This is my third attempt at doing this post. Wireless laptop has it’s challenges. I’m here. I’ve seen some of the show – it is huge. I met Pokey Bolton, publisher of QA and CPS magazines. She recognized my name. She is so cute. She is originally from Marin county so she knows Santa Rosa. I haven’t seen Mrs. Mel or Robbi Eklow yet.

Here are some pics (some are a little fuzzy – must be the two glasses of wine I had) We only had 1 1/2 hours to preview the show.

The DEButante show DebR and Debra’s quilts are hanging together!! Who is the guy on the cell?

Here is list mom, Diane’s, quilts hanging together.

Here is my buddy Janet with her Tamari Balls:

Carol Taylor – love her quilts!

This dog quilt is so incredible – won for best hand applique. See the closeup of the JR – looks like Maggie when she was a puppy.

Laura Cater-Woods:

Loved this simple leaf motif quilt:

Liz Berg did this wonderful quilt with tree motifs. The photo does not do it justice:

I love the visual impact of this quilt. Great use of Kaffe Fassett stripes.

Off to beddy-bye. Get to hang out with Mrs. Mel tomorrow!!

Yes, it is my birthday. When I was a child, Columbus day occurred on the actual day – the 12th and so I always had a holiday to celebrate my birthday. I think I thought there was no schoool because it was my birthday. I was going to post a cute picture of me as a child, but Lisa did that – click here for a lovely tribute to her mom by Lisa. You can also see the wonderful tote bag that Stephanie and Mia made me at Little Birds. 

Must finish packing for PIQF. Hope to see many of you there.

Today I stopped at a nearby quilt store to purchase some batting. I struck up a conversation with a woman who lives in Tahoe and was in Santa Rosa with a friend who works at the store. They are going to PIQF together and she mentioned she was taking Mrs. Mel’s class on Saturday. I said I was taking it on Thursday – bur grad student level. She asked if Melody was a fun teacher – and I assured them that they would have a ball. As I was checking out, they asked for my name to bring me up in the computer. When I said my  name, this woman shrieked "You are an internationally known quilter – you are famous!" (I am not kidding!!) Well, it turns out that she had seen Cloth Paper Scissors and my postcard. It was fun!

The Purple Rain Drops failure has been turned into three lovely Purple Rain Postcards. Here they are:

Saturday: Steve bought us a wireless router so that I can use my laptop at home.  I also got my two Macs to communicate wirelessly. So cool!

In the afternoon, I demonstrated making postcards at the Charles Schulz museum. The Japanese Snoopy-themed quilts are just wonderful. Many of them are quite large and many used traditional Japanese textiles. No photograohy was allowed so I have nothing to show. We had quite a bit of interest in our work. One person was demonstrating free-motion quilting, one was piecing a traditional quilt and two were hand-quilting. Here are the post cards I made in the three hours that I was there:

The top one shows how I use orphan blocks. It is a leftover block from my "Ode to Zinfandel" quilt or "Zin is red, Zin is Red, Zin is Red". The second one shows how I fussy cut things from commercial fabrics and collage with other fabrics.

The top one of these two has hand-dyed base and scans of actual leaves printed on organza fused to the base. The second one is a collage of vintage Japanese textiles.

Sunday: What a day to head to San Francisco. There was a Columbus Day Parade; it was Fleet Week and the Blue Angels were flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and the city; there was a golf tournament which Tiger Woods won and it was a gorgeous, clear balmy day and Golden Gate Park was packed. We had tickets for previewing the de Young at 3 pm. We made it. It is a wonderful copper clad modern structure that will turn green as it ages. On the tippy top is a tower with windows all around where you can see quite far. We hope to get up there in time to watch the Blue Angels, but were a little late.

The interior of the museum is spacious and wonderful – what can I say. There was art everywhere. The crowd was huge, but it never seemed uncomfortable. This is important – there are lots of huge bathrooms – no lines!! I was disappointed that the Textile gallery was not open as they are preparing for a special exhibit to open on the 15th.

The entrance is where Andy Goldsworthy has done an installation called "Fissure" – think earthquake.  It consists of huge  rocks  on  a  base  of  stone  tiles.  A crack runs from boulder to boulder through the tiles  –  a very organic crack.  I just love how he does these  works!  I forgot my camera but here are stock photos.

Here is a  photo of the installation:

If  you haven’t watched it, you must see Rivers and Tides, the documentary film about his work. I could watch it over and over.

I must get myself organized for PIQF workshops, quilt retreat the following week and a workshop with Louisa Smith at guild.

I went to get my hair cut yesterday morning and guess who walked in and has a new station? David! The guy who was supposed to inherit my head at the other salon and was let go for drug use!! We never made eye contact. I kept my mouth shut. Everyone deserves a second chance!!

After the haircut, I ran over to Barnes and Noble and found the current issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors and bought 3 copies. Shameless that I am, I forced the clerk to look at the article. She said "Is that a rug!!" I laughed and said, "No, a little smaller – a postcard." She seemed impressed!

In the afternoon, I went back to see Dr. Felicity. I am on a new super duper antibiotic and prednisone. (Oh,oh – quilter on steroids, again.) I am going in for a cat scan next week and may have to see an ENT specialist. I am feeling better this morning.

After that, Stevie took me to get an early birthday present. I am so excited. Here it is sitting on my lap.

It is the smallest of the Apple laptops – the ibook G4. I can now take my e-mail and blogging on the road with me. Watch for some great photos to come from PIQF next week. I am taking workshops with Mrs. Mel and Robbi Eklow – I’m so excited.

Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts and Snoopy lived here in Santa Rosa. His wife created a museum dedicated to his work. For the next 3 months, they have a show of Japanese quilts with a Peanuts theme. Our guild is helping on the week-ends by doing demonstrations and white gloving. They are letting us sell tickets for our opportunity quilt. This afternoon I am going to demonstrate  making fiberart postcards. Here is one of the quilts:

Tomorrow, Steve and I are going to the member’s preview of the amazing new DeYoung museum. There is an Andy Goldsworthy installation that I can’t wait to see.

Now, I must get organized to do my postcard demo.