wandering ...

Recently I wandered away from Houston ....

heading northward into bonafide winter weather!


I landed in the lovely town of Banff in the Alberta Province of Canada, specifically at the Juniper Hotel


Isn't this a lovely location for a wedding, an outdoor wedding?


Yes, it was a bit nippy -- but oh, it was so gorgeous!
I learned later that Elk were wandering by on the nearby frozen lake.

Have you ever ... ?

I saw this Meme on Beadnik's blog upon returning from my sister's wedding and I had to play along. I did resist the temptation to add #111: Been in an Outdoor Winter Wedding in Canada (it was a tad chilly, but oh so worth it!)!

How many of these have you done?

Feel free to play along..this is one of those lists....mark the things you've done in bold:

1. Started your own blog2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo / or Played a solo in a band
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karioke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury (almost did)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day
101. Seen more than 5 movies in one day
102. Spent a night in jail
103. Ridden a unicycle
104. Slept on the floor
105. Passed out drunk
106. Cheated a railroad company
107. Lied about my age
108. Been South of the Equator
109. Seen an erupting volcano
110. Been to Japan

P.S. Fellow bloggers, feel free to play along -- simply copy & paste, re-doing the bolds to reflect the ones you have done. Leave me a note if you do play, so that I can come and read your list!

Ocean View arch

Today is the end of the Amnesty for our Textile Challenges group and I've had some success at completing several ongoing late projects. Here is my October arch for Judy B who requested "trees, leaves, oceans ..." which I chose to combine into one piece named "Ocean View."

The ocean is made with many colors of blue tulles, catching colorful foil candy wrappers underneath; the sky is a commercial cotton (rather sunset-looking, I thought); the beach and the palm tree are three upholstery scraps; and the palm leaves are blend of a shiny metallic green fabric with two shades of green tulle.


For the back, I selected this multi-colored Hawaiian print because I thought Judy would enjoy the colorful blossoms and leaves on it.


One more overdue project is my Spider Web ATC -- soon to be winging its way to a new home with Annette in the UK.


All this frenzy of work and I am not totally caught up. How can that be? My remaining list of "Must Do's" includes:
1) to mail the five completed amnesty projects tomorrow (as I type this, only two are packaged and ready to go).
2) to finish my September arch for Kate (while it is coming along, it is demanding a few more bead embellishments now) .... and it needs name ... and last of all, I must decide what to use for its back and finish it!
3) to design, create, complete and mail my last two arches for our yearlong swap: November for Hannah and December for Gillian.

I feel that I have made some great strides in the right direction .... Thank-you for your patience, everyone! And thank you Carol T for the Amnesty protection, as it was the perfect "kick in the tush" that I needed!

Antiquities arch

According to our yearlong swap, I am to make an arch for Pam in West Glam who requested a theme of "all things aged, architecture, ancient relics, but no birds, please." My earliest idea was to create a ancient portal with fabrics .... but clearing the towering magazine pile, I came across a few National Geographics ... and my idea evolved to include magazine images of Persian ruins and other artifacts. Here is an early stage of my arch.

The magazine pages are collaged together on a base of brown felt. Tulle and fibers are overlaid and couched down, securing everything in its place. Then I hit a creativity-block. The arch remained stalled for days that lapsed into weeks as I struggled to come up with a method or technique to finish it.

I eventually found some great beads to use as accents. As you may know, beads can be difficult to capture well in a photograph. The next photo is one of the worse photos I managed to snap. I decided to share its disaster so that others may benefit from my lack of expertise.

As you can see, the flash has reflected against the sheen of the magazine pages, making the images difficult to see.

I decided to include a snap of the back of this arch, which is made from a portion of a table-runner. The stability and strength of the woven table runner has helped to stiffen the arch.


The day has sped past too quickly. The sun has set too soon, before I could get the ideal perfect photograph. This photo of "Antiquities" is a tad paled by the bright sunlight (taken the next afternoon), but the beads stand out nicely.

This arch is officially complete. All I need to do is to wrap it up, preparing it for a journey across the ocean. Anticipated departure: Monday, December 1, 2008 (at long last).

