1. I saw the Head and Neck Surgeon yesterday and mine are still intact!! The CT-scan shows that I have a nasty, rotten, clogged sinus behind my nose. The others are all clear. We are trying a new kind of antibiotic and if it does not work…it is roto-rooter time. That’s right – up the nose with an endoscope-but let’s not think about that – sorry I brought it up.
2. Laume found my blog via DebR today and was amazed to see my photos of Moon Mountain. She used to live in Sonoma and went there to get a tree every year. We are talking a totally random hit on a blog which took her down memory lane. Love the serendipity of blogging.
3. Speaking of the serendipity thing. I got this e-mail today:                  Gerrie,

   I love your work and I love your rants.

   I do not know if you do commissioned work, but here goes?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.
   I am a campus minister in Mobile, Alabama.  We are completing a new building and searching for two major pieces of art.  After hours and hours and hours and hours of surfing the internet, I was overjoyed when I came to the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìquiltart?¢‚Ǩ¬ù piece you did for your church (?¢‚Ǩ?ìthe growing season?¢‚Ǩ¬ù).  I think it is more than coincidence that I stumbled across it.

   We have unique colors in our worship space/room, but I would love to see a similar quilt/banner on our accent wall.  Do you take orders?  Or do you offer a pattern.

   You can tell I am new at selecting major pieces of art, but I am not new to know what I like in a liturgical space.  The simplicity, and yet, diversity of it is perfect!

   Please help in anyway you can.

   Thank you for your time.

   Sincerely,

   Rev. Karen Koons                                                                                      I responded and asked some questions and it is going to be a go – to do another version of the Long and Narrow Quilt, which can be seen here. This will  not be long and narrow as it has to fit in a rectangular space which will require some redesigning, but I’m not good at doing the same thing over, anyway!! I am so excited. Pinch me, I must be dreaming!!

4. Remember the Bag of Stuff challenge that I did on the Quilt Art list? I made the Technicolor Sunflowers for Linda Cline who lives in the East Bay. She wrote an article about the challenge for  American Quilter magazine. We were just notified that they want the quilts for photography as the article will be published in a future issue. The quilt I made Linda and the quilt she made someone else will be featured in the article.  Here is the one I made:
5. My last blessing is the arrival next week of the whole family for Turkey Day. Steph, Jack, Mia and Milo will drive down on Tuesday so that Steph can help with the cooking – we love to cook big!! Mark will come Wednesday night. Lisa is bringing two friends and will arrive on Thursday. Whee! I can hardly wait.

We get our Christmas Tree from Moon Mountain, near Sonoma. At the beginning of November, we get a postcard reminding us to come early to chose our tree. We go up, wander through all the trees, find the perfect one, tear off the tag, go back and pay for it and then next month, when we go back to pick it up, they will drive out, cut it down and we bring it home. Here are photos of the day’s event:

Trees:

More trees:

and more trees.

Tiny trees:

Fat trees:

Ah! The perfect tree:

Tear off the tag:

And enjoy the views:

I have had several queries about which quilts I sold. Here they are:

  Color-Fusion         Zen Forest

Diane asked about how I handle the large variety of fabrics that I used in Sue’s class. I use a lot of Japanese textiles that come in odd shapes and sizes. I also have a huge bag of lucsious fabric samples that I got from my son-in-law who is an architect. Some of these are silk; some are cotton and some are linen. I also cut up silk clothing that I find in thrift stores.

For an odd-shaped fabric such as this:

I trace around the fabric on the Wonderunder and then cut it and fuse to the fabric:

For other fabrics, I lay them out on Wonderunder:

Then, I lay a piece of release paper over all and press to adhere the Wonderunder. After it cools, I cut them apart.

In Sue’s class, we call this making fused fabric!!

After spending a week at high altitude, I like to get to sea level and become grounded. Today was a wonderful fall day in Sonoma County. We live only 28 miles from the coast, but don’t go there much except in the fall. Fall is the best beach time in Northern California. The rest of the year it is quite cold and foggy. So we loaded the Magster in the jeep, stopped at Whole Foods for sandwiches and drinks and headed for Bodega Bay.

Bodega Bay seems like a nice place to live:

It is definitely a nice place to while away a November afternoon.

There was digging:

Maggie

watching birds…

Flying kites:

Playing in the surf:

Building sandcastles:

Discovering the beauty of kelp:

But, the best, is walking with someone you love!

My supplies are packed up and in storage until I get the car tomorrow. Tonight was the final dinner together.

I did another small landscape today. It is a vineyard setting in Sonoma county where I live. It still needs some work – this is the bare bones.

I love the work of Kristin La Flamme who lives in Heidelberg, Germany. She is young and is a creative quilter to be reckoned with. She wrote a very moving letter and will be the recipient of a scholarship next year. Her husband is in the service and they have two adorable children who came to visit class. Here are her landscapes:

She was working from tiny pictures which she said helped her go more abstract.

Today we had a diversion as the bears came out to play:

These were the adolescent cubs. We don’t know where the Mom was.  Tonight when I was coming back to the lodge, one of them walked right across my path!!

Tonight at dinner they gave out awards for the challenge quilts. Libby Lehman was the judge. Best of show was this one:

First place was won by Linda for this rendering of Carnegie Hall started in a Ruth McDowell class:

Second place was won by  Sebastopol  quilter,  ta da, Judy  Bianchi  for  Pomegranites:

Third place and viewer’s choice was won by my Marin friend, Diane Ansel, for her Tuscan village.

Judy, who runs AQT, told me that I just missed out on viewer’s choice, which made me very happy. What really made me happy was selling two quilts!!!!!

Tomorrow, I will spend a leisurely morning and then have lunch with some bloggers and then go home to some peace and quiet!

I leave you with the dessert du jour!~ (Look DebR, no whipped cream with the strawberry!)