Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. "

What a journey. We drove to Pennsylvania to visit family, the Jersey Shore, and then drove the Harley through New York to upstate New York and Vermont. We ate our way through Jersey and NY, (the best pizza and hot dogs in the world!) - and rode our Harley through the back roads of Upstate New York and Vermont. What a blast! We laughed, we cursed (!), we explored, we argued, and we re-connected. Who could ask for anything more?

If you're interested - here are some of the highlights...

Times Square - Blaise & Cathie

Feets in NYC....

Blaise's childhood home on the Jersey Shore in a beautiful old time seashore neighborhood....

A Giant pallet with a Vermont battle ground scene just outside of the memorial pictured on the pallet which we went to the tippy top....

Thunderstorms - around every turn. All the way from PA to VT. Time to put on the rain gear. Thanks to Acey giving me a head's up about the weather, we bought rain gear - and we used it EVERY DAY! We didn't let the thunder or lightening stop us...

Moosefest in Vermont..... Mooses everywhere....

Isn't she pretty???

The view from the back of the Harley on the ride to Vermont....

I loved this little quote on the stairs to someone's little cottage at the Jersey Shore....

I want to do this on my stairs one day...

I love this picture of Brina.... lounging on the beach at the Jersey Shore where her daddy grew up.

OMG! Pinkberry at Greenwich Village. It's all I dreamed about and more. Pinkberry exists in only in two places in the country - NYC and California. Oh please come to NC.

MOMA (Museum of Modern Art in NYC)

MOMA in NYC

Broadway - larger than life....

We met new friends everywhere. This little guy was watching the parade (or Sabrina!) in NYC...

MOMA - NYC

MOMA - NYC (torn pieces of paper and books?)

MOMA - NYC (Oh how I miss John Lennon)

Times Square....

Washington Square in Greenwhich Village. We sat there for over an hour - people watching. But as is usually the case, the person I found the most fascinating -- was Sabrina....

Another view from the "back" of the Harley...

My man is Hottttt......

Another friend I met outside of a hunting and fishing store in upstate NY.

Roadside break in Vermont.... Blaise was looking at the map..... and I was making more friends... Alas, we're back in NC. And while our adventure was amazing......

be it ever so humble....

there's NO place like HOME.

When All Else Fails........ PAINT!

I've been very devoted to working on Christmas gifts. Big ones, little ones and some in between ones. One at a time they are having their last stitch stitched and being taken upstairs to the "wrapping" table -- where they will be admired one last time, wrapped, boxed and sent off to their new homes.

I needed to take a break from the intensity of 1/4 seams, straight lines and evenly matched prints and plaids. Words like accurate and straight were really starting to annoy me -- so I took out the Neocolors, paints, Modpodge, Stazon, tissue and stamps and went to work on the six pieces of hand made paper I committed to making for Ophelia's paper trade. I was an enjoyable diversion.

Blue, Ocean and White Frost Lumiere Paints, laid down in excess and stamped with snowflake and text images India Ink brushed flowers colored and water painted with Neocolors....

Bronze and Green Lumiere Paint, over-brushed with Gold Pearl ex powder and stamped with leaf and text imprint.....

Liquitex Acrylic Ink penned on with calligraphy and drawing nibs, over-colored with Neocolors and then water brushed....

Tissue paper shredded and Mod-podged down, then painted over with Purple, Ocean and White Frost Lumiere Paints. Once dry I stamped images with Stazon onto tissue and modpodged that down, painting over the edges with paint soaked paper towel.

As always, were I to do this again there are tons of things I would do differently, but all in all they came out ok.

Now, it's back to stitching, measuring, cutting and cursing!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom

I (we) Miss You So.

Dear Jane - Chapter I

Well, after auditioning just about every interesting print with contrast I could find (I even cut some up and arranged into blocks) -- I've decided on doing my Dear Jane with this cool Kaffe Fassett print as the tiny sliver of unifying "focus" fabric that I am going to put in every block, with white dimples as the primary fabric and perhaps, and this dotted Mary Engelbreit print and/or this variety of "dimples" in all the colors that complement the Kaffe Fassett print as little punches of color in the blocks. This should make a nice clean yet visually interesting piece.

Here is a link to my favorite fabric designer, Kaffe Fassett. His is a really interesting story -- and his artwork (fabric) is just glorious in every way. He has a way of bombarding colors together that creates a mood of power and passion and in many ways reminds me of Taos and the West - as they are so NOT afraid to combine unlikely colors and elements. Andrea, you may find his story particularly interesting, and Tammy, you may find his fabrics interesting because they are a great springboard for crazy quilting. I have known people who utilize fabrics with patterns such as these (the bold Kaffe Fassett print above) for crazy quilting and for art quilt pieces because the color elements in the fabric lends itself to some fantastic beading - simply by following the design in the fabric. FYI!!

Have a great weekend guys. I think it's going to be a fun weekend because as of now - it looks like the "men" are all going to be out and just the girls at home - which always makes for some partying in the studio!!