Pam, thank you for your patience. I hope "Antiquities" arrives safely to your mailbox and more importantly, that you like it!

Sunset arch

I am working hard to meet my amnesty deadline of November 30 .... here is partial proof: my arch for Arlee in Canada which I have named "Sunset."


Arlee had asked for hot colors and copper, wishing for a funky/non-cutesy theme for her arches. I had fun playing with fabric and sheer scraps that I cut and trimmed and layered under a pale tulle fabric. Stitching through peltex (my inner stabilizer), I added glass tubular beads as well as two hot-glue-gun painted squiggles. My final touches included small dabblings with a copper Shiva paint stik. My good news for Arlee is that this arch is now finished, packed and ready to mail to you in the morning! Of course, I could almost hand-deliver it as I'll be passing through Calgary next week-end.

Learning and sharing at IQF

Every year at Quilt Festival there is a tremendous amount of learning and sharing that goes on. This year was no different. I was fortunate enough to be in a two-day class with Katie Pasquini-Masopust which was tremendous!


During the two days, she had us exploring a fun variety of design ideas. We left the class with the beginnings of several future quilts-to-be and many innovative ways to dream up new game plans for additional abstract quilts. In this photo, near the end of our two days together, Katie is showing her quilts to the class, pointing out details, and answering all of our questions.


Another quilt friend I see annually is Marlene Glickman. She is a silk artist and readily shares her ideas and silk dyeing techniques at the "potpourri" multi-teacher-demonstration events held in the Ballroom during Festival. Not only does Marlene share her ideas, she always has fun give-aways for the participants who pause at her table.


In this photo, Marlene is sharing what she knows about foiling onto fabric, paper and cardstock. Everyone was given several pieces of foil to take home and try one of Marlene's techniques. As an additional bonus, she demonstrated how easy it is to dye silk scarves (which she gave away to whoever volunteered to iron them at the end of the session!) Marlene is a non-stop bundle of knowledge, willing to share what she knows and hoping to inspire others to adventure into the world of Silk fiber art.


Last of all, it is not a memorable Quilt Festival or Quilt Market unless I bump into my dear friend Hallye Bone, with or without a pre-arranged rendezvous. Years ago, when Houston became my home, Hallye was my first quilt teacher at Quilt Quarters quilt shop. Later, her home was the first that I managed to visit with my infant twin boys! Since Hallye no longer lives in Houston, I truly treasure our brief visits during Quilt Market.

Here we are -- tickled to have run into each other again. Oh, I almost forgot to mention -- Congratulations Hallye on the publication of your first book, Caring for Your Quilts! (Available from Kansas City Star website and/or your local quilt shop).

IQF Three weeks later...

Congratulations to Sharon Schamber for Spirit Of Mother Earth. Her exceptional quilt is the Winner of the Handi Quilter® Best Of Show Award at the 2009 International Quilt Festival. Sharon is seen above standing with her quilt and answering questions asked by admirerers. If you wish to learn more about Sharon and her artwork, click here.

Another winning quilter is Rita Steffenson who won The Fairfield Master Award for Contemporary Artistry for her quilt, Twilight. Here she is greeting admirers and answering questions.

To see more of Rita's lovely artwork, click here.


There were many Japanese quilters exhibiting their quilts in Houston this year. One of my favorites is this one, also a big prize winner. (stay tuned, as I need to re-futz with my photo for better clarity).

The Three Sisters are totally enjoying the spotlight as they laugh with everyone stopping to gaze on their lovely quilt.


Gail Thomas, Annette M. Hendricks, and Helen Godden's winning quilt Seasonal Sisters won the IQF World Of Beauty Award, sponsored by TheQuiltShow.com
To learn more about these three light-spirited friends and their award-winning quilt, click here.

I do occasionally take the standard "stand in front and smile" quilt-&-quilter photos, as seen below. But I think I prefer the candid laughter captured above better. Don't you?

From left to right, these three quilting sisters are Helen Godden from Canberra, ACT, Australia, Annette M. Hendricks from Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Gail Thomas from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.