When Life Gives You Lemons . . .

We had a wonderful day today.  We went out for breakfast and then made our way up I-25 to see Santa Fe, the state capitol.  We hadn't planned to go there, but since we're stuck in Albuquerque until Thursday, we figured we might as well find something to do.  I had read about a quilt exhibit going on at a local cafe that serves lunch.  That was the main reason for the outing.  Our plan was to have lunch there and take in the quilt exhibit.  Then we were going to see the town a little bit and then head back on the national scenic byway known as the Turquoise Trail.  Also, there is a quilt shop in Santa Fe, and so we stopped in there.  (I'll tell you about the quilt shop in a separate post.) 

We were still stuffed from breakfast when we arrived in Santa Fe, and so lunch at the cafe was not sounding very good.  We stopped in at the quilt shop first.  I spent a half an hour or so there, and by then we were feeling like we could down a cup of coffee and some dessert or something light.  We headed over to the cafe known as the Backstreet Bistro.  The quilts of Katie Pasquini Masopust were on exhibit and she apparently hails from Santa Fe.  (I encourage you to click on the link I've given you and take a look at her quilts.  Of the ones in the exhibit, my favorite was "Mountain," which can be seen on her website.)  Her statement left at the cafe read as follows:

I am a textile artist making quilts from many different inspirations.  Lately I have returned to my painting roots and I am creating quilts from my paintings.  I often take a small portion of a painting and make a drawing that is enlarged for the templates used to cut the fabrics to make quilts.  I create the paint-like-pieces so they look as if they have been painted with a very large brush.  In reality they are all turned edge bits of fabrics.  I then quilt them to add even more texture.

I was an oil painter before I became a quilter and I relate the textures of oils, applied with a palate knife, to the textures I use in the fabrics I choose.  My most current work is acrylic painting on canvas.  Some are left whole and stitched and stretched onto frames, other painted canvases are cut up and reconstructed, then quilted.  Some of these are then set into a quilt of the same design, others are stretched onto frames.  I find my surroundings in New Mexico very inspiring, for my landscapes as well as my more abstract works.

I apologize for the quality of these images.  They were taken with Mike's phone.  The restaurant was very busy--full, in fact--and so I felt uncomfortable wandering around hovering over people as they ate.

  The large one above was the focal point of the exhibit, and she had included it on her statement.  Here are some of the other ones we saw.  These were hanging above my head.

These were across the room.  The center one is the one I liked best, called "Mountain."



This one was in the far corner.  I liked it very much too.

These abstracts were hanging on the wall where we were sitting.

And finally, these that were across the room.

I know they're hard to see in these images, but you can get a better look at her website.  Mike and I attended the quilt show in Sisters, Oregon, this past summer.  I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to show him more art quilts at that show.  This gave him a better idea what I was talking about when I told him that some quilts don't even look like quilts.  But they are!  We each had the Hungarian mushroom soup, which was delicious.  It was a very enjoyable lunch. 

After that, we drove around town a little.  I wanted to see the galleries on Canyon Road.  We didn't spend much time there because the galleries were very expensive, which meant it wasn't much fun to browse.  Also, there was no place to park.  The only public parking was in a pay lot that only took cash, and we didn't have any with us.  We drove up into the residential areas.  I love the architecture in New Mexico.  Everything is in the adobe style, and therefore the colors are all tans and browns.  But the set-in windows always have brightly colored contrasting window frames.  Very pretty, and it all blends into the landscaped in such a way that the residential areas are nearly invisible from a distance.

So when we felt we'd seen enough, we headed back on the scenic byway.  We stopped in the little town of Madrid (accent on the first syllable) where there were several affordable galleries.  I picked up the perfect gift for a friend, and so I was very happy about that.  (I'd write about it, but she might be reading.)  The road home was very scenic, and the weather was rolling in.  We are getting the edge of the winter storm that is blanketing the midwest right now. 

Now that we're back in Albuquerque, the winds have come up again along with huge dust clouds.  (That's why my mother couldn't live here.)  Right now the winds are at around 35 mph and there was at least one gust (according to the news) of 53 mph.  Fortunately, the RV is headed into the wind, and so it's not rocking us too much.  We pull in our slides when we go to bed, and that helps stabilize us some.

So that was our day.  We really liked Santa Fe.  We often dream of where we might like to live if we were ever to leave Oregon.  We don't have any plans that way, but who knows what the future holds?  If the kids were ever to decide to move away, I don't know that I'd want to stay there.  In any case, we like Tucson, but we also liked Santa Fe.  It's definitely in the realm of possibility.