What have I been doing? . . .

That is what I would like to know as well! I have been home a week tomorrow and it seems like just hours have passed.

The first few days I visited my own blog to remember and love every moment of our Portland trip. It was so good to spend lots of time with Roy and Meagan. Here is one more picture of our last night there that was still on the camera this morning. Sometimes the delayed photos are the best.

Weston is going to come spend a few hours each week with me while Rainy works for a new designer. Rainy has her own business here working with interior designers and architects. She and a partner also have another business doing staging for home sales. Weston was out yesterday after Rainy and I visited a Montessori pre-school for consideration for him in the fall of 2009. You have to get your name on lists now days it seems. He and I had a great time looking for a tractor with peddles. We finally found one at the John Deere dealer. More tractor pics later as Bob also got a new tractor - a new lawn tractor. With the continued rain, our lawn is going to need to be bailed.

And, I have been spending every free moment learning and learning some more with my new Pfaff CV. I love this machine and I haven't even gotten to the embroidery part yet. I am loading software, reading, playing, learning, and in total awe of what it can do. Obviously I have not kept up with what new sewing machines can do and this just "knocks my socks off". I don't have the embroidery unit on yet and that is what is in the large case on the right. I am a Mac person, and my Mac can run Windows, but I do have an older Dell so I am dedicating it to be my EQ6 (I am enjoying my EQ6 classon Quilt University) and embroidery computer. I will probably have to add more memory (to me and the computer). My "Miss Daisy" is feeling abandoned. Today I will try some embroidery and also give Miss Daisy a little exercise.

The studio reorganization project is kind of stalled with everything else I want to do. It is wonderful to be home. And in closing - a familiar prayer that I woke to this morning and I need these words now . . .

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Home Sweet Home . . .

We arrived home in Bozeman this afternoon. It was a wonderful 10 days of travel, loving family, some hot weather and lots of rain. It is so good to be home! And here is one more picture of our Meagan swimming. . . love that smile! It will be in my heart forever!

"A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home." ~Author Unknown

Best breakfast . . .

Just got back from a great, but never long enough, time with Ronda. She is a very strong, fun, generous, gorgeous woman who can quilt like an angel! I am blessed to know her and to be able to call her "my friend". The time with her is a very special treat! Thank you!

Busy, fun, days . . .

It has been the best of times! We have taken Meagan to her preschool and picked her up each day.


We have shopped and shopped some more at the Disney Store, at the Pumpkin Patch, at Macy's and Nordstroms - and we have more to go in the next couple days. We have added crystals to a shirts and we have a shirt to paint and add more crystals tomorrow.



We have eaten out at all of our "favorite" places in Portland and there are only a couple more to hit in the next couple days.





We have walked Kassie and gotten very good and don't consider it a chore at all! Hmmm - maybe a dog is in order. And we have played in the parks a couple times with Kassie as well.



We have gone to see "Sleeping Beauty" and had to dress in our best princess dress for that.



And the very best part - we have spent lots of time swimming in the pool with Grandpa! Just two more days and we have to leave, but - it is the best of times!

Busy couple days . . .

I am in Portland! Drove in last night about 6:30 pm and what a beautiful drive it was! There was not a cloud in the sky and I could see Mount Hood from the time I crossed the Columbia River as I entered Oregon. I have never been to Portland this time of year and I am amazed at the flowers. I have heard all about them, but remember = this person from Montana left home without seeing any leaves on the trees yet. This is truly gorgeous country and even more appreciated following a long, cold winter in the Rockies.

I will take some pictures when Kassie and I take our next walk. Of course, it is also going to be very, very warm here today - but what beautiful views in every direction!

We had a late supper last night after I got in and Meagan and I played with "our" Barbie dolls. I bought a couple for her when I was here at Christmas and she has kept them in their boxes until I returned. She is precious! I got to take her to her school today and I will go pick her up here in a bit. She and I are going to her favorite place for lunch - "Carl's Jr." Wish me luck!

Getting ready for another trip . . .

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose."
Dr. Seuss

Today is another day to get ready for another trip - my trip to Portland!

I have some final student work to finish reading and get a few grades posted for some student work that came in late. I am getting all of the washing done today and then getting packed tomorrow morning. I am planning to leave about noon for Missoula (3 hours north and west of here) where my parents live and get in a little visit there. I will leave for Portland Thursday morning early from Missoula. Kassie, our Scotty, is going with me. It is about a 9 hour drive. Bob will fly over to Portland on Saturday and then we will drive home together sometime over Memorial Day weekend I think. Things are kind of "up in the air" about when we will get home.

I did get my new Pfaff CV set up yesterday - it is amazing and I haven't even gotten started. I have a Viking Rose now and I will keep it as well - one can never have too many sewing machines, huh? I am going to take my little Janome with me to Portland and see if I can make a cute sundress for Meagan while I am there. I want something we can put some crystals on so she can help with that.

So - I had better get moving - lots to do! I can hardly wait to see them all out there. Ronda and I are hoping we can get our "4 year old" granddaughters together next week for a "play date". It is going to be a great trip!

