It has been a busy few weeks for me! I am happy to be home and have some time to reflect on all the wonderful things I did and saw on my visit to the Midwest.
Visiting Iowa is always a joy for me. I lived there from my young teens through college. I have family and lots of friends to catch up with when I'm home.
But I always save time to enjoy the beautiful scenery that puts the heart in heartland. I am not a landscape quilt artist, but I do love to draw inspiration from places that I am smitten with. The color palette, the perspective, the variety of scale and texture, and even the mood seem to get my imagination whirling.
Like many of you, quilt passion is my back seat driver for any place I plan to visit, and so I allow for a few special road trip detours along my way. My first road trip is always to Wintereset, Iowa. Home of John Wayne, the Bridges of Madison County, but most importantly - one of my favorite quilt shops, Piece Works Quilt Shop, and my good friend Joyce. Joyce Franklin and Tony Jacobson run a fabulous shop, complete with a retreat center, on the same block as the Iowa Quilt Museum. Need I say more?
Joyce and I go back a very long time. We discovered early on that we were great companions to walk a quilt show together, We gravitated to all the same work - bright, bold, thready, artsy - anything that pushed the rules a bit!
To finish off my Midwest explorations, I also had a girl's day (with my sis and cousin), to the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's just a 2 1/2 hour jaunt from my home town. This is such an amazing place. If you ever have the opportunity to visit - definitely do so. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.
And now for some big news!
We have added a new category to our Inspiration page - Quilt Exhibits. Be sure to pop over to view all of the photos that I took at the two museums that I visited: The Iowa Quilt Museum in Winterset, Iowa and the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The history is fascinating, the work is stunning, and you will totally be inspired.
We will be adding more exhibits as we proceed with our newly designed website. This has two big benefits - freeing up a lot of space on my iphone, and giving our readers access to some amazing quilt exhibits that are not close enough to attend.
Enjoy the beautiful quilts!
Pati