8 MORE DAYS TO PARTY TIME!!

Thank you Yasmin for the beautiful Bamboo to showcase these wall hangings. Wonderful lighting and ambience, but then, what would expect from a Feng Shui consultant applying her principles to her own studio?

And Flavor Restaurant will help with the refreshments! Francisco has such a good feel for what people love and and then he adds his clever twists--classics with flair. This will NOT be a diet-as-usual day for me.

And! And! Stevan Pasero on guitar. What a nice man, who is selling out concert halls around the country, and has agreed to support local artists and play for my party. He will bring some of his CDs for sale. Please support his artistry, too!

I can't wait!

EEEK--There's a spider in my quilt!

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a spider phobia. You can imagine my surprise to see one IN my quilt, thankfully not ON it. I hadn't seen it till I looked at a photo I took of Tom on the landscape quilt I've been working on since mid-July. Yes, it's been that long. I participated in the Sandra Sider quilt critique, showing one of the in-process pieces. It's had several iterations since. Anyway, when I looked at this photo in Photoshop I was shocked to see a tarantula. I can hardly type the word, even the word itself in print now having almost the same sway. I hadn't seen it before, just knew that the one area wasn't working. It took a photo to show me what I had--legs. Eeeuw!

My solution solved two problems: eradicated aforementioned "T" as well as improved the composition by repeating both a shape and a color. My friend Bridget calls these "happy accidents."

  BEFORE -- see it?

AFTER  -- all gone! 

Vantage Point

I put some finished quilts on top of a bookcase for safe-keeping, meaning safe from Tom. He tries to bite off the beads. Oh, that's right. Cats can jump up on top of bookcases.

Sniff Test

It's part of checking out a new addition. I think it was the ribbon embellishment. This long skinny quilt of pastels, reminiscent of the beach, turned out to be SO time consuming, with all those little beads and hand-dyed ribbons and threads. Perhaps it has too much now, but it took hours and hours, and I don't want to feel those hours are in vain, so I don't want to remove some of the trims. It feels more like a party than it does the beach.

Lap(board) Cat

Here I am, set up with my lapboard, quilt, needle & thread, and box of pebble beads----ready to hand-stitch! But wait, a visitor has discovered a new surface to explore....

Petta on Metta

Metta means "Loving Kindness" in Buddha circles. This quilt outlines the Eightfold Path and also has a Metta Meditation: "May I feel safe, May I feel happy, May I feel strong, May I live with ease." Little Petta lives his little Metta life....

Another red

No title yet. But it has Tom's blessing. He hunkered down and wouldn't let me near the color strips I needed to fuse. The concept isn't fully formed, but it may end up fairly simple. Quilt blocks redux. That may be enough.

Black & White & Red all over

How to make a red quilt that isn't just red? First, I drew out the composition on the back of an old architectural drawing. Then I cut out all the fabric pieces and made sure everything balanced. Fortunately the Quilting Assistant was taking a nap when all these little pieces were laid out. Toward the end of assembly, however, he emerged and decided to check things out. I've never made a quilt without my helper. And a camera.