I have been working like a mad woman, these past couple of weeks, trying to get everything I could possibly get done prior to my shoulder surgery, which is 730 tomorrow morning.

The quilt below was made by Diann, one of the sweetest ladies you could ever meet. She has been a volunteer in our family waiting area for the last several years. Recently she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I asked her if there was any way I might help, & she left this quilt top in my mail box at work. I took it home & quilted it, put a sleeve on the back,

sewed a heart button in the center of each of the star blocks,

& bound it with the green, & made the piping from the print. Diann was very happy with it.

My studio had gotten messier, & messier, until I got to a point, I just couldn't function in there.

These are my before pictures,

& my shame.

But between working days, & doctore appointments, I pecked away at getiing it reorganized, & cleaned up. The pink & turquoise bag under the ironing board is my bag all packed & ready for my over night stay in the hospital tomorrow night.

The yellow & red fabric on the chair in front of my felting maching, is a shibori piece that & bought in Seattle.

The table above still has a few things I need to sort through, but I've run out of steam, & need to get to bed before it gets much later, as I've got to get up at 445 in the morning to shower again, & get myself to the hospital, to get my block & be ready for the surgery.

I know I's said I was done with my vacation photos, but I'd forgotten about our stop in LaConner, at the quilt museum.

They were happy to allow me to take pictures.

The exhibit on the 2nd floor was a collaboration between Gewn Marston, & Freddy Moran.

The colors were bright & wild, & the quilts were a bit jarring, but fun.

There were lots of Madonnas present (& of course they made me think of Debra).

On the top floor was both my & Warren's favorite part of the exhibits. Marrianne Burr.

She was there, hand stitching another piece, & chatting with everyone. She was a very sweet lady, & her work was stunning. My very favorite pice was this white bowl, It was loaded with pearls & beads, & shi-sha mirrors (which I've always liked).

This red bowl was pretty too. The little red wooly balls added a lot of dimension.

The works exhibited were all made between 2004 & 2007 . She has completed & earned a City & Guilds diploma.

The majority of her work is hand stitching.

I loved her work. Now that really is all of my vacation!

My Birthday

Thursday was my birthday. When I came home Wednesday evening after work this new table was setting in my kitchen/dining room. At first I wasn't exactly excited about it. I thought it was beautiful, but it was too tall & bulky for the space.
The package on top, was pretty cool. I loved the textured silk fabric wrapper.

& inside was this neat little oven, to replace my little toaster oven. Now I can put the toaster oven in my studio & use it for polymer clay.

So I got busy & completely rearranged the kitchen. That's the one advantage to having an unfinished kitchen. I can still easily change my mind. I moved all my temporary shevles to the opposite side of the room. I had been thinking I would do this anyway, the new table just made me get off my duff & do it.

I brought in a corner piece from the garage. It was from aunt Ethel's apartment. It was the perfect roost for my chickens. We also went & got a new rug to place under the table. That went a long way toward making it work for me. It needed the rug.

Now the whole kitch feels roomier & mor comfortable. Now I just have to get my oven hood built, & I can get my stove brought in, then get real cabinets & granite countertops, & it'll be done. Should anly take a few more years!

Corey came & took the large guest room set. We moved the trundle bed upstairs, & will get a stationary bike to put in here, then I think that'll be it for the guest room, other than I'd like to make quilts for the beds (once I get the longarm machine).

Extra dining room chairs will stay in here.

This is my birthday card & gift from my friend Kathy. The leaves she made from cement, pressed on to real leaves, then she painted them copper. They're beautiful. I LOVE them. She also sent some Seta Color paints to play with. That may even be something I can do when I'm off after surgery.

Our fiends Mindy & John came over with thier 3 girls. Lindsey, the oldest is home from New Mexico. Mindy & Lindsey made this georgeous plate for me.

I particularly loved the dichcroic bits. I love how they shine. Sometimes I think I must be part Raven, because I just LOVE the SPARKLIES!

We had a fun day with them, eating & visiting & watching movies, & eating more & watching more movies, & some sewing & needle felting happened too. Lindsey has been hooked by the needle felting bug now too!

I also got my hair cut short this weekend. VERY short. I'm really happy with it, but haven't bothered to take a picture yet. Warren said I need to do one & replace the one on the blog. Maybe tomorrow, in my spare time, after I've finished the zillion other things I want to get done before I have surgery 8 days from now!

the last of the vacation

Here is the last batch of vacation photos that I'll post. We drove arounf the Olympic Penninsula, & up to Hurricane ridge, where snow was still quite deep.
We saw several more deer along the road, as well as some grouse.

Did you know there is a rain forrest in Washington? It wasn't raining when we were there. It was warm & sunny, & we hugged some of the biggest ttrees I've ever seen.

I loved the ferns too.

This old spruce tree was an amazing giant.

I felt as if they were going to start walking & talking, like in "Lord of the Rings" , & "Bridge to Terabithia".

I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

The Moss was beautiful too.

My imagination ran wild. Oh, & the smell of the green... it was Heavenly
Is that a Gnome? Nope it's my pal Ilene.

Near our condo at Discovery Bay, one of the old buildings has collapsed. I took pictures of it a few years ago before the collapse. I've been thinking I'd like to do a photo transfer quilt & includesome of each of the shots I've taken of this building. There's something I find beautiful in an old weathered falling down building.

On our last Friday in Seattle we went to out son-in-law's Posey's concert at the Wild Ginger, dinner theater in Seattle. They did 2 shows that night & the place was packed. We got to set right up front.I'm afraid my pictures didn't tturn out good, but I thought this one was interesting. The music was way better than my photograpy.

Her's Darian & one of Michelle's old friends Dustin.

& Michelle holding the sweet little French child of Ken the other Posey singer.

There wasore of the inspiring architecture from this old theater.

Finally we flew back into the land of the midnight sun. This was taken from out plane at midnight just before we landed in Anchorage. It's light almost all the time now.

Thursday we played bingo at quilt guild. I won a yard of fabric, but gave it to the gal who made the bingo block I used.

This weekend I worked on the Irish dance dress. Here is the bodice front panel.

& the cape for the back. I need to get some stays for stability, & I'm going to work on making several yards of piping from the black material that I have, then I think it'll start going together fairly quickly. I'd like to get as much as possible done before my surgery in 2 weeks.

I'm afraid I'm running out of time.

My youngest son, Corey flew in for a couple of days. He took the large bed & dresser from our guest room. so I can now move our daybed with it's trundel into the guest bedroom. We plan on getting a stationary bike to put in there so the room can serve a duel purpose.

Once the daybed is out of my studio, I can rearrange it, & make room for a Longarm quilter. Then hopefully my shoulder will get better & I'll be able to use it! I better hit the hay now. I'm on call tomorrow, so must get some sleep. G'night!