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Friday, March 30, 2012

Ida Stover-Eisenhower Memorial Quilt Show

QUILT SHOW
  Ida Stover-Eisenhower Memorial Quilt Show
Heritage Center
Abilene, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/24/2012

Quilts from the quilt show across town.  Enjoy!
The pieces on this quilt were so tiny.  I loved this quilt, though, the work was extraordinary.



This was a quilt that featured the flowers from all 50 states.  If you want to make a quilt like this for yourself the patterns are listed on this website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/turkey_feathers/sets/72157623483203393/ All the patterns are there.  It's an incredible website.





Up to this point have you sensed a theme going on?  It's either embroidery or muslin background quilts with me.  I'm just kind of in that mind set right now.


This quilt takes me back to black and white with one color quilts.  The pink and the way that the ladies are dressed made me think of the 1950's  I really liked this quilt.  It's very retro!

I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of the quilt show.  I was more concerned with design and not so much overall quilts at this show.  Probably because there was so much embroidery.  This show will return along with the Abilene End of Trail Quilt Show in 2014.  It's terrific that both of these shows run at the same time.  It makes for quite a quilters weekend.





Thursday, March 29, 2012

End of the Trail Quilt Guild Quilt Show

QUILT SHOW
  End of the Trail Quilt Guild
Abilene Fairgrounds
Sterl Hall
Abilene, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/24/2012

Here are some quilts from the show.  Enjoy!




The corners that are shaded are done with a shaded fabirc.  You can barely see the individual strips.  This is an awesome quilt up close and in photo's it looks like a painting. 


I am making this quilt.  Ironically, I only have one set of two blocks to finish before it's ready to be put together.  I am also making a black and white version (that features one bright color) of this quilt and have one set of two blocks to finish before it is ready to be put together. Something tells me I better get busy!







This was an Internet pattern that was featured on Golden Thimble Clubhouse last year.  I saved all the patterns every month but haven't made any of them.


Here are some of the details of the blocks.  Embroidery is hard to see in the overall quilt. 

This was a cross stitch quilt that I thought was outstanding.  All the birds are done in cross stitch on aida cloth. 


Here are more detailed photo's of the cross stitch bird blocks.

This quilit show returns to Abilene again in 2014.  For a small town, this has to be one of the best quilt shows around.  I think it was even larger this year and there were more vendors than last year.  This show is worth the time to go and check out. 

Another plus to this show in Abilene, is that over on the Eisenhower library mall there is another show going on at the same time.  It's the Ida Stover-Eisenhower Memorial Quilt Show.  I'll post photo's from that show tomorrow. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Philip Fortenberry

PHILIP FORTENBERRY
The McPherson Opera House
McPherson, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/23/2012



Philip Fortenberry . . . If you go to Philip's current concert you will take a trip down the road of his life.  And what an interesting journey.  Philip grew up in a small town in the south, taking piano lessons from his aunt and playing for church services from the time he was seven years old.

His journey eventually took him to Broadway.  A small local theatre company decided to head to Broadway with a show they'd thought would be a hit.  "Clevage", a show which opened and closed on the same night.  As Philip put it, "the show was a bust".   He's played at the White House and all across the United States.  Philip now lives in Las Vegas.

Throughout the evening he kept us entertained with his piano and in between songs he talked about his work on Broadway, playing as a session musician, and playing as back up for voice lessons.  When Madonna was preparing for "Evita" she took voice lessons and Philip played back up for her.  He wasn't told ahead of time who he'd be playing for and he said it was disconcerting when he finally met her and knew who he'd be playing for.  But he got through it just fine.

We heard all manner of Broadway songs, classical songs, Floyd Cramer songs, and at the end of his set, Philip played a composition of his own creation which featured a wide variety of Rogers and Hammerstein music.  Philip has never gotten to play for any Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway musicals and has always wanted too. 

