The exhibit opened on Saturday, and I got a call from Deidre Aureden informing me that the judge had assigned the Catherine Hastedt Award for Hand Workmanship to my piece. I've never won an award before. They said this award was set up in memory of a mother who exhibited at the Museum long ago--I'm assuming she was a traditional quilter, but don't know. Maybe there will be some information on the certificate they are sending.
I do a lot of large handstitching on many of my pieces to add texture or moderate color, or just because I enjoy doing it. This sari silk from Varanasi was just so compelling in color and hand that it begged for needle and perle cotton. I made the patterns up as I went along. There was no marking. Only the pieced strips were planned (because there needed to be the same measurement on each side). The vertical borders don't match, and I did not care. It just felt so wonderful in my hands that I enjoyed every minute of the work. Also, the cat hair did not cling to the smooth silk the way it does to cotton or wool. And I got quite good at French knots while working on this piece.
It will be at Schweinfurth through January. After that I don't know. Deidre said they will be putting photos up soon, so I hope to see it in place. Just great to be included in this show--and my Thread Songs colleagues Hope Wilmarth and Suzan Engler are there as well.
Oh, and "Grenen" is done. Here's a detail photo--
Just enough to tweak your imagination. This took me back to Denmark every time I sat down to work on it.