Another Day Off…

Yep, I’ve played hookie for 2 days in a row. It’s almost becoming a vacation!

I woke up this morning just feeling really blah! While the trip to Asheville had been fun, it hadn’t succeeded in the intended purpose of relaxing and inspiring me.

So I sat down to write day 130 and realized what I really needed was a serious break from all things work, home, mom, and wife.

More than anything else, I was questing for silence. Just that nice, silent place in my mind where I can chill out and prepare for my next workshop and lecture I’m doing this week in South Carolina.

So I took off! Jumped in the car and drove all alone to Gastonia, NC and the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden where some awesome art quilters were holding a gorgeous exhibition of orchid quilts.

These photos don’t do the quilts justice. You really have to see them in person, but gosh! they were so beautiful and so inspiring!

Nancy G Cook – Rhythms: Stems and Leaves
I’m wanting to start using cooler colors like this aqua, green, and blue.

Seeing this exhibit was so inspiring. I really feel like I’m humming with creativity now and can’t wait to start stitching some new filler designs.

The best thing about this exhibit is several of the artists were at the garden giving demonstrations, and walking people through the exhibit. Susan and I have only met the one time at a lecture she did for my guild, so it was so nice to catch up a bit.

I also met Deborah Langsam and Nancy G Cook and learned a little about their techniques. It’s so fun to learn about new things like printing on fabric that I’ve never tried before and see the results of quilts created with these techniques.

I’m finding that the more open and willing to try new things I am, the faster I’m able to work. It’s almost like the more tightly boxed in I get, the slower and more bogged down I feel.

I’m definitely going to try a new method for designing my next quilt based on what I learned from Nancy G Cook. I’ve never used my computer to blow up a hand-drawn sketch, but I definitely want to try it and see if it will work with “My Cup Runneth Over” quilt.

Before I left the gardens, I did actually walk outside and visited the new orchid conservatory. This is a large glass building filled with tropical plants, a huge waterfall, and more orchids than I’ve ever seen in one place.

Here are a few of the most beautiful I saw:

While I’m not a huge flowery / plant loving person, I love the textures these flowers have built right into their petals.

Well, it was a truly wonderful day off and the drive to and back from Gastonia definitely gave me the much needed silent time I was craving.

Now I’m off to take a super warm bath and read one of the incredibly stupid romance novels I picked up in town. As silly as it sounds, this is one of my favorite ways to spend the evening if I’m not quilting!

You go quilt while I go read!

Leah