Birthday Jaunt

We celebrated 2 birthdays today - mine (early) and Carolyn's, and drove up to Cary to see a wonderful exhibit at the Page-Walker Arts Center called ARTQUILTStransitions. If you haven't seen this exciting collection, it is worth the trip! 2 floors of art quilts showcasing techniques of all sorts: hand-dyed fabrics, beading, embroidery, 1" photo collage, phenomenal quilting, and much more. One reason we went was to see friend Karen Fridy's big beautiful landscape quilt, what a work of art - well done, Karen! Another favorite was a trio of wall hangings by Charlotte quilter Nancy Cook, oversized botanicals of soft colors and exquisite quilting. Then we had a fantastic lunch at a local cafe, followed by visits to some awesome shops in Cary. One of the most incredible yarn shops I've visited, Shuttles Needles & Hooks, was just up the street; they had the most mouth-watering selection of yarns in yummy colors, fibers, and gorgeous buttons! Heads up to my Triangle friends: I may be teaching a wool beads class there sometime in the near future. After that we headed next door to Etc. Crafts, which is really a quilt shop; Jean had such a nice collection of fabrics, I even found a piece that I think will round out my challenge project nicely. When we finally headed home, we made a surprise pit stop at my friend Sharon's adorable quilt shop, Plain & Simple Quilts. Of course the shop was all decked out with the most irresistable finds in hand-dyed wools, fabrics and even some of my patterns. We finally drug ourselves home, happy and content with a celebratory day full of inspiration and friendship; see Patty and Carolyn in the photo at left in Cary.