And then - when I get home - it will be a wonderful Montana summer of green grass, flowers, family suppers on the deck and lots of sewing, quilting and embroidery!

Happy Mother's Day. . .

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my son, Roy, Mom and my granddaughter, Meagan. It was taken 4 years ago at Meagan's christening in Portland. Mom crocheted the gown. It is Irish crochet. So, Mom, if you are reading this - Happy Mother's Day. We are heading home on Sunday!

We are so thrilled . . .

We (my good friend and fellow piecer, Gail) found out last night that our quilt, "Tumbling Through Time", won first place in the theme category here at the quilt show - HMQS - in Salt Lake City. This is a picture from when it was done. I will take more pictures tomorrow - of this one and some of the others. There a so many, many gorgeous quilts here that it is a real honor to get a ribbon.I also made a "life changing" purchase. I have wanted a new Pfaff Creative Vision and I now own one. I have watched and read, compared and listened, and nothing has changed my mind. I have always wanted a Pfaff and have always wanted a really good embroidery machine. I am way too excited and probably will not sleep much tonight.

We have one more day here - it has been glorious so far!

Off to the quilt show . . .

It is so exciting! We are leaving this morning for Salt Lake City to see the quilt show, HMQS. There are three of us who have known each other since college days and we do something together a couple times a year. My friend, Laurena, lives here in Montana - in Helena and she will go with me on the drive. Our friend, Gail, from Denver will fly over.

I will take pictures and post so you can see the exciting things going on.

It is raining - perfect driving and gabbing day. We are planning to stop along the way at a couple scrapbooking stores as that is Laurena's passion - and I always fall in love with the ideas.

These words from the end of my favorite Dr. Seuss book are going through my mind . . .

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Life is good . . .

I was in town today to get my hair cut and to get the tires rotated on LilyB. We are both getting ready to head out to Salt Lake City on Wednesday for HMQS. And, we have to look good. It is a bit harder for me than for LilyB. A good bath will shine her right up - it is going to take more than that for me!

I ran into a longarm quilter friend in town, Tracy Yadon. She was waiting for some tire work as well. I hadn't visited with her since late last summer before I went to Laramie. I had noticed her quilting referenced in a recent magazine and she hadn't known about it so we had a great time going through the magazines at B & N while enjoying some good dark Starbuck's. Her quilting is on p. 24/25 of the June issue of McCall's Quilting. She quilted a quilt by Margo Krager from our own Reproduction Fabrics here in Bozeman. Laura Heine from Fiberworks in Billings also has a quilt in this issue. Montana is well represented!

I will some pictures of my trip to HMQS on Wednesday.

Good Stuff . . .

This has been a good week. I am getting my studio rearranged and will share more pictures when it is more presentable. I have the "bones" in place with all of the furniture moved around and now I am doing the thinning and reorganizing. It is going to work just right.

I started up "Miss Daisy" (my A1) today. I have had a piece of red dupioni silk loaded for most the time I was gone since the first of the year and have never known for sure what to do. Today I just started to play and try some new fills and threads. Not much to look at, but fun to do!

And today I got this really cute picture of Meagan in Portland - the only thing better than a cute picture of Meagan is a cute picture of two Meagans. We are heading to Portland on the 14th.

Progress . . .

And it is not all in the area of cleaning and organizing. I have been thinking - always dangerous. Cleaning and organizing provides good time for thinking, for reflection, for visioning.

But first a Weston story. He came out to visit yesterday for a few hours. The electricity was off the whole time he was here and he wanted to watch "Ratatouille". He is 2 and a half. I explained that the electricity was off and we couldn't turn on the TV. We did wall switches and no lights. He pushed the "on" button and nothing happened. So he went about his business. Then he came back and tried a different movie, "The Incredibles". Again we went through the idea of no electricity - so he looked at me puzzled and said, "How about 'Thomas the Train' then?". I love watching his thinking. I guess he thought if he could just choose the right movie, it would work. That is kind of what my blog is about today - getting the "right stuff" together in the right time and place.

I wonder why I am hesitant to be a full-time fiber/quilting artist. What is it that keeps me from diving in? The opportunity to teach in Laramie this past year was a great way out. But I want to be dedicated totally to my art. I have always been able to draw, to paint, to teach art, to create - it is a gift. What I have not always had is the gift of self-confidence to dive in fully. I have always hung onto the edge - to something I knew I could do successfully.

This morning - here is this quote:
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur Clarke knows all about me. So, I can't be safe anymore and hang onto the edge.

Some "thump" on Thursdays and some give "thanks". Today I want to challenge you to share what inspires you. Each day, I get new inspiration from multiple sources.
Here are my five for today:
1. The quote above.
2. An interview with Tina Givens in the May/June issue of Quilters Home.
3. My son, Roy, in Portland sold his first painting.
4. Robins unphased by the wet, spring snow.
5. The freedom of my life.
So what inspired you today?