San Antonio/Austin Circle Report

The July meeting was actually lovely.  Vou Best is a terrific host, and those of us who car-pooled from Austin had a great time all day.  (Thank you, Sherri, for driving!)  In attendance were:  Vou Best (host), her daughter Terri, Shirley (this is where my memory gets vague, as I do not remember her last name - sorry, Shirley), Susan Mayfield, Marianne Swim, Patty Koeniger, Sherri McCauley, and Lynne Allen.  I THINK that was everyone - and again, my apologies to anyone I forgot.
We started the meeting with stories.  Each of us discussed at least one positive event that had shaped our lives and our art.  It was very interesting, and even covered some less positive events that brought positive outcomes.  It is good to think about and review these things from time to time.
On the business side of things, we reviewed upcoming events in Texas - QuiltFest in Austin (Sept. 14-16), Style Show in Austin (Sept. 29), Houston International Quilt Festival (November 1-4, 2013), QuiltCon in Austin (Feb. 21-24, 2013), SAQA Conference in Santa Fe (April 25-28, 2013), SDA Conference in San Antonio (June 6-9, with workshops June 1-5 and 10-14, 2013).

REMINDERS:  NO TEXAS MINI QUILT SHOWCASE IN HOUSTON THIS YEAR - the Reps are working on an alternative showcase and state-side events in 2013 and 2014 (info to come out soon), but WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS TO STAFF THE SAQA BOOTH - SEE THE TEXAS BLOG (http://saqa-texas.blogspot.com/) FOR MORE INFO AS TIME DRAWS NEAR
NO SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN MEETING IN SEPTEMBER (Meet your friends and colleagues at QuiltFest instead!)

After a great lunch and fabulous Show and Tell, we adjourned to Vou's "outside" studio, where she is now working with glass and china and glue.  We broke into two groups - one to play with glass and china and the other to look through old magazines for inspiration and to talk about how to "curate" a mini show from Show and Tell pieces.  Next meeting we plan to leave the Show and Tell up until everyone has talked about their work and then each choose a small number of pieces we could see as a stand alone exhibit.

The Texas Reps are meeting every other month to work on some State-wide activities and to share ideas on how to make the Circles "sing".  We will be sending out news in the months to come.
Hope to see you all in November - at the Houston International Quilt Festival and/or the November Circle meeting!

Lynne Allen
SAQA Texas Co-Rep