A week in the busy life of a stray cat and his big brown dawg

 

Monday

 

Tuesday

 

Wednesday

 

 

Thursday, view 1

 

Thursday, view 2

Another animal odd couple

Preliminary Europe Itinerary!

Ken and I are planning a trip to Europe in September! We are thinking 25 days -- though how I'll survive without Miss Roxy Brown all that time remains to be seen! The longest trip I've taken without her was 9 days.

I am requesting input on not-to-be-missed places and suggestions on where/with whom to stay, and since I (ahem) have so many international blog readers now (soon to catch up with the international blogger phenom Lady Jane Moxey!), I thought you guys might have some great input!

Here's the preliminary plan:

9/11/09 - fly from Phoenix to Florence, Italy. See David.



9/12 to 9/13 - Take the train to the walled Tuscany city of Lucca, Italy.



9/14, 9/15, 9/16, 9/17 - CinqueTerra, the car-free cliffside towns on the Italian Riviera, getting there perhaps by fishing boat.



9/17, 9/18 - through Monaco & Nice, en route to Lyon, France. Spend the day and overnight with Ken's friend Francois at his home in Lyon.



9/19, 9/20, 9/21, 9/23 - Travel with Francois to his farm in Provence. Stay at Francois' family's retreat house in Mirabeau. Spend time in La Tour d'Aigues.



9/24, 9/25, 9/26, 9/27, 9/28 - Train to Breve. Spend time in central France with Ken's British friends Simon and Clare on their farm 'Evening Glow' in the Dogdogne.








9/28, 9/29 - Paris



9/29, 9/30 - London


10/1 to 10/4 - Ken will be in Dorset co-chairing the World Elder Gathering for The ManKind Project. I will have 5 days on my own. I am thinking Devon, or Wales, or Ireland (my heritage -- could find out from my aunt where to visit in terms of my geneology) or I have friends in Amsterdam -- any input on destinations or places to stay is invited, especially art quilting or textile arts-related!

10/5/09 - Meet up with each other and fly home out of London.

Introducing "Quilt Qua", a new online quilting resource directory

Connie Colton of Quilt Qua, a new online quilt quilting directory, just invited me to join her blogroll. She's got lists and links to quilt shops, quilt bloggers, teachers, patterns, guilds, wholesale fabric -- and an online "Show and Tell" -- where I did post a few of my own quilts. So, fellow quilt bloggers, if you're not on her blogroll already, email Connie at quiltqua@gmail.com to get on.

Music, joy, love, energy -- the universally reliable connectors

Oooooohhhh!! Spectacular! Check out these 2 videos and tell me what you think!

And on a similar theme, for those of you who missed this the first time around, check out Matt dancing all over the world. And getting PAID to do it! Beautiful music, too.

Technorati Tags: dance,video,YouTube,creativity

Poolside photos for Carly

What fun! I just found out that we're having a house guest! Carly is one of my best girlfriend's daughters. She's a junior at Ohio State and she'll be spending 5 days of her Spring Break with us -- poolside! She has informed me that she will not be leaving the poolside the entire visit, except for perhaps a little shopping on 4th Avenue -- so these pics are for you Carly! Ken and I (and Roxy and Kirby) are sooo excited for your visit!







Organ pipe cactus bloom from last summer.

Playing with Curves: 3 new mini-quilt tops

"Robustion", 8" x 14"



"She Moves 1", 13" x 13"



"She Moves 2", 14" x 18"

Ode to Bougainvillea, outside our bedroom window

Bougainvillea, ahhhh, bougainvillea.... I remember the first time I saw you in person. It was love at first sight. I knew I had to have you in my life. I knew that I wanted to live in a place where you grow happily on the roadsides and hang from overpasses and peak out of every other yard in the neighborhood. I knew then I would indeed have arrived. A lucky woman.

My treasured dream has come true. Now we have a huge wall of you right outside our bedroom window. It was one of the things that made me fall in love with this house.

Well, that, and the dining room windows and coved ceilings. Oh, and the arched doorways. Oh, and the fairy-tale cottage casement windows. But I digress.

A peek from inside the bedroom window

Outside the window

Outside

A whole wall of vibrant fuchsia love

Playing with Curves

Playing with curves! Just getting started here. I'll post progress pics.

Two brilliant upgrades in my quilting studio, if I do say so myself

Here are a couple of fun new things I added to my quilting studio!
The top photo shows the addition of a low, short pegboard over my cutting table. I painted it the same color as the wall in an effort to have it blend in for a less cluttered look. I think it worked! I recall it's Benjamin Moore's "Pool Blue" -- a happy, summer-y turquoise. I have yet to fill all those neat little hooks! In due time, no doubt.

I am a big proponent of what I call "micro-ergonomics" -- the art of streamlining and refining those little steps one does over and over. I noticed I was always moving the pile of fabrics involved in my current projects. They always seemed to be in the way, no matter where I put them. Hmmm... what to do?



Inspiration struck! This photo shows the low-tech yet neato slide-out tray I added under my cutting table. I had it perfectly sized for flat fat quarters. It's located right above Roxy's den, complete with dawg bed, which you can't quite see in this photo.

I love having a convenient spot, nearby, yet off the main work surface, for stashing those fabrics that are in use. As many of you know, sometimes they are "in progress" for months! So it's a great place to put them away without putting them AWAY. Saves re-folding and then needing to find them again, pull them out, and re-iron them. No need to turn around. No need to walk all the way around my sewing table over to the fabric stash shelves. Less steps! Intermediary place for intermediary items. Perfect!

Ahhhh.... It's the little things that make life sing! The divine is indeed in the details.