Getting ready to leave for India

I can't believe that tomorrow night I leave for India and then on to China and that I'll be working there. I am so excited. I'll be posting pictures and making comments on the HR systems environment, so check back.

Wine in the Foothills

Saturday was the day to pick grapes at our neighborhood winery co-op, Mandolfo Wines. Major and I have "bought into" the co-op and get 5 cases a year. Of course, we have to work for our wine, so Saturday, along with 50 others, we picked grapes and I helped cook. A great day. The crop will be greater. I'll try to get a picture of the wine stomping...several of the ladies dressed up in Lucille Ball outfits...very hilarious.

And then we went for a ride up to Nevada City to see the leaves. Here's a picture of our yard....and the new house color....finally painted!

My new orange door

I really have NO TIME for blogging, or twittering....but to avoid being a grandma dinosaur, I guess I must. Actually it's fun to think about the intersection of quilting, surveys, blogging, and twitter. My concern is that now I've started a blog, Paul Boutin, Wired, says it's time has passed! Yikes...I guess I started four years too late. However, as someone who has worked with emerging technologies for almost 30 years, I suspect blogging will stay. And, besides the quilting community has just discovered it!

Today was my day to finish the first draft of the APAC survey....done. So I walked out into my garden which is an absolute mess. But, my dear dear husband has done something really nice. He had the door to my potting shed painted my favorite color. Isn't this incredible?

The first quilt sent to Japan

I've always loved the feel of Japanese fabrics, especially the cottons. They are heavier than most of the cottons you can buy in the US. They are also very, very soft. They hang beautifully. The first quilt I made with all Japanese fabrics is this one.



I call it CIRCLE PLAY. I took a class with Reynola Pakusich and then made this quilt. I was not only playing with the circles, but also the background and trying to give a sense that the angle lines on the right were weaving in and out of the left angles. I entered this quilt in the Japanese quilt festival in 2008 and was invited to send my quilt to Japan for judging. Unfortunately, this quilt was not accepted. But I learned a lot from the process. One must be absolutely perfect in all aspects and while I love the look of this quilt, it had one flaw. We gave this quilt to dear friends this year.

I am SO PROCRASTINATING today to get some work done. Don't I deserve one down day? But just had to share this and besides it's my favorite color.

And, credit where credit is due.

Finished Katazome pieced top

Wow...it's been a month since I tried my hand at blogging. Just no time with the survey. But I needed a break and so made a new quilt. I've finished the top.
This one is made from Katazome fabric from Nautilus FiberArt . It is worth seeing how Katazome is made.
It's a Japanese method of dying fabrics that uses a resist paste applied through a stencil. Nautilus does this the "old way" and the resulting fabric has the most wonderful feel and look. Karen Miller is a true artist.