It was a delightful evening!  One of the most memorable points of the evening was when the audience exited the theatre, there was Philip to greet the audience as they were leaving.  It was a big surprise and everyone enjoyed it.  We all hope he'll return to play for us again, soon.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Kelly Irish Band

THE KELLY IRISH BAND 
Sponsored by Salina Arts and Humanities
@ The Stiefel Theatre
Salina, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/17/2012



The Kelly Irish Band . . .What a great way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  Attending a concert full of 90 minutes of Irish music by The Kelly Irish Band from Kansas City, who played in concert at The Stiefel Theatre.  Nothing gets the toes tapping and the hands clapping like Irish melodies. 

I got a chance to interview three of the band members before the concert and this interview had to be one of the best.  We did the interview at Mokas Bakery and Bistro and when we walked in the door, we heard the music coming from the other room.  The fellas had eaten lunch there, had brought their instruments along with them, and were performing an impromptu concert in the window of the restaurant.  We immediately felt at ease and couldn't wait to hear them in concert with their other two bandmates.

This concert was worth waiting for.  Kelly sings like a dream, and she featured her bandmates on vocals as well.  Everyone in the audience was rocking out to all the Irish tunes.  They even sang a version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene".   They told jokes in between the sets and gave historical information about the songs.  I thought this really added to the overall performance.  The band played genuine Irish tunes, current tunes set to Irish melodies, and their own original songs.  It was a great event and the time went by much to quickly.  I was humming Irish tunes as I left the venue and I probably will be for a while. 



Friday, March 23, 2012

Claudine Corkins

QUILTS
 Claudine Corkins
Metropolitan Coffee
Hutchinson, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/10/2012


I really enjoyed viewing these little quilts.  While I was at Metropolitan Coffee on Saturday, March 10, I was taking pictures of the quilts and before I got completely around to the other wall, someone had purchased one of the quilts.



Claudine's work will be featured at Metropolitan Coffee throughout the month of March.  Be sure and stop by and take a look at the quilts.  (Also, try their coffees and teas.  I especially like the Jungle Love flavored coffee.  It's delish!)


This sunflower quilt had to be one of my favorites.  I like sunflowers and I thought the use of embroidered sunflower blocks along with the fussy cut sunflower blocks was a unique design idea.  Also, the border fabric colors really made this quilt pop. 


 I was fascinated by this quilt and the one before it in the orange tones.  I'm not completely sure how Claudine created these.  But they really are eye catching.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Errick Ferguson

UNTITLED
  Errick Ferguson
McPherson Public Library
McPherson, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/03/2012

I happened across this show by accident.  I had an hour to fill and stopped by the library to see if there was anything going on, and came across this art show.  This show featured some really unique pieces.
The show seemed to me to be grouped into three separate categories, which shows a broad range of styles.

"Horse"
First there was this three part animal art.  Broad brushstrokes with thick paint which reminded me of many of the old masters.

"Deer Bedding"
"The Lion"
My favorite of this group was the lion.  I think because it seemed unexpected, very different from the other two.

"Whiskey"
Then there was the religious group.  With these three the artist appeared to be trying out different mediums.  Chalk or pastels for the first one and the other two appeared to be either pencil on canvas or pen of some sort on canvas.  I thought that these three pieces were exceptional.  It was hard to pick a favorite.  The artist definately shines with these three pieces.

"Ultimate Sacrifice"
"His Hands"
The next three pieces I'd have to say are all about color.  Big, bold, vibrant color.  Color that grabs you and won't let go.  Once again, hard to pick a favorite.  The detail in the expressions are amazing.

"Mary In Mourning"
"Pri-Mary"
"Lavendar Gaze"
I hope this artist continues to work on his art.  I could see his skill develping right before my eyes as I walked around this exhibit.   

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Brenna Downs

First Thursday Art Rush
Brenna Downs
The Salina Public Library
Salina, KS
© Lydia Lowe  3/01/2012

"Snabbit and the Venus Eye Traps"
"Cosmic Eye"
"Butterbirds Arrival"
"Love Stinks"
"Night and Day"
"Cadillac Boneyard"