and I were anxious to see them!  When we arrived, and told them who we were, the owners greeted us with delight and led us right to the display.

There are two of GrandDaddy’s cameras on display along with photos and a brief history of his photography.  Both cameras are view cameras, where sheet film (preloaded in the darkroom) (for one or maybe two exposures) is inserted into the camera in a holder, then into the back of the camera.  After the film is exposed, it is removed and set aside for developing. The large camera, an 8” x 10” view camera, was patented in 1890, the smaller of the two on display is 5” x 7”. 

GrandDaddy and his son, Homer Youngblood, Jr., had a studio in Georgia in the 1940’s and ’50’s.  Prior to that, GrandDaddy worked as a photographer and reporter in Seneca, SC, and later had a studio there, as well.

Interviews with family tell me GrandDaddy began work as a photographer sometime after 1918. That’s the year his first wife (my grandmother) died.  He had served in the Army during WWI, so I wonder if, like Jim, he learned photography skills as a soldier.

The Camera Museum is a passion of Scott Evans.  After 40 years as a photographer, Scott now works to restore old photos, convert old movies, slides, and photos to digital format (as the Image Doctor).  His lab is in the same building as his museum, which houses his vast collection of cameras of all sorts and anything camera related.  There are displays of spy cameras, simple box cameras, folding cameras, twin-lens reflex cameras, 35mm single lens reflex cameras, and more.

Displays of paparazzi and some of their famous shots are displayed in the restroom of the building.  The area used as holding cells when the building was used as a municipal court space now display famous mug shots (including Johnny Cash, Elvis, and others you will recognize).  Scott and his wife welcome you to come visit.  Check out their website, make an appointment for a tour, or go for a night of fun on one of their scavenger hunts! You can find them at www.camera-museum.com or www.imagedoctor.com..

When I’m making the art quilts where I print an image in black and white on fabric, then add color using ink or watercolor, I think I’m channeling my DNA into art. GrandDaddy made photos in black and white and his son and daughter would sometimes add hand tinting to them.

You may recall an art quilt I made with my GrandDaddy in it: https://sandygilreath.com/four-brothers/

Quilt Show weekend is a special time for us.  We work together to present some of our latest work to friends and family – and to visitors who may be quilters, but not members of a guild as well as those who want to become quilters.  We want our sisterhood to grow!

I’ve written about several shows in the past and included photos of fabulous quilts.  I’m doing that here for this latest display, but this time I remembered to take photos of some of the work that goes into getting it all together. This year, our quilt show leader was Helen. She did a fabulous job of organizing everything, but it’s not a one-person job. Everyone helped!

Before the show can even be laid out, someone has to collect all the information on the quilts and plan the layout.  This year, and for the past several shows, that person has been Dewey.  Dewey is our quilting brother.  A gifted artist at the longarm machine, Dewey is also quite the handyman and quilt show designer.

After everything was set up and ready, we welcomed visitors from 9:00 – 5:00 for two days. Then on Saturday afternoon, all this process was reversed. Quilts were dropped (gravity helped that process go faster than putting up), folded, reinserted into those pillowcases, resorted by quilter’s name, checked out, and carried home.

We’ve had a few days to put everything away at home and reflect on the fun we had. We are already thinking about the next quilt (it’s probably in progress) and planning how to make the next show better. I hope wherever a quilt show fits in your life; as a participant or a visitor, you make time to experience it.

My latest finished quilt is a journal quilt of sorts.  The background squares are color coded to the lowest temperature of a given day, the melon appliquéd on top indicates the high temperature.  My quilt has more than 365 blocks, and they aren’t arranged chronologically, but the quilt still tells my story of 2023.

I knew from the start that my arrangement of blocks would not be chronological.  I had seen quite a few photos of temperature quilts using various blocks to show the high and low temperatures of the day and with my love of journal quilts, I thought it would be fun to do.  Some people even include stitches to depict rain, snow, wind, but temperatures seemed enough for me.

i decided on appliquéd melons as my quilt block and chose to use a range of Cherrywood hand-dyed solid fabrics already selected by another quilting blogger. I cut 3” squares of fabrics, made a melon template that fit within that 3”, and was ready to sew.

Each day in 2023, I checked the previous day’s temperature data, recorded the figures on my spreadsheet, pulled the fabrics from my dedicated stash, and appliquéd a melon.  On days when we were away from home, I recorded the temperatures for Macon and for our physical location, stitching the blocks when I returned home. 

Early in 2024, I assembled the blocks on the design wall in monthly arrays, and made photos.  I also assembled two chronological arrays using 365 blocks; one for the temperatures at home, one for the temperatures in whatever location we had been.  With trips to Scotland, Colorado, and Louisiana, there were visible differences in those two arrangements.

I uploaded those two photos to Spoonflower (an online digital printing service) and had each one printed on ½ yard of cotton fabric.  I was then free to arrange the 400 blocks in a more pleasing arrangement than the calendar provided.  So I spent a few days moving blocks and looking, moving again, and finally settling on an arrangement that pleased me.  

The back of the quilt holds records of the two chronological layouts, and a strip that shows the temperature range assigned to each color.  The label is a vintage doily overdyed with indigo dye and the title, The Rebellious Weathergirl, acknowledges the fact that I knowingly broke the rules of temperature quilting.  The quilt measures 50” square and is finished with a ⅜” plaid binding.