Look at what I found when I opened the curtains today:

The bits of color are a reflection from the window. Now it really feels like the Sierras in November.

Yesterday, I had to clean up my stuff and move upstairs to another classroom. I took a long walk around the golf course and watched a couple of coyotes cavorting on the greens. In the afternoon, students for session 2 began to arrive. My new roommate is from British Columbia – Vancouver Island. She has lived in Africa and is a very interesting woman.

Now, let me just tell you that I am so excited to be taking a class from Charlotte Yde. She cracks us up with her Danish/English. But she makes wonderful quilts with amazing surface design.

Here are some examples:

Here some samples from a book of techniques that we can do:

Today, I started with a positive/negative exercise. This is a design that was provided by Charlotte:

I traced this design on wonder under paper. Then ironed it to one of two fabrics that I had chosen. I cut out the white spaces. Then placed the remaining piece, with paper still attached, on another fabric. I removed the paper from the cutouts and placed them in their respective places and ironed them to the underneath fabric. The paper is removed from the other section and it is ironed to another piece of the second fabric. You then have two positive/negative pieces. I then did some quilting and here is the result. This was a great way to jump in and do something fun.

Charlotte does this wonderful technique with metallic organza overlays that are stitched and then the organza is cut away to reveal design underneath. I brought a piece of complex cloth that I had done in the Jane Dunnewald class, last spring:

I have turquoise metallic organza that I am stitching and then I will do the cutting:

The menus and desserts are sort of repeating from last week, so there is no dessert du jour. Be sure to check Kristin’s blog to see what photos she is sharing.

I am so thrilled to be here this week with several quilters from my former home in Santa Rosa. Also, I have finally gotten to meet Carol Taylor, whose work I love,love, love. She sat at our table for dinner tonight. I also had a nice chat with Jane Sassaman about the resurgence of handwork among young women. She asked for the blog addresses of my daughters as she wants to see what they are doing and how they are networking via blogs.