Maria had an important day at Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks. She showed her work and demonstrated it at the Fiber Festival at the Adirondack Museum and she was in her element. People showed up in a steady stream to talk to her about her work and see her make her potholders and pillows, quilts and streaming pieces. She would have had a hard time doing this a few years ago, I think – she just wouldn’t have –  but was at lease and encouraging and welcoming and very happy today. It was sweet to see it. It was also very powerful to see so many people show their delight at her work and how eager they were to see how she had broken away from most of the traditional forms and rules of quilting to have fun and define her own sense of creativity.

We got up before dawn to drive there, got home after dark, stopped for a celebratory burger on the way home. It was an affirmation day for her, a connection to the other artists there and strong evidence that her hard work is being well and lovingly received. That is important to for any artist, I think. I drove to the sidewalk sale at Indian Lake for an hour and I was very struck by the Adirondack flavor of the sales – very inexpensive stuff, very much of the place.

I’m putting up a photo album on Facebook.