I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. Trying to get as much done as I can before we head out for a very short vacation. My husband and I go to Moab every year for a reunion with high school friends. This will be our 10th year. It is great to get together and catch up. It really is amazing how friends can pick up like we have really never been apart, even though it might be years since we have last seen each other.  I am looking forward to the weekend. Although............. this year Dave volunteered for us to do the breakfast.  So, that means.... I get to do the breakfast. I am going just make a couple of breakfast casseroles. I have made different kind of quick breads though....Banana nut; fig, raisin and nut; blueberry orange; cranberry orange, nut; and date and nut. They are all done and in the freezer. It was really to hot here to heat the kitchen up to bake, but I did it anyway.

I listen to audio books on my iPhone all the time. I have a new big one, 6 or something like that. Anyway, I have dropped it so many times. The thing is to big for my pockets. The last time I dropped it I cracked the glass case. I decided I needed to have something to put the cell phone in, that was light weight (some things I have tried make my neck hurt) and easy to get the phone out to swipe, put my password in it and answer calls.  I put it in a name tag case I had made for the quilt guild I belong to. It was so tall that I put a piece of elastic on it. It worked, but really was not very pretty. I decided to create my a case the worked and looked nice.  I had a few tries before I got one that I liked. I have had a lot of ladies stop me and ask me where I got my case, so I have created a pattern for it. It will be available at 'It's Sew Moab' with in the next couple of weeks.  I am not sure what the retail price for the pattern will be, but I imagine around $10. I have a web site coming and plan on selling this pattern as a digital down load as well as my wall hanging patterns.  The case is easy to make and you can make 3 for 3/4 of a yard of fabric.  I have made quite a few of the cases as well. I will sell them for $15.99 plus, sales tax and shipping. I haven't set up any thing with pay pal just yet or any other kind of credit card acceptance. That is something I must get done soon.

"Simple Cell Phone Case"

I finished a quilt for a client this last week.  Janice M has been putting blocks that her mother made. This was a lovely quilt. 

My daughter's faience, Patrick Sayers, is building me a web site. It will be up soon....www.charlottepurcellgary.com! I am very pleased with that.  Now...... it is late and I am tired. So....... Happy Quilting.
Charlotte

Sunday July 10th, 2016

I have been very busy since my last posting. My youngest daughter and her fiancee have been here visiting from Brooklyn, Ny. I sure wish they lived closer. We have had a great time and I hope another whole years goes by until I get to see them again. The kids and I drove to Moab a week ago Friday and just got back today. We stayed at my Dad's home. All of us had a good time. They have to head back to NY in a couple of days......drat!

The opening reception for my 'visiting artist' gig at Gallery Moab was Saturday night. I had a great time visiting with old friends, making new friends and explaining what my art is.  I was asked to do a workshop for the local Moab quilt guild. I must come up with a project to teach, that gives them a idea of how and why I create my work.  I sold one piece so far and one was donated to the gallery for an auction. It was purchased for the minimum bid.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that more sells, but am not spending in of the money before it is in my pocket. I have not quite made up the fee I had to pay the gallery. It is a co-op of sorts. I grew up in Moab. Both of my girls were born in Moab and I would still be there if my husband's job had not disappeared many years ago. He decided to re-train in pharmacy. When he lost his job and we had to sign our home back to the mortgage company,  I though my world was coming to an end.  My life did not end, in fact the hardships we endured only made me stronger and our lives richer. I have made so very many friends and my life in the fabric art world would not exist as it does right now had we not have moved from Moab all those years ago.

 I feel I am at a cross roads of sorts. Trying to sell through galleries is very discouraging. People do not realize the time that is put into one piece. When you see a piece in a gallery that artist must pay 40% (as a rule) to that gallery.  I will see how things play out over the next few months. My business, Glad Rag's Art, is doing ok.  I have clients that keep me busy quilting their quilt tops and I love having the chance to add my artistic touch to their already beautiful quilt tops, however I really want to do more of my own art quilts and am seriously thinking about teaching. I know if I decide to teach, I have to be ready to teach when I am asked.  I also feel that more  basic art principles need to be taught, but realize at lot of ladies just want to create by following a pattern to a finished product.  I will just see what develops over the next 6 months.

Patrick, my daughter Megan's fiancee, is helping me get a website going. I currently have pieces listed on the Painted Hills Fiber Artist's web site. www.paintedhillsfiberartists.com. I have been paying for a domain name 'Glad Rag's Art' on Omnis for a couple of years. I figure it is time for me to get on that going. I will list all my pieces on that site and also plan to sell the wall hanging patterns I currently have designed as a PDF file down load as well as hard copy. The patterns are can currently be purchased at 'It's Sew Moab' quilt shop located in Moab, Utah.  I have more patterns in my mind, but nothing currently on the design wall....but soon will. This pattern will be a landscape of 'Castle Rock', similar to one of my art pieces that is currently for sale through Gallery Moab.

It is bedtime and  it is time to stop writing and try to shut my mind off.   I am attaching a photo of the display of my art at Gallery Moab, Peggy did a wonderful job of hanging my pieces.

Until next time ........ good night, sweet dreams and happy quilting!