The Charlotte, NC Quilt Show is history and a great success story for Random Arts. Along with the 3 day event at the Charlotte Latin School we hosted a 3 hour workshop with 14 enthusiastic artists at the Marriott Hotel in South Park. It couldn't have been more perfect and what a mess we made of that place. Right girls? In that 3 hour time period each one of us created and completed a painted and collaged Meandering Book filled with embellishments, ribbons, photos, rusted objects and more. Not only did we go "outside the box" and break a few "rules" during the this fabulous workshop but we were able to enjoy some "real" homemade, delicious chocolately brownies made by Jan Smiley.
yummmmmmmy... thanks Jan from all of us. Didn't we all have such great fun?
One of the highlights for us was that "Starbucks Coffee Lady", Karen Kimmell, that pushed her cart through the event on Fri and Sat morning. Just look at her! She was a welcome site for sure.
With our booth set up in only 4 hours on Thursday, we were ready to party... not! Off we went to clean up and return to the Latin School for the preview party... There were a lot of whoops and hollers from the award winning quilters who were surprised to hear their names when the blue ribbons were awarded! Quilters were not alone with their winnings!
The Flights of Fantasy Doll Club had winners too with their portrait challenge of members. What a fun group they are!
All day Friday, Saturday and Sunday we spent doing demonstrations for hundreds of artisans on photo transfers, collage, and our newest ribbon cuffs. We have created a really unique cuff made from a wired ribbon, batiks, colorful fibers, metallic threads, beads & antique buttons. Quilters of all ages came through the show that focused primarily on the meticulous work of quilters from the Charlotte area. We are happy to link to a slide show here that will give you all a little peek at what you missed this past weekend.
Most of all we want to thank everyone who came to our booth for our assorted goods for creative mindfulness. Jen and I had such a great time with all of you and we so, so enjoyed meeting all of our new friends and seeing familiar faces, as well.
Now, as we return and get back into the swing of things here in Saluda, we can look forward to Art and Soul Retreat in Hampton, VA. on May 5th. But, for this week it is back to work at the shop and to start preparing for Janet Lasher's workshop here this Saturday. On with the show!

This past weekend was jam packed with the excitement of Kristi Steiner's class here in Saluda and the shop was alive with enthusiastic participants as we started our new year of workshops.
Kristi led 21 high energy women through the art of journaling in your altered fabric books, painting & altering fabric, fusing fabric together and the continuity and elements of collage.
The outcome is an accordion style book entitled "I am a woman who....". It's up to you to explore the possibilities of that statement and move on toward the completion of your book.
Short writing exercises in discovering "the woman" were thought provoking and inspiring for everyone. Kristi will return to Saluda for more exciting workshops as we create our way through 2007. Look for her workshops around the country and the world by visiting her
web site.

Speaking of web sites, Random Arts is excitingly updated? Is that a word? Excitingly? Well, it is to me right now and that's what matters. Many of you have been sending in photos of your work and we have been adding some of our own. We love to see what you are doing and we love to publish it on our gallery page.

The biggest and best thing since sliced bread is our "wholey" paper and it is being used all over the country right now. If you don't have any yet, you can get it on our eBay Store or you can stop by the shop. We are fully stocked and it's selling like crazy. The possibilities are endless. You can paint it, sand it, distress it, sew it, stamp it, tear it, print it, rust it, stencil it and who knows what else. I have used it for altered book covers, in ATC's, book covers, and Atlanta artist and Cloth Paper Scissors Cover girl, Cheryl Prater has used it for lots of her micro mini tiles that she is doing every single day. You can see her tiles on her blog... and look for the ones with the wholey paper... It's a "hole" new way to create.