This is one of two beautiful hanging gourd quilts made by all the members of the Sprit Desert Gourd patch. Last month at the Running of The Gourds festival in Casa Grande, one was donated for a fund raiser; the other was sold in our patch’s booth.
March brings a much-needed break to our members after a great four-day festival in Casa Grande February 9-12. Over 8,000 people attended the event at the Pinal County Fairground. One hundred ninety-seven gourds were entered into the Arizona Gourd Society state competition, of which we were in charge. Hundreds of volunteer hours go into planning and staffing this event, and the fabulous outcome made it all worthwhile!
What a show it was! First, we want to congratulate the award winners from our patch. Our President Vicki McKenna won Best of Show, Best of Division and a first place in Masters Living/Fantasy Creatures for a fabulous carved and designed horse. Sharon Medhurst also won Best of Division and a first place with an Intermediate Bowl. Sharon also won a third place in Intermediate Carving. Lynn O’Malia won first in Intermediate Mask. Joanne Hayman won second place in Advanced Woodburning and second place in Advanced Living/Fantasy. Julie Hemer won first place in Advanced Dolls and Figures. Leigh Hill won first and Joanne Miles won second in Master Fiber Arts. Congratulations to all our winners!
Our patch also had a triple sales booth to hold all our members’ beautiful art for sale. And sell we did. Over half of our patch contributed the over 200 pieces we had for sale. And our members quickly shopped for more supplies to make more art. The festival had vendors for all types of equipment and products to make gourd art.
There were over 70 classes offered over the week of the festival, and many of our members took multiple classes. March and April will be full of sharing new techniques learned and products purchased at the festival. That’s what our Sunday workshops at the Oakwood Arts and Crafts painting room are made for. Our members are very co-operative – we all have something to teach and something to learn.
Our next event will be March 31, 2017, Friday night, from 3:00-7:00 p.m. in the Sun Lakes Country Club lobby. Our patch will take over the lobby for a personal Sun Lakes sale! Over half of our patch will have works for sale in all price ranges. On display will be several of the award winning gourds from the 2017 state competition. Stop by and visit and see our incredible work!
Remember SpiritDesertGourds.com to see our news, meet our members and see some beautiful gourd art. And you can always join us for our monthly meeting, March 16, 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the Sewing Room of Oakwood Arts and Crafts Building.