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Dear Friends:
The Lord sent us three beautiful days for my Museum Open House and Barn Show and Waynesboro, Virginia’s, annual Fall Foliage Festival. Waynesboro’s downtown festival is one that everyone “comes home to,” and it’s fun to see old friends. The fall flowers and leaves were beautiful, and the mums were at their glorious height. I think we all enjoyed the wonderful fresh air; we kept the doors and windows open at The Barn the whole time.
The boy in this picture has been coming to my Barn Shows since he was an infant in his mother’s arms. Standing nearby are his mother and grandmother, with his sister just visible on the other side of a volunteer’s shoulder. He brought his painting of a hummingbird to show me. The last time he came, it was a drawing, and he wanted me to see his progress. He’s doing very well!
Museum Receptionist Betsy George, left, and the P. Buckley Moss Museum’s October Monthly Mystery Winner Penny Prillaman of Glade Hill, Va., right. Penny, who was the lucky 40th visitor on October 10, said, “You couldn’t have a happier winner, because I love Pat’s work.” For more information on the Museum’s Monthly Mystery Winner Program, please see my February 11, 2009, newsletter.
I’m looking forward to going back in a couple weeks while I’m on my way to West Virginia for a show with Necessary Things. I’m hoping to stop by The Greenbrier, either on my way to or from the show, so I can sketch the clubhouse on the eighteenth hole of the golf course. I’ve been asked to paint “The Old White Course” for a show I’m having with Kitten’s Korner at The Greenbrier December 28-January 1. It’s a five-day show, including New Year’s Eve! Come and join me!
This weekend I’ll be in Kalona, Iowa—that wonderful quilting town—for a show with The Village Shoppe. I need more fabric for my hand-painted quilt centerpieces, so I’ll go out and do some shopping while I’m there. Everywhere I go, I meet wonderful people who volunteer to make quilts or quilted wall hangings around my centerpieces to benefit the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education. The finished quilts and wall hangings are eventually auctioned or raffled off to raise money for the Foundation’s programs, such as scholarships and the annual Creative Mind Conference for teachers. Anyone wishing to make one of these for the Foundation should contact my assistant Tricia Miles at 1-800-430-1320 or triciamiles@pbuckleymoss.com. You can see what other quilters have done in past newsletters. I love discovering how talented people are!
Summer Reflection will be released during my show with The Village Shoppe in Kalona, Ia., October 16-17. The giclée on paper features the historical bank barn that was built in the 1920’s by distinguished U.S. Senator Smith Brookhart while in office. The restored barn is currently owned by Jerry Strabala of Washington, Iowa, and has been featured on a number of All-State Barn Tours. For more information on the print and the show, please contact the gallery at 319-656-3853.
I am most disappointed to announce that the Foundation’s annual Creative Mind Conference scheduled for this October 23-25 had to be cancelled due to a lack of participants. This has been a challenging year for non-profits, for education, and for the economy overall. Many school districts throughout the nation have placed restrictions on out of state travel and reimbursements for professional development, which have negatively impacted conference registrations to an all-time low. The Foundation apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause and thanks its presenters for the hard work they have individually put into their workshop sessions.
In lieu of the money the Foundation would have spent on the conference, the board has decided to fund some of the many requests from schools for their programs. I’ll let you know in a future newsletter about the grants. The Foundation hopes to have its best conference ever next year!
There’s still time to order return address labels from the Foundation in time for Christmas and other holiday cards. You can view some of the styles available on the Foundation’s website at www.mossfoundation.org. For more information or to place an order, please contact the Foundation office at 540-932-1728 or foundation@mossfoundation.org. It’s such fun to receive an envelope with one of these return address labels, and I know it came from someone who is a supporter of the Foundation. I use them all the time.
My Chapter Focus this week is on the Trees of Life Chapter in Defiance, Ohio. Founded in 1992, “The Trees” are a close-knit group and enjoy many activities together. They meet monthly in members’ homes or sometimes at a local restaurant. They enjoy traveling together to my shows and to Ohio and Indiana Amish Country. Many of you may have seen some of their clever costume parade entries at Collectors’ Conventions, including All in a Tree, Nine Lives, the Ohio Skaters Poster, Sisterhood, and Starlight. Speaking of Collectors’ Conventions, I’m very excited to announce that my next one has been scheduled for June 11-12, 2010, in Williamsburg, Virginia!
Trees of Life Chapter depicting All in a Tree at the 1995 Collectors’ Convention in Dayton, OH.
To help foster friendships, they have a “secret sister” program and also a friendship bag, which is filled with homemade cookies and passed on to a member at each meeting. At the end of each year, they have a “volunteer raffle,” where names are placed in a hopper each time they attend a meeting or volunteer at an event, and the winner receives a Moss ornament, pillow, or other prize.
Trees of Life Chapter at their annual Christmas gathering.
The Chapter was named first-in-fundraising in an article in a recent edition of The Sentinel, the newsletter of the P. Buckley Moss Society. Some of the fundraisers have been for Equestrian Therapy; Sara’s Garden Hyperbaric Center; Diabetes Camp for Children; LAM; children with disabilities; and several scholarships, including donations toward the Foundation’s annual Creative Mind Conference. Their largest project was to benefit the local hospice organization. Through the sales of Ohio Traditions with P. Buckley Moss cookbooks, they raised over $20,000 and dedicated a room at the hospice facility in memory of co-member Jeannie Lehman who passed away in 2004. My giclée Winter’s Calm hangs in the entry to the building. “The Trees” also participate in the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life and the ACT (Adults and Children Together) Program. In addition to their cookbook, funds have been raised through charity print raffles; a Christmas tour; benefit dinners with silent auctions; and, most recently, a prize-a-day raffle calendar in which each entry has a chance to win from thirty different prizes. Their local gallery, the Corner Gallery in Archbold, offers immense support in framing the raffle pieces and assisting with the projects.
If you are looking for a fun group and heart-warming experiences helping children and other people in need, contact Trees of Life at weisg@embarqmail.com. When you’re working together toward a mutual goal, it isn’t work; it’s a joy!
Love,
Pat
The Moss Portfolio in Mathews, Va., always celebrates staff members’ birthdays. We have two October birthday babies, Jake (13th) and Cathy (9th). In the past, we’ve had as many as four or five birthdays to celebrate in October! It’s definitely a harvesting month! This time we had taco salad and pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Back row, L. to R.: Jake, Cathy, and Kirsten. Front row, L. to R.: Patty, Angie, Lori, Lisa, Christy, Tricia, and me.
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009