Focusing on Art

Today was the monthly meeting of the art group that I belong to--Focus. We all live in different areas of the upstate of South Carolina and closeby North Carolina. That means that each month as we meet in one of our homes, some people will drive a long way and others not so far. This was a far day for me. We met in the home of Dixie Heywood in Pendleton, SC. And here is a picture of Dixie who is a charming, humorous and, above all, quilter par excellance. You may have seen some of her books on Foundation Piecing that she has co-authored with Jane Hall over the years. When I say that she is an expert on foundation piecing, that is almost an understatement.

For me, the main challenge of today was finding Dixie's house--which was two hours away from mine. Most people who know me know that my sense of direction is less than average and when I got into my car this morning, I blithely typed her address into my navigation system--which seemed to believe that no one lived at that address. Well, I DID have her directions and my husband's map so off I went.

The thing about being directionally challenged is that you're never really sure that you're headed in the right direction--almost a similar feeling of those with dyslexia I guess. I rode and rode and rode on a back country road, hoping for the best. However, I stopped many times to consult the map (I CAN read maps) and reassure myself that I was on the right track and finally ended up there only 10 minutes late.

"O.K.," you say, "Surely you can reverse this process going home. Right?" Wrong. I took a wrong turn right away. Now, you might ask why I didn't type my own address into the the navigation system so it could guide me there. Well, I did. Guess what? It told me it wasn't a valid address. So, finally, I found somewhere to pull over, called my husband and asked him to look up the beauty parlor I go to so I could try their address in the navigation. Bingo! I could get my hair done, but I couldn't go home.

Anyway, it was a great day. We are comment on each other's quilts and works in progress. Rather than criticism it is more like we are challenging each other to find the maximum potential in our creations. And it helps us to see our work in a different way. So, yes, it was a long distance for me today with many anxious moments on the road BUT well worth it.

I didn't get any pictures of the quilts we discussed today, but here are a few of Dixie's that she had hanging in her house. I'm sorry that some of the shots aren't well-focused but I did it quickly as I left. (She had a entire closet-full that I would have loved to have shown, but that is for another day.