UFOs

Over at Quilt Studio people have been talking about UFOs in relation to their work style. I have a very laissez-faire attitude toward works in progress, and I don't sweat it if projects linger awhile until they get finished. Everything in its time is my motto.

This week I took out not one but two UFOs, because somehow I figured that they might work together. The center portion is made of hat box blocks from one of Kaffe Fassett's books. After I made these 9 blocks I decided I'd had enough and I put them aside. I had collected home dec fabric samples for the specific purpose of making these blocks, but then that became a project unto itself, and I continued to collect them. Eventually I made the border blocks in the photo from another batch of home dec fabrics. I put these aside after I decided to construct a second quilt by alternating these blocks with the gold and beige print fabric you can see in the sashing.

Recently I realized these two projects might like to live together. I'm glad I waited until I came to this juncture with these projects. Something else entirely has materialized. As you can see, I still have design decisions to make. This is one of my favorite parts of the process: improvising, trying things out and seeing what grabs me.

Portland

This weekend I spend three blissful days in Portland. The weather was sunny and dry, I was going to the wedding of my dear friend from college, and best of all, it was just Michael and me. What a pleasure to get up in the morning, walk to the coffee place, and sit and read the newspaper. No cats to feed or let in and out. No kids to take to school. Just us. Look at how relaxed I look.


And look at Michael.


The wedding was lovely, and I got to see my friend's new house, which gave me some ideas about a quilt I want to give her.










To top it all off with a cherry, I got to have breakfast with the remarkable Allison Aller. Allie is as nice, smart, beautiful and talented as you think she is, but I'll tell you, she's twice as cool. The woman was wearing orange shoes! I have found a new kindred spirit.

It's good to know that the impressions we get of people in virtual reality are accurate, that the rapport we feel is based in the good human qualities that shine through in any medium. We could've talked all day and about so many things. I also got to see some examples of her work in person, and they are also every bit as wonderful as they look in pictures. What a joy to belong to such a wonderful community!

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter to everyone. Here's a photo of one of the irises that has come up faithfully in my garden. This week we had one glorious day of sun, which has given me hope that we may some day see the end of this long very wet winter.

Please stop by and see the unveiling of the next Madonna quilt I finished in the series I'm collaborating on with Debra.