What’s New

2008 was a busy year, and I wish I had kept up better with reporting on it. Here are some highlights:

• My “If I Ever Tried Surfing” quilt appeared in the “Surf’s Up” exhibit at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival in late July. It appeared in Karey Bresenhan’s video cast of the festival, and it also was featured in the November issue of Quilts Japan Magazine’s article about the festival.
• I also participated in two group quilts that were in the “Everything Under the Sun” exhibit at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival.
• “Dos Gatos Primitivos” traveled the country with the “Beauty in Imperfection” Challenge by Quilts on the Wall. The tour wound down at PIQF in Santa Clara, California and then Soft Expressions in Anaheim, California.
• “Dos Gatos Primitivos” was published in Portfolio 15 by Studio Art Quilt Associates.
• My “Fibre Noir” mini-quilt sold at the SAQA 12” Square Auction, online in November.
• My “9 Hearts” mini-quilt sold at the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative’s November online auction to raise money for a cure for Alzheimer’s.
• Cut-Loose Quilters had a round robin mixed-media collage book project with seven people, seven books. My book is called “Inner Children.”

I am looking forward to 2009! Here are some exciting activities on the horizon:

• “A Dance to Spring” will be touring the country in the “Noble Seasons” exhibit, beginning with Road to California in Ontario, California, January 15-18, and including three Mancuso shows (New Jersey, Denver, PIQF). This special exhibit will also appear in all four Original Creative Festivals.
• “Hope is the Thing” is also touring the country, in the “Unfettered Letters” Challenge organized by Quilts on the Wall. It will be at the Denver National Quilt Festival April 30-May 3, Original Creative Festivals in Cincinnati, OH June 25-27 and Reno, NV July 30-Aug 1, PIQF in Santa Clara, CA Oct 15-18, and Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Feb-Mar 2010.
• If all goes as planned, I will have two mini-quilts in the upcoming book, Pretty Little Mini-Quilts published by Lark Books.
• I’m working on two new quilts for special exhibits at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival in July 2009. One will be for “Edges” for the Pacific Coast Fiber Quilters, and the other exhibit is called “Detours” for Quilts on the Wall Fiber Artists.
• The Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibit continues to tour the country. In 2009 it will be crisscrossing the country in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Tennessee, North Carolina, Minnesota, Alabama, Maine, Pennsylvania and more. Go to Alzquilts.org to see detailed schedule information. My quilt is called “Gaps.”
• I will be at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana on February 8 to demonstrate quilting, in connection with an ongoing quilt exhibit from the museum’s permanent collection. I will also be selling my “Cats on My Quilts” note cards.

For the most up-to-date information on what I’m up to, please go to my blog, www.cookseyville.blogspot.com