Since I had to go to KC Wednesday we planned a stop at Sarah’s in Lawrence and sure enough, she had it! That is probably where I got it in the first place as I usually buy half yards of batik unless I know I need more, and Sarah’s always has such a good selection. I got a yard and the new piece seems a little darker but it was almost the end of the bolt and it will work.

I have been working on preparing the journaling materials about “December Dawn” for Seasonal Palette which need to be in by the first of June. Yesterday I worked most of the day on that and I’m hoping to finish up today.

I think these small inactive African Penguins would not really have made much of an impression on a small child. Those in my memory were Emperors and I loved to see them swim and do their funny side to side walk looking like fat men in tuxedos.

It was a beautiful day in the mid 70′s but still, most of the animals were just sleeping and not offering much in the way of photo ops. The Black Bears were at least awake.

When I went outside in the morning I discovered that something had snipped the flower heads off of my newly planted zinnias! Who would do that?

Hmmmm- what’s a knife edge? Maybe if you sewed the back to the front like a pillowcase and turned it right side out, that might be a knife edge, I don’t know. I did a faced edge on this quilt because I didn’t want it traditionally bound. It was a design decision. I stitched the backing inside the seam line of the seam allowance as one does for garment facings so that it would turn slightly to the back and not show on the front and would also help the thickness of the area to lay flat. It came out exactly as I planned. The facing finished at 1-5/8″ and there is a uniform 1/8″ 0f the front showing on the back. What the heck difference does it make if some front shows on the back? It’s a wall quilt, you don’t see the back. The main thing is no back shows on the front and it is very neatly done.

She also said there were threads on the back that should be trimmed. I quilted it with invisible thread on the back. It took me almost 5 minutes, but I did find one thread that needed to be buried, I don’t think trimming is adequate.

And lastly “Quilting design, although dense, could be varied in size scale to bring more dimension to the quilt.”

And I suppose if I had done that she’d be saying it wasn’t consistent. The quilting reflects the content of the different areas and is done in many different threads to compliment those areas, equal amounts of stitching helps the finished product to hang flat and square.

Sometimes I wonder if judges even consider their reputations! Clearly this one was scraping to keep me out of the ribbons here which I thought was pretty obvious when I looked at what did win, the top two awards going to the same person, whose work was nice but not exceptional. I don’t expect to win everything, but I do expect impartial, knowledgeable judging.

We discovered that Crafts National was also showing there so had to check that out. Some really amazing work there, too, running the gamut of style and materials including some quilted works.

From there we decided to visit the Designer’s Showhouse which I like to do every year looking for ideas to try. While it was a perfectly lovely, comfortable feeling old home, there was really no wow factor this year for me. The landscaping was nice, but I couldn’t help wondering what the newly planted Knot Garden would look like a year from now, with it’s lavender which likes to be dry juxtaposed with things that prefer moister conditions and varigated sage which I have not been able to overwinter here. But for now it’s quite nice and the day was perfect for enjoying it.

From there, it was basic grocery shopping with a stop to get a couple of more pink KnockOut roses which I should go plant right now, before it gets any warmer out there!

But first – here’s the latest photo of the work in progress:

Someone sent me this photo snapped at the recent KVQG show in Lawrence of the famous David Taylor of Colorado, as she said he was examining one of my entries. Apparently he was teaching in the area and had some down time. We both compete in the same categories, sometimes he beats me, sometimes I beat him….

Saturday we went to a plant sale that was supposed to start at 8:00; we got there only a few minutes late and it was already picked over with long lines at the checkout so I didn’t get much. Just some basil, sweet potatoes, egg plant, coleus, zinnias and a foxglove. The weather has turned cooler with some rain so it has been good weather to plant and weed.

When I saw this piece of Shibouri by Desiree Vaughn on line, I just had to order it for the sky in this piece. It is a generous half yard so it dictates the size I can do and I am struggling to even get all of the pieces cut. This will be my entry this year in the Inspirations exhibit and again, the photographer I am teaming up with is Tammy Patterson who did the photographs for the last two year’s exhibits, the elk and the mountain goat kids. I had mentioned to her that I wanted, someday, to do something around wind turbines but hadn’t gotten a good picture. She sent me some and this work will be a combination of two of her photos. There will be three turbines and three cows.

Today I am scheduled to work at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery and stay on to work the First Friday open house this evening. It will be a long day and I’d rather stay home and work on this new work!

Remember the Rain Cups? Here they are again, holding rain this time.

Yesterday I saw TWO hummingbirds at the feeder and the first Oriole arrived. What a gorgeous bird!