I haven't posted for ages, things have been busy around here. Nothing fun mind you, just lots of cleaning up in the garden and around the house. This is why we've never tried to sell the place before, it's just such a big job. The photo is a bougainvillea vine that was growing by our deck. The house is two storey, and the vine had reached the rooftop. The flowers are beautiful, but the thorns are vicious, so last weekend we decided to cut it down to ground level and be rid of it. By the end of the first day we both looked like we'd been attacked by a pack of lions, and it took all week for the scratches to heal. OWWWW!! I kept consoling myself that we would never have to deal with the darn thing again, and that I would plant a pretty vine to replace it, with no thorns.

Ocassionally I think 'What the heck, we'll just go on living here for another 21 years', but I do want a change after all this time. I really want to move so that I can have a bigger workspace, and get a quilting machine. I've spent a lot of time in my friend Kaye's workroom, and it's like a little slice of heaven. I call it my spiritual home, because it has everything a quilter's heart desires. I will try and find some photos to show you how wonderful it is. I want one just like it.

I am heading north in a week's time to teach a mini wholecloth workshop, which should be fun. We start out with a square of fabric and play with stencils and design a little wholecloth quilt to make. The students all surprise themselves with how creative they are, and the little quilts are amazing. The photo is a small quilt I did for a magazine article several years ago. It's lived it's whole life in the local patchwork shop, but it's one less quilt that I have to store. And it's displayed to perfection on the walls of the shop, so I get to enjoy it every time I visit.

The little star quilt is one of my favourites from about 5 years ago. It was so easy to piece and quilt, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I do like making mini quilts (this is about 30" square) because they don't take much material or effort to make, and they don't require much room to store or hang them. I love red and green quilts, I don't think I've made my last one yet......