Now that Thanksgiving is over with, it’s time to get back to work.

I got my entries in for both Lancaster and Paducah, and for good measure, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival which isn’t even due til late Jan! It feels good to be ahead. In reviewing the upcoming list of shows and contests. I see that if I am to have anything for Celebrate Spring this year, I’ll need to get started as the deadline for that is Jan 31.

I finished off the Alaska piece with a faced edge and will enter that in the local Topeka Art Guild Christmas sale where nothing can be priced over $100.00. I was prepared to have nothing there, but remembered this piece which everyone who sees it seems to like.

Since it is fused applique and is not in my “real” style, I can let go. It is about 15 x 21″ and really is nice and squared up, the photo is a little keystoned.

I got acceptance from “Road To California” for “The Merchant’s House” !

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! Great to know that the Lancaster deadline was extended;I will certainly get something entered – and maybe even Paducah at the same time. Early would be good!

Rose, I love your mending strategy. The 2 pairs of jeans were brand new and just needed shortening. The work clothes will never go out of style and needed their useful life extended one more time. Yeah!! It’s done.

Now it is time to set my sights on Thanksgiving – shopping today, starting the cooking tomorrow, we are the “go to” house..Wishing you all a happy turkey day with much to be thankful for.

I knew that the deadline for AQS Lancaster must be soon, so I decided today would be a good time to take care of that. Alas, the deadline IS TODAY! So, nothing for me at Lancaster next year. The deadline for Paducah is Jan 2 so I should attend to that soon. Why do I always wait til the last minute!? I entered two things to Road To California and got the email that one of them was rejected, but nothing about the other one. The official notification date is not til Dec 1, so I will hold out hope..

The past week was spent tweaking the Seasonal piece, changing and adding fabrics. It is still in two pieces but bulky and awkward to work on. I think that I have at least one more change to make and then I will just live with it for awhile and see if anything else demands attention. At this point every change requires that I rip something apart and add in new, sort of like mending, which I hate. I would rather go buy something new than mend or alter clothing! In the meantime the mending pile is growing larger as I see my husband has added yet another garment to the pile.

Last evening, I folded and put away all of the fabrics I was working with and swept up the bits on the floor, so now, if I actually DO this mending today as I plan, the studio will not look too bad for company on Thanksgiving!

About three weeks ago I wrote about the emu that showed up on our property and the failed attempt to catch her.

From here she went north about a mile cross county and ended up in a cattle pasture where they fed her and set up a corral to catch her, but apparently that didn’t work either, and she moved to the northern edge of that pasture which abutted a horse pasture.

Happy ending! Sunday after 2.5 hours the owner, assisted by the horse people, managed to capture her and transport her back home where she is reunited with her flock, hopefully safe, happy and well fed!

What an adventure!

Wow, it’s been two weeks since I last posted! During that time there has been a lot going on and I have been busy. Some days there is not time to sew at all and some days, time to only manage a few seams. This week has been better and I’ve had a few days to really work at it. I am all the way up to the top quarter of the piece and it is looking good! As I work at it, I am constantly tweaking and changing things so I try to avoid sewing all of the seams until I live with the fabric choices for a while – but there comes a time when just to get things in perspective, you have to sew the seams! Inevitably then you have to UNsew some seams as choices made at the bottom affect choices made at the top and vice-versa. The long narrow layout (32 X 78″) of this piece presents it’s own set of challenges! Luckily the deadline is April, so I can take my time and enjoy the process.

Locally, “Majesty”, the elk piece is on display in the “Inspirations” exhibit at the Classic Bean at Fairlawn Mall in Topeka until the end of December. Stop by and see it and vote for your favorite work for Viewer’s Choice if you are close. Also at Fairlawn Mall, at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery, until the end of November, be sure and check out the annual juried exhibit, “Kansans Paint Kansas” where “Prairie Fire” was awarded an Honorable Mention!