Mr. C is undoing the network for the computers. The van is coming soon. The house is piled high with boxes. We are really going to do this. We had to go out for breakfast. I am getting two last loads of laundry done. We will drive as far as Redding or Eureka tonight. Then on to Portland tomorrow. The van will arrive on Thursday. Please pray for no snow while we drive over the Siskayou’s!!

…A little bit of laughs, a little bit of pain. That is what today has been. It was crunch time on the upper floor as we have overnight guests. I had to get real about packing up stuff and getting the house presentable. I packed all the linens except sheets and towels for the guest room. Finished packing up my fused fabrics ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù my life line to little creative projects, like postcards.

For lunch, I had a date with my best friends – you know Diane, Pat, Rita and Janet – who I am going to miss so much. We laughed today about my chances of ever finding such a group of friends some place else. We had lunch at Janet’s house. Yummy vegetable lasagna in a cream sauce, salad prepared by Rita and dessert baked by Pat. That would have been enough for me, to just have their company one more time ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù to laugh, share our mutual views  about the state of the country and gossip about goings on in the guild. But they gave me these beautiful gifts:

I was able to set this up in the living room so that I could take a photo. It actually goes outside in the ground. It is a funky birdbath. I put one of Lisa’s Mod Birds in it for fun. Oh, and notice the lime green!

Here is a closeup of the glass top:

And from list mom, Diane, this gorgeous lime green bowl, and Diane ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù high praise ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù Mr. C loves it.

Many of you know that I founded an art quilt group here in Santa Rosa called the Pointless Sisters. Well, they gave me a gift certificate for a huge amount of money to spend at my favorite quilt store in the Portland area – Fibers in Motion – in Multnomah Village. My daughter, Stephanie, was in cahoots on this and suggested the store.

I came back home and finished spiffing up the place. Steve’s brother, David, and his wife, Kristin, arrived from Winter Park, FL. They are on their way to Yosemite for a mini vacation. We had a wonderful dinner with them. Kristin teaches at Central Florida University and does a lot of publishing. Her next book is a collaborative venture about Bob Ross, who she says is the most famous painter in the world. So we had a lot of fun talking about that. David is a clinical psychologist, who has in the past done a lot of drug and alcohol abuse work, but now works for the Children’s Home Society in Florida. He is one of the nicest and kindest men I have ever known.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate Mark’s 40th birthday. I have invited some of his friends. I am not cooking. We are eating out!!

Tonight, I was really tired and even begged off going to the good-bye party the choir gave for Mr. C. I had an idea for a postcard and decided to give it a go. Fifteen minutes into my creative endeavor, I felt miraculously better!! I have made some other postcards over the past week or so when I have had a moment. Many are made with Mrs. Mel’s scraps that I acquired last year. These are all going to Virginia Spiegel’s Fiberart for a Cause and I need to have them there by the fifteenth. The moonlit trees were done tonight, and they are a takeoff on a photo the DebR posted last year.

READY FOR PROJECT RUNWAY?

Had to share this photo of my embellisher grandson, Miles. He stitched the skeleton at preschool and then stitched it to his shirt! I may have him quilting, soon.

Way back in August 2005, I joined the Quilt Art list travel poster challenge. The deadline is next week and I suppose that I would have a good excuse to bow out, but I forged ahead. This is sort of a larger version of my vineyard postcards. It is 8 inches by 12 inches. I have fused strips of fabric for the vineyards. I did a fused binding because I was having too much trouble trying to do my usual zigzag edge. I love the geometry and graphic quality of the vineyards that you see every where in Sonoma county. They are on flat land and on hills and always have a backdrop of the mountains. I added the hot air balloon for color and a focus. I noticed in my closeup photo that I have loose threads, but I must move on – this is done!!

Now, I must finish packing up my studio. I got 6 boxes done yesterday.

Just checked the PAQA-South website and found that my quilt Shiny Bubbles was accepted into a juried show titled: Art Quilts Images. Each entry  had to use a photo in the work. I made this in 2003 and on a whim decided to enter it in the show. The photos of my grandchildren blowing bubbles in the back yard and our crazy JR, Maggie,  jumping up and popping them were used to create this happy piece. I strip pieced fabrics with happy colors and circles to emphasize the bubble frenzy. I used metallic silk organza for the other bubbles.

I printed their body parts on fabric after I had done some photoshop manipulation. Milo’s outfit was painted with Tsukinko inks as were their shoes. I so enjoyed making this quilt and am glad it is going on tour!

Yesterday, we did not accomplish a lot. We had lunch at the former Chateau Sovereign winery with some good friends. It is now the new Francis Ford Cappola winery. Still a gorgeous place to be on a rainy day. Today we must do serious packing. I am almost finished with the Sonoma Wine Country Travel Poster. I am allowing myself a little time each day to make postcards or do some art.