Au Revoir!

And I’m off!  Haven’t talked much about it lately, but I’m finally going on that long-planned-for trip to Whidbey Island to work with quilt artist Marianne Burr!  I’m pretty excited.  A little nervous and intimidated, but mostly looking forward to what I’ll learn.  I’m also excited to visit that area of the country.  I’m sure I’ll come back with a lot of pictures to share.

Here’s a little travel project I put together (HAVE to have a project for the evening.  Kind of the quilter’s version of a security blanket!)

Gonna ‘fill in the blanks’ with hand-stitching.  Here’s my little travel kit.  I love this line of boxes I found at WalMart in the tool section–they are made specifically for women!

Regarding the previous post, I came to the conclusion that the biggest part of the problem is something I already knew about myself–I  am highly suggestible.  Its probably a good idea for me to tread lightly on a few blogs.  Shelley wrote a great blog this morning about knowing what works for you.  Still, there’s a few of those serious subjects that I’d like to explore in more detail.  That will be on the docks when I come back too!

Here’s an update on the rug progress.  I work on this almost every evening.  It is very soothing to work on.  Pretty colors, but just one stitch to remember!  The sky background is from one piece of wool that starts out lavender and fades to a pretty sky blue at the bottom.

Remember this pic?  This is the usual scene in the morning when I am reading, writing, and praying.  I don’t let them get on my lap, so they have contented themselves with being as close as possible on the ottoman in front of the chair I am sitting in.

The big guy observed this for a few days, and then decided if it was good enough for the peewees it was good enough for him.  He kind of hung off both sides, but he seemed very pleased at himself for fitting in.  Sophie is a wee bit horrified at the situation, and hopes it does not repeat itself.

Handsome boy:

Last night I was looking for my passport (where does one put such an important document???)  and I ran across these old pictures.  Sometimes I get intimidated when people refer to me as a successful maintainer, especially now, when I don’t seem to have what it takes to lose SIX MEASLY POUNDS.  So it was actually encouraging to me to see that yes, I have come a long way, and no, I am not back where I started from.  Its interesting to me how very unhealthy I look in these pictures (completely aside from the weight.)

Included this one for Shelley.  This is the diva that started it all!  I only had Celie for three years, but oh how I loved that little dog.  And she loved me right back.

So then I had to double check and MAKE SURE I had not gained all the weight back.  Took this pic late last night with my webcam (is that what you call the camera inside the computer?)  Note the look of sheer panic on Sophie’s face, and the death grip I have on her.  For some reason the photog whore is afraid of the webcam???

Hasta la vista, baby!  Catch you all in a week or so when I return.  Don’t think I’ll be able to connect to the internet where I’m staying.