Finishing up in Santa Fe and on to Taos!

Before the end of the workshop, I had completed my quilt square!  Our assignment was to create a quilt square based on a theme of our choosing.  I chose Dia de los Muertos, both because I love the celebration and a good portion of my students can relate to it.  We were given a choice of fabric, items to add, and materials to manipulate to create a finished piece.  I used hand stitching, tassels given to us from the Pakistani quilt makers, and items I felt created unity in the piece.  I plan on collaborating with our ESL teacher, Rachel Reyes, with this lesson when it gets closer to Dia de los Muertos.

Our other project was to create a retablo based on a theme.  My theme was Santa Fe.  I started the background inside, but haven't completed putting everything together.  I will get photos up soon.  I haven't decided if I will teach this to my students or possibly in a workshop for art teachers.  Either way I will post photos as soon as I compete it!

That night we had our goodbye dinner at a local restaurant in Santa Fe called Andiamos, which in Italian means "hurry up."  We heard this a lot in Italy... Anyhow, we had a great dinner.  I had chicken parmesan, which was really good. 

I sat with a hilarious group of ladies.  The next photo was taken by Phyllis Brown and was my favorite of the evening.  I chopped off part of it, but nonetheless, you get the jest.  In true Casey fashion, I had to add my own flair to the photo...

I said goodbye the next morning to the new friends I had met.  I was on my way to Taos to explore the desert on my own.  My boyfriend Destin says Taos is one of his favorite places on Earth.  I have heard so much about it over the years, I feel like I already had a connection to it.