Something About Nothing

A number of years ago I became aware of a trend in my photos.  The photos were of the kids and husband.  The photos were from events my kids participated in.  Rarely did I have anything from things I did.  Granted, a large part of my life was the kids, but I did have friends, and I did participate in activities away from the family.  Why didn't I have photos of these things?  I realized I needed to take care of this situation and so I took photos of my friends in my bookclub.  I'm so grateful for those photos as many have moved away now.  These experiences helped me to put myself out there and include my life in our family photos.  That said, I am warning you, there are a LOT more photos of me in this post than any you will ever see.  You might want to close the page now!  Unfortunately I missed some photo opportunities because I was busy visiting with my friends but here are the few I managed to get. Catherine Redford and I met when we filmed at Quilting Arts last fall.

Judy Gula from Artistic Artifacts asked for my help in getting her things over to the Salt Palace from her hotel and for me to go to her Schoolhouse lecture about Batik panels.  I was glad to be of assistance.  I picked Judy and her husband up about 9 a.m. and when we arrived at the Salt Palace things were already hopping.  Large crates blocked many of the isles and some booths were almost completely set up, while others, were completely empty. Judy's booth went together quickly thanks to a lot of pre-planning. Judy was happy to get things put together as she was nervous about her Schoolhouse Presentation that afternoon. Iris, from Mistyfuse , arrived to set up her booth but soon found that Fed Ex hadn't delivered her packages yet. Thankfully we were able to track the boxes down and have them nabbed before being put on the truck that would deliver them the next day.  The next day would have been a day late and a dollar short.  Judy and I bo

Laura Wasilowski has published a new book: Hand Embroidery for Fused Art Quilts.   I absolutely love hand embroidery and I did a lot of it as a youth.  As I grew older I developed carpel tunnel syndrome making my hand stitching sessions shorter and shorter, until I gave up completely.  During the last few years I have wanted to go back to stitching, short sessions and all, but I have forgotten how to make many stitches.  Laura has great tutorials on her blog which I have referenced in the past while working on my own simple projects.   I was excited to see Laura's new book because now I can have all of her instructions with me in one place.  In the book, Laura gives advice about needles and thread and more importantly which sized needles to use with each type of embroidery thread.  There are instructions on how to prepare your fused quilt for stitching, and many great tips for embellishing an art quilt. There are instructions on how to create 20 different stitches. Ea