I'd love it if you guys would give me a shout as to what you think about alternative fabric selections. Let me hear from all of you because even though you may not work in fiber, and express yourself as a "beader" or a "painter" or "collage artist," your eye for color and texture speaks volumes and I so respect your opinions. I'm not sold on any of these fabrics yet as I plan on playing with this just a bit more before doing any "hard core" cutting. The only thing I'm certain on - is the KF print which will be the focal. Everything else is still up in the air. Let me hear from you - okay??

And the Winner is.........

I'm NOT telling. That's right - I"m NOT telling.

I've cleaned my studio, I've packed my suitcase, and I've loaded up the car. I'm leaving this morning (Friday) at 11:30 a.m. So by the time you read this, I'm probably on my way to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. I was debating as to whether or not I should let you wait until I get home -- but I couldn't do that. After all, I promised that Sabrina will pull a name and I would post it before I left. Well -- the deed is done and we have a winner. BUT..... I have decided - I'm NOT going to tell you who it is..... you're going to have to figure out who it is - all by yourself.

And here's your clue: As I was cleaning up and packing this morning, I took some pictures.The name of the winner can be found "somwhere" in one of these pictures. So - go find it!

Is the name on my side of the studio????? Hmmmmm??

How about in my favorite drawer of stuff??????

Maybe it's in my partially packed suitcase???? Eh????

Maybe it's in my travelbag....

Or, maybe it's over on Sabrina's side of the studio???? Do you see it?????

You don't see it??? You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and really take a good hard look. It's there.

To the Winner - please e-mail me your address by Sunday evening as your prize will go out Monday morning. Oh, and the first person who e-mails me the name of the winner (cathiejean1960@yahoo.com) also gets a little surprise. But DON'T post it here. Let everyone look for it. Have a great weekend! I'll see you Sunday. And be ready for LOTS of pictures from the Mid-Atlantic Festival. XO

Just Another Tuesday Night....

While anxiously awaiting the season premiere of American Idol tonight, everyone at the Recca house, it seems, is diligently working on something. Tobie and Gizmo are both chewing intently on their rawhide bones, Sal and Blaise are out (even though it's only 31 degrees) working on the boat, Sabrina is hard at work on her art project, and I am wondering what the heck I've gotten myself in to.

Sabrina is singing in the NRCA talent show again this year -- which of course means -- once the song has been selected ("Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride) and practiced to perfection (she won the first place trophy last year for her rendition of "I Hope You Dance" by LeAnn Rimes), begins the search for the perfect dress. It can't be too fancy, it can't be too babyish, it can't be too sophisticated AND it has to fit "just right." Last year for some reason we had no problem. A quick trip to Macy's unveiled the perfect black satin (pretty, yet conservative) dress -- complete with a 50% off price tag. This year, however -- seems to be "the year of the HOOCHIE MOMMA" -- and a pretty, yet tasteful dress is nowhere to be found. And believe me -- we looked EVERYWHERE. Exhausted and disgusted we decided to head for home -- but only after one last stop -- the fabric store, as I needed to pick up a piece of canvas for my quilting frame leaders.

To make a long story short -- a very excited and hopeful Sabrina screamed across the store that she had the perfect idea -- "Momma, you can MAKE me a dress!!!" And she ran toward me with a big smile and a pattern in her left hand that she found all by herself while I was looking for something else. I've never made a dress in my life -- I've made quilts, I've made pajama bottoms, I even made her a robe for Valentine's day -- but I've never worked with fine fabric, zippers and notions. This moment flashed in my mind and reminded me of when I was a little girl -- my mother made me some of the most beautiful clothes. I remember her laying the patterns out on the floor and cutting the fabric, measuring and pinning and fitting everything so it would be perfect. I was the envy of all my friends at Lee Burneson Junior High School as I had the most beautiful outfits.

What could I say to this -- here was my daughter, hopeful and excited and "oh so certain" that her momma could just "whip up" the perfect dress for her to wear in the talent show. So after a few minutes of self doubt I said, "o.k. - let's give this a try." So off we went to pick out the perfect fabric, a wine colored crepe backed satin with matching lincing, coordinating thread, matching zipper (I've never put a zipper in anything in my life!!) and some of the prettiest hand dyed silk ribbon I've ever seen. The dress (or at least the picture of the dress on the pattern package) really is lovely and she will look beautiful in it -- IF all goes well.

So tonight, while everyone is working on their projects -- I sit here, fussing and worrying about how in the world I am going to make her "the perfect dress" for her solo and missing my mom.

The Reccas Light up the Neighborhood!

Every year the weekend before Thanksgiving my husband goes up into the attic and we drag all the Christmas lights out so that we can light up the house Thanksgiving evening. It's a Recca Family tradition. Here are the fruits of his labor. (Do you see a teeny weeny Gizmo in the foreground?)









Finally, as I was finishing up taking these pictures I looked up to see this beautiful sunset in the pines. Ahhhh, I do love living in North Carolina!