Eagles in Minnesota and Quilts in Texas with Lone Star Quilt Study Group

Note the eagle atop the tree in the center.

I spent a lot of August away from home—nearly two weeks at our family cabin in Northern Minnesota, where we read, hiked, cooked, entertained friends, and took a day-long fishing trip into the Boundary Waters. We also saw lots and lots of eagles, including one who perched no more than 30 feet from our fishing trip lunch site, just waiting for us to leave so she could feed the fish remains to her young'uns. Being that close to an eagle gives you a good idea of their power with a close-up look at its hooked beak and those huge talons.

Just four days after our return I headed to Austin, where I was invited so speak to the Lone Star Quilt Study Group about feed sacks. They were a lovely audience and as always, I learned as much new information as I shared.

Museum of Texas Tech University, who is working on a feed sack book. In addition, the museum will host a feed sack exhibition in 2019, something to look forward to, indeed.

A sweet feed sack dish towel shared by a member of the Lone Star Quilt Study Group

I also met Marian Ann Montgomery, curator of clothing and textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech University, who is working on a feed sack book. The museum will host a feed sack exhibition based on their extensive collection sometime in 2019, to coincide with the release of Marian's book. Something to look forward to!

The afternoon speaker was Nancy Ray (scroll down to learn more about her), a Texas collector of string quilts. One I made previously is one of my all-time favorites).

I adore string quilts—their scrappiness parallels the feed sack ethos of waste-not, want-not that I so admire. Nancy's collection was inspiring and exemplified the the inventiveness quilter's have applied to the technique. Here are a few photos. I've got a string quilt on my to-do list (one I made a couple of years ago is one of my all-time favorites).

Detail of the above quilt

A selection of Nancy's quilts

Detail of string spider web quilt

Image from a slide--not the best

Detail of a bow tie quilt with wild red curves

Image also from a slide, but love the darks and lights