Redwork CQ & Feminine Mystique

When packing for vacation, I threw in an old UFO to work on. It's a 12" crazy-pieced block in red and white that I was doing for my daughter, who wanted a red & white bedroom at the time. But she changed colorways, and this got put away....... until I pulled it out and fell in love once again with the freshness of red against a crisp white background. I guess my eyes get starved for color at this dreary time of year!

The entire block (in process) is above; a detail shot of the center motifs is below.

One of our challenges this month on CQI is to incorporate hankies into our CQ work. It was actually in preparing for this challenge that I thought to retrieve this block and finish it.

There are several snippets of vintage trim in the block, as well as this vintage hankie which I accented with mini rick-rack. I'm torn about whether to do some highlighting of the embroidered motif (1 strand red silk floss) or whether to leave it alone. What do you think?? On one hand, to leave it alone would leave a big white area on the block's upper right. Or maybe instead of outlining the motif I could just embroider a dainty vine along the corner edges???

I've still got quite a way to go on this block, but I'll post progress shots ....


In Tubac, one of my favorite places is called The Feminine Mystique (sound familiar? It was a book by Betty Friedan). It's a gallery that displays the works of women artists of all mediums. They kindly gave me permission to take pictures, so I'd love to share them with you.

Regina Browne is a very talented fiber artist, and she had several wall hangings in the gallery. Two of my favorites were the ones pictured above and below. The desert landscape provides great inspiration and opportunities for interpretation in many techniques. I love how she has captured some of the subleties (above piece) of color as well as the impossibly beautiful color-charged sunsets (below). We witnessed a sunset very similar to this, but I was too mesmerized to go grab my camera.

Here are three more of Regina Browne's pieces: (the name Jan Hayden that you see refers to the body sketches and paints hanging adjacent to Regina's felted pieces).

Gretchen Lima had an amazing array of dolls on display in the gallery, in addition to a full booth going outside at the Arts Festival. What a prolific dollmaker she is!

And I HAD to snap this picture of a wildly painted hutch. It reminded me of the bright furniture painting of my dear friend Gerry, although this style is folksy Mexican .....

Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow I've got a great exterior courtyard to show you, my favorite antique store in Tubac, and some of the goodies I snagged along the way!